Stephanie's words: Mark just amazes me at times. I know he is in a lot of pain and doesn't feel like doing anything, doesn't feel "well", but then he also has a desire or need to go out and do everything. He's in need of a trip longer than just to the grocery store today, so we've gone to the travel agency in the Honey Hotel and reserved a car and driver to take us to the "Ancient Capitol" of Ayuttaya.

The drive to Ayuttaya is about an hour with very little traffic. We sleep off and on in the car, and it's hot today. Ayuttaya is really beautiful... we rent a golf cart at the summer palace and drive around, trying to avoid running over any other tourists. Mark seems to enjoy being behind the wheel of a vehicle again, even if it is just a cart. The palace grounds are amazing and we find a little pond stocked with fish, which we feed bread bought from a vendor. Eventually we see a small nose repeatedly poking up out of the water, then a bigger nose of "something" we think might be a turtle, but if it's a turtle the corresponding body would be HUGE. Mark feeds the nose which does eventually come up to us, and which must be the size of a kid's wagon. NO, this photo is NOT of THE turtle, but of his little friend (1/10th the size!)

From the summer palace we drive over to some ruins. They are humbling. The heads from the temple statues were chopped off and taken centuries ago, and only a few remain, imprisoned in the roots of trees. By mid-afternoon the heat is taking the wind out of all of us, but Mark is really worn out and we head home. In the end it takes him a full day to recover from the trip and he suffers chills and fever half the night, but the day is a memory I will cherish and I appreciate him sharing this part of Thailand with me.