Ayutthaya lies about a two hour's drive north of Bangkok. It was Thailand's capital for approximately four hundred years, founded in 1351. It was burned by Burmese invaders in 1767, which resulted in its abandonment and the establishment of Bangkok which remains Thailand's current capital.
Below is one of the oldest Stupas, built in the 14th century, in the same era as the construction of Cambodia's Angkor Wat, the world's largest UNESCO world heritage site. Stupas are Buddhist cylindrical structures containing the ashes, bones, or remains of religious figures, and are intended to function as pilgrimage sites for worship and meditation.
To tour a country as part of a group tour necessarily results in a superficial introduction to the countries visited. But the advantage is that all the logistical details are covered in advance by the tour company. In the case of this Go Ahead tour, we spent two days in Portugal, followed by five days in Spain, to be followed by a week in Morocco.
Rice is a staple of the Japanese diet. Japanese-grown rice costs twice as much in Japan as the same rice sold in other countries. This is because of a convoluted system of distribution and middlemen, which raises the price far beyond the actual and reasonably expected price of rice.
The price of healthcare in America is similarly inflated. . .
