Ayutthaya

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Iona and I visited Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Thailand, as a day trip from Bangkok. (It's about 76km outside of Bangkok.) Far too early in the morning for vacation time, we were picked up by a minibus. We had a hilarious tourguide, Mr. K. to keep up amused though. I don't think he was conciously funny...but just a quirky, weird man! He was constantly mumbling to himself and running off to the next place without telling anyone. Between every sentence he said 'Umm, YA!', 'So, YA!' or 'Ok, YA!'

Basically, our day consisted of visiting ruins, temples, ruins, temples and more ruins! The ruins are a result of the invasion by the Burmese army in 1767. Ayutthaya was founded in 1351, but collapsed in the mid 1700s when the Burmese armies burned it.....a little history that I remember for Mr. K! "So, YA!" At one time the city was surrounded by walls that were 20m high and 5m thick. There are only small portions that are still around.

Our first stop was Wat Phu Khao Thong, which translates into Golden Mount. Why "golden" and not "white washed" you ask? (have a look at the pic) I think it's because of the gold trimmings and golden Buddhas hidden at the top. At least, that's what I assume! This temple literally is in the middle of nowhere. It's in the centre of what seems to be acres of rice fields. Mr. K told us that it was built by the Burmese when they occupied Thailand, so there is some hostility towards this particular temple. It was nice enough for us though. We climbed up to the top for a view of the countryside.

We visited so many temples and ruins that I really can't remember them all! (there are at least 4 that I will not mention) We went to Wat Phra Si Sanphet next, where were toured the ruins in the scorching sun. Mr. K told us that they are lobbying for this place to be a World Heritage sight....which surprised me, because they were letting us walk all over anything we pleased! It was intersting to look at what seemed to be a pile of rocks and discover that it was at one time a Buddha or some sort of statue.

We had the opportunity to take a short elephant ride just down the street during our break...so Iona and I took a 15 minute stroll. It was hilarious....there were elephants cruising up and down the sidewalks and stopping traffic! These elephants were all decked out too, with red velvet umbrellas and everything....a little more posh than our trekking adventures in the jungle! I can't get enough of those elephants! If you check out the picture, you can see another temple that we visited in the background: Wat Phra Ram.

I wish I could tell you the story behind the reclining Buddha....but that tale was lost in translation. When we were at Wat Yai Chai Mongkon, we stood beside the enormous reclining Buddha for a good 20 minutes while Mr. K rambled on about the significance of Buddha lying down. I don't think anyone is our entire group understood a single word the man said! It was cool to look at at least! Our last stop was Bang Pa-in, the former royal Summer Palace. All of the buildings are a mix of Thai, Italian, Victorian and Chinese styles. The gardens were pretty, and I liked to pruned elephant bushes! At the end of a long and VERY hot day, we were templed out....and VERY ready to move south! Yeah beaches!

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