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Published: July 19th 2009
This was a day trip from Bangkok. July 3, 2009
Up and out the door early, a big day of sight seeing in store for us! For Tan, Pui, and Greg, this was especially difficult as they did not get back from the airport until around 2 am.
Ayuthaya was the Siamese royal capital from 1350 to 1767. Our first stop of the day was just south of Ayuthaya at the Summer Palace, Bang Pa-In. In addition to beautiful buildings, the grounds were lovely and vast. We let the kids hire a golf cart to tool around in while we adults walked and enjoyed the buildings. Part of the gounds included a wonderful topiary garden with lots of animal shapes. We took lots of photos here. One may show up on a Christmas card... There were several groups of school children visiting the area who thoroughly enjoyed seeing the tall white foreigners. They loved Sydney and Avery especially!
Next stop was Wat Phanan Choeng with a huge bronze Buddha. We bought incense and flowers, presented our offerings, and were able to observe the ritual of the changing of the Buddha's robe. We would not have understood any of this without
Tan's knowledge! She's a wonderful guide!
Wat Phra Manhathat ruins was our next destination. This is Ayuthaya's most photographed spot, not only because the ruins are so amazing but also there is a tree with a Buddha enbedded within the roots giving it an eerie look (see photo). If it had not been so hot and humid, we would have spent a lot more time here! Very nearby was the Elephant kraal where Gregg and the kids all took an elephant ride and got to see the ruins from a different and slightly cooler perspective. We had a blast being entertained by a baby performing elephant. We all (except me and Graham, by choice) got kisses and lots of photos.
Before lunch we made one more stop, the kids had seen enough temples by this point, at Wat Mongkhon Bophit, the largest Buddha casting. We had a hotel/buffet lunch, talked about going for a boat ride back to Bangkok, but it was so hot that we opted to head back to Tan's place for a swim and massages for me, Gregg, Tan and a foot massage for Greg H.
Later that night it was a big family dinner at a
nearby restaurant and the Night Market in Bangkok!
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