Ayutthaya

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I woke up this morning about 8 o'clock and showered and went out. As I went out I was asked to pay for the two beers I'd had last night - apparently the whiskey was free.

I was intending to walk to Wat Phra Si Sanket but my map was a bit confusing and in the end I caught a tuk tuk. The tuk tuks here are different from those in Bangkok. They have sideways facing seats instead of forward facing ones and can take up to six passengers. I did explore the ruined wat beside my hostel before venturing further. A wat is a temple,of course. I was thinking that it would be very funny if I was to exclaim on seeing a magnificent ruined temple "What is that!!?" And if a Thai bystander could then say, in English "Yes, you are right - that is wat!" Don't bother telling this joke to Bailey, Tara,as he always looks grave at a pun.

I saw other tourists doing a tour of the ruined wats on elephants. They do like their elephants here. Often in the middle of dual carriage ways you see bushes cleverly sculpted into the shape of an elephant, abd there are statues of them and sculpted images on the side of buildings. Almost as common, of course, are images of the King who is very popular. Later in the day I was browsing in a shop and saw a bag for sale on which was emblazoned "I heart my King" with the stylised picture of a little heart. I wondered why the slogan was in English.

Wat Phra Si Sanket is an amazing sight with a row of three large stupas all set in a large park which also includes the Wihaan Mongkhon Bophit. I could tell they were stupas because there was a large sign with a picture of a stupa on it labelled "stupa or chedi"and a picture of a prang labelled "prang". This was useful but I wasn't sure that I needed the picture of a Buddha labelled "Buddha"or the picture of a wall labelled "wall". The same sign appears at all the wats including the one next to my hostel.

It is sad to think of the destruction wrought by the Burmese back in the 18th centuryand it was hard to imagine the wat as it had been.

The Wihaan Mongkhon Bophit in the same grounds is a brightly painted shrine recently renovated. There's a gigantic Buddha whose head reaches to the ceiling inside. It is made of gold plated bronze. Apparently the nation of Burma paid for part of the gold plating as a belated amends.

I wanted to see the Wat Phra Mahathat next. This time I went there in a bicycle rickshaw driven by a young boy. There are beautiful and evocative ruins in this wat but the best thing is the Buddha's head in the park which a large bodhi tree has encircledwith its roots. It's really an amazing sight. For over a hundred years, until the nineteenth century the wats were left to the jungle. Imagine the surprise when clearing away the vegetation and suddenly seeing the Buddha's head encircled by his divine tree!

Many Thai Buddhas seem to make surprise appearances - the Emerald (or Jade) Buddha and the Gold Buddha in Bangkok were both discovered by accident when the clay coating that disguised their true value was accidentally broken. I'd have expected everyone with a clay Buddhato take a look inside but, such is the reverence of the Thai for the Buddha, that there are likely many more valuable Buddhas hiding their true worth.

Across the road from Wat Phra Mahathat was Wat Ratburana which has a truly beautiful prang. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prang_(type_of_temple_spire)

It looks as if it is made of white marble and is beautifully carved, with reliefs of elephants and other motifs. There is an interesting story of the foundation of this wat. The king of Ayutthaya died and his two eldest sons battled each other for the right to succeed. The battle took place where the wat now stands - and both sons were killed. Then a third son turned up and claimed the kingdom. He had his father and both brothers cremated at the site of the battle and had the wat built there to hold their ashes.

A sign outside the wat explains that it was built after "a power struggle on elephants"!

Thai signs in English are often unintentionally funny. I'll try to find some more examples.

I walked from Wat Ratburana to the end of of Th(anon) Naresuan where there are many restaurants and shops. It was there that I found an internet cafe and sent my last blog. Then it was time for lunch.

I caught a tuk tuk to the Ayutthaya Historical Study Center. The driver overshot the destination,which is on a dual carrigeway,and reversed for at least a quarter of a mile at full speed, swerving to avoid oncoming traffic and parked cars. He offered to wait for me,but I thought better not.

The displays in the museum were very interesting, concentrating not on the many temples but on what lifewas actually like in Ayutthaya at its height when it was larger than London and visiting foreigners often said it was the most splendid city on Earth. There was a map drawn by an Engish cartographer in the 18th century which referred to Ayutthaya as "The city of Siam or Juthia". I only now realise that "Juthia"was the English equivalent of Ayutthia! Actually the pronunciation in Thai does sound more like "A you tee a" to me, soI can see that,ifthe initial A was missed off it would be Englished as Juthia.

There was an interesting film on Thai childrens' games,which seemedvery like those in England. Thai children all seem very happy. The life of peasants or "phrai" in Ayutthaya was not always pleasant. They could be commandeered to do forced labour and the descriptions were quite harrowing, reminding me of the Burmese railway.

After that I walked back to my hotel and showered and changed before going out again. I had oriented myself by now, so I walked back to the end of Th Naresuan for something to eat and a coffee, before sending this blog. I had an interesting dessert - sesame balls in ginger syrup. The syrup wasn'tvery syrupy - more soupy - but the ginger was very gingery! The sesame balls, or dumplings, were delicious - paste covered balls of sesame seeds in hot ginger sauce.

I'll end this blog here - this internet cafe is mostly occupied by Thais playing noisy computer games and I can scarcely think myself hear! I'll be able to see a bit more of Ayuthaya tomorrow morning and will then be travelling on to Lopburi, another former capital known as the city of monkeys!

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Comments

[Tara]

Puns!
Didn't take your advice and tried the pun on Bailey ... did indeed look grave. Keep up the blogs.. very interesting!