Some more Wats and Ayutthaya

Make a Wish

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My guide was telling me that many people in this wat pray for something and then lift the small elephant with their pinky if they are male or their ring finger if they are female. After lifting it, you pray again for the same thing and again try to lift it. If you are unable to lift it the second time, then our wish will come true. She had me try and it was really crazy because after I prayed the first time it was a piece of cake to lift it, but after the second time I tried just as hard to lift it but simply could not. It was really strange but cool.

A Wat in Ayutthaya

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Me standing on the steps of the first Wat we went to.

Buddha

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An image of Buddha and monks praying to him that was in a garden behind the Wat.

Chinese Buddha

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Another image of Buddha at the same temple. Notice how different this one looks compared to the other ones. This Buddha was made in a Chinese style while the other, skinny Buddhas are in an Indian style.

Buddha's Head

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At the second and third wats we went to, many of the Buddhas were headless. This is a head of Buddha that supposedly was laid on the ground (or buried, I don't remember) in the 18th century around the time that Ayutthaya was being sacked by the Burmese. Legend has it that this Bodhi tree (the kind of tree that the Buddha was thought to be sitting under when he reached enlightenment) began growing where the head was laid and the head is now part of the tree.

Headless Buddha

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One of many headless Buddhas

Stupas

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This wat had three stupas. The ashes of one of the kings was inside one of them.

Ayutthaya Royal Palce

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There's nothing there because it was completely destroyed when the Burmese sacked the city.

Bronze Buddha

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A giant bronze Buddha inside one of the wats that had been rebuilt.

Elephants

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Elephants doing tricks at the show.