Okay, Ayutthaya isn't in Bangkok. Neither is Bangkok in Ayutthaya. Please do not be confused by the title. I simply titled it this way for standardisation sake, with the rest of my other posts on my Bangkok trip!

Ayutthaya, previously named Siam, was once the capital of Thailand from the mid 1300s until it was sacked and destroyed by the Burmese army in 1767. I got these facts from wikipedia, in case you're wondering.

What left of the once glorious city are now mostly temple ruins, which are really amazing and astonishing. I have a very curious heart towards abandoned buildings. Being given a choice of a day tour to either Ayutthaya or the floating market, I actually chose the former. Not that the tour was very great, but I'm still glad I chose that anyhow.

It's really weird when I suddenly find myself become like a child with a gazillion questions when I visited to the ruins in Ayutthaya. I really wonder how it would have looked like back in its glorious state. How big is it? How wide? What was in it? What such destructions happened. I was suddenly so full of awe and curiosity. But of course, I kept these question to myself!

The first temple ruin which we stopped at after Bang Pa-In Summer Palace was Wat Mahathat. I'm not going to go into the historical details of these temple ruins. Well, not as if like I would know! I'll just let the pictures show you the awe that I had ... and still have!

One interesting spot that the tour guide showed us in Wat Mahathat was a Buddha head which was covered by banyan tree roots. It was indeed amazing to look at because it really looked as if the Buddha head was part of the overgrown roots.



And within the ruins of this temple, you'll come across many ruined Buddha statues. Armless, headless, all broken apart.



I wished there was a way to view the area from a higher viewpoint, and see how wide and massive it could be.





If you'd like to know more about Wat Mahathat, here's a relatively good link.

Next up was Wat Na Phramane. Another quick dash. Apparently, this temple was left untouched when Ayutthaya was sacked for the second time. The main attraction here is a large sized Buddha statue, fully dressed in regal attire, housed in the ordination hall (ubosot).

The ubosot

Devotee lighting a joss-stick.

Wat Na Phramane is also known for a Buddha statue made of dark green stone, housed in a smaller shrine hall (vihara) beside the ubosot. I did not manage to get any pictures of it, as I did not feel comfortable "intruding" the worshippers inside the hall which was rather dim and small.

For more info on Wat Na Phramane, please visit here.

The final place we visited in Ayutthaya was Wat Lokaya Sutharam. Here, you'll see the remains of a large Reclining Buddha, about 37 meters in length, built of bricks and plaster. At the back, there are the ruins of the ubosot and wihara.







For more info on some of the sights to visit around the Ayutthaya city, go here.

If you're also looking at a visit around the Ayutthaya city, you can alternatively try hiring an experienced tuk-tuk driver to bring you around the city. I was told by some of my friends who went in a group of about 6 - 7 people that this allowed them to go to about 6 - 7 places in the city. But if you decide to follow a tour, I'd suggest that you try to get a detailed itinerary from the agency, such as the exact places you'll be visiting in the Ayutthaya city if you're concerned about it.

The tour that I joined basically took me to only 3 sights in the city in addition to the Bang Pa-In Summer Palace, after which was a river cruise along the Chao Praya river - in which I personally find that the time on cruise would be much better spent on other places in the Ayutthaya city! And I find that the amount of time we were allocated at the temple ruins was pretty short, ranging between only 15 to 45 minutes for each! But then again, this is just a personal rant and comment!

For more pics and larger resolutions, go to my gallery here.

Coming up next ... Cruise Along Chao Praya (*yawn*)!

Labels: travel