Ayutthaya

After about a month back at school in the new semester without having left Bangkok since Samut Prakan, it was time for a weekend trip. Ayutthay, the old capital of Siam is easy enough to get to for a day trip, but I've only been there once before. I've been wanting to go back, and I finally found the time last weekend.

tuk-tuks in Ayutthaya are different from Bangkok's

Ayutthaya, the City of Kings, lies on a small defensible island in the Chao Phraya River. From 1350 until its defeat by the Burmese in 1767, Ayutthaya was one of Asia's most important capitals, and with a population up to 1,000,000 by the 18th century, it was one of the world's biggest and most powerful cities.
Now it's a quiet little town just a short train ride from Bangkok. The glory days of Ayutthaya are long gone with the dawn of the Thonburi Kingdom, but the city still retains its charm, found among the ruins of the palaces and temples, the sheer size of which display the ancient kingdom's past splendor.

After getting off the train and crossing the river on a rickety little 4-baht ferry boat, I rented a bike to best explore the Ayutthaya Historical Park. My first stop was the ruins of the famous Wat Mahathet complex.

got a coconut

Wat Mahathet was once an important royal temple and monastery, but was destroyed in the sack of Ayutthaya. When the Burmese captured the city, they decapitated many Buddhist statues as a symbol of their complete victory.

One of the most famous is the face in the tree. A dropped Buddha head was swallowed up by the growth of a bodhi tree, making it doubly sacred. Perfectly upright and very mysterious, the face looks serenely out over the ruined city.

still got my coconut

There's very little shade in the historical park, although it's starting to get cooler. I spent over an hour wandering around Wat Mahathet with a coconut, trying to imagine what the city was like before its destruction.

the ruins of the main temple

The historical park is a really popular destination with Thai weekenders from Bangkok. It's free admittance for Thais, but 50 baht for foreigners. I guess it's fair. The two-price system still bothers me, but less so since I technically count as a Thai because of my work ID.

One really big prang seemed to be one of the most intact. You can climb the steep stairs and go inside. Once inside, my friend Kate and I immediately felt a really weird creepy feeling. There was very little ventilation, and the place was dark and dusty. An information sign told us that we had walked into the largest royal crypt in Ayutthaya. 

Once a great treasure trove, most of the riches of Ayutthaya's crypt have been looted or moved to the National Museum. This was by far the best preserved structure in the historical park, and really interesting to look around. I didn't get to go inside any of the ruins last time I visited the city, so exploring a little more in depth was a cool experience for me.

you can't see it, but we've both got coconuts