Ayuthaya - 16 Feb

Ancient City

Ayuthaya was one of Thailand’s earliest and most sacred kingdoms. Ayuthaya sits north of Bangkok and is surrounded by three rivers; Choa Praya, Pa Sak and Lompburi. We took a mini bus up to explore the city and its ancient ruins.
With our backpacks in tow we arrive at our first temple, Wat Phukhao Thong. The sun is still quite low on the eastern horizon and the Wat stands brilliantly white and amazingly tall. We are not on a tour but get the benefit of a guide as this is a stop short of the actual city. Ayuthaya dates back from 1350 – 1767 and is truly amazing. Our drop off point is Wat Thummikarat just at the city limits. We take advantage of the fact we are at this Wat before finding our room for the night. The Wat is more of the Angkor styling of the Khmer people (similar to Cambodian Wats).
After finding our room for the night we head by local bus (pick up truck with benches and a roof) to center of town and the night market. They are still celebrating Chinese New Year and we can see they will have a lot going on tonight. We find our way to Wat Mah That, right in the middle of town. This where we find the Buddha head encased in tree roots, its simply gorgeous. We also see Wat Rachaburana, which is another very large Wat right next to the city, then off to the night market.
We find loads of delicious food this night and are lucky enough to see a Dragon dance and then a dancing Elephants masquerading as a Tigers. This was the Chinese New Year celebration we were hoping to see in Bangkok but didn’t. It is a carnival atmosphere. A truly great party. What a treat for us!
We spend the entire next day exploring many more Wats around Ayuthaya, including Wat Yai Chaimongkhon, Wat Chaiwattanaran, and Wat Prah Si Samphet. Many of these Wats have been restored in some way or another, but you can still see the remains of some that have been left to nature.
~Karen~