Astonishing Ayutthaya

I wished to go to Ayutthaya as part of my goal to visit UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  A friend of mine was kind enough to come and explore the place with me. I almost gave up the idea of seeing the place because of time and transportation constraints. Fortunately, we were able to set foot and enjoy what Ayutthaya has to offer.

We arrived by van to Ayutthaya from Bangkok. There were a lot of vans bound to Ayutthaya at Bangkok's Victory Monument. It was an hour drive and we had to pay 90 THB.

The view at Victory Monument Station, Bangkok

Arriving at Ayutthaya, we then sought out the help of tuktuks to take us to our hotel. We rented a room in Baan One Love Guesthouse. Renting a room allowed us to leave our things, freshen up and rest a bit before exploring. We also arranged for the hotel to get us a tuktuk to drive us to the temples. The price for the tuktuk to take us around was 200THB per hour. Quite expensive but this is the usual rate.

While waiting for our driver, we found this mobile stall with dried fruits being sold on it. I didn't catch the names of the fruits but the lady was kind enough to let me taste some.

When our tuktuk arrived, we asked him to take us to St Joseph Church first before heading off to the temples. As I standby what has been taught to me to put God first in everything that I do, I believe this is just the right thing. 

Taking a wefie while on board the tuktuk we rented.

St Joseph Church is a Catholic Church in Ayutthaya built in 1666 at the request of Vietnamese missionaries. It was originally built with bricks and mortar in European style between 1685 and 1995. Unfortunately, it was destroyed during Burmese attacks and so restoration was completed in 1847. The church has then been a place of continuous Catholic worship in Thailand for over 300 years.

We were lucky to get in and pray. This is what the inside looks like.

We then headed to explore some temples. The ancient city of Ayutthaya, formally designated Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya was the the Thai capital city for 417 years and is one of Thailand's major tourist attraction. 

First temple we went to was Wat Chaiwatthanaram as it was close to the Church we visited earlier. This is one of Ayutthaya's best known temples and a major tourist attraction. The temple's name literally means the Temple of Long Reign and Glorious Era.

After the total destruction of the old capital by the Burmese army in 1767, this temple wasn't spared and was deserted. Theft, sale of bricks and and beheading of Buddha statues were common. In 1987, the Thai Department of Fine Arts started its restoration and opened it to the public in 1992.

Wat Chaiwatthanaram was a royal temple where the king and his successors performed religious ceremonies. Also, princes and princesses were cremated here. 

We spent a long time in this temple as it was quite big. It was a mesmerizing and beautiful sight. Although I have already been to Angkor Wat in Cambodia, seeing a temple like this still makes my heart skip a beat. By the way, entrance fee for this temple is 50THB.

Our next stop is Wat Phra Ram. This monastery was situated outside the grand palace compound to the southeast. It was constructed by the royal command of King Rame - suan. Admission to this temple is still 50THB.

This is where we saw a lot of elephants being ridden by tourists. My friend would have loved to ride one but then I didn't want to ride an elephant again. We settled by just seeing them on the streets. We even joked about being careful of being run over by elephants and not by vehicles. I was lucky to have a photo of an elephant who still has his tusk.

A few steps away was Wat Phra Si Sanphet. In Thai this means Temple of the Holy, Splendid Omniscient and was the holiest temple in the Royal Palace in Ayutthaya until the city was destroyed. 

The three large chedis were made to contain ashes of Kings. The styles of these chedis are considered typical of the Ayutthaya style and several replicas of them have been built in Bangkok. Currently, this temple is regarded as the symbol of Ayutthaya province.

Outside the temple was a small market where snacks, drinks and souvenirs were being sold. We found these children selling toy grasshoppers made from plant's leaves. Interesting and unique idea for these kids to have extra money.

We also found this small temple at the South of Wat Phra Si Sanphet. It is where one of the biggest bronze Buddha images in Thailand is. 

Our last but definitely not the least temple visited was..

This temple which means The Monastery of the Great Relic is located on the city island in the central part of Ayutthaya. The structure has been registered as a national historic site by the Fine Arts Department on 8 March 1935 and is part of the Ayutthaya World Heritage Historical Park. Entrance fee for this temple is 50THB.

Apart from being the symbolic center where the Buddha's relics were enshrined, this temple was also the residence of the leader of the Thai Buddhist monks. It is believed to be built during 14th century A.D.

This is the foundation of the main prang which remains until today. It collapsed during the Ayutthaya period, was restored and collapsed again in 1911. It can be judged from the size of the base that the prang was quite high. The main prang was the most important edifice in the temple compound.

This temple offers the much photographed Buddha head embedded into a tree trunk.

After spending time looking around at the remnants of this temple, we headed to the street market which is located right across. Most of the stalls were still setting up but we managed to buy fruits and look at their products.

We had a hectic afternoon in Ayutthaya. If only we had a lot of time we would've went to other temples and explored more of the place. As we were tired, we went back to our hotel to prepare ourselves and our things for our next adventure - our sleeper train ride to Chiang Mai. I'm excited to tell you all about it as it was my first time to ride a sleeper train. 

Thank you for reading and 'til my next blog!