Ruins of Ayutthaya
The trip to Ayutthaya was arranged by Ratt , the lovely tourism officer at the hotel. We were picked up from the hotel, transferred to a coach with visitors from other hotels and journeyed up to Ayuthaya, about 80 kilometers north of Bangkok.
The name might sound familiar now as it made the news for its floods that closed down factories and prisons. Just yesterday I saw a news clip of its prisoners being moved to a safer vicinity, in handcuffs they waded through the waist-deep waters. On our journey there, there were already floods that covered their houses. A 2-storey house became one as it’s lower half was consumed by the flood water.
Flood in Ayutthaya
When we were there, the floods were at an early stage. From the bus, it seemed that the Thai residents were not really affected, they still went about with their daily activities and used boats to move around. I think it had something to do with their gentle nature, they accepted the flood and fashioned their lives around it. They built a makeshift bridge made of wooden planks, so I’m guessing the floods were seasonal or perhaps existed for awhile. There were sandbags lining the roads, and later the tour guide, Paul (whose real name was Kumpol), told us that the villagers sacrificed their own houses by allowing floods to enter in order to keep the Wat (temple in Thai) safe and dry. So what they did was to channel the flood water away from the Wats and ruins of Ayutthaya and instead suffered the consequences.
Being the 2nd ancient capital of Siam, Ayutthaya boasted a number of temples and ancient ruins. There were 4 pit stops before we reached Wat Chong Lom Pier to take the river cruise. They were Bang Pa-In Summer Place, Wat Phra Maha That, Wat Phra Sri Sanphet (with the neighbouring Viharn Phra Mongkon Bopit) and Wat Nah Pramane.
Bang Pa-In Summer Palace
Built during the Ayutthaya era, the palace was beautifully decorated in both traditional Chinese and European styles. Upon alighting from the coach, I was testing the DSLR and accidentally slipped on the kerb, spraining my ankle. I have to admit I brought the wrong shoes, should have used my flats instead of the open-toed croc heeled sandals. What had a girl to do but gritted her teeth and limped her way around Ayutthaya.
What touched me immediately about Bang Pa-In Summer Place was its serenity and calmness. There was a river flowing through it, and water fountains at certain points of the river. It was a sunny day and somehow the sprinkles and the sun produced droplets of rainbow on the river.
I don’t quite know how to explain this, but on every trip that I went to there would be a magical moment where nature exhibited her true beauty in rainbows, clouds or the waves and it lent a special touch to the whole trip. I think in time to come, I will forget names of these buildings or what empire persisted in what ruins, but I will remember these special moments.
Like in Perth, I saw a full rainbow etched across the sky. In Turkey, I saw the sun so bright that it felt like God shone a torchlight and lit up the sea. In Egypt, there was that moment at the hotel balcony where I just stood and stared at the Nile. Sorry to digress, I hope to write those little stories in this blog. But there it was in Bang Pa-In, on the backdrop of an ancient palace, sprinkles of rainbows on the river made my day.
Bang Pa-In Summer Palace
The picture above was taken from the pavilion, the Thai-style pavilion across it was built by King Chulalongkorn in 1876. Called Aisawan-Dhipaya-Asana or The Divine Seat of Personal Freedom, it was a copy of the one at the Grand Palace built by King Mongkut. The light yellow coloured building on its left was the Residential Hall, as you can see its columns were European-styled. Paul the tour guide joked that the king was “corrupted” with European ideas and borrowed many architectural influences, so the summer palace was a fusion of Thai, Chinese and European designs. Like a fickle-minded person who couldn’t decide on the theme for his house. Onto the right, was the Devaraj-Kunlai Gate.
Doll Bridge at Bang Pa-In Summer Palace
The king was so in love with European design that he commissioned a replica of the bridge over Tiber River in Rome substituting the angels with Western deities and goddesses. I have mixed feelings about borrowing too much Western influences into an iconic place like the palace. For a king at that time to be able to travel to Europe was quite a feat (even now for normal folks like me it took a lot of preparations and money to do so) thus perhaps he wanted to share the Western beauty to his people, remember they didn’t have cameras like us today. On the other hand, it felt like an insult to Thai architecture which was already rich in symbols and metaphors. All that aside, I guess only in Bang Pa-In Palace, you will see how East meets West ever so glaringly. A real treat to the eye.
East meets West in Bang Pa-In Summer Palace
I’m not quite sure who the statue was, could it be David carrying Goliath’s slain head? But it looked like a woman, and the head looked like Zeus. Anyone can shed some light? You know what this means, I need a trip of Greece and Rome ASAP.
Tower at Bang Pa-In
We also came across a pretty house like the ginger bread house painted in lilac for the royal children to play in. Then there were the Phra Thinang Wehart Chamrunm, a Chinese-styled two-storey mansion, the Ho Withun Thasana or tower and several sculptured topiary plants in the shapes of local animal spreading across the grounds of the palace.
It was a good warm up for the long day ahead. Oh, did I mention the toilets there were really clean. So if you take this trip, make sure to use the toilets at Bang Pa-In before the next pit stop – Wat Phra Maha That.
Wat Phra Maha That
An attraction of this ruins was this famous Buddha head that was caught in mangled tree roots. During the war with Burma, the Burmese army slayed the heads of the Buddha statues, and one of them (I guess) was chucked into this tree. Some 600 years ago, Wat Phra Maha That was the heart and soul of Ayutthaya people. Over the years, the tree roots grew around the head but never covered the face of the Buddha.
Buddha head in the tree
We were addressed on basic etiquette on taking photographs whilst on the grounds of Ayutthaya. Due to its defeat to Burma, there were still many headless Buddhas lining the area. One of the rules was not to place one’s head on the headless Buddha and take photographs like in Universal Studios. Can you imagine people could actually do something like that? Anyway, it is bad luck to do so, placing your own image on that of the Buddha.
As you can see from the picture below, some of the pagodas were leaning towards one side. Even though there were conservation work done to preserve the structures, the land itself was soft and moist. These buildings were over 600 years old. It’s different than the pyramids in Egypt, the humidity was arid and dry, so they were able to stand for thousands of years. We were advised not to lean on the leaning pagodas as they might just crumble upon us.
Cross-section of Wat Phra Maha That of Ayutthaya
Paul pointed to us the two different types of pagodas in Thailand. The stupa and the chedi. Sorry, I can’t seem to remember which is which. On the left is a corn cob shaped pagoda (that could be the chedi, an influence from Cambodia) and on the right, is the pointed pagoda with concentric rings on its top. The white slabs were recon work done on the pagodas. It’s interesting to see influences from India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malay and China in Thailand. Not just in its architecture but folklore and beliefs, more on than when we visit the Bangkok National Museum.
Stupa and Chedi
In front of a stupa at Ayutthaya
I love the picture on the left. My sprained ankle was mercilessly dragged on the uneven grounds of Ayutthaya. I was resting on the brick wall and asked my husband to snap a shot.
Why I like this photo?
1. Check out the clouds! They were forming a spaceship. The pointed pagoda looked like an antennae sending signals into the sky.
2. My newly-bought Thai silk shawl lent some colours to the picture, at least I’d like to think so.
3. I don’t look fat… sort of.
Viharn Phra Mongkon Bopit & Wat Phra Sri Sanphet
The next pit stop was the Viharn Phra Mongkon Bopit. There was an image of the Buddha that was said to be the largest bronze image seated in this temple. I’m quite uncomfortable sometimes when entering too many temples. The other patrons, the followers of the faith, would quickly bow to the Buddha, and there I was standing upright, it felt disrespectful but it’s not my religion, so I would just stand at the staircase take a quick peek and walk out. Funny isn’t it how a Buddha can make me uncomfortable but a bridge of Roman-Greek gods didn’t have that same effect. Anyway, the image of the Buddha in there was really big, they carved the Buddha first and then built a temple to house it because there was no way an colossal image like that could fit into the door.
Viharn Phra Mongkon Bopit
A bowl of lotus plant in front of the temple, said to be holy flowers for the Buddhist.
A touch of nature at Viharn Phra Mongkon Bopit
Since we didn’t spend much time at Wat Phra Sri Sanphet nearby (we snapped a photo, the first on this entry), instead we went for a drink and watched the elephants. Some visitors opted for an elephant ride that took them around the perimeters of the area. We already took an elephant ride in Bali a couple of years back, I think that was enough torture for the elephant, so no need for such rides again.
I have to say that even though the villagers around the area looked poor, we didn’t face any touters like we did in Bali or Egypt. The shop sellers were not persistent and that gave us room to breathe and enjoy the sights better instead of trying to squeeze our ways out of a place.
Elephants at Ayutthaya
I shall end this long entry with a picture of a stray baby elephant roaming freely in the vicinity. I was standing and watching the big elephants eating straws when this little cutey snugged up behind me. Naughty, naughty, baby elephant!
Baby Elephant at Ayutthaya
We went to Wat Nah Pramane after that, but I didn’t take any photos. Some people sought their fortune there and bought amulets. I was really tired then and just wanted to settle in to our afternoon cruise and sail down Chao Phraya.
