Day 99: Ayutthaya

I have wanted to go to the ancient capital city of what is now Thailand for many years. I'm not sure why we didn't go on our several visits to Bangkok years ago - the timing never seemed to work out. Ayutthaya, a UNESCO world heritage sight, was the second capital established in the Kingdom, and by around 1700 it was the biggest city in the world - boasting a population of over one million people, and rivaling Paris in size, scope and importance in world influence. Due to its location (same goes for Bangkok now), it was a major trading hub for Europe, Japan and China.

The city has a long, storied history of course, but the broad strokes fit in nicely to what we'd learned and seen elsewhere. The Ayutthayans were the ones who had sacked Angkor in the 1400s and forced them to abandon their capital and relocate to present day Phnom Pehn. The whole area was in an on again, off again war - the Chinese and Burmese were very active participants in trying to take territory and influence by force as well. In the early 1760's, two Burmese armies attacked and completely razed Ayutthaya - pretty much burning the whole city to the ground. If it wasn't for the Chinese forces invading the Burmese capital shortly thereafter, forcing them to retreat out of Ayutthaya, the country would probably be part of Burma/Myanmar today. Of interest to Beth and I, that capital city in Burma was Bago (now Bagan) which we'd visited in 1997.

There was a chance we weren't going anywhere today! Beth has seemed to inherit a sudden love for the 24 hour news cycle, so it was hard to pull her away :-). I had suggested to take the train - a slow but sure, relaxed way to get to Ayutthaya, which would provide for a good (out of Bangkok) distraction from the news. Beth was not keen on the crowds in the station, so brilliantly proposed we look into a private car. Sure enough, the really helpful lady at the front desk hooked us up with Mr. T and by 11:00am, we were packed into his taxi and off to the races. Mr T. Was a really nice guy (his real name was Teerachai Carnkulno, so if he hadn't suggest we call him Mr. T or Mr. C, it was going to be a half day of "buddy, guy, pal, homes, dude"), though his English was pretty difficult to understand for a while until I got my ear configured to his pronunciation.

We really had no agenda - no research was done and frankly, nobody really cared what we saw. We were immediately comfortable with letting Mr. T. drive the agenda, as he really knew what tourists would want to see (he does this trip three times a week). We would just intervene with food requests, of course!

Our first stop after the hour long drive to the area was outside the city proper, at the impressive Wat Chaiwatthanaram. This huge temple was built in the Khmer style, and it was no wonder: we discovered it was built in the 1500's, after the sacking of Angkor. While borrowing the design from the Khmer's, the Ayutthayans did not have limestone anywhere nearby, so like the rest of the temples in the vast area, this one was built with clay bricks, then plastered to form the finer details of the temple. Obviously the plaster has mostly not survived the test of time.

It was very hot in the sun. Abby remarked that we really needed Siya here to move us into s shady area. He was so good in Angkor at moving us from shady spot to shady spot, that even though it was as hot or hotter when we were there, it never felt like it.

 After a walk around the grounds, it was water time then back in the car. The calls of "I'm hun-grayyyyyy" from Abby were starting (that kid has a real hollow leg of late!) were echoing in the car, followed by the semi panicked "Craig... Craig?....Craig! We should think of lunch" from Beth. Well, at least her mind was in the "present" moment, that was good!

We drove into the city of Ayutthaya, which is actually an island surrounded by the confluence of three rivers. It is a huge area, and not hard to imagine how they could have housed a million people here. Our next stop was changed to the "floating market" area where we could get lunch and browse some shops. It was also a bountiful place for cheesy cutout shots!' I can almost hear the cheesy "Let's make a deal" music in my head when I see one of these....da da da da da da da da! Da da da da da da da.......

I actually hadn't noticed the saggy grandma boobs on that cutout until now.... Sorry Robin! We put the girls to work carrying a vehicle that was the obvious precursor to the modern day Tuk Tuk to work up an appetite!

The whole floating market is a figure eight shaped village surrounding a pond. There's nothing really floating about it, but it's a nice replica of a traditional Thai on-the-water village.

We had lunch, which wasn't as successful as most Thai meals to date, however there were tons of munchies available and as usual no one went hungry. We also had time for you guessed it... More cheesy cutout shots!!! This time, we had room for three - Beth Tyndall, come on down! (Yes, I realize I just mixed two game shows together).

The girls just had to feed the fish to conclude our little touristy experience at the grounded floating set of shops market...

Next up, Mr. T. suggested the famous Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon - a beautiful temple featuring a giant lying down Buddha near the front gate. Beth and Robin hung out in the shade while Abby and I hiked up into the central temple spire, but there wasn't much to see up there.

The arrangement of the Buddhas surrounding the main shrine was quite serene. Very nice.

Next up was a visit to see the Buddha head that had been overgrown by a banyan tree at Wat Mahathat...

Abby and I had to do this one alone, as Robin and Beth were really feeling the heat and wanting to stay in the shade near the main entrance. I think we were nearing our end in Ayutthaya. Abby took this cute little shot called "Buddha with Birds" on the way out...

Yup. We had to go. Well, we got a taste for what Ayutthaya was all about, and it was a much needed, private distraction outside the city for Beth. On the drive out, we saw loads of tourists riding huge, dark skinned elephants. The platforms were mounted on the backs of the elephants and we couldn't help feeling sad for them. We hadn't even begun the education process we were due to enjoy in Chiang Mai, but we were already getting our backs in the air, so to speak, in defence of these majestic animals.

As predicted, I flipped my camera over my head 10 minutes into the ride and was able to provide Mr T. and I with a few minutes of chuckling...

We got back late into the afternoon. The traffic in the city is absolutely horrendous at rush hour. I'd never seen dark red/purple on the google navigation map, but there it was: 2.4km to go, 17 minutes. Wow.

There was a bit of a dilemma for dinner - I wasn't too keen to go back the the same place by our hotel, and Beth wasn't too keen to go to Khaosan Road, so we left the hotel in search of something else. Sure enough, a bunch of vendors had set up around the roundabout by the hotel and we decided to street food it! Wow. Delicious custom ordered Phad Thai by the cutest little old women. They were popular tonight!

Also on the menu, grilled corn on the cob painted with butter and salt - yum!

We didn't think we'd accomplish much today, with the ongoing worry about the troubles (jeez, it sounds like Northern Ireland in the 70's! It's really not that bad!!), but we ended up having a great day and a great night. Beth has joined the girls and I in tackling the Walking Dead on Netflix - it was a nice, almost "35 Cardigan, Friday night" kind of way to finish the day.