Ayutthaya

We left Bangkok today to head north to the former capital of Thailand, Ayutthaya (pronounced Ah-you'-tee -ah). It was the capital for 417 years from 1372 to 1767 but during that time Burma attacked the city 44 times in as effort to invade and take over Thailand. Therefore the many temples in the city were nearly destroyed.

Our first stop was at King Rama V Summer Palace called Bana Pa-In. His father had built a pavilion in the jungle many years before he became king so when Rama V found it, he had it restored and built many other buildings around it, flooded it and made it his summer home. We also visited a Buddhist temple that resembles a Christian church because of the style and the stain glass windows. Near here were a couple of Buddhas in different positions.

In Ayutthaya we rode in Tuk Tuks to visit some of the temples located in the Historical Park. The Victory Temple is the biggest and tallest Stupa in all of Thailand built in 1557. A stupa is a round pagoda built to honor Buddha . Royalty and monks had their cremated ashes placed inside the stupa so that they can reach heaven. While there we witnessed the ordination of monks.

The next stop was Wat Maha That (pronounced 'tat'). The head of a Buddha statue had fallen off and was trapped in the roots of a tree. We compared the shape of the various chedi called stupa, prang or pagoda depending on the shape of the base. All reach to the heavens. A tuk tuk ride to another site showed the chedi in better preservation so more detail was visible. Most of what we saw were constructed in the mid 1700's and contain the relics of royalty.

The last stop was at Wat Phra Si Sanphet, a huge complex of temples, stupas and prangs. Each king had his own stupa or prang for his creamated ashes and a building for the burial ceremony. The palace was nearby so the king could easily walk to the temple to worship.

It's been a long, hot and muggy day. Time to cool off, refresh and rest.