Ayutthaya

It has been over a month since I last posted anything. I guess I was waiting for something to happen. July went very quickly - too quickly - but not a great deal happened.

We went to a few soccer games as part of the Asia Cup, which were pretty interesting, but I am not in possession of the photos, so that will have to be another post.

A couple of weekends ago, Jac, Avi, Avi's friend Andrew and I went to Ayutthaya for the day to set some plans for the ceremony in motion and visit some ruins and temples. It is an easy journey to make from BKK, taking only an hour and a half by bus and costing less than two dollars. It is the locals' way to travel though, making stops every 10 seconds and having to endure Thai pop music blaring the whole way.

We dropped into the elephant kraal to say hello to our elephant friends and pay our respects to the recently deceased Loong Luan, who died of natural causes at the ripe old age of 65.

Hi Loong Sap!

Avi is apprehensive about Loong Sap.

The babies have grown and are OUT OF CONTROL (in the nicest way possible). They like to ram.

Believe it or not, this is the hotel that I would like our guests to stay at whilst in Ayutthaya. It is funny actually because we saw this big sign as we were driving through town to see the ruins and I joked that that was the hotel for our guests, and it actually turned out to be the one I had in mind. Apparently, Big Ass is a popular Thai band and they are playing a show at the hotel (hopefully before October). Thai bands have crazy names, though I am not sure where they were coming from when this band decided to call themselves Big Ass. For information, the hotel is lovely, reasonably priced and has good food, a pool and more for about $60 a night for the room. We are in the process of exploring a river cruise for dinner for everyone, which would provide a good opportunity to see all the temples Ayutthaya has to offer lit up at night.

   

This gorgeous creature stayed in this position the entire time we were visiting this temple and probably the whole afternoon. It was a hot day.

The Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya or ‘Ayutthaya’ is one of Thailand's historical and majestic highlights. Serving as the Thai capital for 417 years (1350 to 1767), it was once glorified as one of the biggest cities in the world – a Southeast Asia centre for civilizations. During the 17th century, most foreign visitors to Ayutthaya, traders or diplomats alike, claimed Ayutthaya to be the most illustrious and glittering city that they had ever visited.

The Kingdom of Ayutthaya reached its apex of sovereignty, military might, wealth, culture and international commerce in the 16th century when the Kingdom’s territory was extended far beyond present day Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. Ayutthaya even had diplomatic relations with Louis XIV of France and was courted by Dutch, Portuguese, English, Chinese and Japanese merchants.

After a 15-month siege, the Kingdom of Ayutthaya was conquered and completely destroyed by the Burmese in 1767. When King Taksin the Great finally liberated the Kingdom, a new dynasty was established and the capital was moved to Thonburi.

The architecture of Ayutthaya is a fascinating mix of Khmer (ancient Cambodian style) and early Sukhothai style. Some cactus-shaped obelisks, called prangs, denote Khmer influence and look something like the famous towers of Angkor Wat. The more pointed stupas are ascribed to the Sukhothai influence.

 

Needless to say, I am very excited at the prospect of having some photos taken with Damon here as part of the ceremony.