Ayutthaya Ancient City

Carol begins the day with an unusual breakfast.  A blue crab dish and a delicious salad with complex flavors.

We have a five hour guided tour with Mr. Pok, his driver and an air-conditioned Camry. He is an incredibly knowledgeable guide. We'll visit the six most historic temple ruins today; only 494 remain for our next visit to Ayutthaya.

 

Mr. Pok claims Thai people are crazy.  As evidence he offers up the tribute to one king. At this temple dedicated to the victory of the Thai king over the Burmese king in an elephant dual,  people come and pay tribute to the king and Buddha with cock statues demonstrating his strength. Previously we thought Thai people were the knick knack horders of all time.  Now we know that the huge number of shops selling this stuff sell to people who bring them to the temple to pay tribute to Buddha and effectively try to buy their way into Nirvana.

 

We are dripping water in this heat. The real temperature is 97F with a feel like of 104F. The number of temples (Wats) in this town is amazing. We thought there was a single complex of ruins by there are many and most of them are large.

 

 

During one battle with the Burmese the head from a statue of Buddha was felled. Since ancient times a tree has grown up around it and it's now a significant attraction of the city.

                                               

The last wat visit of the day is an unusual one.  Most of them have a central chedi (pagoda). This one has three.  The chedi are the resting place for family ashes as Buddhists are cremated. This war contained the ashes of the families of three wealthy brothers.

We take a late lunch back at the hotel. Each of the three dishes is superb although the one in the middle is too hot for Carol resulting in her ordering the third picturesque dish.

 

 



The afternoon is spent in another 90 minute massage (referred to by some as paying for torture) and admiring the view and river traffic.

 

 

We return to our usual and now reserved table for another very good dinner. Mango sticky rice; yum!