Temples and Tuk-tuks in Ayutthaya

Buddha amongst the ruins

Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya is another ancient city, founded in 1350 and at one time second capital of Siam (Thailand's original name) after Sukhotai. The centre is an island of about 4km, at the confluence of three rivers, including the Chao Phraya River that runs through Bangkok. Ayutthaya became a trading capital of Asia and by 1700 it was the largest city in the world, with a population of one million, made up of forty different nationalities, including Chinese, Persian, Portuguese, Dutch, English and French. Many lived in ghettos with their own docks for exporting rice, spices, timbers and hides. The kings of Ayutthaya cleverly maintained independence whilst making the most of the skills of foreign architects and navigators. They employed Japanese Samurai as royal bodyguards, and allowed some foreign prime ministers, as they took care of foreign trade without getting involved in court intrigue.

Buddhas 'dressed' daily

Traders described the beautiful gold-laden palaces, ceremonies and floating trading vessels, and the sunlight reflecting off the gilt was said to dazzle for up to 5km. However there was recurring tension with Burma (now Myanmar) for a couple of hundred years, and in 1767 the Burmese invaded and burned the city to the ground, taking thousands of prisoners.

Most of the buildings that survived in ruined form are temples and palaces as they were the only stone buildings. There are many prangs (tall reliquary towers) and it is still possible to see the outline of monastery cloisters and to imagine the vastness if the city. The city was abandoned to the jungle, but lived on in memory as the layout influenced the design of Ratanakosin (the 'new' city).

Hard to capture the vast size of the site

We bought a six-temple pass for 220 baht at the temple (Wat) nearest to Tamarind. The name Wat Phra Mahathat ('Great Relic Chedi') shows that the temple was built to house the remains of Buddha. According to legend, the ashes of Buddha materialised in front of King Ramesuan as he looked out of his palace one morning. The ashes were enshrined in a gold casket within a 38 metre high prang. The casket and other treasures were unearthed in 1950,  as well as a beautiful marble fish containing trinkets of gold, amber, porcelain and crystal. We were allowed to climb the remains of the largest prang, giving us an amazing view of the ruins, the tilting prangs and scattered headless Buddhas. Wat Mahathat is famous for a Buddha head entwined in the roots of a bodhi tree.

Peeping Buddha

Winged garuda

Wat Ratchburana is just across the road from Mahathat, and was built in 1424 to commemorate the brothers of King Boromraja, who had managed to kill each other in an elephant-backed duel over the throne, leaving the situation vacant for Boromraja! Four Sri Lankan-style chedis lean out around a central prang, which still has beautiful stuccowork, (some of it restored), including statues of garudas swooping down on nagas.

Many more photos here:

View of Wat Mahathat
from Coffee Old City

Phra Ram from across the park

The temperature was rising fast and after exploring these two wats, we retreated to air-con and a cold drink back in our room, then iced coffee and ice cream in 'Coffee Old City', a little café nearby. All the historical sites in Ayutthaya are within walking distance of each other, but the intense heat made walking very tiring.

Phra Ram from the tuk-tuk

We walked across Phra Ram park towards the central prang there, and as we waited to cross a busy road a tuk-tuk driver who was travelling in the opposite direction shouted across to us, made a U-turn, and pulled in alongside.

John's instinct was to walk on as we had got used to being gently hassled by all sorts of tuk-tuk driver, all eager for a fare. But this driver wasn't pushy, showed us photos and asked which sights we would like to visit. I explained that we needed to be back at the guesthouse by 3pm, and he suggested driving us to see two that were close together, then on to Tamarind.

He drove to a wall near the first, explained which direction to take, and said to be back in an hour. This one is a 'viharn' rather than a wat, a large, active, monastic assembly hall built in 1956 with aid from Burma as atonement for the destruction of Ayutthaya two hundred years earlier.

Eyes made of mother of pearl

It houses Phra Mongkhon Bophit, one of the largest bronze Buddhas in Thailand. Cast in the fifteenth century, it was damaged when the original wat was struck by lightening around 1700, was restored, then for two centuries it sat amongst the burned ruins after the Burmese sacked the city. With its flashing mother of pearl eyes, the statue is 12.45 metres high and 9.5m wide, sitting on a 4.5m base, and it was covered with gold leaf in 1990. When it was restored in the 50s, they found hundreds of Buddha statuettes inside, some of which were buried around the shrine as protection.

Dusting the Buddha

We walked across to Wat Phra Si Sanphet nearby, which in 1503 housed a 16m high Buddha, but which didn't survive the 18th century destruction of the city. There was a vast Royal Palace here, 'Wang Luang', stretching to the Lopburi River in the north. Only the outline of the walls remain, but there is an excellent model of the complex.

Scale model of ancient city

Driver very proud of new tuk-tuk

We did our 'tour', while our tuk-tuk driver sat in the shade for an hour, then he dropped us at Tamarind. Easy money for him, but he was only charging 200 baht (£5) for both of us, and there is no way we would have reached either place in the pounding heat.

Follow these links for more Phra Ram Park and elephant photos and Mongkhon Bophit