Ayutthaya // Wat Maha That + the Buddha in a tree

Wat Maha That was the last temple site that we visited in Ayutthaya. this Wat is by far the most popular attraction in the ruined city. the main reason why people love to visit this particular temple ruin? the buddha head in the tree.

the buddha head was removed from one of the statues when the Burmese sacked Ayutthaya in the late 1700s. it must have fallen or been moved to the base of this wall, and the tree roots grew around it. I always find it interesting when nature starts to reclaim what man has built. what makes this site unique is that the roots have grown to cradle the head but don't cover the face, which almost makes it look... intentional.

proper etiquitte requires you to always have your head lower than the head of the buddha, especially when taking photos. so everyone huddles on the ground around this tree when taking pictures... it's quite a sight. I pretty much had to crawl through a horde of Japanese tourists to get up to the barrier and take this shot. but, worth the dirty knees I think.

the rest of the complex was still impressive [if partially sinking into the ground in spots.] parts were under restoration, but there were plenty of crumbling stupas and chedis left to explore. and buddhas. I hope you guys aren't tired of seeing buddha pictures... because this temple was covered in buddhas.

Wat Maha That is a must-see if you are visiting Ayutthaya, if only for the buddha head in the tree. I would suggest making it your first stop to beat the crowds, and definitely try to get there before noon. we arrived just before several buses of tourists, and had to navigate around group tours as we explored the grounds.

there are other sites to visit in Ayutthaya, but we only spent our morning exploring the ruined city. that afternoon we went back to Bangkok to see the Grand Palace - a giant theological / governmental complex very much not in ruins. [don't worry, there's still more Thailand to come.] until then, happy travels!

Ayutthaya // Wat Phra Si Sanphet

Wat Phra Si Sanphet was the second temple complex we visited on our tour of Ayutthaya. the ruins on this expansive site were once home to the royal palace [in 1350 AD] and a monastic site a century after that.

on the day that we visited, the site was full of children on school trips... including several who asked us to sign a paper stating they gave us a tour, and others who asked to pose for pictures. [obviously I had to take a picture of the picture taking...]

there were also some dogs - easier to spot than the cats at Wat Pho.

next to the site of Wat Phra Si Sanphet there is a more modern temple with a giant golden buddha inside, a decent size market where you can find local souvenirs, snacks, and drinks [we stopped for some coconuts] and also restroom facilities. in fact, this is the place where I lost my squat toilet virginity - a mere six days shy of my one-year expat anniversary. but that's a story for another time...

Ayutthaya // Wat Chaiwatthanaram

the first temple that we visited on our taxi tour of Ayutthaya was Wat Chaiwatthanaram. to be honest, I hadn't done much research into Ayutthaya beforehand, and all I knew was we were visiting a bunch of old temple ruins. I didn't really know what to expect. the men [Husband and his best friend who was traveling with us] had decided they wanted to visit based on friends' recommendations, and so we went.  waking up at 6am on vacation may have made me a little cranky. [ok, let's be honest. any day waking up at 6am makes me cranky.] but as soon as we stepped out of the cab, I was completely enchanted.

when they say these are ruins, they really mean it. the walls still show soot from when the temple was burned, centuries ago. the colorful tiles found on more modern temples have all been stripped away. some parts of the structure have been demolished down to the foundations, bricks stolen away and sold. this temple in particular is having structural issues due to flooding from a monsoon in 2011. they are woking to repair it, but funding is limited and work is slow.

I've always had an interest in archeaolgy. when I was small, I wanted to dig up dinosaurs. when I got a little older, Egyptology fascinated me. I even went so far as to apply for an archeology program when looking at colleges.

the truth is, history fascinates me. but not the names and dates they make you memorize in school. the people, what they did and why they did it, the things they built and where they lived. [in deference to most of the history teachers I know, namely the one I am married to, some students get to learn about this in class.] there's a reason why when I lived in New York, I spent a lot of weekend afternoons at the Met. other than the free air conditioning. I like old things, and I like thinking about what they might have seen over the course of their lifetime.

since we arrived early, we were way ahead of the tour buses full of tourists. the site was practically deserted. even though it was morning, it was a little creepy. walking through the piles of burnt bricks and beheaded buddhas felt like a tragic ghost might pop up at any moment to share their story.

you could feel the history oozing out of the bricks, but we didn't see any ghosts. so after wandering and soaking it all in, we had a little bit of photo fun. [yep, that's us doing an awkward buddha imitation.]

Wat Chaiwatthanaram isn't exceptionally large or unique as far as sites in Ayutthaya go, but for its resilience alone I think it's worth a visit. I mean... anything that can withstand nearly 400 years of fire, floods, invaders, and tourists? that earns some respect in my book.

touring Ayutthaya : temple cats + taxi drivers

last time I went to Thailand I wrote an entire post on cats. this post doesn't have much to do with cats, at least not directly, but I didn't get a picture with our taxi driver so I figured... why not?

last time we stayed in Bangkok we didn't have much time to tour around. coming back, we knew we wanted to get up north of the city to see the ruins of Ayutthaya. there are a lot of ways to get there -trains, buses, boats - but a friend of ours recommended hiring a cab for the day.

Ayutthaya was once the capital of Thailand [then Siam], but it was sacked and burned in 1767 when it was invaded by the Burmese army. there are at least a dozen separate ruined Wats [temples/monestaries] spread out through the area. to get between them some people will rent bikes or cars, take tour buses, or in our case: private taxis.

we asked the concierge at our hotel to book a driver and he was ours for the entire day. we left at 7am to beat the heat and the crowds. our taxi took us an hour north of the city, drove us to all the various temple ruins in Ayutthaya we wanted to see [he would just hang out and chat with the other cab drivers while we did our sightseeing], stopped at a friends place for lunch, took us back to Bangkok to see the Royal Palace, and dropped us at our hotel around 4 pm.

all of this for the low low price of 2500 baht [about $80 US]

we really lucked out with our driver. I wish I had his card so I could tell you all to call him if you go to Bangkok, that's how highly I would recommend him. Mr Mongkol was his name. he was not a crazy driver, spoke very good English, and made great conversation. he even loaned us small bills for buying snacks when the street vendors at the temple wouldn't take our 1000.

Mr Mongkol grew up in the farming country to the north of Bangkok, one of ten kids in a poor family. he was not university educated, but learned English on his own time to put himself ahead in life. he married a "city girl", moved to Bangkok, and had three children. he was very proud to tell us that all three went to university. one of his daughters works at a bank, the other is a school teacher. his son will graduate university next year.

and for twenty-six years he's been driving a taxi.

I'll share all the photos of the temple ruins with you [not just the cats] but I really wanted to share the story of Mr Mongkol. it was an incredible day of sightseeing and having someone like him as our driver really made it the great experience that it was. meeting him and hearing his story makes me feel - first - thankful for where I come from and the opportunities I've had, but also that no matter where on the globe you go, humans are human. [and, well... cats are cats.]