Mar 5, 2012 - Il fascino delle rovine

Sono convinta che il degrado di un sito storico e il suo stato di abbandono talvolta riescano a conferirgli un fascino che altrimenti non avrebbe. Ieri infatti, mentre pedalavo tra le rovine dei templi di Ayutthaya (capitale della Thailandia tra il XIV e il XVIII secolo) e camminavo tra i suoi tanti resti, mi sembrava molto più facile immaginarmeli in un’altra epoca, in un contesto completamente diverso. Credo sia molto difficile invece nei templi ancora attivi: due tra quelli visti sono infatti tuttora mete di pellegrinaggio, sono vivi e...

Jan 21, 2012 - 1/20-1/21: Ayutthaya

We decided to go from Ko Phangan to Ayutthaya, but since there is no direct route we had to stop in Bangkok. It was one of our more exhausting days because we arrived in Bangkok at 4:30 in the morning after spending the whole night on the bus (not really sleeping that well) and then walked around the city for about 9 hours with all of our packs on the whole time. We had to go to the mall and walk around because Kasey needed to buy a new camera. After being in Bangkok from about 4 am to 4 pm we found a bus that would take us to a bus station...

Jan 20, 2012 - Ayutthaya

So we get to Ayutthaya and this place is not what we expected at all!. This is a very rural city with nothing but ruins to see. All I really wanted to see here is the budda head in the tree. With the roommates switched up for the night cause it seemed like everyone needed a break it was getting a little edgy. I stayed with Talya which I didn't mind at all. It was a nice change of pace. The girls were hungry from the exhausting trip to get there but I was too tired to go anywhere and wasn't hungry so I stayed in a knocked out while they went...

Dec 3, 2009 - Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya, die alte Hauptstadt des Koenigreichs von Siam ist in meinen Augen nicht der Rede wert. Die Burmesen haben dann doch ganze Arbeit geleistet als sie am 7. April 1767 die Stadt eroberten (jedenfalls bessere Arbeit als die Deutsche Luftwaffe in Coventry geleistet hat, wie sich mal ein Englaender bei mir beklagt hat, der der Meinung war man haette sie komplett ausradieren sollen, weil sie so haesslich ist...!?) jedenfalls habe ich die meisten Ruinen schon vom Bus aus sehen koennen, und ich habe mir nicht die Muehe gemacht laenger als...

Nov 19, 2009 - Ayutthaya

Leslie and I hoped a train to Ayutthaya today where we checked out some of the Wats. The town was once the capital of Thailand and the Wats date back to the 1400’s. They are cool but you can get burned out on looking at Wats. We had lunch at a little restaurant on the river. The food was good but we are still paying frang (tourist) prices. Once we get to Nong Khai the price of things should drop considerably. I have attached some of the pictures from Ayutthaya. I have more pictures up the net gets slower the farther off the tourist path we...

Oct 13, 2009 - Ayutthuya

The same driver that took us to Damnoen Sadauk met us after our market tour and drove us to Ayutthuya, about an 11/2-hour drive. After staying in that dump in Damnoen Sadauk, we checked into a nice 3 star hotel. We had a nice soft bed, and a clean bathroom for only 1500B, about $15 more. Ayutthuya was the historical capital of Thailand but was captured by the Burmese in the early 1700’s. The Thai’s abandoned the city and moved the capital to Bangkok. At least this is my understanding of what our guide told us. To visit the ruins of the old...

Apr 25, 2009 - Ayutthaya - day 7

{Ayuthaya served as Thailand’s capital from the 14th to 18th centuries, when it ranked as one of the most magnificent cities in the world. Late in the 17th century its population reached one million, and foreign visitors wrote awestruck accounts of its size and splendor. Located 86km north of Bangkok, we explore the ruins of this World Heritage Site by bike, including various pagodas and Buddha images.} We drive four hours over to the town of Ayuthaya. Here we hoped on the bycicles for a tour of the town's budhas, wats, and general overview...

Mar 16, 2009 - Ayutheya, previously the capital

I decided to do things on the cheap and catch the local buses to Ayutthaya, which used to be the capital of Thailand during the mid 13th to 14th centuries. I didn't realise however, that these buses aren't air-conditioned, and it appeared not really used by farang (foreigners). Being the only non-Thai on the bus, I drew quite a few curious stares, and also the unwanted attention of one fellow who gradually swapped seats so he was opposite me on the other side of the isle, then was next to me on the same bench seat, then was pressed up...

Mar 12, 2009 - The Magnificent Summer Palace

We took a Long tailed speed boat along the Chao Phraya river to the (Bang Pa In)Summer Palace. After a 45 minute boat trip we arrived at the jetty of the magnificent palace grounds. originally built in the 17th century for King Prasart Thong, it lay forgotten an overrun for many years before it was revived by King Momgkut (of King and I fame)who found it a tranquil place to contemplate. His son King Chalalumkom, added a temple in a gothic style. The grounds include a European style palace and a Chinese "mansion" house gifted by wealthy...

Mar 11, 2009 - No Grander Place Than Siam

At lunchtime we reached the ancient capital of Siam – Ayutthaya. This was the capital from 1350 until the late 1700’s – overrun twice by Burma but only for short periods. Ayutthaya is a moated city and contains 300 temples – many in ruins but some preserved or restored to magnificent splendour . We started at Wat Chaiwatthanaram, built mainly in the Cambodian style with elements of Thai (square turrets) and some Sri Lanakan – round with coil pinnacles).. Built in 1630 as a royal monastry . Wat Si Samphet or the Royal Palace was our first...

Mar 6, 2009 - Ayutthaya

Hey peeps! We have spent the last couple of nights in Ayutthaya, it was very nice, peacefull and historicial, When we got to our hostel, we thought it would be a good idea to rent a bike which definatly proved more dangerous than we first thought, claire only nearly died twice, however i was constantly getting mowed down by anything that moved. but dont worry im safe for now anyway because i have given the bike back. We went to a restaurant and i thought i would be the romantic type ( that i am) and order claires meal, her requirments were...

Mar 4, 2009 - Ayutthaya

Given the bargain prices for internal flights in Thailand, we opted to fly from Krabi to Bangkok. Once there, we took a bus, then a train, then a ferry to arrive in Ayutthaya. Although only ~75 KM from Bangkok, there didn't seem to be any direct, public transportation to our destination from the main aiport so it took us ~3 hours. In any case, we met some very nice ladies on the train who shared some snacks with us and told us about how they spend four hours a day commuting to/from their jobs in Bangkok, each way. Yikes! Ayutthaya was the...