Before there was the City of Angels, there was Ayuthaya

Ancient Thailand, or Siam, spent its years at war with the Burmese. I know very little about the details of the wars, but the remains of the history are in the ancient Thai capitols of Suhkothai and here, in Ayuthaya. Oversimplified, the history between Burma and Thailand is one country would invade the other, sack the capitol, take all the riches, burn it to the ground and go home victorious. The loser would then rebuild a new capitol, this time meant to be indestructible, and then would go back and sack the other's capitol. Eventually the tables would turn again however, and then once again a capitol would be sacked, looted and burned, giving victory to the other side. In Thailand's case this meant that both old capitols are today left in ruins, only small reminders of what used to be.

Still, Ayuthaya is an amazing place. Old temples stand tall around the entire city and small bits of brick ruins stand in the oddest of places like down small alleys and between common houses. The city must have been amazing when it was at its peak. This main wat salvaged from the ruins of centuries ago still exhibits the impressive architecture of Siam. Today the foundations are sagging from the earth's shifting but many large chedis still stand.

As obvious from the pictures, this wat displays a large number of Buddhas. Lining the inner walls, standing atop a main building, praying inside other buildings, the Buddhas are everywhere. Most are clothed in gold silk, offered up from local Buddhists making merit. What's not obvious is the incredible heat a visitor must endure walking around the wat. This dog had the right idea, finding some shade and staying in it. I, on the other hand, was walking around, up and down stairs, sweating my falang ass off.



Ayuthaya is one of those places you visit and wish you could have seen back in its prime. The entire city must have been spectacular, given the number of ruins sitting across the modern city. Still, what would have really been impressive to see is the famous battle in which Siam reclaimed the city from the Burmese in which an epic battle between Kings was fought on elephants' backs.

We only had half a day for our tour of Ayuthaya and could only see a fraction of the sights but here were some of the highlights. Taking a boat tour down the rivers that combine to create a moat around the entire city, I shot some pictures of other ruins that we only saw from the water.

Apart from the ruins, the boat ride was more interesting because of its view of how Thai people live. Most of the houses were modest, but usually decorated by hanging orchids and potted plants. Clothes are hanging out to dry where ever there was space and every home on the river had a stairway or some form of access to the water. The brown, dark water seemed to dirty for any healthy use but we saw people cleaning their clothes, fishing, and swimming in the river.

After we went out to the grandest of ruins, something we Americans are only use to seeing (or imagining) in Central and South America, built by the Incas, Aztecs, and Mayans. Foundations, pillars, and even large chedis still stand at this wat in central Ayuthaya. Again, the heat here was stifling. Shade was nearly non-existant. This made the walk around the grounds more brief than it should have been, but these pictures are still show the remainder of a great dynasty.

Here, people have found loose bricks on the ground and stacked them on top of each other, a superstitious Thai tradition. It's meant to give one a long, healthy life. I'm not sure if I believe that, but admittedly I found some bricks and made a stack of my own. Hey, it couldn't hurt.

Today the capitol of Thailand is Bangkok, or, as the Thais call it "Grung Tahyp". Bangkok is the falang name given to the city years ago, while France was colonizing French Indochina and the British had taken over Burmese thus putting an end to any major conflict with the Thais. The name "Grung Tahyp" means "city of angels" but that's not it. Bangkok's real name is actually the longest of any city in the entire world. The full name of the capitol city translated means, "The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (of Ayuthaya) of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn". How's that for a mouthful? Even most of my students couldn't say the entire name from memory. Suddenly, Ayuthaya doesn't seem so hard to pronounce.