Thailand Day 4: Ayutthaya and Bang Pa-in Summer Palace

February 5, 2011 (Saturday)
"RELIVING HISTORY IN AYUTTHAYA"


Group Tour Package from Noi Tours (beside Sawasdee Inn Khao San)
Whole day Ayutthaya by van and Bang Pa-in Summer Palace
Cost: 600 baht for the Ayutthaya tour and 50 baht for the entrance to Summer Palace

Like the previous day, my mom and I also joined a group tour. The journey to Ayutthaya was not that long compared to going to Kanchanaburi. We arrived in about an hour to Chedi Wat Phu Khao Thong (Golden Mount). It is one of the tallest pagodas in Ayutthaya. 

After that, we travelled to Ayutthaya Historical Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. To give you a brief background about Ayutthaya, it was the former capital of Thailand until the year 1767 when the Burmese came and destroyed the place. That is the reason why you can see many ruins here.

We went with our guide to the reclining buddha where he asked us to stick a coin in the Buddha's feet. He said that if our coin does not fall, then we are lucky and have powers.You only have three chances to stick the coin. Fortunately, my coin sticked to the Buddha's feet on my first try. :)

It was interesting how this woman in our tour group failed to stick the coin as hers always fell down. Coincidentally, she had a stroke of bad luck as her clothes were splashed with coke during lunchtime! 0_0

After that, we were left to tour that particular area of the park on our own. Here are some interesting pictures:

After that, the tour group had lunch. The menu was still the same with our free lunch in Kanchanaburi but this time we had free fruits. ^_^

The next stop was Wat Phra Mahathat. It is where you can find the Buddha head enclosed in the roots of a Bodhi tree. Also, you can see a lot of headless buddhas as the heads were stolen.

When taking a picture with the Buddha head, your head should be lower than the Buddha's head as a sign of respect.

Afterwards, we went to Wat Lokayasutha where the huge reclining buddha can be found. The reclining pose  meant to represent the exact moment at which Buddha achieved enlightenment. I believe that the buddha has been replaced as the buddha that I have seen in other blogs looked different. You can see a picture of the old buddha in this link.

The last Wat or Temple of the day is Wat Phra Si Sanphet.This is where the royal palace once stood.

The chedi in the background is one of the three chedis located in the area. It housed the remains of the royal family.

This is my favorite Wat in Ayutthaya. As you can see, I had fun posing for pictures here, hehe.

By the way, if you would like to try riding on an elephant, this is where the starting point of the elephant ride can be found.

The last stop of the day was Bang Pa-in Summer Palace. Compared with the Wats, the place had  more of a European feel. Also, it is so big that there are golf carts for rent (400 baht) which you can use to tour around.

Overall, I really enjoyed  Ayutthaya. :) If you are planning to go to Thailand, I hope you can spare some time to visit this place.

By the way, I want to thank the great travel blogger Chyng Reyes for the tip about using flickr for my pictures. ^_^