The Old Kingdom
Trip Start
Aug 23, 1996
1
263
453
Trip End
Ongoing
Ayuthaya,
Thailand
Wednesday, May 3, 2006
Having been here six years ago, I was keen to come back, and as we are going to go to Cambodia to see the temples of Seam Reap, I thought this would be a good little taster for Lucy. Yeah, she has seen shitloads over the last year, but these are different and she needed to break her Ayuthaya virginity !!!
The usual shit with the hotel went down, so we had some food, walked across the road, asked for some pushies, and then remembered that we are only here for one night, and we needed to see them fast, and as it is fucking hot here, riding a pushie is not a good idea, so we grabbed a scooter instead. Off we went, straight to our first Wat. Maha That. The thing to see here is a Buddha head, that has now become part of a Bodhi tree, so Buddhists pray to this item. Fuck, I must have been on drugs not to see that last time !!! Actually, I wasn't, I just refused to pay the entrance fee. I did try to jump the fence, but was escorted off, so I am glad I paid this time. There are loads of stupas in varying conditions and there are Buddha's with and without their heads !!! Next door, was Ratchaburana. There is a huge stupa in the middle, which you can climb inside. Then down some steep steps to view some really old paintings. I actually paid for this one last time, and trust me, it is worth every cent, I mean Baht. After doing these two, I think the old Hep E came back, as I couldn't read the map, and ended going in the wrong direction. We did however find a nice reclining Buddha and a huge seated Buddha. Around the corner, we found the Elephant Kroll, with concrete elephants everywhere !!! Then we spied two elephants, and I mean live ones. They were small, but tied up. Lucy tried to save them, but we were stopped, so we moved on. Back on track, we found the huge reclining Buddha called Lokayastharam. It is massive, and the locals try to sell you gold leaf to put on the Buddha's toes. In Myanmar, they give you the gold leaf and only men can do it, so I refused to pay for it, especially when women were doing it as well !!! We rode around looking at various other Wats, but the heat was killing me. Hotter than Bangers and India, I swear I could feel the Heps returning. But we had one more Wat to find. Yai Chai Mongkhon. Lucy wanted to go there as there is a good picture in the LP and she wanted the same one. Sad how our lived are, we try to match up photos from the pics in the LP. As I now didn't need the map, I kind of figured that I had been lost a few times, I knew my way round now, and quite quickly, we found it. Inside, there is a huge stupa, with seated Buddha's all around it. Inside, up the top, there are bats and gold Buddha's. Back down, I was walking around when I came upon a bunch of Monks and Novices working. They were painting Gold onto the name plates of the seated Buddha's. I took a few sneakies and then moved on. It was beginning to get dark, and the bike didn't have a headlight, so we went back. It had been a good day here, one that had brought back memories of 2000 for myself, and Lucy was very impressed with what she had seen. She was now hanging for Cambodia. But this will have to wait as we still have more to see.
Following morning, we decided to sleep in and just laze about. We had seen all the main Wats, and walking in the heat did not seem appropriate, especially after yesterday on the scooter. And as we have a bus to catch back to the Kok, in a couple of hours, this is all we did !!
