Sunday, January 24,2010
Yesterday I went on a day trip from Bangkok to Ayutthaya. It is an ancient city on an island where 3 rivers meet, the Chao Phraya, Loburi and Passak. It's located 88Km north of Bangkok and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Ancient ruins and a handful of majestic temples are all that is left but it's a time capsule back into ancient Siam. It was one of the most powerful kingdoms the world has ever seen...it's territory was huge including a huge part of Burma, China, south Vietnam, and the whole of Laos, Cambodia and Malaya. Ayutthaya was the Capital city of this kingdom and existed from 1350 to 1767AD when it was destroyed by the invading Burmese after a long war. The invaders removed the gold that covered most of the Buddha images as well as from decorations in the temples. They burned the temples and decapitated most of the Buddha's to take their heads back to Burma as war trophy's. Ironically enough, Ayutthaya means "cannot be conquered". In the mid 17th century the city's population was over a million people.
I took a train there and back from Bangkok and hired a tuk tuk for the day to take me on whirlwind tour of the best temples. This is a MUST SEE for anyone travelling to Thailand. I adored this city. It reminded me of Rome...brand new modern buildings with ancient ruins poking their heads up from behind. The city was really calm and peaceful. The temples and ruins are set amid babbling brooks, well maintained parks and all under a canopy of ancient trees, their roots grabbing onto everything in their path.
My favourite temple of the day was Wat Mahathat. It was the most striking of the temples. It was build in the 1300's and in 1956 a secret chamber was found and inside was gold jewelry, a gold casket containing the relic of Buddha and fine tableware. There was something about this temple, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it..but it had such a calming ethereal quality...maybe it was the time of day, the angle of the sun, the lack of tourists or the dotting of monks in the distance in their bright orange clothes...but I could barely tear myself away. The huge, crumbling stupas, some of them leaning so far to the side that one day soon they too will be reduced to rubble, must of been so spectacular in their youth. I imagine the people who lived at that time and built these temples never imagined them one day being a ruin and turning back into the dust they were created from...and still there are rows of broken decapitated Buddha's watching over their destroyed kingdom. There was a real beauty in the way their broken bodies are lovingly stacked on top of their still crossed stone legs. One really cool spot in this temple is where the roots of an old tree have slowly grown around a Buddha, swallowing his body whole and now all that remains is a stone head poking out amongst the tendrils that will one day cover it entirely. I wonder who planted that tree?
