Ayutthaya Province

Ah, three-day weekends! There is something so nice about having that one extra day to relax and plan as you wish.

Last weekend, the TUC office closed for Chulalongkorn Day, a Thai holiday commemorating the death of King Rama V. The king is famous for navigating the country past potential European colonizers, modernizing Thailand (then, Siam), and being educated by Anna Leonowens (ok, well, maybe he's famous for that only in the West). Regardless, his death is commemorated every October 23rd and I got a holiday.

On Friday, my goal was to find a broom. I'd seen a broom stall somewhere around my apartment just after moving in, but I'd forgotten where it was. So, I wandered for an hour or so, then finally gave up and bought one at Tops Market (a local grocery store). Ironically, as I was walking back from the store, non-returnable broom in hand, I not only found the mysterious broom stall but I saw a broom cart walking its way toward me. Oh well! At least I will now be able to sweep my tiled floors whenever my OCDness kicks in. My next task was doing laundry (not as daunting as I expected, despite my lack of a dryer - I'll convince myself that I'm being environmentally friendly as I walk around in stretched out clothes). Finally, I headed to a travel agency (Sawadee Travel) to try to figure out plans for the weekend. Along with Alpa and her family, I planned to go to Ayutthaya on Sunday for a guided day tour.

Sunday I woke up before dawn to head to Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya, for those of you without extensive knowledge of India, was named after the birthplace of Rama, Ayodhya, in India. It was the capital of the Ayutthaya Kingdom of Thailand from 1350 to 1767, when the Burmese destroyed the city. It is now designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But before going there, we stopped at the Summer Palace in Bang Pa-In. (FYI "Bang" just means district. So there are a lot of Bang xxxx places around besides Bangkok). It is one of the summer palaces of the king and was built mainly by King Chulalongkorn. This king traveled around the world and picked up architecture from all over the world. So there is a Buddhist temple that looks like a gothic cathedral, a bridge that looks like the one leading from Rome to Vatican City, a Chinese mansion, a watchtower, and more. The place reminded me a little of Epcot - the grounds were perfectly manicured, there were building designs from all over the world, there were golf carts you could rent, and there was Musak softly playing through out the complex.

Next, we headed to Ayutthaya. It must have been a wonderful city when it was built - there are temples, royal complexes, and the ever-present elephant rides. While I passed on the elephant rides (next time), the ruined temples are magnificent. I need to go back and explore more. Pictures to come soon as I can not do the city justice with words. My favorites were the Buddha head in the tree roots and the reclining Buddha.

Finally, we had lunch on our boat cruise down the river back to Bangkok. While the temperature was warm, it was nice to sit, relax and watch the sites along the river. They included the Department of Corrections, a huge temple complex with a large Buddha statue, a barge that reminded me of the garbage barges along the Hudson, small fishing villages and boats, and Bangkok along the river.