| Bangkok nowadays has grown to such a size that | | | | their national dress of baggy trousers cut off at the |
| visitors may be forgiven for thinking that it has always | | | | calf going about their business of the day. The city |
| been the capitol of Thailand. But this is not the case. In | | | | today is still surrounded by the three rivers (the Chao |
| fact, since the 13th century it is the third such, the other | | | | Phraya, Lop Buri and Pa Sak) and a good way to visit |
| two capitols being in the north at Sukhothai (1238-1351 | | | | the city is to take the three and a half hour boat trip up |
| AD) and Ayutthaya. Bangkok has only been the | | | | the Chao Phraya from Bangkok, returning by road or |
| center of government since 1782 and the present | | | | train which is about an hour and a half trip. |
| Grand Palace that just about everyone visits here | | | | When visiting Ayutthaya, in order to get a taste of the |
| was actually modeled on the style of the old palace in | | | | city, a good idea is to travel by boat again, taking a |
| Ayutthaya. For more than 400 years, 1351-1767, | | | | circumnavigatory tour of the island. Boats leave from |
| Thailand was governed from Ayutthaya in an era | | | | the pier by the market and the trip lasts about an hour. |
| known by historians as Thailand's "Golden Age." | | | | You will pass by Wang Luang (the remains of the old |
| At its height, the ancient city of Ayutthaya was a truly | | | | wooden palace buildings), Wat Phra Si Sanphet, Wat |
| thriving center of a nation that was the most powerful | | | | Phra Ram, Wat Ratchaburana, the Ayutthaya Study |
| in Southeast Asia for several centuries until its sacking | | | | Center and two museums - the Chao Sam Phraya |
| and plundering by the Burmese in 1767. In their lust to | | | | and Chandra Kasem. |
| take over the commercial center that Ayutthaya had | | | | Your short boat trip around the island will set you up |
| become because of its control over lucrative trade | | | | for further exploration by giving you some ideas of |
| routes, the Burmese destroyed many of the Angkor | | | | where you would like to explore. One temple that you |
| style temples and took unlimited amounts of wealth in | | | | might find particularly interesting is the aforementioned |
| the form of artefacts and jewels back to Burma. | | | | Wat Phra Ram, which was founded in 1369. It is set in |
| Although they were driven out less than six months | | | | a delightfully laid out garden with lotus blooms floating in |
| later, the Burmese had ended Ayutthaya's reign as a | | | | a pond surrounded by the enigmatic ruins of the |
| capitol city due to the thoroughness of their destruction | | | | temple. The sight begs the question of how the people |
| of what had been the "jewel of the East." | | | | in those times could have designed and decorated |
| However, perhaps because of the proximity of | | | | such complex and and artistic structures with the |
| Bangkok to Ayutthaya (86 km) it is once more a | | | | technology they possessed. |
| thriving town of more than half a million people and the | | | | Another ancient temple worth visiting, that is still in good |
| ruins of the Ayutthaya civilization attract many visitors | | | | repair, is Wat Phra Si Sanphet which was founded in |
| in their own right. As do the colorful markets, fine | | | | approximately 1448. Its three bell-shaped chedis |
| floating restaurants and pleasant quietude you are | | | | (monuments enshrining holy Buddhist relics) are flanked |
| surrounded by compared to boisterous Bangkok. | | | | by two columns of viharas (assembly halls and |
| In order to best protect their home, the ancient rulers | | | | chapels) and surrounded by sandstone images of Lord |
| of Ayutthaya utilized three nearby rivers which they | | | | Buddha. |
| connected by man-made canals to surround their | | | | Before leaving Ayutthaya, a must, if you want to go |
| stunning city, making a mostly natural moat around the | | | | home with long-lasting memories, is a visit to the Chao |
| city that served to ward off invaders. They were | | | | Sam Phraya Museum. There you'll see how Siam was |
| courted during those times by savvy Japanese | | | | influenced by the Mon and Khmer civilizations. You will |
| merchants who built their own settlement just outside | | | | see well-preserved remains of Buddha images and |
| the city, on the other side of the moat, and were soon | | | | mythological images from Thailand, India and Sri Lanka. |
| joined by other settlements constructed by English, | | | | And you will also have the chance to see some |
| French and Portuguese traders from Europe. | | | | fabulous glittering treasures of gold and jewelry in the |
| The Kings who ruled Ayutthaya constructed walls and | | | | museum's east room that were found in Wat |
| fortresses as well as the moat that surrounded them, | | | | Ratchaburana, luckily one of the only ones not looted |
| the remnants of which can still be glimpsed at certain | | | | by the scavenging Burmese. The regalia of gold on |
| points in the old part of the city. And of the hundreds | | | | display, the filigreed headdresses, the ornamented |
| of temples that were built, there is enough remaining of | | | | war-elephant complete with howdah, a sword with a |
| them today to enable you to imagine yourself back in | | | | crystal handle and a scabbard inlaid with precious |
| Thailand's golden era of prosperity. If you close your | | | | stones, all of these artifacts and more give a hint as to |
| eyes for a moment in the proximity of an ancient ruin it | | | | how fabulous a city Ayutthaya must once have been. |
| is not difficult to picture throngs of silken clad Thais in | | | | |