We arrived in Ayuthaya (I-U’-T-ah) yesterday afternoon and checked into the PU Guesthouse. Everything is more expensive than reported in the guidebook and you don’t receive all of the services advertised on the signs but this place will do for a few nights. We haven’t seen many tourists in town, not the independent kind that is. Other than the historical park there isn’t much of a reason to visit and most tour groups stop only briefly on their way to Sukhothai from Bangkok.
This part of the world has its share of World Heritage Sites and Ayuthay Historical Park is another one. Wat Ratburna in the old sacred city is dominated by the giant 15th century ‘prang,’ built to honor the king’s dead brothers. The walls are falling down and the Buddha statues have either been destroyed or beheaded during the Burmese sacking of Ayuthaya in 1767. Nearby Wat Pra Mahathat has been invaded by trees, making it look something like one of the Mayan sites in Central America. It’s most interesting feature is the head from a Buddha statue that is embedded in the roots of a tree. The three bell-shaped chedi of Wat Phra Si Sanphet are the most photographed remains in this ancient city and even appear on one of the Thai coins.
Ayuthaya was the capital of Siam, which included much of Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, until just before the American Revolution. That is about the only reference point of Thai history that I can relate to other than Anna’s visit; Deborah Kerr of Jody Foster, your choice.
