Thailand 2nd Day: Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya Adventure: 

The service van will pick you at your hotel, where ever you staying along Kaosan. The call time was 7am so I took my early breakfast and waited in the lobby. It was 7:30 when the man announced the name of his travel company. I raised my hand to his surprised. He said, he came exactly at 7am and he saw me already but he thought I was one of the tourist guide. He was expecting a white foreigner waiting in the lobby and he never imagined na ako na pala yung susunduin nya. Ang ending, late umalis ang Van ng 8am at ako na lang pala ang wala sa group tour.. lol. Well, that was not my fault. We traveled from Bangkok to the province of Ayutthaya for 1 hour.

White Temple Ayutthaya

 

White Temple Ayutthaya

Wat Mahathat Ayutthaya

 

Wat Mahathat Ayutthaya

Wat Phra Si Sanphet

Wat Phra Si Sanphet was the temple of the royal family; hence there was no designated living area for monks. The temple was considered as the largest one in Ayutthaya, with several stupas and Buddha statues covered in gold. The gold was eventually melted down by the Burmese during their invasion in 1767.

 

Thailand’s Holy Buddha, a sandstone Buddha head tangled in a bundle of tree roots. There are different theories of how a Buddha head ended up in a tree; some say that a thief stole it from the main temple and looked for a place to hide; others say that during the Burmese invasion in 1767 many Buddha images got destroyed and the tree grew around the Buddha head when the city was abandoned.

This Buddha image is fondly called by locals as Phra Bhuddhasaiyart. The Buddha measures a total of 37 meters long and a total of 8 meters high. This Buddha is said to be built facing the East. In terms of materials, it was made of a combination of cement and bricks following the style and touch of the Middle Ayutthaya Period. This is also the original reclining Buddha, the copy is located in Wat Pho, city of Bangkok.

The whole day tour was successful. Nakabalik kami ng Kaosan before 4pm. And because I just have a short time stay, I did not waste any of my time. After I refresh in my hotel, I paid a tuktuk for 100baht to bring me to the boat going Wat Arun temple. 

 

Wat Arun under construction

Note: ask your hotel first how much you have to pay for tuktuk from your hotel going to Wat Arun boat or else the tuktuk will charged you 150-200 baht without knowing the real fare.

From boat station, the payment is only 3bhat to cross the river. The Wat Arun Temple was under construction at that time kaya instead na magtour pa ko sa loob, I decided to take some photos outside na lang where I met my kapwa solo traveler, Wen. We just stayed in the temple for an hour and we decided to go together in Kaosan to shop since it was my last night.