The grounds of the Summer Palace
This day would be spent in the province of Ayutthaya. The early kingdom of Thailand, then called Siam, was established in the 1300s. We would first visit the grounds of the Bang Pa-In Royal Palace and then move on to the famed ruins of Ayutthaya.
The Palace complex is open to visitors and is only used today for special occasions. It is a beautifully landscaped property and it’s location near the river makes it one of the coolest (as in temperature) places that we were able to visit. There is a strict dress code to enter the palace and it’s even worse than the one at the temples. You must be covered to your ankles and your shoulders cannot be bare. Of course, we were inspected by our guide before leaving our hotel and I was sent back to change having made the mistake of wearing capri pants that were hanging mid-shin. The only full-length pants I had brought with me were jeans and I was not looking forward to plodding on all day in the oppressive Thai heat with them. Nonetheless, I changed and as we were walking toward the gates of the palace I had a startling revelation. There were vendors lining the street leading up to the gate and throngs of women were purchasing these pants and pulling them on over their shorts. I would later learn that these were Thai Elephant pants and are quite possibly the world’s most comfortable thing to wear. Costing anywhere between $1.00 -$4.00 each, depending on your haggling skills, these lightweight trousers revolutionized the rest of the trip for many of us tourists. They flatter every body-type and wherever we went women and hipster guys were sporting them. I came home with 5 pairs.
Typical pair of elephant pants. Found in all colors but black & white most popular and usually have an elephant print motif.
I made the mistake of wearing them on the overseas flight home. They’re as comfortable as pajamas but it was near-freezing and the walk to my car at the Dulles parking lot made it clear that they were more suited to the temperatures of Thailand. But I digress, the palace complex has a few notable structures: the first is the pavilion called The Divine Seat of Personal Freedom (gold building located over Don’s right shoulder on the opening photo) that sits in the middle of a pond. The second is a lookout tower that is very brightly painted and is called Sages’ Lookout.
Lookout tower
The third is the Royal Residence and Throne Room that’s a Chinese-designed building called Heavenly Light.
Heavenly Light
There is also a memorial that was erected after the drowning of an early queen who was pregnant. She and another daughter drowned when the Royal Boat capsized while on the way to the Summer Palace. At the time, it was an offense for any man to touch the queen so no one attempted to rescue her for fear of reprisal. On that pleasant note, we departed the Palace and headed off to the ruins. The city was originally established in the 1300s and was the capitol until the Burmese totally destroyed it in 1767. 35 Kings ruled here during it’s existence and after the destruction the place lay in ruins until 1969 when early restoration efforts began. Things got even better when it was declared a historical park in 1976 and then in 1991 part of that park was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We were given an overview of the city first by viewing a model of what it originally looked like before the destruction and a history lesson by Mr. O. Buddha images (statues) abounded in the city and many wealthy families hid their valuables inside the chest cavities of the Buddha statues. The Burmese figured this out and smashed every Buddha they found looking for treasure.
A reconstructed Buddha
The Wat Mahathat was an ancient temple site in the city. One of the broken Buddha heads was taken up by the roots of tree there and it cradled the head in perfect alignment. It is an amazing site to behold.
The Buddha head at Wat Mahathat.
A closer look.
If you are into energy vibes at all, this place definitely emits a palpable force. It was my favorite part of the whole trip.
Letting it flow
We were able to spend some time actually climbing up onto parts of the ruins giving you a different perspective.
We scurried all over trying to take it all in before we had to return to the bus. We encountered numerous packs of wild dogs who were out lying in the shade of the walls and columns. Like the cats and the fish, they were also care free and had no interest in our coming and goings.
There does not seem to be active restoration ongoing at the site. I can’t help but compare it to the Terra Cotta Warriors site we visited in China, which has a huge, visible project. When I consulted history.com for information, it seems that little has been done by the Thai government outside of some protective ordinances.
We wind up getting lost while trying to find our way to the bus and we hook up with one of our other tour companions who has also lost her spouse. Eventually, we discover the hiding place of the bus before it is supposed to depart. Mr O has to go and literally find our friend’s husband, who it seems was more lost than we.
Although our days have been devoted to excursions, our evenings are free time. We take these opportunities to explore the neighborhoods of Bangkok. Our pedestrian New York City roots have never left us and we prefer to explore on foot, much to the chagrin of the taxi and tuk tuk drivers that line up outside of our hotel and accost us nightly. We did take one taxi ride during a day and the traffic was so horrible we had the driver turn around and take us back. I did enjoy the conversation we struck up with him discussing politics, economics and sak yant tattoos. I do love chatting it up with the locals wherever we go.
Scooter ride? I think not.
One evening we decide to take the trek to the Chinatown section because the seafood there is supposed to be phenomenal and dinner is the one meal of the day that we have on our own. The Chinese traders in Bangkok predate the city as capitol. We venture out from our hotel with our trusty street map and a somewhat vague idea of where Chinatown is located. Once we walk past the huge main train station the crowd thins noticeably and I start to have doubts about our navigation skills.
The supermoon en route to Chinatown
Chinese lantern – we must be getting close.
At Don’s suggestion, we make a turn down one street and then I spot a street sign that I’ve been looking for and then you can hear it.
The numbers of people once again pick up and we pass a row of street vendors, then hit an intersection and there it is. In all it’s crazy glory. It’s what you picture when you hear One Night in Bangkok.
It’s pure pandemonium! We find a seat at a long communal table located on the curb and a server quickly passes us menus and takes our drink order. We get 2 cold Singhas, the local Thai beer and after settling on our food choices sit back and watch the street scene. This seems to be the epicenter of Bangkok foreign hipster ex-patriot land and we seem to fit right in with the Eurotrash. Our salt-crusted grilled giant Tiger Prawns and spicy noodles studded with crabmeat, calamari and other assorted sea delicacies arrives and we request 2 additional Singhas. Thai street food should come with an advisory, it’s so $%!^@#? good. We inhale the meal and linger over the beers. It’s sticky, humid but who cares? We consider taking a cab back to the hotel but decide the walk will do us good. It does.
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