May 23, Wednesday
I didn’t end up being able to fall asleep until past 1 am, so it was a very short night’s sleep. At 6:30 I was in the lobby and the mini-van was there to pick me up, as well as an Australian man. Turns out John is one of my fellow Intrepid travellers on the Indo-China Loop.
After one hour of picking up other passengers across the city, we were transferred to the big tourist bus which would take us 1 ½ hours outside Bangkok to visit Ayutthaya, the Invincible City and the King of Siam’s summer palace; A UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE. Founded c. 1350, Ayutthaya became the second Siamese capital after Sukhothai. It was destroyed by the Burmese in 1767. Its remains, characterized by the prang (reliquary towers) and gigantic monasteries give an idea of its past splendour. Ayutthaya was a flourishing and prosperous capital. It remained an important city in Thailand for 417 years and during this period an abundance of palaces and temples were constructed as a token of its economic success. The ruins of temples and palaces of Ayutthaya, whether naturally worn by time or destroyed by was, are a reflection of a golden and glorious past. In foreign accounts, Ayutthaya was called Siam, but many sources say the people of Ayutthaya called themselves Tai, and their kingdom Krung Tai, 'Tai Kingdom'.”
Driving out of Bangkok: modern homes and apartment buildings in the suburbs
Our first stop for the day is Bang Pa-In Palace, a favourite summer resort for Thai royalty. The grounds are beautiful, as are the buildings which have been restored and dates back to 1632. The area was later abandoned and revived by King Rama IV (King Mongkut 1851-1868: Anna and the King of Siam / The King and I). The present day buildings also include modern additions used by the current royal family.
Map of Bang Pa-In Palace grounds. Our local guide for the day.
The palace lakes and fountains
Aisawan-Dhippaya Asana Pavilion. The king liked to have an orchestra play music for him in this location.
Modern building used by the current royal family of Thailand.
Ho Withun Thasana, the Observatory built in 1881
Phra Thinang Wehart Xhamrum, two story mansion built in 1889; contains the throne room.
The throne room, decorated in the Chineese style
One of the many elaborately carved wooden screens in the throne room
One of the bridges on Bang Pa-In Summer Palace grounds
There were topiaries everywhere. No idea who this lady is, but it shows you how big this grouping was.
Part of the lakes and fountains on the summer palace grounds
Funny story about the above-noted movie: It was not allowed to be screened in Thailand when it was released since it made fun of Thai Royalty!
As you can see from the pictures, there is a lake and canals on the grounds as well as fountains and many trees, helping to provide cooler temperatures to the surrounding buildings.
Driving to the next site, scenes along the way
From there we went to visit three temples. MORE TEMPLES ? ? ! ! Yes, more temples.
But as you can see from the pictures these are quite different from the others I’ve visited in India, China, Tibet and Japan.Some of the sites were quite old and only ruins were left, one of them contained a giant sleeping Buddha, and the other some golden Buddhas.
We head for Wat Maha That, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. This monastery was once the residence of the Supreme Patriarch and was first constructed in 1374. It was destroyed and reconstructed many times and was finally left in its present state in 1767. It is a huge site, mostly of ruins. The temple is over 600 years old and its pagoda “supposedly” contained a holy relic of the Lord Buddha.
Huge stuppas on this large archeological site
Buddha head overgrown by a bodhi (fig) tree. All that remains of this sandstone Buddha image is part of its head, while the body has disappeared within the tree.
This large sitting Buddha has been dressed in yellow satin.
Another large Buddha on the site
And it has its own version of the "Leaning Tower"
Three of the pagodas of Wat Phra Si Sanphet house the remains of King Borommatrailokanat, King Borommarachathirat III and King Ramathibodi II.
Back on the road, heading for the next site on our "hit list" today
Some of the houses are mere huts, while others are quite modern
It is only a short ride to Wat Na Phra Mane. This monastery contains a rare Buddha image adorned in royal attire. Another Buddha figure of green stone is more than 1000 years old. The area has been completely restored after twice being used by the Burnese army as their headquarters.
The main temple building
The golden Buddha in royal dress. Incredibly beautiful.
Other Buddha figures adorned with gold leaf
Outside in another building, a shrine
This stuppa has been overgrown by a fig tree, but is considered to be very holy
The grounds of the temple are beautifully decorated.
I almost missed this standing Buddha at the back of the building
During the drive this morning, our guide provided us with many historical facts about Thailand. It was controlled by the Mongols during the 8th& 9th centuries. In 1511 Christians arrived. Finally find out what "BE" means (used after dates that don’t correspond to our calendar) it stands for Buddhist Era. Suvarrabhumi, the name of the International Airport in Bangkok, is the ancient name of the 2nd capital of Thailand.
And we are off again to the next site, driving through a town where I find very strange statues for sale
What's with the roosters and hens ?
Check out the size of some of these ! I'll have to research to see what the significance is !
And look at what I spotted along the way: A Seven-Eleven !
Our next stop is to see the Temple of the Reclining Buddha (Wat Lokayasutharam). Made of brick and covered in mortar, the Buddha is 42 meters in length (though I’ve found references on the Internet giving its length as 29, 32, 35, 37 and 49.... so I'm not really sure what the actual length is !) and 8 meters in height. The statue dates back to 1610. According to a sign on site, “There is no historical record of its background. The architectural styles of construction shows that it was built in Early Ayuthaya Period (1350-1529) and was used until the Late Ayuthaya Period (1620 - 1767). The Giant Reclining Buddha is decorated in regal attire. His head towards the north and his face looking west. In 1954 the reclining Buddha was restored by coating the whole sculpture and changing the Buddha’s head to a regal attire style.” OK, so much for keeping the style of the original work!
Me, standing at the Buddha's feet
This is so impressive and can't put it in words. A true wonder.
From this last temple we were driven to the water front on the Banglamphu River where we boarded a boat for the last section of our trip back to Bangkok. No idea how this happened, but I did not get a photo our the boat we cruised on. It had three decks: the one we entered on, the main one with a large dining room, and an upper deck with a smaller dining room and an open area at the back.
As we left the World Heritage Site I was able to take this last picture. I had not noticed the garbage on this side of the lake.
Some very modern homes along the way, often located beside shacks.
Along the river / canal were a variety of houses of all styles.
This is one of the temples we passed on our long drive to where we would board the boat.
A Thai version of the "painted ladies"
The very flat agricultural lands that make up most of Thailand
Lunch on board was buffet style and after walking all morning we were ready for a great meal.I sat with a gentleman from Washington State(Sorry, he told me his name and I did not get to write it down so I have forgotten it. Anyway, he is a pharmacist whose daughter and son-in-law work for World Vision.We had a very interesting conversation about their work, but also about his, since he has volunteered in third world medical facilities.
We are also told about the floods they had last year in a huge portion of Thailand.You may know this already since it was probably on the news last fall, but northern Thailand and Bangkok suffered serious flooding last year.The rains started in June and did not end until November. We saw the water marks on several of the houses, temples and other buildings along the way.I was traveling at the time and obviously did not catch any of this on the little bit of news I managed to listen to.It had devastating effects on the communities in this area. Farmers’ fields were completely under water.Some of the higher flood water marks where 6 feet high, others 5, 4 and 3 feet high; enough to seriously damage thousands of homes.
After lunch I went out to the back of the boat to take some pictures of the river and the houses on stilts along the Chao Phraya River on the way back to Bangkok.
Beautiful mansions along the riverfront
As well as modern apartment buildings
And some poorer ones as well
You can see that most of them are built on stilts. The river floods on a regular basis.
Here's a small boat towing a huge barge down the river
We are now within Bangkok city
One of the huge bridges crossing the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok
A zoom on the pinnacle at the top of the main post
Beautiful bridge architecture
Some of the taxi boats that ply the waters of the river
We have arrived in the old section of Bangkok and get a great view of the Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace
Across the river is Wat Arun
Can you see the tiny fugure on the steps in middle of the picture? That's how big this stuppa is !
The private homes and buildings near the Grand Palace grounds
A look down one of the canals with the locks to prevent flooding
A rare Christian Church
And my last look at the river views as we dock at the end of our cruise
After getting off the boat, we were all divided into smaller busses to bring us back to our hotels. I was thinking that we would have a repeat of the morning pick-up with at least a one hour drive through the city, but John and I were the first ones to spot the name of our hotel on one of the drivers’ signs. We had our own mini-bus and were driven straight back to the Viengtai Hotel which turned out to be close-by ! BONUS. By 4 pm we were there and had 2 hours of free time before our scheduled meeting with the “Intrepid Group”.
At 6 pm I was back in the lobby and met Scott, our Intrepid Group Leader, along with my other fellow travellers: Karsten from Holland, John (who I had already met) & Melissa from Australia and Lindsey from the USA. We later met Violet from New Zealand and Michael also from Australia. Everyone in our group is a solo traveller !
After our short meeting, Scott suggested that we have dinner together at a nearby restaurant. It had been raining for the past 2 hours and the streets were wet, but the restaurant was just next door. We had a great meal of green curry and I had a mai-tai to go with it…. of course !
I went back to my room after dinner since I still had to sort through all my clothes and toiletries to figure out what I would be packing in my newly purchased smaller bag for this 4-week excursion. Amazingly, I was able to fit all the clothes I needed in the new bag; my shoes, computer and toiletries went into my backpack on wheels.
I didn’t end up being able to fall asleep until past 1 am, so it was a very short night’s sleep. At 6:30 I was in the lobby and the mini-van was there to pick me up, as well as an Australian man. Turns out John is one of my fellow Intrepid travellers on the Indo-China Loop.
After one hour of picking up other passengers across the city, we were transferred to the big tourist bus which would take us 1 ½ hours outside Bangkok to visit Ayutthaya, the Invincible City and the King of Siam’s summer palace; A UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE. Founded c. 1350, Ayutthaya became the second Siamese capital after Sukhothai. It was destroyed by the Burmese in 1767. Its remains, characterized by the prang (reliquary towers) and gigantic monasteries give an idea of its past splendour. Ayutthaya was a flourishing and prosperous capital. It remained an important city in Thailand for 417 years and during this period an abundance of palaces and temples were constructed as a token of its economic success. The ruins of temples and palaces of Ayutthaya, whether naturally worn by time or destroyed by was, are a reflection of a golden and glorious past. In foreign accounts, Ayutthaya was called Siam, but many sources say the people of Ayutthaya called themselves Tai, and their kingdom Krung Tai, 'Tai Kingdom'.”
Driving out of Bangkok: modern homes and apartment buildings in the suburbs
Our first stop for the day is Bang Pa-In Palace, a favourite summer resort for Thai royalty. The grounds are beautiful, as are the buildings which have been restored and dates back to 1632. The area was later abandoned and revived by King Rama IV (King Mongkut 1851-1868: Anna and the King of Siam / The King and I). The present day buildings also include modern additions used by the current royal family.
The palace lakes and fountains
Aisawan-Dhippaya Asana Pavilion. The king liked to have an orchestra play music for him in this location.
Modern building used by the current royal family of Thailand.
Ho Withun Thasana, the Observatory built in 1881
The throne room, decorated in the Chineese style
One of the many elaborately carved wooden screens in the throne room
One of the bridges on Bang Pa-In Summer Palace grounds
There were topiaries everywhere. No idea who this lady is, but it shows you how big this grouping was.
Funny story about the above-noted movie: It was not allowed to be screened in Thailand when it was released since it made fun of Thai Royalty!
As you can see from the pictures, there is a lake and canals on the grounds as well as fountains and many trees, helping to provide cooler temperatures to the surrounding buildings.
Driving to the next site, scenes along the way
From there we went to visit three temples. MORE TEMPLES ? ? ! ! Yes, more temples.
But as you can see from the pictures these are quite different from the others I’ve visited in India, China, Tibet and Japan.Some of the sites were quite old and only ruins were left, one of them contained a giant sleeping Buddha, and the other some golden Buddhas.
We head for Wat Maha That, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. This monastery was once the residence of the Supreme Patriarch and was first constructed in 1374. It was destroyed and reconstructed many times and was finally left in its present state in 1767. It is a huge site, mostly of ruins. The temple is over 600 years old and its pagoda “supposedly” contained a holy relic of the Lord Buddha.
Huge stuppas on this large archeological site
Buddha head overgrown by a bodhi (fig) tree. All that remains of this sandstone Buddha image is part of its head, while the body has disappeared within the tree.
This large sitting Buddha has been dressed in yellow satin.
Another large Buddha on the site
And it has its own version of the "Leaning Tower"
Three of the pagodas of Wat Phra Si Sanphet house the remains of King Borommatrailokanat, King Borommarachathirat III and King Ramathibodi II.
Back on the road, heading for the next site on our "hit list" today
Some of the houses are mere huts, while others are quite modern
It is only a short ride to Wat Na Phra Mane. This monastery contains a rare Buddha image adorned in royal attire. Another Buddha figure of green stone is more than 1000 years old. The area has been completely restored after twice being used by the Burnese army as their headquarters.
The main temple building
The golden Buddha in royal dress. Incredibly beautiful.
Other Buddha figures adorned with gold leaf
Outside in another building, a shrine
This stuppa has been overgrown by a fig tree, but is considered to be very holy
I almost missed this standing Buddha at the back of the building
During the drive this morning, our guide provided us with many historical facts about Thailand. It was controlled by the Mongols during the 8th& 9th centuries. In 1511 Christians arrived. Finally find out what "BE" means (used after dates that don’t correspond to our calendar) it stands for Buddhist Era. Suvarrabhumi, the name of the International Airport in Bangkok, is the ancient name of the 2nd capital of Thailand.
And we are off again to the next site, driving through a town where I find very strange statues for sale
What's with the roosters and hens ?
Check out the size of some of these ! I'll have to research to see what the significance is !
And look at what I spotted along the way: A Seven-Eleven !
Our next stop is to see the Temple of the Reclining Buddha (Wat Lokayasutharam). Made of brick and covered in mortar, the Buddha is 42 meters in length (though I’ve found references on the Internet giving its length as 29, 32, 35, 37 and 49.... so I'm not really sure what the actual length is !) and 8 meters in height. The statue dates back to 1610. According to a sign on site, “There is no historical record of its background. The architectural styles of construction shows that it was built in Early Ayuthaya Period (1350-1529) and was used until the Late Ayuthaya Period (1620 - 1767). The Giant Reclining Buddha is decorated in regal attire. His head towards the north and his face looking west. In 1954 the reclining Buddha was restored by coating the whole sculpture and changing the Buddha’s head to a regal attire style.” OK, so much for keeping the style of the original work!
Me, standing at the Buddha's feet
This is so impressive and can't put it in words. A true wonder.
From this last temple we were driven to the water front on the Banglamphu River where we boarded a boat for the last section of our trip back to Bangkok. No idea how this happened, but I did not get a photo our the boat we cruised on. It had three decks: the one we entered on, the main one with a large dining room, and an upper deck with a smaller dining room and an open area at the back.
As we left the World Heritage Site I was able to take this last picture. I had not noticed the garbage on this side of the lake.
Some very modern homes along the way, often located beside shacks.
Along the river / canal were a variety of houses of all styles.
This is one of the temples we passed on our long drive to where we would board the boat.
A Thai version of the "painted ladies"
Lunch on board was buffet style and after walking all morning we were ready for a great meal.I sat with a gentleman from Washington State(Sorry, he told me his name and I did not get to write it down so I have forgotten it. Anyway, he is a pharmacist whose daughter and son-in-law work for World Vision.We had a very interesting conversation about their work, but also about his, since he has volunteered in third world medical facilities.
We are also told about the floods they had last year in a huge portion of Thailand.You may know this already since it was probably on the news last fall, but northern Thailand and Bangkok suffered serious flooding last year.The rains started in June and did not end until November. We saw the water marks on several of the houses, temples and other buildings along the way.I was traveling at the time and obviously did not catch any of this on the little bit of news I managed to listen to.It had devastating effects on the communities in this area. Farmers’ fields were completely under water.Some of the higher flood water marks where 6 feet high, others 5, 4 and 3 feet high; enough to seriously damage thousands of homes.
After lunch I went out to the back of the boat to take some pictures of the river and the houses on stilts along the Chao Phraya River on the way back to Bangkok.
Beautiful mansions along the riverfront
As well as modern apartment buildings
And some poorer ones as well
You can see that most of them are built on stilts. The river floods on a regular basis.
Here's a small boat towing a huge barge down the river
We are now within Bangkok city
One of the huge bridges crossing the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok
A zoom on the pinnacle at the top of the main post
Beautiful bridge architecture
Some of the taxi boats that ply the waters of the river
We have arrived in the old section of Bangkok and get a great view of the Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace
Across the river is Wat Arun
Can you see the tiny fugure on the steps in middle of the picture? That's how big this stuppa is !
The private homes and buildings near the Grand Palace grounds
A look down one of the canals with the locks to prevent flooding
A rare Christian Church
And my last look at the river views as we dock at the end of our cruise
After getting off the boat, we were all divided into smaller busses to bring us back to our hotels. I was thinking that we would have a repeat of the morning pick-up with at least a one hour drive through the city, but John and I were the first ones to spot the name of our hotel on one of the drivers’ signs. We had our own mini-bus and were driven straight back to the Viengtai Hotel which turned out to be close-by ! BONUS. By 4 pm we were there and had 2 hours of free time before our scheduled meeting with the “Intrepid Group”.
At 6 pm I was back in the lobby and met Scott, our Intrepid Group Leader, along with my other fellow travellers: Karsten from Holland, John (who I had already met) & Melissa from Australia and Lindsey from the USA. We later met Violet from New Zealand and Michael also from Australia. Everyone in our group is a solo traveller !
After our short meeting, Scott suggested that we have dinner together at a nearby restaurant. It had been raining for the past 2 hours and the streets were wet, but the restaurant was just next door. We had a great meal of green curry and I had a mai-tai to go with it…. of course !
I went back to my room after dinner since I still had to sort through all my clothes and toiletries to figure out what I would be packing in my newly purchased smaller bag for this 4-week excursion. Amazingly, I was able to fit all the clothes I needed in the new bag; my shoes, computer and toiletries went into my backpack on wheels.
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