Sunday, March 10, 2013

Ayuthaya



     On Sunday morning View picked us up in two large vans and we drove up to the town of Ayuthaya. It used to be the capital of Thailand back when it was still called Siam. Apparently it was quite the cosmopolitan city in its day and is now famous for is ruins. To be honest I was a little nervous about whether or not I would enjoy the trip (I have seen a lot of temples the past two months). It was actually really cool though and we got to see this fancy museum about it. Hey if there is a interesting museum I am always on board.
Sitting Buddhas at the ancient temples
      Lunch was amazing! It was this big fancy Thai buffet, they had yummy soup, sushi, fruit, the works. This fruit in the pictures below was quite a hit!
A really yummy fruit that I tried at lunch.
I think that it is called a langkan
      Our local guide was really interesting and even took all of us to his coffee shop. It was super hot out so the icy cool drinks were a welcome refreshment. Loaded with a fresh cup of ice I was ready to tackle the remaining three temples left on our tour of the town. I know that I haven't really said much in this blog entry, I just can't think of anything that you guys would be interested in hearing about. Don't get me wrong it was a cool place but without the spectacle in front of you the history seems semi-ordinary. Oh okay so two of the princes fought on elephant back to decide who would be the next king. I thought that was pretty cool. Turns out they both died and their younger brother was named king. I think it is pretty cool that they fought on elephants...well not so cool for the elephants I guess. You know during the Civil War the king of Thailand offered Lincoln a male and female elephant to start an elephant herd in America. I guess he thought they could use them to help crush the south during the war. Lincoln turned him down saying that he didn't think the climate would be suitable for them, but man could you imagine the look on the Confederates faces if a herd of elephants had come running toward them. It would've given a whole new meaning to the battle of Bull Run.
Ruins in Ayuthaya



The oldest Buddha in Southeast Asia at over 1,500 years old.

People riding elephants downtown.
      All in all it was a great day! We even got to watch Friends on the ride there and back. My friend Quinn downloaded Silver Linings Playbook last night so I think that we are gonna snuggle down and watch that in a bit. Yayy I am so excited, it should be a great way to end a nice weekend before this busy week kicks in.
I thought this was pretty cool, the tree grew around the head all on its own.


No comments:

Post a Comment