Just one more sight to see

Arriving in Bangkok on Tuesday, we did a lot of nothing. We checked into a nice room for our last two nights in Thailand and made use of its roof top pool. We spent a very enjoyable evening with friends and made plans for Wednesday, our last full day.

We decided to visit Ayutthaya, since it is just 1.5 hours outside of Bangkok by train, making it a good day trip. Ayutthaya was the capital of the area from 1350-1767, containing beautiful temples and royal facilities. It is believed to have been a hugely international city of nearly 1 million inhabitants. Thanks to war (mainly a Burmese invasion that burnt the entire city to the ground) and time, these structures are now all ruins. Some are restored and others are still left as is. I had wanted to visit during my last trip to Thailand, but hadn't, so I was excited to get the opportunity this time. I love sights like this, with all the history and stories that the bricks must contain. I have a feeling that Jeff doesn't find them quite so interesting, but he humors me!

Although we arrived to the city later than planned, we had no trouble picking up a tuk tuk tour guide who would take us around to all of the better sights. We spent a few hours exploring the various wats and royal constructions before heading back to Bangkok on one of the evening trains. While we know that we certainly didn't see everything we could, we had a great time with what we did do. 

The start and end to our day

A Buddha that has been restored to modern standards and enclosed inside a Wat.

We witnessed some sort of blessing ceremony.

One of the most iconic images of Ayutthaya, a plaster Buddha head encased in the roots of a Bodhi tree.

Remnants of original plaster

A surviving Buddha statue. Few exist in such good condition.

The original brick base of these stuppas are now exposed. The crowning spire of the foreground stuppa has fallen.

This amazing Buddha was restored in the 50's

We noticed that all of the ruins housed many street dogs. These guys had climbed a wall, trying to beat the heat.

One of the more intact sites

I apologizing to those who would have liked to know the names of the Wats and ruins seen above, but we saw them in a rather short time span and I simply wasn't paying attention!

On a side note, I have to say that I just love train travel. I know it's probably due to the novelty of it all, since train travel is not nearly as established in the United States as in other countries, but it was just so much fun!

Leaving Chiang Mai

Even though I am now home as I type this, there are still a few sights and activites that I'd like to share with you. Our last week was wonderful and busy and lazy, all at the same time, so I just didn't manage to get to the blog.

Last Monday was our final day in Chiang Mai. There was only one place more that I wanted to see before we left, which was Wat Doi Suthep. This is a particularly important temple in Northern Thailand. The story behind it says that a white elephant, which is highly sacred, was discovered in Thailand and a relic of the Buddha, a bone, was placed in a shrine on the elephants' back. The elephant was then set free. As the story goes, the elephant eventually died on the top of a large hill outside of what is now Chiang Mai, so in the late 1300's the Buddha relic was installed in a memorial on that spot. In the early 1900's a monk gathered support to build a temple around the memorial, and we now have Doi Suthep.

One of the more notable features of the temple are the 305 stairs that bring you up to it. I loved the beautiful green scales of the two dragons that line the stairs.

Dragon heads

Stairs up to the temple

The sky that day was amazing, moving from slightly stormy to bright sun while we were there. This lead to some great photos. I had such a hard time picking just one or two to share with you, so I'm sharing a bunch!

Entry at the top of the stairs

The central stuppa, darkened by storm clouds

One of many shrines

Prayer bells lining the roof

Central stuppa after the sun came out fully

Incense and lotus flowers left as offerings

The incredible view of Chiang Mai

After Doi Suthep, we headed to the train station to catch the night train south to Bangkok. The night train is a very comfortable way to travel, since they have a full dinning car and you get a full bed to stretch out on. The landscape outside of Chiang Mai is beautiful, and we were lucky enough to see an amazing sunset before turning in for the night.

Train travel

Sunset over a rice paddy

 Stay tuned for more of our last week!