Ayutthaya - Ancient city of Siam.

Before arriving in Ayutthaya , I had a 13 hour train journey which was beautiful if quite long. The scenery was stunning and gave me an idea for another trip! Thailand by train and staying at these gorgeous random places we passed through.

I can't believe I almost didn't visit Ayutthaya, a stunning place and on par with the mighty Angkor Wat. Much of the architecture here has been "borrowed" from Cambodia but the difference here is the new city has worked it's way around the old city. Fascinating place. Everywhere you look there is evidence of the ancient city, every corner there's some ruins, turn into another street and there you go, more of ancient Ayutthaya.

I thought the best way to see the place was to go on an organised bike tour and then to find my own way round. Bong and Bang our guides (not their Thai names!) lead us through the city for an historical cycle through Ayutthaya. There are 596 temples here, dotted around the city from the 14th century. These along with the grand palace were destroyed in wars with Mynamar so all that remains are ruins. Mighty ruins at that and I checked, the ruins are original, little restoration work has been done but as it is a unesco site much work is done to preserve the sites.

We were treated to Roti Sai Mai, basically a hand made pandan pancake (the woman was rolling the pancake by hand into the hot plate! And the pancake was so thin, ouch!) then you put this cotton candy fine strands in the middle and roll it up and eat it! Delicious!

Because the city was in ruins, many people, after the wars, took the heads of the Buddha statues from the ruined temples. The heads were easy to transport and people would sell them to make money. This was done to support life and their families, no malice intended although not sure how that sits with the Buddhist rules. So most of the temples had headless bodies and random heads dotted about.

Unlike in the UK, the whole place is mostly accessible. There are signs asking not to step on the ruins which everyone complies to. The place is stunning and at night it is lit up to show the beauty of Ayutthaya.

Ayutthaya was the second capital city in Siam. It had 33 kings over time and over 1 million people living here at one time.

For the rest of my time here, I did my own bike tour, visiting some of the other temples (on the worse bike ever, hired from my lovely hotel) Obviously I didn't visit every temple but I hope the photos do Ayutthaya justice.

I was also treated to the last day of the Kohn festival which is a festival of traditional Thai dance and music.

So pleased I made the 14 hours train journey here!Read more