Ayuthaya and the Elephants

This trip to Ayuthaya seems so far away, but I still wanted to blog about it and share what we did and saw.

The day after our first visit to the Grand Palace, etc., which was soon after we first arrived to Bangkok, we left Bangkok and visited the City of Ayuthaya.  We went with our driver Nouil and the drive was about 1 hour.

Wikitravel summarizes the history of Ayuthaya and its importance to Thai history well.  Here is what it says:

"Founded around 1350, Ayutthaya became the second capital of Siam after Sukhothai. Throughout the centuries, the ideal location between China, India and the Malay Archipelago made Ayutthaya the trading capital of Asia and even the world. By 1700 Ayutthaya had become the largest city in the world with a total of 1 million inhabitants. Many international merchants set sail for Ayutthaya, from diverse regions as the Arab world, China, India, Japan, Portugal, the Netherlands and France. Merchants from Europe proclaimed Ayutthaya as the finest city they had ever seen. Dutch and French maps of the city show grandeur with gold-laden palaces, large ceremonies and a huge float of trading vessels from all over the world. All this came to a quick end when the Burmese invaded Ayutthaya in 1767 and almost completely burnt the city down to the ground.

Today, only a few remains might give a glimpse of the impressive city they must have seen. Its remains are characterized by the prang (reliquary towers) and big monasteries. Most of the remains are temples and palaces, as those were the only buildings made of stone at that time. The great cultural value of Ayutthaya's ruins were officially recognized in 1991, when the Historic City became an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its proximity to Bangkok make it a popular day-trip destination for travelers from Bangkok."

We left fairly early, right after breakfast.  The boys started a cold that day so Cristiano decided he wanted to stay in his pajama top.  I really didn't want to argue with him so I just let it be.  It worked out well for him because it was a bit chilly in the morning.  Visiting the ruins was really nice. Cristiano had a blast running around, climbing the rocks and sitting in small corners.

We see this often in Thailand, entire families working on a construction site

Kids included

Cristiano loving the rocks

He made himself comfortable and played with little rocks

This is what he worked on

Love the pajama top!  He had so much fun.

After our visit to the ruins, we went to the see the elephant show.  Elephants are sacred to Thai people. They helped them win wars, build cities and transport kings.  Nowadays the elephants need help as their natural habitat has decreased.  Tourists can take a ride around the ruins of Ayuthaya on an elephant.  Apparently the money goes to a nonprofit organization that protects the elephants.  The show runs all day and is quite impressive. The elephants dance, pose for pictures, collect money and accept food.  They are truly amazing. In case you are wondering they are smaller than the elephants one would see in Africa.

Elephants waiting for riders

This elephant is supposed to be the perfect elephant so he becomes sacred. He is perfect because of his size, he is a male and his tusks are perfectly symmetrical.

Cristiano was a bit frightened, but still enjoying the "ephalent", as he calls them

They love to be fed

People paying their respect to the perfect elephant

Cristiano giving money to the elephant (I couldn't believe he got so close)

The riders.  Cristiano wanted to go with my mom but he chickened out last minute and then was so worried about teita that he didn't want to leave the mounting station until she returned safe and sound