Guided Trip to Ayutthaya Province

This is a picture of our hotel room!  Pretty sweet digs for the week.  Chloe and I are sharing this room.

This is a temple in the middle of a lagoon on the grounds of the summer palace of the king.  It was originally constructed by King Rama V and over time has been added to and improved by all of the King's since then.  The palace is located in the Ayatthuya Province.  This was our first stop of the day.  We took a van about an hour out of Bangkok to get here.

This is the carriage used by the King's before they used cars to visit the palace. 

This is the Chinese summer Palace.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside, but we were able to see the sleeping quarters of the Kinjg (a wooden bed without a mattress!!).  The King of China still comes to visit this home once a year after the Chinese new year.  Another interesting thing that we got to see was the sleeping quarters for the king when he has a mistress for the night!!  Very intersting. After sleeping with a mistress for the night he puts a ring in a drawer above his bed.  I didn't fully understand this tradition, but found it very interesting. Finally, we saw a carving made out a camel bone that was made for the Chinese Royalty.  We could not take photos of it, but if you could have seen it you would not believe what you saw.  The carving was probably about three feet deep, 10 feet wide, and 4 feet tall three dimensional carving including all things important to the chinese culture.  The detail was impeccable.  I wish I could show you.

This is another very detailed and interesting carving from the 17th centruy. 

This is a better view of the Chinese King's Palace. Wow!  Very ornate!

This is where all of the children and the women stay on the palace grounds.  Boys become men at age 13 and girls become women at age 11.  At this time their top knot is removed and the boys no longer remain on this side of the palace isolated from the King.

Plant life here is different!  Gorgeous.  

This is the old King's Temple.  It was originally constructed by King Rama II.  It has been reconstructed because in 1762 the Bermese (now Myanmar) burned all of the Ayutthaya Province.  Over 100,000 people lost their lives over  7 day period.

This Buddha was in the fire.  Many years later the Buddha yead was found and was moved under the tree for protection.  The roots have now grown over it and are protecting it. :)

                                   
Here is Chloe and Anthony riding on Elephants. :)

I got a kiss from an Elephant.

Here he is when he wrapped his trunk around me.  He suprised me!  I didn't know he was going to do that!  His trunk is very strong. :)

This is a very old Buhhda.  All of the Buddha statues are covered with gold leafs.  Actual Gold!!  This is a more obvious picture of the gold flakes.

This is a horrible picture of me...but we took this can of sticks, and shook it until one of the sticks flew out. My stick said 5. We then went to a counter where we could get our fortune that corresponded to the number of the stick taht flew out.  My fortune read "You will have good luck but those in love will have to wait and you will meet a suitable partner finally."  I'm not sure if something may be lost in translation. Not sure what that really means.

After the King's Palace we went to visit the largest temple in the Ayatthuya Province.  This was also reconstructed after the fire.  Interestingly, during the fire the temple collapsed on this Buddha's shoulder and broke it off.  When the Thai people went to reconstruct Buddha they found many thousands of little Buddhas build into the body of the big Buddha!!!  The ancient Thai people did this when they originally constructed the Buddha.

Here is another Buddha at the King's Palace.  Notice that Thai Buhhda is skinny!!  It is Chinese Buddha that has the big Buddha belly.

 This is the reconstructed temple that was given by one of the kings to another king.  There were three of these all in a line.  These were originally constructed by King Rama II and they were also lost in the fire. 
They have been restored now for visitors.

 This is a map of the ruins.

This is the assembly hall.  We were all very impressed by their masonry.  Their masonry was also made in a wave so that it looks like the neighboring river. 

Today was a very full day!  Two palaces, (one that is currently being used and one that was ancient ruins), and two amazing temples. We were also blessed by a monk, although I didn't take a picture of this. 

I learned that when the Thai people come to see Buddha they make offerings to Buddha and to the monks.  Monks are only allowed to eat twice a day (6 am and 11 am).  They cannot touch women.  I also learned that every boy in Thai is supposed to study to be a monk in their life (preferably before they get married).  Our tour guide Anang studied for a month.  Also when Thai people pray to Buddha they pray to reach nirvana (to not be reborn). 

It was a full and interesting day!  I'm thankful for these experiences. :)