Wat Hopping

We arrived in the Historic City of Ayutthaya, Thailand’s former capital, by 12 noon.  Our mission was to visit 9 temples as, according to Jof, worshipping Buddha at 9 sacred temples will bring prosperity.  So we wasted no time.  We immediately went to a temple (I forgot the name) where there’s a reclining Buddha.  I imagined Ayutthaya to be like Cambodia’s Angkor Wat where all the temples are in a big compound so, when we entered this temple, I was disappointed because it was just small & there’s not much to see.  As it turned out, the historic temples are scattered all over the city.  And we planned to visit 9 temples…in just half a day?!  Good luck with that.

 

It was extremely hot and humid when we got there that we were not able to explore the entire temple.  We just gave up and decided to look for a restaurant and eat lunch and do wat hopping when it wouldn’t be that sunny.

 

Finding a restaurant was a huge crisis as our hired driver didn’t know his way around Ayutthaya.

  Jof, who organized the entire trip, was greatly disappointed with him.  As a driver, at least he should know the basic touring routines, like where to eat.  So when we passed by a small restaurant along the highway, Jof instructed him to pull over.  We experienced another difficulty when ordering our food.  It seemed that the waitress can’t understand what we’re ordering, although Jof and her friends were speaking in Thai.  The driver, this time, proved to be handy.  He was the one who ordered for us.  Plus points for him!  :)

 

Then I learned that Thai language is very complicated.  One word can mean a whole new thing when pronounced differently.  Suay, for example, means beautiful but it could also a curse, depending on the intonation.  So, be careful with what you say.  You might be cursing a girl instead of admiring her beauty.

 

So after a meal of pad thai & a bottle of Coke, we continued on our wat hopping.

 

Next stop Wat Chai Watthanaram.  However, we’re so frugal that once we learned that there’s an entrance fee of 50THB (or was it 100THB), we backed out.  J  We settled on just admiring it from the outside.  We could see it anyways from where we stand & at least I was able to make use of my 18x-optical-zoom-Nikon.  When I peeped into my view finder, I saw a row of beheaded Buddhas.  Strange.

 

After that, we went to this huge reclining Buddha.  No entrance fee this time.  Yahoo!

 

Moving on, next stop was at Wat Phra Si Sanphet.  I noticed that there was a ticket booth but then we decided to just move fast & pretend we’re locals & we did!  We got in without tickets! 

 

I love this temple ground �" worn-out orange-brown brick buildings that withstood war, time & Mother Nature.

  I also saw some piles of stones.  I don’t know what it’s called really.  I’m not sure if it’s a form of rock balancing.  But I like them, looove them. 

  

Just adjacent to this wat is Phra Mongkhon BoPhit, which is one of the largest bronze buddha images of Thailand.

 

It was getting late in the afternoon so before it gets dark, we decided to head on to the main attraction, Wat Phra Mahathat, where the head of the sandstone Buddha image can be found.  I was so looking forward for this.

 

It was, again, a huge temple ground with massive ruined buildings but we were focused on finding Ayutthaya’s iconic image.  And there it was, Buddha’s head almost swallowed up by this old enormous Bodhi tree.

 

After our photo sessions with the Buddha head, we surveyed the temple grounds.  Again, we found beheaded Buddha statues.  We read signs where it isn’t allowed to take a picture with one’s head on the body of the Buddha but we thought it’ll be cool & different so we attempted to do that.  Then we heard a whistle blow.  OMG, they caught us.  Are they going to fine us or put us in jail?  Worst is, are they going to behead us?  NO!

 

And so this officer came to us, told us not to do that (well, not exactly, just pointed to us the signs) then told us to delete the photos (again, not exactly, as he just pointed to the camera then lots of pointing happened which we understood as, let me see your photos!)  Luckily, no shots were taken.  We’re safe!  :)

 

Then came sunset.  Chedi & prang + sunset = incredible views.

 

All tired & templed out, we decided to call it a day.

 

After a long & tiring day, we ended our escapade with a sumptuous dinner & a few drinks @ Mookata.