Wat a day!

Day 3: Ayutthaya day trip

Wat a day!
So I had another stupid o'clock start and was up at 5.30am again in order to see the wonderful Ayutthaya ruins. What I didn’t realise, was we were actually going on a temples tour and I ended up seeing 3 amazing temples and 1 ruin!

First stop was Bang Pa In Palace - a summer palace of the royal family dating back to the 17th Century. Not that you would know it was that old as it was so well maintained and restored. It also had a lot of western influences in its architecture which was evident from the multiple buildings on the grounds.

After the palace we headed to Wat Mahathat. Wat means temple FYI.

Now Wat Mahathat was AMAZING!!!!!!
The city of Ayutthaya was founded by King Ramathibodi I in 1351. The city was destroyed by the Burmese in 1569 in an attempt to take over the land, however their plans for colonisation did not succeed, but unfortunately, they in that time, bombed the city leaving it in ruins. I imagine it would have been stunning in its hay day when in its former glory. It still is stunning, however it was very sad to see such a beauty destroyed by the evils of war.

Being on a tour group I was limited for time and could have quite easily wandered around the ruins for hours on end. I even lost the

tour group at one point as I was so absorbed in taking photos I didn’t realise they had left! I then got lost in the ruins and couldn’t find my way out! What a plonka.

I highly recommend seeing this to anyone that visits BKK - but perhaps don’t do a tour so that you can have more time to see it all. It is huge area to cover and the tour groups do not cover all of it which sucked for me, as I absolutely loved this place!

We then headed toward Wat Napharmaen, where there were two separate temples on site. It was here that I was blessed with holy water by a Buddhist Monk and had a piece of string tied onto my wrist. I think the string is supposed to be good luck but i’m not sure... Will have to have a google to find out it’s real meaning.

We then headed for Wat Lokaya which is where we saw the second largest reclining Buddha. There wasn’t too much to see here so I Just bought a few bits from the stalls for Christmas presents.
Hint hint Emily ;)

Finally we were taken to a boat where we had lunch and a river tour back into Bangkok. Safe to say I was absolutely exhausted by the time I got back at 4pm - so it was a long old day. I didn’t bring a hat with me either so I started to feel a bit sick by the time I got back, as i’d probably had too much sun and hadn’t adjusted to the heat yet (in fact, my dripping wet face and banging headache confirms this to be true). So I booked myself in for a massage at the hotel spa to relax, grabbed some street food and headed for bed.

A very satisfying and busy day all in all and I absolutely cannot wait to get my photos onto my computer at home and start editing - i’ve got some amazing shots! Edited photos will be uploaded upon my return to Blighty..