Ayutthaya

After Bang Pa-In Summer Palace, our tuktuk driver rushed to take us back to Ayutthaya. I used "rushed" because for a tuktuk, I think ours was pretty fast, going toe-to-toe with 4x4 pick-up trucks on the highway.

Anyway, before we agreed to our tuktuk driver to tour us around Ayutthaya and Bang Pa-In for THB300/hour, I already informed him of the Ayutthaya temples that I wanted to visit. I wanted to see the huge prangs, which turned out to be Wat Phra Si Sanphet. The Buddha head overgrown by a tree was interesting, and I learned that it was in Wat Maha That. Finally, my wife wanted to experience riding an elephant, so I made sure that the tuktuk driver would take us to the Elephant Palace. If there was time, I told the driver it was up to him to take us somewhere interesting.

2 hours was used up in Bang Pa-In Palace, so I thought 3 hours in Ayutthaya would be just right. First stop was Wat Maha That. I thought the only interesting part was its famous Buddha head in a tree, but exploring the ruins took most of our time. The decapitated Buddhas were also quite interesting. Anyway, when you're taking a picture with the Buddha in the tree, kneel, squat or sit down, as taking the picture standing up is considered disrespectful.

The famous Buddha in a tree

Decapitated Buddhas

After almost an hour in Wat Maha That, we went to the Ayutthaya Elephant Palace for the elephant ride experience. It cost us THB500/pax, though during and after the experience, the elephant trainer asked for tips. He explicitly asked THB100 as tip to the elephant when we met other elephant riders and took pictures alternately with Wat Phra Ram as background. After our elephant ride, he asked another tip, this time for him and not for the elephant. The ride felt bumpy as every step of the elephant made us sway, but that was fine. What I didn't like was how the trainer hit the elephant's head for some reason - for going out of the way, being slow, or whatever that may be. He had this curved knife with a wooden handle, and we could hear how hard that wooden part hit the elephant's head. Maybe that's really how they train them, and I don't know a single thing about training elephants, but it's just a pity that elephants are hit like that.

After the elephant ride, our driver took us to Wat Lokaya Sutha. It houses a reclining Buddha, similar to that in Wat Pho, but the one here in Ayutthaya was not made of gold. It's almost as big, but located outdoors, unlike its counterpart in Bangkok. At least, this Buddha can be photographed in its entirety without making one side looking quite far.

For size reference of this reclining Buddha

Next stop was Viharn Phra Mongkol Bopit, which was just beside Wat Phra Si Sanphet. Viharn Phra Mongkol Bopit houses a huge bronze Buddha. There's no admission fee and anyone can get in, with no shoes, as it is their custom. After seeing the Buddha, we just walked to the side gate towards Wat Phra Si Sanphet. Admission fee here was THB50/pax. For me, this was another highlight of our Ayutthaya tour. The prangs were so big that you would want to know how it was really like when it was newly built, and what was in there before almost everything was turned into ruins.

Viharn Phra Mongkol Bopit

We're supposed to visit another temple, Wat Phra Ram, just across Viharn Phra Mongkol Bopit and Wat Phra Si Sanphet, but we were running out of time and we wanted to arrive in Bangkok before sunset, so we asked our driver to bring us to the minibus/mini van terminal bound for Victory Monument in Bangkok. That concluded our 5-hour tour of Bang Pa-In Summer Palace and Ayutthaya.