One of the things that make me really happy is visiting old places. Whenever I travel I make sure to stop by the historical sites of cities or countries I visit and immerse myself in its roots and culture.
Late this year I was fortunate enough to visit the old city of Ayutthaya, the second capital of the Siamese Kingdom.
There are two ways to go to the province of Ayutthaya; by train and by car. But since we were feeling adventurous, we chose the former.
At first I wanted to rent a bike to go around the city but when I realized how big the place was, we hired a tuktuk instead.
Ayutthaya was one of the biggest and wealthiest cities in the East during the 16th century. It was a major seaport in Southeast Asia and people from all over the world came to Ayutthaya to buy and sell goods. They never lacked food supply, conquered many kingdoms, and even replaced the Angkor as the great power of the region. It was friendly towards foreigners but it made dangerous enemies; The Nguyen Lords of Vietnam when they fought for the control of Cambodia, the Ming rulers of China for the Malay Peninsula, but none of them was as bad as the Alaungpayas of Burma who sacked and razed the city in 1765, which lead to the destruction of the great Siamese Kingdom.
Although there were some noticable renovations, the ruins are beautiful and with an imaginative mind you can visualize how grander it was back then; golden statues, temples, Buddhist monks roaming the city, royal elephants, and the monarchs dressed in their full glory.
Some accounts say that all the Buddha statues were covered in gold (wow), but was melted and stolen by the Burmese when the city was sacked.
I’m not really a history buff but it felt strange to be in the once center of everything in Southeast Asia!
To pay tribute to their past, when the Siamese Kingdom was restored they recreated the urban planning and architecture of the ancient city in their new capital, Bangkok.
Post a Comment