The Old Empire
Last time I went to Reno, I got this strange post-apocalyptic vibe. There was some sort of wildfire that gave the city an eerie haze. The decay after the town's development boom in the 90s didn't help. So, imagine Reno, plaster statues, fake gold and all, after having been invaded by the Burmese some two hundred and forty-some times (according to the math team), and you get the idea of the ruins of Ayutthaya:
historically significant piles of rock
History lesson time: Ayutthaya (Aye-yuhtt-eh-yuh) was the capital of the Ayutthaya Kingdom from 1351 to 1767, when it was sacked by the Burmese for the last time. This kingdom, at one point, was the center of power in Southeast Asia in addition to being a major trade hub. Ayutthaya was the source of many of the "oriental" goods so prized by the West, such as sandal and tigerwood, rice, and a variety of spices and medicines. We discovered all of this in the morning at the Ayutthaya Historical Study Center, a fantastic and informative museum built in collaboration with the Japanese. The general principle of the construction of the exhibits was :
On the right is the Emperor of Japan visiting the museum. Seriously, the dioramas were the most detailed and impressive I've ever seen.
Afterward, we headed towards the ruins of the Grand Palace, in the north of the city. We rented bikes, this time of the non-powered variety (except for Ben, who rented what the dealer assured him was a Kawasaki superbike but was actually an upscale scooter. He still did burnouts for us). We then toured the major ruins, examining a variety of stupas, chedis, wats, and other remnants of the Ayutthaya Empire. As Ben had a motorbike, he toured the city a bit faster and took his own set of good photos. For those, check out the Ayutthaya portion of the gallery. Anyways, the requisite photos:
We think that the preponderance of headless Buddah figures was a symbolic move take by the Burmese invaders.
After we examined the major ruins, we toured the city on our bikes, examining the various smaller remains spread throughout the city. Like everything we do, this was not without its dangers:
DC tries his hand at being an Australian road train
matt moments before being run over by an elephant
All of this is merely a prelude to the major event of the day, which Marvin! will tell you is dinner. We found a real night market (we didn't see any other tourists there) and proceeded to acquire a feast of decidedly non-Thai proportions.
these fish were swimming not five minutes ago
Pointing and grunting works surprisingly well.
