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The ancient city of Ayutthaya founded in 1350 by King Uthong was the Thai capital for 417 years. During it’s time as one of Indo-China’s most prosperous cities, it was frequently the site of many bloody battles and raids usually but not exclusively by the Burmese.
Finally in 1767 it was sacked and destroyed by Burma but not before the Thai people had abandoned it and moved their capital to it’s present day location in Bangkok. In their rage the Burmese burned the city to the ground and removed or destroyed many valuable architectural treasures, leaving only a collection of ruins.
Today a modern town has grown up within the ancient walls surrounded on all sides by relics of a bygone era and Ayutthaya has re-emerged as an important archaeological and world heritage site.
Just 10 days before Christmas, the Pattaya City Expats Club (PCEC) in conjunction with the Tourist Authority of Thailand (TAT) and a local tour company organised a two day trip to the city of Ayutthaya and the surrounding area.
The original offer from the TAT was that in order to promote tourism to this part of the country, a coach of up to 40 club members would be given a free trip. However this proved so popular that a full second coach of paying members and guests had to be added.
So it was early in the morning of Wednesday 15th December that nearly 100 club members in all assembled at the meeting point on Thepprasit Road in Pattaya to board the two large and colourfully decorated double decker coaches that were to be their transport for the two day outing.
Ayutthaya is situated approximately 75 kilometres to the North of Bangkok and the journey time there via the city ring road takes around 3 hours.
However shortly before arriving there we made our first stop at Bang Pa-In, the Royal Summer Palace for a tour of the grounds and buildings there. A full story about this palace can be found in an accompanying feature, suffice to say here that we spent approximately an hour and a half exploring the many fascinating and varied architectural buildings there including the royal throne room before returning to the coaches to continue our journey.
 The next stop was at a river mooring on the Chao Phraya river which flows from beyond Ayutthaya down to Bangkok and the coast. There w e boarded two traditional style rice barges where we were provided with a very comprehensive Thai food lunch before setting off for a tour up and downstream.
Our party had the option of either viewing the passing scenery from the open but rather hot top deck or remaining seated downstairs and still obtaining an excellent view whilst being served with after lunch tea or coffee.
During this tour  with accompanying commentary we passed by many of the temples both ancient and modern that dominate the skyline of Ayutthaya as well as a royal riverside guest house. Although not commentated on, we also noticed along the river bank this rather unusual gar den terrace made out of a sunken boat
At one point towards the end of this leisurely cruise we passed a landing stage and were directed to focus our attention on the water between it and ourselves. We did and were amazed to see the whole river apparently churning with fish as they scrambled for the chunks of bread being tossed to them by a group of peo ple. In fact the landing stage was constructed specifically for this purpose and was supplied complete with a bread supply counter.
On completing our cruise we returned to our original landing stag e to disembark, passing there this fascinating and unusual mode of pedal transport. We were particularly interested in the table complete with drink cup holders - obviously the only way to travel
Re-boarding the coaches, our next stop a short distance away was at Phra Mongkhon Bophit temple where on of the largest bronze Buddha images in all of Thailand was situated . This huge statue dominates the whole temple and can be viewed from all angles as one traverses the interior of the building.
A short walk from here brought us to Wat (temple) Phra Si Sanphet, one of the major sites of the ruins of the ancient capital. It was situated on the premises of the royal palace there and as such was during the kingdom of Ayutthaya used for important ceremonies as well as the royal family’s private chapel.
All that still stands nowadays are the large stupas three of which contain the remains of 3 of the kings of that period.
After spending around an hour exploring these ruins, and it now being late afternoon, we were all ready for a rest and so headed for our hotel in the centre of the city to check into our rooms.
Our stay there was however brief only allowing us time to shower and change before it was time to head out again, this time to the highlight of the entire trip, the Ayutthaya World Heritage Festival ‘Son et Lumiere’ show which is held annually at an outdoor stage with the backdrop of several of the ancient city ruins.
Our coach brought us most of the way there and then we transferred to a mini-tram which took us to the show entrance.
There a large crowd was assembling on the raised audience platform and we took our assigned seats to witness a spectacular pageant take place on the stage in front of us.
 Although the commentary for this was in Thai only, it was still easy to deduce that the scenes displayed were telling the history of Ayutthaya including many of the battles fought in and around its walls. These were illustrated by many colourfully decorated performers, including some riding or leading elephants, and accompanied by spectacular light shows, fireworks and assorted explosions. We all sat enraptured for more than an hour as the whole story was played out. The finale when the entire cast was joined by a number of traditional river craft all beautifully illuminated traversed the entire stage was truly awesome.
At the end of the show the audience was invited to come down to the ground in front of the stage to meet and take pictures of some of the cast, both humans and elephants.
 Then it was back to our hotel to find a huge supper laid on for us. We sat there chatting about the day’s events whilst course after course of delicious Thai food was presented to our tables until well sated and extremely tired we retired to our rooms for a good night’s sleep in preparation for our second day’s travelling in and around Ayutthaya.
To view any of the above photos in full size, just click on it.
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