Blog: Ayutthaya

After seeing the Summer Palace, we took a long-tail boat up the Chao Phraya River toward the main city of Ayutthaya. The banks of the river are lined with houses, each with a boathouse. Some of the houses and boathouses are elaborate, others simple; some are immaculate, others run down. This river was a primary transportation link to and from Bangkok, and some people still use it to commute, avoiding the car traffic, though the houses now all have road access as well. As it was Sunday, many people were out on the riverfront eating, doing laundry, fishing, or swimming.

More images...

Ayutthaya, about an hour's drive north of Bangkok, was Thailand's capital from 1350 to 1787, when Burmese invaders conquered it and killed the king. The Bang Pa In Summer Palace is a royal residence, originally used during the Ayutthaya Kingdom but then rebuilt in the 19th Century. Now it is mostly a tourist attraction, though occasional state dinners and similar events still take place there.

King Rama IV, who revived the Summer Palace, appreciated architecture from around the world, and so rather than following a single traditional style, the buildings reflect an eclectic variety of global styles, primarily European and Chinese (Thailand is about 30% Chinese, with good relations between the Chinese and Thai populations), as well as some small Thai buildings. The grounds are laid out with manicured gardens around an artificial lake.

Unlike many of the other tourist attractions we visited on our trip, most of the tourists at Bang Pa In were Thai students from nearby colleges. The most interesting part of the palace visit was the opportunity to anthropologically observe the Thai young people - their Hello Kitty umbrellas and Playboy tote bags which American women would never carry, or the way two female friends would hold hands while taking a picture.

More images...