Ayutthaya, a river-encircled city about an hour outside of Bangkok, was the majestic capital of Thailand for four centuries until 1767 when the Burmese conquered and left it in ruins. People like to say there's nothing there now but elephants and temples, and that's about right. But the elephants and temples make it well worth a trip. I went there last week to visit a couple I got to know in Chiang Mai and had a wonderful time with them as my tour guides. On my first night there, Yada demonstrated the awesome potential of a rice cooker and hot plate—I'd go back just for more of her almond fried chicken. We also managed to break from our South Park/Chris Rock-era Saturday Night Live marathon enough to do some nice sight-seeing, including a sunset boat ride with views like the one I took above.Reade and Yada at one of the temple grounds.
The Burmese destroyed what they could of the city, going so far as to decapitate sacred Buddha figures. The ruins are so beautiful, though, and brought to mind the Shawn Mullins song from which I ripped off my title.
Only one temple was not destroyed by the Burmese. The king of Burma used Wat Na Phrameru Rachikaram as a military base and fired canons from it. Injured from firing a canon himself, he died on his way back to Burma for treatment.
We stopped by the Elephant Kraal, where elephants live and are trained for ceremonies and battle reenactments. The handsome fellow below is just ten days old. He was trying to run before he could walk—so cute to watch. I was sitting on a bench taking pictures when a six-month-old elephant named Santa came over and hugged me—or so I thought—with his trunk. Turns out it's his bench and he wanted it back. Good thing I wasn't in the mother's seat.
An enormous fence of red teak posts (seen below behind Yada and the elephants) enclosed the area. One of the kraal owners told us the posts were handcarved by twelve women in their 70s. I couldn't find more information on that, but will look into it next time I'm there.
PS: Can't you just hear the smaller elephant saying "Me, me, don't forget me!"?
