
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!"?