Thailand: Ayutthaya Part One

After spending a magnificent morning monkeying around it was time to get into some of the history of Thailand.  We hopped back into the van and were off to Ayutthaya.

This is a province in Thailand that was establish around 1350 AD, and is suspected to have a population of 300,000 in 1600 AD making it one of the largest cities of the time.

This city was known for the rich culture and use of monasteries. 

Since Ayutthaya was such a large empire, it was very spread out.  This is the first shrine we visited.  Brent has seen a ton of photos of this very spot, so he was excited to get a chance to photograph it all.

It was interesting that all of these ruins were such a mixture of well maintained and run down.  

I loved the little kitties that made these ruins their home.  This one couldn't care less that I was petting it!  Notice the ice cream?  I was starving and this is really the only thing we could find!

I just think it is amazing that we have the chance to visit these places!

This small row of homes is where the Monks who cared for the grounds lived.  They are humble but beautiful.  I would like to think I could make these places my home at least for a few years.

After we finished exploring the ruin we did a little explore at the surrounding areas.

One exciting thing we found were wild turtles living in the stream.  I am sure we could have found turtle food but it wasn't needed since all were content to just hang out!

Brent with a great sitting Buddha.  I often wonder how often they change the cloths that these shrine wear.  Some of them are dingy but most are very well kept!

Although it was an awesome place to explore, this was not really my favorite shrine.  Totally worth the visit but in the end I had other favorites.