AYUTTHAYA, THE GREAT ANCIENT CITY

          The wheel gradually crawled from my house in the early morning towards Ayutthaya Province, the destination of this trip. The distance from Bangkok to Ayutthaya was not too far. It took time around half an hour to get there. On the way, my comfortable car passed through the town where was full of many kinds of vehicle. I looked at a crowed road through my small car’s window. The picture at that time was really turmoil; people beside the road were absorbed in their activities, some of them were waiting for the bus and some were crossing the road. Also, there were many food stands and stalls placed along both sides of the road with a lot of customers. My car slowly drove away from the town centre around ten minutes to highway. The confused picture I had seen before was melt little by little into a beautiful peace scenery. Along both sides of highway, there was the rush rice field like a green carpet that contrast with the blue horizon laid down endlessly during beaming sun. At that moment, I opened the car’s window so that I could inhale a fresh air and felt a gentle breeze was touching my face. 

I arrived at Ayutthaya city about 9am. Then, I went directly to Chaiwatthanaram temple, the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The monastery was located on the bank of the Chao Phraya River with Khmer style which was popular at that time. The first scene I saw after I got off the car, there was a main intact stupa which surrounded by many pagodas stood on a rectangular platform during a huge green lawn. It was really very fascinated and attracted me to take a lot of photos. All were made from laterite and turned into black because it was burned by Burmese soldiers since Ayutthaya fought with Burma. Nevertheless, it was still in good shape except Buddha statues that were beheaded. I noticed the main stupa, there was a steep stairs which lead to the top. I hurriedly stepped my feet to the base of stupa and started to climb up to its top. At that moment, a nice view of this area became visible to my eyes. Oh! It was very photogenic. This impressive trip remained in my mind until now