Home Sweet Home: Ayutthaya

I can't believe that I've lived in Ayutthaya for over 3 months now, and still haven't told you all about the city I now call home. So here we go!

Photo Credit: Alex Kozela

I live right in the heart of the ancient city of Ayutthaya, Thailand, formally known as Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya. I literally live amongst ancient ruins in a city rich in history and culture. Above is a picture of my street in the morning. My apartment is located on the right (behind the trees) and you can see some of the ruins in the background.

Ayutthaya was founded in 1350 by King U Thong who went to Ayutthaya to escape a smallpox outbreak in Lopburi (remember the crazy monkey town?) and proclaimed it the capital of his Kingdom of Siam. Therefore, Ayutthaya is the former capital of Siam. If you didn't know, Thailand is formerly the Kingdom of Siam before it was recently renamed "Thailand" in 1949. It was estimated that in 1700 Ayutthaya had a population around 1 million people, making it the world's wealthiest and largest city at the time and the center of world trade because of its ideal location between China and India. It was also refereed to as "the most impressive city on Earth" by many. However, in 1767, the entire city was horribly destroyed by the invasion of the Burmese Amy, resulting in the collapse of the kingdom. It was the site of mass murder, rape, and enslavement of Siamese people. The Burmese Amy destroyed everything sacred and cut off the heads of most Buddha images (the absolute most disrespectful thing you can do in the Buddhist religion), stole the heads, and almost completely burnt the city to the ground.

 

Now, Ayutthaya is a modern city with billboards for shampoo placed literally right next to ancient archeological wonders and local tuk-tuks with internet advertisements on the side. The headless Buddhas and crumbling (but still beautiful) towers and temples give perfect evidence of the majesty of the civilization that was once here. 

The great cultural value of Ayutthaya's ruins were officially recognized recently in 1991 when it became an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Across the street from my apartment is this Ayutthaya Historical Park where remnants of temples, palaces, pagodas, and reliquary towers are scattered everywhere. One of the most famous temples in Ayutthaya, Wat Mahatat, is about a 2 minute walk from my front door. How cool and crazy is that!? Wat Mahatat is most photographed for the iconic Buddha face in the tree roots. One theory is that this is one of the Buddha heads the Burmese cut off that landed in this spot and the tree just grew around it. Thai people consider this Buddha image sacred and require you to sit or kneel if you want to take a picture with it.

I also live on an island. No, not the beautiful beach postcard perfect islands like in southern Thailand, but I really do live on an island. The city is completely surrounded by three different rivers which is why Ayutthaya is sometimes refereed to as "Venice of the East."  When talking with my friends, you'll hear us refer to things as "on the island" or "off the island" when describing the location of something. I live right near the Buddha in a tree imagine in the center of the map.

Even after living here for 3 months, I enjoy exploring Ayutthaya and still always find something new and cool from baby elephants, markets, to temples. This is definitely the perfect place to play tourist in your own city.

 

Wat Lokayasutharam (also known of the Reclining Buddha)

Traffic Jam

So who's ready to come visit? :)