The trip I had last September-October 2009 in Thailand was my fourth one since the first time I went there in 2003 and this is one of the best trips I had in Thailand.  It was my first time in Chiang Mai and the historical place of Ayutthaya, the ancient city of Thailand.  The trip we had in Ayutthaya was just for a day, but it was fun.  Had a chance to ride on an elephant while touring the park (and smelled the elephant poop), seen the ancient ruins, and seen some weird looking Tuktuks, and not to mention that I took almost a thousand photos, hey I am not that photo freak okay I just love taking photos. J

I wouldn’t be able to see lots of places in Thailand or any part of the world if it weren’t for my best friend Lew.  I have been travelling and have seen some places alone but it is really fun if you have friend/s to travel with.  If I’m alone, I would be lazy all day and probably just stayed in the hotel room. Lol…

Here’s a background story about the Kingdom of Ayutthaya taken from Wikipedia.org and some photos I took.

Ayutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1351 to 1767 until it was invaded by the Burmese. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese (Annam), Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up villages outside the city walls. In the sixteenth century, it was described by foreign traders as one of the biggest and wealthiest cities in the East. The court of King Narai (1656-1688) had strong links with that of King Louis XIV of France, whose ambassadors compared the city in size and wealth to Paris. Before Ayutthaya fell to the Burmese invasion in 1767, its vassals included the Northern Shan states of present-day Myanmar, Lanna (Chiang Mai, Thailand), Yunnan & Shan Sri (China), Lan Xang (Laos), Champa (Vietnam), and some city-states in the Malay Peninsula.

According to foreign accounts, Ayutthaya Kingdom was officially known as Siam but many sources also said Ayutthaya people called themselves as Tai of Krung Tai, or the Kingdom of the Tais.

Photos from Ayuttayah:

(a broken statue on top of the very old structure of Ayuttayah)

(one of the very old structure of Ayuttayah)

(I guess that would be a temple)

(Some tourists in Ayuttayah Historical Park)

(a full picture of one of the temples in Ayuttayah, if I am not mistaken it is a tomb, I better research it more)

(a vendor selling a cold drink)

(our elephant driver, is it called driver???  hahaha)

(a close up shot of the elephant that we fed with cucumbers, I guess he/she is not wearing contacts…. hmmmm)

(one of the very old structure of Ayuttayah)

(Miss Korea, Miss Japan, Miss China or Miss Union Jack UK???  whatever)

(a little girl dancing to earn money for her education)

(a temple)

(I think I know the gender of the owner, pink Tuktuk??? If you need attention, then ride in this vehicle.  Calling all Katuys ……)

I think that would be enough for today and this won’t be my first and last post about Ayuttayah, there are lots to tell about the history behind each ruin temples and structures, there are lots of photos that I took and would like to share.

There will be more.

In the mean time, Happy Trip!!! 

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