Other highlights were the Chinese-style Phra Thinang (royal residence) Wehart Chamrun (heavenly light)
and the observatory Ho (tower) Withun Thasana (sage's lookout), which Vivian and Jeff climbed and barely managed to get down from after a big school group followed them up.
We were eager to get to the ancient ruins, so we basically did a quick walk through, but it was a beautiful place to look around, and it wasn't too far, so we may go back on a day when we have more time to dedicate to it.
After that, we all got back in the van and headed to our first wat. In my mind, I had envisioned Ayutthaya as one main site, but it's actually a city with ancient ruins scattered all around it. I'm glad we had the driver, because he knew where he was going and the best order to tackle everything.
The first wat was the most colorful. There were several trees with multicolored flowers.
The Buddhas also had colorful robes.
It was a hot day, so we used umbrellas as sunshades and added a little more color.
The next wat was Wat Mahathat. A lot of the towers were leaning precariously to one side or the other.
It's best known for the tree that grows around a Buddha head.
It looked kind of like the Game of Thrones weirwood tree. It made me wonder if it was George R.R. Martin's inspiration for a tree with a face, or if it was just a coincidence.
One of the most interesting monuments was actually in the park across the street. After the death of one of the kings, his two oldest sons fought a duel to decide who would succeed him. They ended up killing each other, so the third son became king and built this monument to commemorate his brothers. Not sure if they deserved it, but it keeps the story alive.
After two wats, we were ready for some lunch, so we drove down the street to a restaurant called Bann KunPra. It had tables on the river, so we had a nice view for lunch.
We tried lots of interesting dishes, but we got the biggest kick out of the rice shaped like a turtle. It's the little things :-)
After fueling up, we went to see our third wat, Wat Phra Si Sanphet. The three central chedis show up in a lot of Ayutthaya pictures.
Our final stop was Wat Chaiwatthanaram, which we all decided was our favorite. It was used as an army camp during the Burmese invasion in 1767, and so it was more intact than most of the other ones.
Jeff and Judy got ambitious and decided to climb up the central tower. About half way up, Judy remembered that she was afraid of heights and came back down, but Jeff made it all the way up.
We were all exhausted on the ride home, but were very happy with our day.
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