Djurdjevic - Personal Photos - Around the World Trip

23 Jan 2011

June 2006

'Round the World, Again

Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Germany...

AYUTTHAYA, June 25, 2006 - You might recall by now that Ayutthaya (pronounced Ah-yu-tah-yah; the words always gave me fits with its long lilting accent on the last syllable) was the ancient capital of Thailand (1350-1767).

Thirty three Thai kinds ruled from here until the city was destroyed by a Burmese invasion in 1767. The old ruins were a short car ride away from the jungle animal village.

The entrance to the old temple and palace grounds was adorned by this gorgeous tree in full bloom. I have been seeing these red flowering trees all over Bangkok as well, but none were as resplendent as this one.

An example of the typical Thai architecture, the chapel (the central building), once contained a giant gold statue of Buddha that was nearly 50 feet tall...

...as this plaque explains. A total of 171.6 kilos (over 360 pounds) of gold was used to cover the image, the sign says. Even though the invaders were Buddhists themselves, they destroyed the statue and melted down the gold which they took with them back to Burma.

Nor did they stop at just the main Buddha statue. They decapitated all Bhudda images they could find anywhere on the temple and royal palace grounds, as you can see from the above limestone statue remains. The Burmese believed if you cut off the Thai God's heads, the people would be easier to subjugate, Tu explained.

And then they proceeded to burn down every building in Ayatthaya and destroy as much of it as they physically could.

But such wanton destruction did not diminish the sanctity of the place. Even today, as one stands among the Ayutthaya ruins one feels the weight and the grandeur of history. "I always get goose bumps when I come here," Tu confided. No wonder. Take a look...

In the above photo, for example, one can discern two distinct architectural styles that you may also recall from my Bangkok reports. The pagoda on the left, is a typical Thai; the one on the right a Khmer (Cambodian) style.

This is where we also saw this majestic looking tree, as befits one growing on the former royal grounds.

An artistic reconstruction of what these temples might have looked like before the destructions.

This is where we also paused for a couple of individual photos, like that of Tu and Pop (above)...

... and of Pop and I. I was glad that Pop had removed his white jacket even though it made him look like a fine young navy officer. A noontime sun was beating down on us creating scorching heat. Stupidly, I had forgotten to put on my sun screen before leaving the hotel this morning. Some jungle elephant explorer I am...

Just as I thought Tu was all out of lore, he came up with the best one. Take a careful look at this poh tree whose roots are growing right out of and around the ancient walls. You will notice an image of Buddha's head in the middle, about two and a half feet off the ground. At first, I thought it was a head carved out of wood (since its color matches that of the roots so closely). So asked Tu how they managed to insert it so cleverly between the roots. When Tu turned for an explanation to a guard who stood nearby, making sure nobody desecrated the site, we heard a fascinating explanation.

The head is actually made out of limestone, like those decapitated Buddha images we had seen earlier. When the Burmese beheaded all the Buddha statues in 1767, they took the heads with them. Except for this one. This one was overlooked and left on the ground. Then some 200 years ago (circa 1806), this tree decided it wanted to make its home here. And as the tree grew, its roots cradled and lifted the Buddha head with it. Now it stands about two and a half feet off the ground. If nobody messes with it for a few generation, maybe it will even rise up to human height.

And now, here's the same poh tree on the other side of the wall it seems to love so much that it is crushing it to death. The little figures at its base are the little Buddha images people have placed there.

Finally, outside the walls of the ancient city, in front of a newly built active temple that houses a reconstructed golden Buddha, Tu posed for a farewell-to-ruis photo.