04-01-10

photo documentary – Ayutthaya

The ancient city of ayutthaya , formally designated Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya was the Thai capital city for 417 years ago! Now it is one of the most thailand’s major tourist attractions from all over the world. It is relatively straddling the chao phraya river, the nation’s principal waterway and the province is extremely important as it was the main Siamese capital for 4 centuries!
It is located 76km north of bangkok and boasts numerous magnificent ruins from its days as the capital. All of the ancient ruins and art works can be seen in the city was founded in 1350 by King U-Thong when the Thais were forced southwards by northern neighbours.

The most interesting facts that i found while i’m there was ayutthaya have been ruled by 33 kings during the period when it was capital! fuh! after that, the city was sacked by the Burmese in 1767. Now, ayutthaya was declared as a UNESCO’s world heritage site since 1991.

-sources from ayutthaya provincial administration organization-

The journey to here was awesome!!!  There are many ways to get u to here, by train, bus or car. we managed to get a train from hua lamphong railway station (bkk). the journey by local train was 3 hours. u can see a lot of nice view of thailand from the train.
if u guyz are planning to go here, my tips is simple. u need to spend at least 1 day 1 night so that u can cover all ayutthaya province. there a some cheap guesthouse near the ayutthaya railway station. there, u can hire any tuk2 or taxi to get u to cover all of the place in ayutthaya. (please bargain so that u can save!) or u can rent a bike, if u know the way. seriously this place was very big and u can easily get lost. It will take u at least 10/15 minutes to reach from one place to another place by tuk2 or car. theres a lot of interesting place and things to see here. if u are coming to bangkok, this is one of the must go destination although it is quite far from bangkok. lol
oh… not to forget, if u got more time and budget, u can try ayutthaya elephant ride – according to lonely planet.

till next time.

regards,
azim.zainudin – ayutthaya (jan 2010)