Ayuthaya Off The Beaten Path

A little bit further up the river, the Thai kings came here on retreat from the teeming capital, where they used to elephant hunt.
Europeans managed to import their own architecture here (see picture): this was the house built for Vichayen, Constance Phaulkon, the controversial Greek Chief Minister who was executed in a palace coup in 1688.

On the road that crosses the river north of the island to the Elephant Kraal, keep going down that road a couple hundred meters and turn off the right. There sits a place next to the home of a wealthy Thai man who has taken it upon himself to take care of elephants. Elephants are, sadly, in surplus in Thailand, since their livelihoods in the logging industry were halted by the near complete cutting down of many Thai forests. The elephants that give rides around the ruins in Ayuthaya are quartered, fed, and cared for at this place. I'm told that the fares for these rides support the elephant facility here.

At this facility, several females and their young are kept in a set of pens and you can feed the mothers and offspring a specially prepared feed for them. Donations to defray the costs expected. Baby elephants are a hoot, but don't neglect the mothers or they will blow hot air at you with their trunks. I could spend all day at this place.

You may witness some training of younger elephants. The sponsor of this facility is apparently attempting to conserve as the more humane methods of training elephants. Young women and men are trained to by mahouts here as well. Finally, you may witness some of the elephants receiving medical care for foot wounds, etc. as we did when we visited.

Beyond the nursery pens are visible the pens of the older males.

I don't think anyone at this place speaks English, but asking permission may be done through the universal language of questioning and gesturing. It's obvious that visitors are regular and expected or they would not have the special feed and the donation box hung next to the nursery. But I didn't notice any road signs announcing this place.

1 more image

If you can find a boat and take a small tour of the canals around the area, you'll see interesting other local boats, some floating, others slowly decaying in the marsh lands. But you can also see some of the homes and farms from a closer angle.

Well, Ayutthaya certainly has its characteristics and its not just Siem Reap which can lay claim to trees taking over the temples... it appears that it happens in Ayuthaya as well........

Made an interesting picture though dont you agree...?

Being an animal lover, i tend to look for animals in the strangest of places so imagine my surprise when i was feeding the fish in a pond near Wat Si Sanphet... it just poked its head out the water, and vanished again.. on a few occasions, perhaps to get the bread i was feeding the fish with, but certainly something i was surprised with :)

Mu Ban Protuket is the Portuguese village located in Tambon Samphao Lom, on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River and to the south of the city. The Portuguese were the first Europeans who travelled to trade with the Ayutthaya kingdom. In 1511, Afonso de Albuquerque, the Portuguese governor to Asia, dispatched a diplomatic troupe led by Ambassador Mr. Duarte Fernandes to Ayutthaya during the reign of King Ramathibodi II. After that, some portuguese came to the kingdom for different purposes : trade, military volunteers in the Ayutthaya army, or on a religious mission. They built a church as the centre of their community and to serve religious purposes.

Presently, some traces of former construction have been found at the village site. At the ancient remains of São Pedro, a Dominican church, some antique objects were excavated together with human skeletons such as tobacco pipes, coins, and accessories for a religious ceremony.

Bishop Landrabe de Lamot, one of the leaders of the seven missions assigned by the pope to establish Christiany overseas, arrived in Ayutthaya in 1962. Actually, he intended to go to China, but came to Ayutthaya instead because his ship was wrecked in a storm. Also, at that time there was strong dispute against Christianity in China. Thus, Bishop Landrabe stayed in a Vietnamese camp. In 1665 Bishop Landrabe asked King Narai the permission to establish a school in Ayutthaya. The King supported him with land and building materials. The school was later called St. Joseph Camp.

This monastery is over a kilometre behind Wat Suanluangsopsawan adjacent to Wat Worachettharam. Accessible by the road inside the compound of the Distillery Plant, or through the road behind the Phlapphla Trimuk (three-gabled roof pavilion), It is in the area of the Acient Palace passing Wat Woraphot and Wat Worachettharam going to the site of the large reclining Buddha, made of brick and covered with plaster, approximately 29 metres long. Many large hexagonal pillar ruins near the image are believed to be the ruins of the Ubosot.