I shared a tuk-tuk to the Ayuthayah bus station with a German photographer named Michael Riehle. Fascinating guy. He's traveled all over the world and has published books of his work. He was in Thailand because his agency needed to refresh its stock photos. Nice job, eh.
The town is divided into two sections, the old part, where the ruins are, and the new part, which is 12 km away. My guidebook said all the accomodation is in the new part, which meant I'd have to hire a tuk-tuk in the morning to take me to the ruins. Michael's guidebook said there was accomodation in the new part, closer to the ruins, so we decided to check it out. We ended up in a guest house catty-corner across the street from the park entrance. From the entrance of our guest house we could see the ruins. It couldn't have been any closer.
The ruins are similar to Ayuthayah in that they aren't completely overrun by tourists, and they're a great place to spend a relaxing day riding a bike.
The temples feature a number of restored statues of Buddha, most of them white, like this one at Wat Sa Sri.
Just north of town is Wat Saphan Hin, which is at the top of a hill overlooking the town and features an enormous standing Buddha.
Enormous.
The main temple is Wat Maha That, and features white Buddhas of various sizes. This should be a nice pic when I have time to touch it up. I like the bird sitting on the Buddha's head.
The temple is quite large, with lots of nooks and crannies to explore. This is a wide view, with two standing Buddhas in the background and sitting one in the center pavilion.
Probably the most popular spot is Wat Si Chum with its equally enormous sitting Buddha. (I had to go there three times because it was so crowded with tour buses that I couldn't even get close.)
This isn't an optical illusion. It's practically wedged into the temple. The tree gives a sense of its size, but this picture of me standing by its hand really hammers it home.
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