Popsicle Society

One of the advantages of living in Singapore is that with 2-3 hours flight you can travel around Southeast Asia.

So even if you have only a mini break or a short weekend getaway you have a lot of wonderful destinations to choose from.

This time we have decided for Thailand. We’ve stayed in Bangkok and from the hotel we’ve booked 1 day trip to Ayutthaya, an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ayutthaya is a city in Thailand, about 80 kilometres north of Bangkok. It was capital of Kingdom of Siam, and a prosperous international trading port, from 1350 until razed by the Burmese in 1767 who burned the city to the ground and forced the inhabitants to abandon the city. The ruins of the old city now form the Ayutthaya Historical Park, an archeological site characterised by the prang (reliquary towers) and gigantic monasteries that give an idea of its past splendour.

The integrity of the ruins of the former Siamese capital is found in the preservation of the ruined or reconstructed state of those physical elements which characterised this once great city. These consist of first and foremost the urban morphology, the originality of which is known from contemporary maps of the time prepared by several of the foreign emissaries assigned to the Royal Court. These maps reveal an elaborate, but systematic pattern of streets and canals throughout the entire island and dividing the urban space into strictly controlled zones each with its own characteristic use and therefore architecture. The urban planning template of the entire island remains visible and intact, along with the ruins of all the major temples and monuments identified in the ancient maps. Wherever the ruins of these structures had been built over after the city was abandoned, they are now uncovered.

Wandering through endless ancient ruin sites, you can’t help but feel humbled by the ingenuity of the Ayodha craftsmen and their powerful spiritual beliefs.