Author & Photographer, After The Rain. Pop culture editor, Story Of Books. Co-founder / Creative director, Studio GLUE and imprint Story Of Books.
View all posts by Zarina Holmes
I booked a guided tour to Thailand’s historical city, Ayutthaya, during a brief stopover in Bangkok. We left our hotel at dawn and were picked up at a nearby hotel by our guide, Eddie. Then we travelled 80km outside of Bangkok along with French, Filipinos, Spanish and Mexican travellers.
The city was a prosperous capital of the Siam Kingdom from the 14th century, until it was razed to the ground 1767 by the neighbouring Burmese army.
We arrived first at Wat Chaiwatthanaram, the handsome remains of a Buddhist temple complex that used to serve as the ordinance hall for monks. Once upon a time, it was lined with 120 glittering Buddha statues, but today we could only see remnants of decapitated stone figures. The heads were looted and sold to foreign collectors and the bricks were stolen over time.
To be honest, I didn’t expect to hear so much about war and destruction from our tour guide. In my naive head, I thought a temple complex must’ve been a peaceful place where nothing would come to harm. Why would anyone destroy a holy sanctuary and attack weaponless monks, especially if they’re from the same Buddhist religion? The tour guide answered that question by explaining that the obsession with power could turn humans into unruly animals.
We proceeded to cross the Chao Phraya River to Ayutthaya Island, to visit Wat Mahathat and Wat Phra Sri Sanphet. The tour ended with lunch next to the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, Wat Lokayasutharam.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect to hear so much about war and destruction from our tour guide. In my naive head, I thought a temple complex must’ve been a peaceful place where nothing would come to harm.”
Wat Mahathat is my favourite of all the four temples we visited at Ayutthaya. This is because there’s an elephant riding school and a huge lotus pond nearby. The elephants have soft hairy heads that reminded me of babies. This is also where I had the opportunity to observe flower offering sellers making small bouquets out of white lotuses and fragrant pandan leaves.
I could sense a deep peaceful feeling and beauty that had run for centuries here. The stone towers and stupas were gilded with gold once. The bare stones that remain today is the real lesson that Ayutthaya gives to us; that nothing lasts forever, and peace is hard-earned.
After The Rain 