Ayuttaya

Today was Chulalonghorn Day in Thailand, so in honor of the holiday we went to Bang Pa-in and Ayuttaya, the ancient capital of Siam. We spent the morning at a wat (temple) on a small island - we had to take little air carts to swing across the river to the island - and had awesome ice cream being passed out by women making lots of food for the holiday. Then we wandered around the gardens of the royal summer home in Bang Pa-in before getting back on the bus to head up to ancient Ayuttaya. We spent the afternoon looking at ruins and riding elephants. The elephant thing extremely touristy and circus-like, which made it strange and overwhelming. Also we saw a few indicators that made me question how well the elephants were treated, so it's something I'll research before we plan a longer elephant hike for later this year in the northern parts of the country. But it was still cool to ride an elephant for a few minutes!

young monk from Wat Nivet

I motioned to this kid to ask if I could take a picture of him. He nodded and tapped the elephant on the ear to make him turn his head for this pose.

this one was more candid
ruins of Ayuttaya

one of the many buddhas among the Ayuttaya ruins