Waching daily Oct 30 2017

Hello, in this ocassion I would like to share with you my trip to the ancient city of Ayutthata.

We're going to be traveling by train from the city of Ubon Ratchathani; estimated travel time:

9 hours.

We arrived at 4:30 [AM] early in the morning; and decided to wait at the train station until 7 AM

This due to the fact that we wanted to book in at the hotel, leave the baggages and take a bath

to be able to start our day comfortably.

My first impression of Ayutthaya was that it is quite a bit more caotic than Ubon Ratchathani;

which is understandable because it's a touristic zone, attracting a lot of commerce.

We had planned to stay for two days. The first day we decided to rent a bicycle,

which rental rate is around 1.5 USD [per day].

Sightseeing places actually are pretty near

to each other, in a very centric manner.

which makes [renting a bicycle] very viable.

I can say that the first day was the most entertaining

so I would recommend you

to opt for the bicycle if you have a good physical condition

The second day we decided to rent a scooter (motorcycle) so we could visit those places

far away from the city center.

The rental rate of a scooter is around 5 USD per day

Another option is to rent a three-wheeled motorized taxi called "tuk-tuk"

The fare is around 30 USD for 4 hours.

The entangled Buddha head is one of the most iconic images of Thailand

Nobody knows for sure how did the head tangle with fig tree roots.

and yet the predominant theory is that one of the looters was trying to steal the head

and had to hide it due to not being able to take it out of the walls, for some unkown reason.

in consecuence the head was left behind forgotten and nature did the rest.

Many Buddha scultures have been beheaded for looting,

which were relatively common, carried out by Burmese invaders

and in some instances performed even by Thai opportunist trying to take advantage of this sorry situation

This temple has an enourmous historical significance for Ayutthaya,

also known as King's temple

this consist of three big chedis and other much smaller structures

Unfortunately, these were looted by the Burmese invaders

however, many of the smaller stupas remained untouched due to these being hidden

containing inside many Buddha scultures made of bronze, crystal, silver and gold

Today, these [scultures] can be found in Bangkok's National Museum

Built for the celebration of King Prasat's coronation. The main prang

symbolize mount Meru, part of the Buddhist cosmogony

sorrounded by many Buddha scultures,

most of them beheaded.

It is believed that inside this stupa resided extremely valuable Buddhist relics.

This temple has a huge Buddha sculture, one of the most ancient of Ayutthaya,

dating back to the 14th century.

Without any doubt Ayutthaya is an ideal place to learn about culture and [Thai] history.

However, not so much for genuine spiritual experiences or for learning in depth about Buddhism

For someone new to Buddhism it might be confusing and contradictory

many of the things done by the natives

We must understand that there's many different elements mixing with the popular Buddhism

and this is because of when Buddhism came into Thailand there were many other beliefs already stablished, based in animism

and hinduism.

Approximately 200 years after the passing away of the Buddha, the great Buddhist emperor Asoka organized

small monastic groups with the objective of traveling through the world, sharing the dharma

with those interested in learning about it.

One of these groups was sent to the southeast region of Asia, known as Suvarnabhumi,

area included in what is today Central Thailand

This meant the beggining of a intimate relationship between the Thai nation and Theravada Buddhism,

which is still present this day

Buddhism, by nature, is not a persecutory religion and have never intended to covert or

to eliminate their rivals, instead tries to coexist with those in peace

through many centuries the Thai communities have been creating accommodating influences

with Indian Brahmanism practices as well as Animism beliefs.

In this way many non-Buddhist beliefs have snuck into the Buddhist mainstream

Moreover, Buddhism has faced many social and cultural changes due to

the deveplopment of the economy; mundane values have insinuated themselves

into many parts of the Buddhist community.

Some monasteries have been enriched and haven't used their whealth wisely,

and is because of all of this that very often we can see a mixture of popular culture, supertition,

consumerism and materialism... which goes in direct contradiction with the Buddhist spirit.

If what you're interested in, is to know and practice Buddhism, there are many good places you can visit

to cultivate your mind and to learn about the practice

With a little search you can find places for [free] meditation retreats

one example would be Doi Suthep, in Chiang Mai

Addicionally you can visit monasteries to know about the monastic life,

My recomendation is to visit the forest monateries, these tend to stick themselves more to the practice

of orthodox Buddhism

in particular I'd recommend Wat Pah Nanachat forest monastery, in Ubon Ratchathani.

I can say that seeing the elephants was an bittersweet experience because, even though

was interesting to interact with them, I couln't avoid feeling a bit saddened

and the reason is because many of these elephants are exploited

for example is quite common to use them for giving rides to tourists.

This put a strain on their backs due to not being designed to carry all that weight

creating, with the past of the years, an irreversible damage on their backs,

Another common way of exploitation is ivory traffic, in which they use it for

the creation of ornaments and jewelry

The change has to come from within ourselves, from the people, and a way to contribute

our's bit when visiting is to avoid these type of

attractions [such as elephant rides], and to not buy any kind of ornaments or jewelry made of ivory.

If you're interested in contribute to this cause, you can do it through an NGO

such as World Wide Fundation [WWF Thailand]

In reality, many people wants to make a change, and is those few

that guided by greed, completely forget about any consideration for the animals and their well-being.

Fortunately, there's people all around the world, with the passion of protecting our world's nature,

is in this way that we can make a difference.

The Burmese-Thai [Siamese] conflict lasted hundreds of years, causing

many wars between the two nations.

Was with the Burmese invation in the 18th century that the ancient Siamese empire came to an end

after being established for 400 years.