Day trip to Bang Pa-In (The Summer Palace) and Ayutthaya

April 23, 2017 · by Dano · in Thailand

Another early start as we headed off to do a full day of touring. The drive to the Summer Palace took about 1hr in already pretty warm weather. The Summer Palace was first built in 1632 by King Prasat Thong. Since then, it has been restored, rebuilt and new buildings added by various other kings.

Today the palace is open to the public most days and only closed for special occasions or formal events.

With a mixture of classic Thai, Chinese and Western architecture, the palace buildings are scattered around an artificial lake and sculptured gardens. Some are closed to the public, but most are open and require proper attire to enter.

One such building is the residence gifted to King Chulalongkorn (Rama V). The residence was actually built in China and sent to the king in 1889 as a gift from the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

Joe told some interesting stories during our walking tour of the grounds. One story was about a king who would dress as a commoner and sneak out the back of the palace to a small lake where he kept a rowboat. There he would meet a friend, who was a commoner, and spend time rowing around the lake fishing and talking then return to his residence and continue with his royal duties.

The King’s boat house

Finished our tour of the grounds and made our way to the gift shop where pineapple popsicles awaited. A little AC and a popsicle, great on a hot day.

Back in the van and off to Ayutthaya. Only about 30 minutes away, Ayutthaya was first founded around 1350 by King Ramathibodi I (Rama I). Surrounded by three rivers, Chao Phraya, Lopburi and the Pa Sak, it was thought that this would be natural protection from both pestilence and invaders.

Around the 17^th century, Ayutthaya had grown to be the largest city in the world with a population of over 1 million people and controlled much of what is known today as Thailand.

This all came to an abrupt end around 1767 when the Burmese invaded Ayutthaya and nearly burned it to the ground. Most of what survived were brick buildings that were later disassembled to provide materials to build the new capital in Bangkok. What remains today are remnants of the buildings and city wall.

Today we’ll visit the ruins of Wat Mahathat.