Saturday in Ayuthaya

Spent Saturday Morning in Ayuthaya Thailand, Sister Meeker and I were last there in December See Post from Tuesday, December 31, 2013.  This time we went to take a bike to a missionary and to look at a potential new home for the Missionaries.

I drove the Mission van and we took along Elder and Sister Seppi - their first trip to Ayuthaya.  One of the 4 Elders assigned to labor in Ayuthaya had left his bike unlocked in front of the Church and apparently someone came along hopped on and rode off with his bike.  We have a few Bicycles donated by departing missionaries that I keep in the garage at the service center for just these occasions.  After taking care of the Missionaries We did a little sight seeing with the Seppi's.  Saturday is called our Preparation Day and we are free to use the day as we see fit.



Elder and Sister Meeker

We started with some ruins that are called Wat Ratcha Burana.  It is a less popular destination, so there were far fewer visitors at this location than we ran into later in the day.  The largest Prabang (the tall spire structure seen thru the doorway) was undergoing restoration.



  





 



The second set of runs we went to see is called Wat Mahathat.  At this Wat is the famous Buddha Head that has grown into the tree trunk in an upright position.

 

 

Elder and Sister Meeker






Elder and Sister Seppi







That is a column behind me that at one time supported the roof of this building



The City of Ayutthaya flourished as the Capital of Thailand between 1350 to 1767 AD.  It was designated as a World Heritage site in 1991.

 

We happened to be visiting just prior to the Thai New years celebration which is called Songkran.   It is a three day holiday where they throw water on each other. I think of it as a 3 day water fight.  Because the 1st day of Songkran (April 13th) is on a Sunday they added another Day to the holiday to go thru Wednesday.  They have to get their holidays off. As you can see the Elephant tourist site in Ayuthaya was getting into the celebration by painting the elephants.  One of the elephants that we failed to get a picture of was even painted with tiger stripes. Sister Meeker especially like the Elephant painting below.   







Note the Eyes, Mouth and Nose (tail)

After the Elephants we stopped by the Reclining Buddha

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For some extra Fun I have attached some unedited short videos