Biking Five Wat's

Photo bombing

If you don't like pretty pictures, bicycles or history then don't read this, otherwise check out what we did today. Today we rented bicycles and rode around Ayutthaya getting our "learnin" on. We rode around to five different Wat's. Some Ayutthaya history courtsey of Wikipedia to get things kicked off:

The city was founded in 1350 by King U Thong, who went there to escape a smallpox outbreak in Lop Buri and proclaimed it the capital of his kingdom. It is estimated that Ayutthaya by the year 1700 CE had a population of about 1,000,000, making it one of the world's largest cities at that time. In 1767, the city was destroyed by the Burmese army, resulting in the collapse of the kingdom.

Wat Phra Ram: On the cremation site for King Ramathibodi I, he who had founded the Capital, the King had a holy monastery established, consisting of a great holy reliquary and a holy preaching hall, and he named it the Phra Ram Monastery.

Wat Phra Si Sanphet: This monastery was the most important temple of Ayutthaya and situated within the Royal Palace grounds. It served as a model for the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok.

Wat Na Phramen: The temple was constructed during the reign of King Ramathibodi II (r. 1491-1529), the 10th king of the Ayutthaya dynasty in 1503 and received the name Wat Phra Meru Rachikaram. Wat Phra Meru occupied a prominent place in front of the Royal Palace. As its name indicates, it must have been established at a Royal cremation area.

Wat Thammikarat: Most likely pre-dates the founding of Ayutthaya by King U-Thong in 1351. It is historically connected to a Khmer settlement named Ayodaya that was situated just east of the current city island.

Wat Maha That: In 736, a year of the tiger, King Bòromracha I and the Venerable Thammakanlayan first erected the great, glorious, holy jeweled reliquary, towering one sen and three wa, to the east of the royal lion gable.

Need to keep your head lower then Buddha

We also went to an active Wat:

Check out the 60 pictures from today by clicking on the slideshow below:

I used http://www.ayutthaya-history.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org for all of my information.