Tuesday's adventure was a trip with New to one of my favorite places ever, Ayutthaya. More about the history of the beautiful place in the next post, but the first stop was my third or fourth visit to Bang Pa-In palace, a stunning combination of Thai, Chinese, and European influences in a palace built for King Chulalongkorn, or Rama V. I can't take enough photos to capture the real beauty of this place, but here are a few to give some small idea...
This visitor's hall is filled with obvious Chinese influence and intricate craftsmanship.
Although seldom used for official affairs, it IS still a palace and as such, has a military guard.
King Rama V's wife and her infant son were drowned in a tragic accident in the late 1800's. Each year, a flotilla transported her to the palace here from Bangkok and a few month's later, back downstream. During one of these events, her boat struck a sunken structure that capsized it and they lost their lives. In his grief, Rama V ordered this memorial raised in her honor with one side engraved in Thai and the other in English,
No comments:
Post a Comment