Ayudhaya

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This will be the last post from Bangkok and Environs. Monday we fly to Chang Rai.

The whole family, Ellen, and I headed north to the Ayutthaya area.

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Queen Sirikit Institute

Our first stop was the Chitralada Villa. Here is the documentation we received with our tickets.

Walking in, we saw a palace in the distance. Turns out they are moving a palace from Bangkok.

Queen Sirikit was the wife of Rama IX, the previous King of Thailand. Now the Queen Mom, and in poor health, she is beloved by the people, having done much for the health of the people, and for today, Thai traditional arts. We were not able to take photos inside the museum, but suffice it to say, the contents were astounding. There were carvings, embroidery, painting, fabrics, and everything else. Many items were gold, or gold leaf. There were tapestries that took over 150 artisans over 4 years to make. We were gob-smacked at the quality and detail on works created since the turn of the century.

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Lunch

My picked a restaurant along the Chao Phraya River.

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Ayutthaya

I’ve been told to add more detail, and also less. So I’ll just include a link to Wikipedia.

As a major tourist attraction, of course there are elephants. We’ve been told that riding them is not good, but it doesn’t seem to be a problem for many.