a field trip to Ayutthaya: Wat Phra Si Sanpeth

I'm thrilled to be on my second UNESCO Heritage Site for the year. This time, I was in the Wat Phra Si Sanphet in Ayutthaya, which was revered as the holiest temple in the former royal palace of the Kingdom of Siam. Ayutthaya, the former capital of the kingdom, was razed to the ground by the Burmese in 1767, leaving the palace in ruins. UNESCO deemed it a heritage site because of its role in the development of Thai art.


What Phra Si Sanphet is remarkable because it has three chedis (mound-like buildings that serve as chapels). Our tour guide said that there used to be a huge Buddha statue in the premises but it was destroyed along with everything else in this palace complex.


Today's calm atmosphere must be a far cry from its violent past. Under the shade of what seems to be an acacia tree, we have a great view of a pond and the gardens surrounding it.


However, the presence of headless statues serves as a reminder that war happened here three centuries ago. The Burmese occupation was short-lived, however, because it was also fighting the Chinese on another front.


The three chedis are all that survived through the centuries of peace and turmoil. A closer look at their details reminded me of Dr Paul Zafaralla talking about Chinese-stylised clouds along the sides of the Paoay Church. These chedis aren't, in any way, Earthquake Baroque.


Instead, they appear to take on a bell-like shape, with stairs from the ground to the entrance. The presence of gardeners just illustrate how big these chedis really are. Unlike the Disney castles, the closer I got to the chedis, the larger they became.


It's my first time to get out of Bangkok so seeing this site is a treasured memory. Too bad we didn't have a lot of time to immerse ourselves in the history of Ayutthaya. I'll just content myself with reading up on it. After all, being here makes Southeast Asian history lessons all the more interesting.

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for dropping by!

Before moving on, please share your thoughts or comments about the post. :)

Thanks again!

Popular posts from this blog

10 things I learned while driving on Marcos Highway to Baguio City

I went on a day trip to the City of Pines, which was around a 700-km drive from my house. I drove  going up there and then from the city to Victoria, Tarlac. After that, my dad took over the driving duties. It was day trip with Tita Ising and Tito Sibing with us. Anyway, this trip was my first time to go to Baguio City with me behind the wheel. As everyone who drives up knows, there are three main routes to Baguio from the lowlands: Kennon Road, which ascends from Rosario, La Union. It was out of my options because it's too dangerous to use that road in the rainy season. The second route is via Naguilian Road, which makes my trip a lot longer because the beginning of the ascent is in Bauang, La Union (further north). The last route, and the one I took, was the Marcos Highway, now known as the Aspiras-Palispis Highway. This 47-km road starts from Agoo, La Union and is touted as the safest route among the three.  As I drove up and then down (on the same day; we were in Bagu
Read more

How MALDI-TOF-MS makes mycobacterium diagnosis faster and more accurate

The laboratory I work in has plenty of instruments that help us characterise and identify microorganisms causing diseases in patients. One of my current projects is to validate an instrument called "matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometer" (MALDI-TOF-MS) in identifying members of the Mycobacterium  species. Many of these organisms are opportunistic, meaning they only cause illnesses in people whose immune systems are not strong enough to fight infections. Mycobacterium leprae  is known for causing leprosy, but we cannot grow this bacterium in culture media, so we cannot isolate it. Mycobacterium tuberculosis  complex, on the other hand, is a group of several species of Mycobacterium  that causes tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is a disease that killed 1.6 million people in 2021 alone. It is a leading cause of death globally, second only to COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Identifying the Mycobacterium species that has infected a patient is
Read more

a crash course on traditional Filipino houses

Image
On Dr Jose Rizal's birthday this year, I was back in historic Manila with Ate Bing, Ate Mary , and Manuel . But instead of visiting him, we opted to soak up on Philippine culture. Our first stop: the Cultural Center of the Philippines ' (CCP) Museo ng Kalinangang Pilipino .  Aside from the musical instruments, I noticed the dioramas about Filipino homes. Filipinos living by the sea (the 'sea gypsies', Sama Dilaut or Badjao ) have boathouses; those who live in the mountains, like the Bagobos , have developed interconnected houses in the trees; Filipinos who live along the path of the strongest typhoon winds, such as the Ivatans , have developed houses of thick limestone walls; and people who live in calmer conditions used bamboo and nipa to construct their houses, like the lowlanders and the Agtas . Sama Dilaut 'lepa' and houses on stilts (in the background) Ivatan limestone house nipa hut Ifugao 'fale' Maranao '
Read more