The former capital of Thailand for more than 400 years is truly a tragic reminder of war time destruction that changed one of the most luminous cities of Asia to become fractions of brick ruins that its past glory can be seen from the beautiful old part of Bangkok which reportedly to be a small copy of Ayutthaya. I revisited the city after 18 years from my first visit to see that how much change of this historical park can be. Similar to the first time I saw this city, I am disappointed since most of the city areas are just a typical city in Southeast Asia with modern western styled buildings, and the city is expanding in every direction. I started to see ancient stupas surrounded by modern complexes or even in the middle of large circle. Anyway, these historical ruins are not part of World Heritage Site listed of Ayutthaya Historical Park which covered an area almost half of the river island only.

The first place I revisited was the ruins of Wat Phra Sisanphet, I noticed that a lot of changes happened in the area around the carpark, decades ago there was no carpark, and we had to park along the street with chaotic souvenir stalls. The ruins are still beautiful with iconic three stupas. The most visible change is the group of tourists, almost twenty years ago most of tourists are Western Europeans, but now most of them are Chinese tour groups, field trip local students and Japanese who preferred to bike around the city. The nearby rebuilt Wat Mongkol Bophit is decaying and need restoration especially for the roof. Unfortunately, that one of my favorite temples during my previous visit, Wat Ratchaburana is currently under preservation and reinforcing, as a result I did not have a chance to explore the famous treasure crypt. Nevertheless, I saw those golden treasures in the nearby National Museum. Most of the ruins on the island are gigantic Buddhist temple which built in different styles during the long history. While most are revisiting trip, I managed to saw couples of new sites. Two of most interesting sites are Wat Lokkayasutharam which has big reclining Buddha and Wat Phra Ram, the oldest temple in the city island.

Then I visited historical sites outside the island which are not part of World Heritage Site but in my opinion these sites are equally and even more superiors in terms of architectural and historical values. The first place was Wat Na Phra Meru, the only temple that survives the war destruction; the chapel building with inside Buddha image is beautiful. Wat Phukhao Thong, the biggest stupa of Ayutthaya which is scarily leaning. The impressive complex of Wat Chaiwattanaram, possibly is the most stunning sight of Ayutthaya temples that built to commemorate the victory on Angkor. Wat Phanan Choeng, originally built before Ayutthaya, has the most stunning giant golden Buddha Image in Asia. Museums of foreigner settlement of Portuguese village, Japanese village and Holland village for Dutch history are also very interesting with good story of trade routes and their lifestyles in Ayutthaya. Riding an elephant to see the ruins are also interesting but I would prefer bicycle, like most of Japanese tourists did, since more area can be explored, but the best way maybe the infamous Tuk-Tuk if you want to see all ruins outside the island.

Overall, Ayutthaya is a nice place to see Asian ancient city, while the site itself cannot compare with Angkor or Sukhothai for grandeur building and surroundings, the significance of Ayutthaya in term of history as regional powerhouse is undeniable. Since Thai government and UNESCO finally changed the typo error of Ayutthaya to delete the confusing “and associated historic towns”, I hoped that one day the World Heritage Site zone will expand to include all important historical ruins outside the island and the ruins of nearby city of Lopburi, which was the second capital, with its unique Persian-Ayutthaya styled palace and French buildings as a part of extension not only for protection but the whole complete story of vibrant Ayutthaya history.