All That Remains

The boys and I went with a tour guide to Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Thailand for over 400 years, that was razed by the Burmese in 1767. Ayutthaya was created to be an island city, with the Chao Phraya River encircling the entire community.
Today, the ruins are nestled amidst a small modern city about an hour outside of Bangkok. The ruins of the temple site and its multiple chedis (spire shaped structures memorializing those who have died) are well preserved and can be observed up close and personal. Like all Buddhist sites, there is evidence of many images of Buddha himself, although when the Burmese attacked, they beheaded all the statues in the city. The most well known of the ruins is where the roots of a tree have grown around a decapitated head of Buddha, lifting it up from the ground where it must have been discarded hundreds of years earlier. It was quite interesting to see all that remains of the once powerful city of Ayutthaya.