Wat Chaiwatthanaram, Ayutthaya

Wat Chaiwatthanaram is the most beautiful temple
lies just outside the border of Ayutthaya Kingdom
by the Chao Phraya river banks.
constructed in 1630 by King Prasat Thong
dedicated to his mother
Wat Chaiwatthanaram translates to Temple of LONG REIGN and Glorious era.
sooooooo LONG
"What is the name of this place?"
Our driver cum tourist guide Khun Chai in such a passionate tone: "Wat Chaiwatthanarram"

"Wat wat wat??? wat RAM???"
both tourist guide and JS -_-"
constructed in Khmer style
eh readers...we are not in Cambodia OK?
still in Thailand.
See the tallest one there?
it's a 35 metres "Prang"
*dun ask me wat is prang -_-*
surrounded by smaller Chedis
princes and princesses were cremated inside the Chedis
and all the 8 Chedis were connected through underground passageway
*just like pyramids*
remains of a Buddha Statue
there were hundreds of them here.
some were reconstructed
look at the head..they are new.
very hot, sunny and cloudless day
we were busy circulating this place to enjoy/hate the sun
him enjoy, me hate.
*I'm sure all of u know tat by now*
main draw of this place is to climb the Prang
easy peasy eh?
only some flights of stairs...
not like I've never climbed stairs before
after 3 steps
*huffed & puffed*

FARK!!! why is it so STEEP?
Look!!! each step = 4 bricks!!!
Do u know how high was each step???
and each step can barely accommodate my Monkey foot!!!
so small!!!!
I was clinging on to my LIFE!!!!
then I looked up
JS was already up there.

"wat are u??? huh???"
JS: "If u eat less u'll make it up here."
Monkey was crawling up all the way like a slow pig
Khun Chai must be luffing at me down there.

Halfway up there...I turned around and looked down
BIG MISTAKE~~~~
Monkey let out a scream
I bet the whole Kingdom of Ayutthata heard me

"NO~~~~~ I'm gonna get down!!!!"
but HOW?
the steps were so small I found it so difficult to turn my body and alight down
Later I found out, u must go down just the way u climbed up
which was reverse down coz u can never ever face the royalty with you BUTT
and the reason they made it so steep.....so that u are climbing up with your hands
on the steps...with bended knees.

No reason for bended knees
coz I can't feel my knees at ALL!!!!!
*Pics stolen fr JS's camera*
his camera can do the above not my toy camera
actually hor....I've stolen quite a number of pics fr his camera
kekekekkekeke
Monkey the city slicker and Mr-Know-it-all

this was the first WAT we visited when we reached Ayutthaya
I didn't know that it's gonna be a long hot day visiting more of these beautiful ruins
for therre were 166 WATS in Ayutthaya
GAH!!!!