Ayutthaya | May 15 - 17
Europeans in places they shouldn't be (again) | Bang Pa-In Palace
On the way to Ayutthaya, we stopped at the summer palace outside of Bangkok. Even though there were golf carts to explore the huge grounds with, I enjoyed the walk. It was clear that the palace was conceptualized to create a European style space. The bridge statues were Renaissance-style and the buildings seemed to have Western-European arches. Having Thai architectural elements included in the space was jarring - the two architectures clearly developed separately and both express wealth in too different of ways to integrate cohesively in one space. It was a very interesting cultural experience.
I can confirm I'm the Main Character, sorry | Sala Ayutthaya
I was raised not on Disney Channel or Nickelodeon but HGTV. I like unique architecture when I see it. The Sala Ayutthaya hotel was fantastic. The centerpiece of the hotel was the open-air curvy brick hall. At first the water features confused me and seemed unnecessary. But at night I understood. After most people had retreated to their rooms, I walked down the open-air hall in silence. The path was lit by the soft yellow lights of rooms not yet asleep and the small water bowls at my feet. The only sound was the gentle dripping of water into the bowls. It was tranquil. As my generation would say, I had a main-character moment any time I walked down the hallway. The openness of the hotel rooms, the fullness of the tall room doors, and the physical square keys added to this energy that I lived stripped to the fundamentals of life. I can see why the hotel gets good reviews. Although any transcendentalist would read this paragraph and call my characterization of the experience blasphemous, I nevertheless felt so simple and centered in the atmosphere the architecture created. Snap your photos, but my favorite architecture is that which has to be experienced, not observed.
Is it in ruins if it's still pretty? | Ayutthaya
I don't have much to say about these. They were old, they were in ruins, and they were cool to walk around. Enjoy the pictures :)
