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With an overwhelming number of ancient ruins to see in Ayutthaya, you'll first need a quick language lesson! [more]
Experience Ayutthaya's favorite sights as others see them. Let our visual picture tour of Ayutthaya help you choose the best places to visit in Ayutthaya:
Wat stands for temple, and may in fact include halls, monasteries, school rooms and sports grounds. In Thai, wat may also be applied to a religious centre of any type, so even Christian churches or Muslim mosques may be called wats.
Wiharn or viharn mean the same thing - and in fact will be pronounced in the same way. Always located in a wat, viharns house Buddha images and located places of prayer. There may be any number of viharns in a wat.
Chedi may sometimes be translated as pagoda or stupa, but it actually refers to Thai-style, bell or mound shaped towers. Often they may contain either a Buddha image or the ashes of a king or monk. Rich Thai people often construct their own small, square shaped chedi for their own final resting place.
Prang means a spire, or a more tower like construction in the centre of a wat. A prang tends to be described as a corn cob style of building.
As the island of Ayutthaya takes up such a small amount of space, you should have plenty of time to visit all the sites you'd love to see. If your time happens to be limited to a day or so, then stick to the northern side of the island, hire a tuk tuk, and casually trawl through the wats, gardens, and museums on that area. If you happen to have a bit more time, then book at least a few nights at the Elephant Kraal for an experience you will never, ever forget!
The beauty of Ayutthaya exists in the ruins - thousands and thousands of years old - and the fact that you will be allowed to clamber around, over, on, up, and down the remaining structures at your own leisure. That's correct - it's perfectly okay to climb on the 2000 year old ruins!
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"Everything you ever wanted to know about Ayutthaya attractions"
