Ancient City #2

We continue to explore this large "Disneyland" of Thai monuments.....

As stated in an earlier post, Ancient City is very large, so we used the free bicycle rental to travel around the park. I snapped loads of photos, which showed the historical and cultural side of the country....

For example, there are many Chinese Thais living in Thailand, which is reflected in some of the architecture:

Chinese pavilion:


There was a re-creation of the famous "floating markets":


I bought a Thai tea from a vendor at the market:


My mother loved this bridge, built like a rainbow:

Click for more details and to read the explanation.

As over 90% of the population in Thailand is Buddhist, temples, shrines and images of Buddha were a prominent feature of this park. We stopped at one; I really loved the mix of pink, orange and gold here:

 My favorite area of the park was a garden called "Garden of the Gods". Here, large black sculptures could be found interspersed between a traditional, manicured garden. Gods of knowledge, the Sun, Moon and days of the week could be found here. It was really incredible!

The largest sculpture, the God of the Sun:


Another God...


Close up of a hydra...the many headed snake. (This snake protected Buddha during the rainy season while he was meditating...):

 We cycled to another section of the park, which contained a large man-made lake. Here, we found a huge sculpture and the grand, golden "Pavilion of the Enlightened". All unbelievable!!

Another Chinese pavilion:

A huge sculpture:

Click photo to read details on the card.

Enlightened Pavilion:

I could only get 1/3 of the buildings in this photo -- it's really big!!

I hope you enjoyed your visit to Ancient City. While in Bangkok, this makes a nice day trip just outside the city. I encourage anyone who loves architecture, history and culture to explore this fantastic park.

Ancient City is located about 1 hour by taxi outside of Bangkok. Taxi fare: about 300 baht ($9/ ¥900). Entrance fee for adults is 400 baht, includes a free bicycle to ride around the park. ($12/ ¥1,200). Website in English is available HERE.