Ayutthaya was a Siamese kingdom

We had planned on going to Vietnam and Cambodia. Jamlong’s passport expired in 5 months two weeks. However Thai people don’t need a visa to go Vietnam, the travel agent assured us, so we bought the tickets.

The ticket agent at the airport thought differently. She said its true that Thai people don’t need a visa to go to Vietnam but they do need their passport to be good up to 6 months.

We could have gotten the passport fixed but there was a hurricane heading to Vietnam. We took this as a sign and went to Ayutthaya in stead.

Originally founded by King U-Thong in 1350 within a bend of the Chao Phraya river, Ayutthaya was the capital of the Thai kingdom at its mightiest. Conquered and sacked by the Burmese in 1767, today only the ruins of its splendor remain. The modern city was founded a few kilometers further east.
Ayutthaya was originally known as "Ayothaya" which refers to the capital of King Rama (see Ramayana). When King Naresuan the Great defeated the Burmese, he changed the name of the city to "Aytthaya" meaning "the undefeatable city". During the period of Ayutthaya being the Siamese capital for 417 years, 33 kings of different dynasties ruled the kingdom.
The Bowring Treaty (1855), signed by King Mogkhut between Siam and Britain, was the first of its kind and successfully opened up Siam to Western influence and trade.
The ruins of the old capital in the Ayutthaya historical park are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. and have been so since December 1991.

around my Thai house

Most of you have seen many of my Thai pictures already. But since I have acquired some new friends since I last been to Thailand I thought to make this picture slide.

This is about a 100 yards from my house in either direction. As you may see my house is not completed yet. I expect it to be completed sometime after I get a new job and am able to pay for some more of the work to continue.

The house is in the town of Chom Tong. This is where I have been coming for the last 15 or so years to practice and learn about insight meditation. Of course Chom Tong is much larger then this. These pictures will not give you a clear picture of the town, the Wat ( Wat mean temple in Thai), or the meditation center. I t will just show a little of what its like to take a stroll around my house.

My house is a little bigger then many of the other houses around it. It didn’t seem so big when we started; in fact I thought it was kind of small. I have two lots of land. The first lot is mostly covered by the house. The second lot is adjacent to it. I thought I needed just a little more space and that having a garden would be nice. In addition to completion of the building of the house I will also need to have a little landscaping done.

It’s probably better that I don’t have steady employment most of the time. Just image how much I might have bought and built if I had a job and a steady income.

For those of you who don’t know my house will be the one in the beginning of the slides.

Best wishes

Lawrence Moore
Friday, October 30, 2009

My Thai House

This is how the house looks now, as April 2008.

My Thai House

My Thai House

These are some of the final pictures for now. This was taken at the end of May 2008,
will remain like this until I earn more money to complete it.
It a little more the 2/3 rds finished.

Sokran, Thai New Years

My friends left just before Sokran started. Three to four days of parties, parades, and constantly getting wet. It a good thing that's hot and the water cool you off.

Sokran, Thai New Years

My friends left just before the water festival began. Sokran is the the Thai New Years.
In Thailand the celebrate the Western, the Chinese and the Thai New Years.

The celebration of the Chinese New years is with fire (fire-crackers) but the Thai New Years is celebrated with water.