On Sunday, Nicholas' Uncle Muu, Aunt Pin, and Cousin Pan picked us up at our hotel and we all drove to Ayutthya, the old capital of Thailand, which is about 90 minutes outside of Bangkok. We visited Bang Pa-In, the summer palace, which is still in occasional use by today's king. The palace was built by kings who were beginning to open Thailand to commerce and diplomacy with other countries, and the buildings are a beautiful mix of intricate Thai, European, and Chinese architecture.

After Bang Pa-In, we had lunch and visited the temple Wat Panang Choen, which has been in existence since before the establishment of Ayutthya as a capital in the 1300's. Wat Panang Choen has a huge Buddha image, and as we walked in, there was a ritual going on where long orange material that had been draped around the statue was being passed over the crowd. The ceremony finished shortly after we arrived, and a monk sprinkled holy water on people as they left.

From Wat Panang Choen, we went to the Ayutthya historical park, which is filled with ruins from the 18th century, when the capital of Thailand moved from Ayutthya to Bangkok. The ruins are now protected by the government, but until recently, people borrowed many bricks for their houses, so there are a lot of buildings that are mostly disassembled. There are many "chedis", which are structures thought to contain relics of the Buddha. We visited another temple at the historical park, which had another big Buddha statue.