I have found most of the temples in the old city of Ayutthaya are mainly outdoor temple ruins built mainly from brick and with some stucco. Although the ruins are beautiful, I feel it is nice to mix up a trip to Ayutthaya with a visit to an actual working temple as well. Interestingly enough, I found there are not that many old looking, but yet still working temples in that category.
Wat Phutthaisawan is one of those temples though. What I like about it is that it does not charge an entrance fee for foreigners like many of the temples in Ayutthaya do, it is less frequented by tourists, so it has a much more tranquil atmosphere, and it is right along the river bank just over the bridge from the old city. And with the absence of so many people visiting the temple, it means it is much easier for one to take their time to capture some nice photos.
Although they have built a number of new temple structures at Wat Phuttaisawan in recent years, there is still the main old temple structure in the back of the property with its beautiful, untouched cloister of life-size Buddha images running around the 4 sides of the perimeter. The feeling is similar in some ways to Wat Suthat in Bangkok in terms of its overall layout and design. But when you are standing in a long row of Buddhas all alone, you really do feel at one with the strong spiritual power of Buddha. The colors on some of the statues in their various states of old age are amazing as well. Some of the coloring even reminds me of Burmese Buddha statues. There is also a reclining Buddha statue outdoors behind the old temple structure, which is quite beautiful as well.
Instead of taking many of the obvious shots on this visit I decided to focus more of the hands and feet of the statues and applying a short DOF. If making a trip to Ayutthaya, make sure to pay this temple a visit.
August 01, 2010, 02:22:22 AM
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