When in the past I visited Thailand to study culture with a college class and attended the International AIDS Conference, I had a lot of time on my hands to see the main sights in Bangkok thus this time I did not have to run around doing that. The only sightseeing was visiting the UNESCO World Heritage site, an ancient city of Ayutthaya. It was founded in 1350 and was a Thai capital for 417 years until the city was sacked by the Burmese army which destroyed many of its finest temples. Its architecture is a fascinating mix of Khmer (ancient Cambodian style) and early Sukhothai style. Thus, Ayuthaya has many sections that seem to replicate the grandness and opulence of Angkor Wat. For example, prangs, towering corn-cob like structures, representing Mount Meru denote Khmer influence and look something like the famous towers of Angkor Wat. Buddha relics were often housed in a vault in these structures, which resulted in many robberies in recent years following their first archeological discovery. One of the main differences between Thai prangs and Khmer prangs is that Khmer structures often used sandstone and laterite and Ayutthaya prangs were mostly built with bricks and then covered with stucco.
During the weekend, I went to the beautiful island of Koh Samet which was the inspiration for the literary masterpiece of Thailand's most famous romantic poet, Sunthorn Phu. The island, located about three hours away from Bangkok by car, is still not completely spoiled by the tourism and offers some secluded areas. However, a Swiss lady who has been coming to the place for 30 years indicated that it has made quite a transformation from a quiet fishing island it used to be. I ended up staying in a simple bungalow on the Vongduen Beach which was too crowded for my taste so I escaped to the nearby beach. It was easy to walk from there to other beaches and I really enjoyed exploring the island. If you are not looking for the peace and quiet, the Vongduen Beach is a great place to spend time socially since in the evening there is a good choice of seafood restaurants with music and there are fire shows on the weekend. Given that it is popular, the bungalows are overpriced for that reason. From what I observed, the best price/quality is Vongduern Villa and this is where I plan to stay next time.
Back in Paris, four of us went to a Thai restaurant to revive memories of our trip. Some reviews say that Le Banyan restaurant is supposedly the best Thai restaurant in Paris. The food display was beautiful (see below), the meal tasted great and lunch menu had a favorable price. However, Thai dishes were transformed in a way into "haute cuisine" which makes one miss more simple, spicy and home-cooked Thai food.
