Wat Phya Chaya Mongkhol
This morning I visited Wat Phya Chaya Mongkhol, a temple in Ayuthaya. It was very hot this morning, so I was happy when I got there to find that the temples, chedi's and monk living areas are surrounded by acres of sculpted gardens, including plenty of shady trees.
The center of the Wat complex is the great chedi Chaya Mongkhol. It's very tall, about 3 or 4 stories high, and you can climb a narrow staircase up to the temple room at the top. There's also a balcony that goes right around the chedi a bit lower down than the temple room. You get a pretty good view of Ayuthaya from up there, as well as being able to see the other parts of the Wat complex like the group of four chedi's next to the great chedi that are in various stages of ruin.
Wat Phya Chaya Mongkhol is still active as a buddhist temple, complete with monks who live in small huts on stilts that line the moat along one side of the complex.
Chaya Mongkhol was great. With it's chedi's and sculpted trees, it had an atmosphere like being in a computer game like Myst or Riven.
