Ancient Siam

Two weekends ago my coworkers embarked on a daylong adventure with a new Thai friend. Our guide was a very nice young woman who was determined to show us a good time... that said, she was not very forthcoming about what our day would include. Honestly, as we drove around, I wasn't even sure SHE knew where we'd end up! After about 45 minutes in the car we arrived at Ancient Siam, a tourist attraction I'd read about before coming to Thailand. Ancient Siam is a park shaped like the country of Thailand. The park is filled with scaled-down versions of different Thai monuments I was pretty excited, as kitschy as the whole idea is, it also sounded quite cool.

Once inside the park you have the option of walking, taking a tram, riding bikes, or renting a golf cart. We opted for a mix of the first three, biking, hiking, and riding in turns. The monuments were fantastic. They were really well replicated with very intricate detail work. The monuments were placed (vaguely) in the park in the regions where they are in real life. It was fun to see monuments in the park that I recognized from my real trips. In a way, this trip fired me up to be in Thailand. I realized how many different styles of architecture, how many different wats, and how many different ways of life I have yet to see. I'm making a list of my favorite miniaturized locations, hoping that I'll be able to cross them off in real life.


The Footprint of the Lord Buddha, Saraburi


The Floating Market, Central Thailand


Prasat Phra Wihan (Preah Vihear), Si Sa Ket
(Note: I really want to go to this place, it looks awesome. But it lies on the border of Thailand and Cambodia and is currently the site of a rapidly escalating land dispute that could get quite out of hand...)