Sukhothai — The Golden Age of Thailand
Thailand has a rather intriguing history to tell. Sukhothai was the center of the first Thai kingdom created more than 700 years ago. The end of the 14th century is generally recognised as the Golden Age of Thailand, the time when Thai culture was born — including architecture and religious art with Buddha statues.
Today’s Sukhothai, however, is mostly for the cultural traveler — frankly speaking it does not have that much to offer the conventional holidaymaker. What is left of ancient Sukhothai is not much at all. The only reason for making the effort of getting there, 450 kilometers north of Bangkok, is the Sukhothai Historical Park — being included in the Unesco World Heritage List.
Ayutthaya — Asian, Cosmopolitan and Liberal Center
In 1438, powers were shifted from Sukhothai to Ayutthaya. For more than 300 years, Ayutthaya was one of the main centers in Asia, widely considered by far the most beautiful. It was a cosmopolitan forerunner with a, for its time, uniquely high number of foreign residents. Not that different from some of today’s infamous Thai ‘hedonistic’ centers, the position on drugs and sex were extraordinarily liberal. Further, Ayutthaya was a regional hub for trade, where the King was almost as divine and revered as the gods. In 1767, it all came to a sudden end as the Burmese looted and wiped it out entirely.
Similar to Sukhothai, today’s Ayutthaya has not really much to attract tourists, apart from the Ayutthaya Historical Park — again like that of Sukhothai included in the Unesco World Heritage List. Nevertheless, in stark contrast to the sleepy city of Sukhothai, contemporary Ayutthaya is an industrial center — not least for many Japanese-based production companies.
