THE VALUE OF CURIOSITY

A classroom at Phranakhon Si Ayutthaya Rajabhat University. The university plans to tear down the building due to severe damage.

As a teacher at Phranakhon Si Ayutthaya Rajabhat University specialising in tourism studies, I have asked students these questions many times.

In order to pique their interest, I set out to track down and explore the remains of the ancient city. These were the numerous "forgotten" ruins; there are so many historic sites in Ayutthaya that the smaller and less significant ones barely attract attention. I had no idea how difficult this goal would be. 

These deserted ruins hide at modern schools, police stations, hospitals, residential areas and overgrown jungles. The present municipality of Ayutthaya has sprouted from the damaged roots of the old capital. 

The old and the new have merged in such a way that they can't be separated. By the time my research was completed, three years had passed.

In the process of seeking out deserted ruins in the countryside, I was bitten by stray dogs, struck at by poisonous snakes, stung by countless insects and hospitalised for a month after major spinal surgery after a speeding motorcycle hit me. 

In the end, I tracked down and photographed nearly 500 historic sites (active temples, abandoned ruins, foreign settlements, bridges, gates, etc), which I hoped to share with students in the classroom.

Unfortunately, my photos of historic sites didn't arouse their curiosity. They cared about active temples with Buddhist clergy; not the deserted ruins that they considered full of ghosts.

But the students knew I was curious, so they offered assistance and learned in the process of gathering information.

They volunteered to go to these places with me and help translate.

As they engaged elderly Thais about these hidden sites, they became more active and involved. Some students would bring into class old books, 

maps and photographs that their grandparents had lent them to share with other students. Class became more informal and based around the exchange of dialogue instead of textbooks. 

I started to post this new information on various websites and later helped create www.ayutthaya-history.com so that this material could be preserved and accessible to future generations. As a result, my teaching grew into a type of community development.