The three chedis of Wat Phra Si Sanphet

Wat Phra Si Sanphet is the picture that says Ayutthaya in one frame: three tall bell-shaped chedis standing in a row on a brick terrace, with lawns in front of them. Ayutthaya was the capital of Siam for four centuries, until the Burmese army sacked it in 1767, and the ruins on the island have been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1991.

The chedis want a wide lens and some distance, with the two of you small in the frame rather than filling it — the scale is the point. Come early in the morning or in the last two hours of the day, when the brick turns warm; at noon the terrace is a griddle and the light is flat. Thai traditional dress, rented near the ruins and popular here since the 2018 TV drama Love Destiny, looks its best against weathered brick, but the costumes are warm, so wear them for the soft hours rather than the hottest ones.

The chedis are a World Heritage monument, not a set: nobody climbs the terraces or the brickwork for a picture, and a photographer who suggests it is one to avoid. The lawns in front and the paths around the terrace give every angle a session needs. Temple rules apply in costume too — covered shoulders, no posing with sacred images — and a drone needs registration, insurance and approval before each flight, with heritage sites adding rules of their own.