On my last excursion I went to see a number of old stone buildings (ปราสาท) from the west border of Thailand to the east border. I noted a few things:

1) There were no attempts to preserve old gardens or landscapes surrounding the buildings. (Surely, such grandeur must have been constructed with proper landscaping and gardens. I ask a question here 'Do we see stones more important than plants?')

2) There were works on the grounds surrounding the stone building. New trees were plants -- some are even imported plants. Some stone blocks were used for pavement and road curbs. (I ask question here 'Do we re-invent history as we go?')

3) There were restoration works with modern concrete, re-inforcing steel rods (poking out for all to see), recent stone blocks (freshly cut and transported from หินกอง) were added to the old structures without clear indication of their historic contribution. (I ask a question here 'Do we cover up facts for tourism?')

4) A number of stone oberisks and เสมา (rescued from farmers' fields) are now standing under open pavillion roofs at a rural wat -- virtually unprotected from weathers, vandals, thefts and floods. (I ask a question here 'Is this how we keep our national treasures?')

The purpose of my last excursion was to find evidence of "historic gardens or plants". I can only say that my search was in vain. I could not even identify one tree over 250 years old (ie. grown in Ayuddhaya period.) The Bodhi tree supposed to be brought over from SriLanka when Theravadi Buddhism was re-established in Thailand looks like a 20 year old tree. (I was told the original tree was worshipped to death!)