It won’t look like it, but the Southern Line train actually passes THROUGH an ancient city.
Khu Bua is a ruin that dates to the 6th century Dvaravati culture when it was one the major trading ports and city states that served that kingdom. But the city is thought by some in Thailand to have been established during the Suvarnabhumi Kingdom – a kingdom so old that it is known about only through myths and legends in ancient buddhist and Greek texts – particularly in the maps of Ptolemy. Suvarnabhumi – a name you might have noticed if you came to Thailand via Bangkok’s main airport – means “Land of Gold”, and it is thought that gold was brought back from here to the Temple of Jerusalem by traders from the Levant.
Khu Bua is a rectangular site of around 800 by 2000 metres surrounded by the remains of an earthen wall and a moat. The foundations of early temples and buildings still lay scattered within the site.
The architectural and artistic features are those of the Indian Gupta Dynasty, which promoted buddhism in the region after it was first introduced during the reign of Ashoka.
