Rolling towards Ayutthaya I reach for some sobering reading. An account of the Burmese sacking of Ayutthaya by François-Henri Turpin. Published in 1771 based on a secondhand account, this is the sole surviving Western record of the sacking. Imagine this:

“On the 28th of April, 1767, the city was taken by assault. The riches of the palace and pagodas beca…