Weekend in Sukhothai

Sukhothai is the old capital city of Thailand. It is divided into two sections - New Sukhothai and Old Sukhothai, the latter being the old capital city where the historical park is situated. The historical park contains ruins of the old palace and temples.

We took a late-night bus (11PM, but left at 11:30) on Friday evening from the North and Northeastern Terminal Station in Mo Chit. It was a 6-hour trip mostly spent sleeping. The bus seats were reclining and passengers were provided with blankets to make for a comfortable sleep. We arrived at the bus terminal in New Sukhothai at 6AM and hired a sawngthaew (a pick-up truck with bench seats in the back) to take us to the guesthouse area.

The first guesthouse we went to was fully-booked, it was most popular on the web with a lot of positive comments regarding service but the room was not very pretty looking. We decided to check out the guesthouse next door and were sufficiently satisfied - room was smaller but it was a bungalow hut with a small terrace in front- so we immediately booked the bungalow that we were showed. Besides, it cost a mere 350 Baht for an airconditioned bungalow with hot shower! The guesthouse was aptly named, Garden House, as the path to the bungalows was lined with a variety of plants and each bungalow was likewise surrounded by plants (and weeds!). It was also very conveniently located - close to the sawngthaew terminal that would take us to the historical park in Old Sukhothai, just a few minutes walk to the city center and with a 7-11 close by. We always consider having a 7-11 nearby as a big plus as it will make for a convenient purchase of food and drinks (and other stuff we might find we need) should we not find any good restaurants available within the area.

We each took a quick shower before walking to the sawngthaew terminal and getting a ride to the park. I was amazed when I saw the sawngthaew - it had wooden flooring, wooden benches on each side and wooden ceilings! The only thing not wooden about it was probably the engine and the engine hood! Of course, with this you then have to expect the ride to be really slow. But it was something I didn't mind as I enjoyed the scenery along the way - beautiful old teak homes and more elaborately designed, modernized new ones.

We finally arrived at the park, but before entering, we had to hire a bicycle. Now, I have to admit, I don't really know how to ride one. Yes - and I can't help feeling so idiotic about it. I only learned to ride a bike about 6 years ago and the last time I rode one was about 5 years ago. When I did try out a bike that morning, I merely wobbled around so we decided to just rent one bike that had a back seat. Imagine now the pains my husband had to go through to take us around the park! And the bike too - I could actually hear it squeaking with every push of the pedal. We were just too fortunate that the sun wasn't bearing down too heavily that day. We enjoyed our ride around the park, stopping every so often to walk into the temple ruins and to give the hubby some rest.

I loved being in the park, it was peaceful and the surroundings were beautiful. If only it wasn't too far away from Bangkok, I'd probably find myself there every weekend or so - learning to expertly ride a bike! Another striking feature of the temples in Sukhothai are the Khmer influences that you will find in the intricate carvings on the chedis and the phrangs, much like those that you will find in the ruins of Angkor. My favorite spot was the Wat Sa Si and its surrounding park with a lagoon enclosing it. It felt refreshing just to sit under one of the native gazebos and look out to the rest of the park. This was were we stopped to rest and have some food. The next spot I liked was the Wat Mahathat mainly for the huge buddhas that until now are still intact. But nothing will beat the gigantic buddha of the Wat Si Chum, and JM captured a very nice shot of it. The other temple I enjoyed was the Wat Phra Phai Luang, mainly for the pigeons that flew around and over its chedis.

By midday, JM no longer had the energy to carry us around for some more sight seeing, so we went back to return the bike and have a leisurely lunch by the highway. We slept the afternoon off at the guesthouse, which wasn't a really good time to be out anyway since it had gotten too hot by then. In the late afternoon, we tried to explore the city center of New Sukhothai, but there really wasn't much to see. We looked for one of the recommended cafes of Lonely Planet, Dream Cafe, and got ourselves some snacks. It was a charming cafe with the ambiance of a tavern. Tables were made of antique sewing machines tops and the seats were of heavy wood. The walls and ceilings were adorned with several antique home furnishings as well. It started to rain while we were in the cafe so we decided to take a tuktuk back to the guesthouse. Their tuktuks were also quite different from the ones in Bangkok. Instead of the passenger seats being at the back of the driver, the driver was instead behind the "carriage".

More sleep for JM while I read a book on the terrace, and then it was time for dinner. We had spotted a barbecue stall during our earlier walk so we went back there to buy some Gai Yaang (Grilled Chicken), Moo Yaang (Grilled Pork Belly) and Khao Niew (Sticky Rice) which we ate at the guest house. We also bought some drinks from 7-11 and enjoyed them with chips at the terrace to the varying tunes of crickets, frogs and other nocturnal animals.

Sleep was good for the night and in the morning we only had bath and breakfast before heading back to Bangkok.