Sukhothai
Second Historical Park ? Check.
There’s Sukhothai and there’s Old Sukhothai. You should go for the old one. The other is just a city in the middle of nowhere, far from the actual fun (the Historical Park), and you’ll spend your hard earned bahts going back and forth.
As Sukhothai is not covered by railway, getting there can seem a wee more complicated. You should take a train to Phitsanulok, and then a bus to Sukhothai, and then another one to Old Sukhotai, or so our paper guide told us. This would be our trickiest day so far regarding transportation.
Maybe it’s time to go off in a tangent and talk about how travelling in Thailand feels before diving into the Sukhothai days. Bear with me, will you ?
Tourism is a big part of Thailand (duh) and a lot of people make their living from tourism and tourism related activities. So they take care of us, in a way that sometimes feels motherly. Still, we were amazed with the ease you can do everything in the country. Sometimes a part of the trip might seem more demanding, or harder to negotiate, but it’s not. Everything, and I mean everything, is as easy as can be.
Transportation is well organised. If you read on your guide that you must catch a train, then a plane, followed by a mini-van, and a boat after that, before getting on a moto-taxi, you can be sure things will work out just fine, no stress needed.
We would read about the way to get to our next stop, and I would be a little worried (that’s just me).
As soon as we got on the road, though, everything was silky smooth. Trains run on time (most of the time) and you can book them in advance (tickets in hand), with your train car and seat number already assigned. There will be a railway employee at the station who will tell you where you should stand before the train gets to the station, so you’re ready to board as soon as it does. If you need a mini-bus after that, you can rest assured there will be a few of them waiting for you at the end of your train ride.
Need a boat ticket ? Look closely and you’ll spot someone with a ticket book, selling them just when you need them. When you make it to the pier, and there’s another boat leaving before yours, you’ll probably board that one, saving you the waiting time.
Planes can be booked online, at travel agents, you can check-in on the airline’s app.
Obviously there are times when it can get a little tricky, but not that many, and never in a way that will make you feel helpless. We had a couple of times when people went out of their way to help us get where we needed to be. I’ll get to that on due time.
It comes as no surprise that most of people working in the tourism industry do speak english, some of them a lot better than some of the tourists, and the menus on bars and restaurants will probably have english all over them. They also have photos, to help you pick stuff.
Taxi, and moto-taxi, drivers can be the exception, as they deal with everyone, but taxi drivers in my country don’t even speak our language properly most of the time! They do understand ‘Meter’.
All the shop’s attendants will also speak english, even at the smaller ones. If they don’t, they’ll find a way to deal with you. I can’t remember a time we had to leave because we were not understood and, sadly, our Thai language skills stop at ‘thank you’.
Back to the trip.
So, as soon as we left the train (in Phitsanulok) we had to take a tuk-tuk to the bus station, and board a bus to Sukhothai, before getting another one to Old Sukhothai. We boarded a very old bus, along with a ton of locals and about a dozen tourists. You couldn’t fit another soul on the bus, and it felt it was only running because all of us were praying at the same time.
And soon we realised the bus would actually make a stop in Sukhothai, but would go on further, and drop us at our desired destination. No need to get another one. Sweet, and Lonely Planet was wrong, for the first time on the trip.
The ticket lady, barely a word of english, made sure she understood which of the farangs were leaving at each of the stops, and yelled the town’s name when the time came to get off the bus.
We were dropped near the market in Old Sukhothai, a short tuk-tuk ride away from our chosen sleeping quarters in town. Old Sukhothai is where the Historical Park is located, and staying there means you can cycle there and your way around the temples and spend a wonderful day going back and forth, with pit stops at one of the restaurants close by.
There’s not much in Old Sukhothai, apart from the Historical Park. It’s one road, the road that leads to it, bordered by a couple of stores, restaurants and the market. It’s not a long road, so there’s not much to do except enjoying the park.
We had managed to secure a bungalow at Orchid Hibiscus Guesthouse, a quiet place run by Paolo, an Italian who’s been living there for ever. The bungalows are cosy, there’s a swimming pool, and the mandatory communal fridge filled with all kinds of drinks, Chang included. There’s one of those at most of the places, and the process is always the same: you get what you need, write it down on a notebook, and pay the next day, or when you’re leaving. Cool beer at 3AM ? No worries.
The garden is well taken care of, you can listen to the birds sing while sipping a cold one in your porch. Breakfast here is advertised as ‘amazing’, and it was pretty good. A tasty coconut pudding with banana and wild honey, along with the usual fare of eggs, bacon, pancakes and fresh fruit juice. Paolo will insist you try the pudding.
There’s also a bicycle rental place right across the road, where we picked a couple, made a stop at the local 7-Eleven and loaded up on water. Payed the entrance fee to the park, and enjoyed the hell out of it.
It’s much nicer than Ayutthaya, I can tell you that, and Ayutthaya is already very good. Ayutthaya is a city, and the landmarks are right in the middle of it. It’s not a big city, mind you, but you get to see the traffic and general city life when you’re exploring the temples, as in Sukhothai they are in a huge park, and you have the feeling you’re away from civilisation, years ago. A little Indiana Jones thing, with better directions written along the way.
Obviously there’s a lot of tourists, but if you get there early, you can almost forget about them. They come in packs, but stay at each temple only a little while. Just wait a bit, and you have the wat all to yourself. And cycling there, with no other sounds but the woosh woosh of your bicycle is an incredible experience.
A few of the temples are in the Western and Northern zones, away from the Central one, but you can easily cycle there too, and come back. You can go out of the park and back in as many times as you want, so there’s no hurry, as you can always go back and take another look at the one’s that impressed you the most. Just show your ticket to the guy at the gate, and he will open it for you.
Make sure you get to the Northern zone, as this is where you’ll find one of the coolest Buddhas in town (at Wat Si Chum) and another one of my favourites, the one with all the elephant head, Wat Sorasak.
There are lakes and grassy fields, palm trees by the thousands, and a food court inside the Park. But you can get out, have a bowl of noodles, and get in again for another go. Lovely. The guide talked about sleeping under a tree in the park, and we decided to give that one a miss, but saw a couple of americans doing it… They looked happy and relaxed.
After a day doing the tour we were feeling a bit tired, so we parked our bikes at the rental place, ready for later, and had a rest at our comfy bungalow.
We were making our way to Chiang Mai the next morning and, true to form, I was already getting a bit stressed. She wasn’t. Sleep tight.
As usual you can find a few more photos at maiquemadeira.com. Have fun.
