Holiday in Thailand

Carrie: On Saturday the 9th we headed out from our beloved Chiang Mai by bus to Sukhothai (Rising of Happiness), Thailand’s first capital. Lonely Planet says that it “flourished from the mid-13th century to the late 14th century. The Sukhothai kingdom is viewed at the ‘golden age’ of Thai civilization – the religious art and architecture of the era are considered to be the most classic of Thai styles.” We had decided to make it a priority stop after talking with Manji, the owner of the On Nut Guesthouse in Bangkok. He had explained that many tourists head to another ancient capital, Ayuthaya, but Sukhothai is more beautiful, better preserved, and much less crowded. Some tourists we met who had seen both cities agreed with this assessment. We had planned to see Ayuthaya too if we had time, but our lazy week at the beach (the next stop) killed that plan!

In Sukhothai, the motorcycle powered taxi-carts we foreigners call tuk-tuks are backwards, with the driver and engine in back, and the flimsy, open air carts in front. The prospect of a head-on collision was much scarier, but there wasn’t much traffic and we arrived at our guesthouse safely. We got a room with three beds (fan, no AC, shared bathrooms, free towels, no TP or soap) at Ban Thai for 300 baht ($9.50 US). Despite the heat, we really enjoyed our stay there. Their restaurant was good too, although since they kept a tab that we paid at the end, I think we spent more on evening beers than we intended to!

To explore you Sukhothai Historical Park and Si Satchanalai-Chaliang Historical Park 50 km away, you really need to rent a motorbike. At 150 baht for a day, they are much cheaper than all the bus and tuk-tuk rides you will pay for to get to the parks, especially if you have two people on a scooter. (What, you thought I might drive one? No way!) If you are like me and don’t possess the coordination or confidence to learn a new skill while on vacation, I highly recommend that you rent bicycles at the parks – other wise you will be exhausted before you see anything. The ruins are huge and very spread out. You can get a ticket for all areas of both parks, including the museums, for only 150 baht/person + 20 for your motorbike. The ticket is good for 30 days. Keep it handy because everywhere you go someone will want to put a stamp on it – making it an interesting souvenir. At the parks, especially Si Satchanalai, there was often no one around. We explored, stared in awe, and took tons of photos in a peaceful quiet.