After a night in Lampang I headed for Sukhothai. I got up a bit late, but as soon as I got to the bus station at around 10, a bus was about to leave. Most busses between cities seem to leave every hour, so it’s all quite easy without planning anything.
I got to New Sukhothai mid afternoon and easily found myself a simple cheap guesthouse. Old Historic Sukhothai was 13km away so I decided to go there the next day.
Eating like the locals
In the evening I ate at the night stalls along the road. Didn’t see any other westerners, and as usual in a not very touristy town, I got lots of looks and giggles as a single white female. I’m not sure of the reasons of course, but being and eating on your own here is seen as quite unusual, so I do think it’s a combination of being an alone, western female tourist that is funny/interesting for the locals.
I ate some roti with egg, which they drizzled some sweet condensed milk on top of, bought some pineapple to eat later, and sat down at a stall which had an english menu. The table of young thai people giggled more when I accidentally ate with my fork instead of my spoon for a second! I think I redeemed myself a little bit by adding lots of chilli to my meal of rice and vegetables.
An older canadian couple sat down next to me and we chatted a bit. They asked if I was drinking the water from the jug on the table. Yes. And had I checked if it was filtered? No. But I assumed it was, as I think I saw some big plastic bottles and I think thai people also drink filtered water. I haven’t been sick so I guess it was!
World Heritage site Sukhothai
Sukhothai was established in 1238, and is described as the first Thai kingdom. It’s not, but it had a profound influence on art, language, literature and religion in the 13th century.
There are around 80 ruin sites in a 5km radius, mostly old temples. Some have been partially restored. I rented a bike and made it to some of the ones further away in the forest. Very nice and quiet out there.
After about 2.5 hours I’d had enough. I’m very glad I went, and enjoyed it, and they’re not all the same, but after I’d seen about 10, I’d had enough. It was also midday and very hot outside and the bicycle didn’t have gears.
There’s also a similar but less restored and more peaceful site about 50km north, but I still thought it sounded very similar, and I’m going to Angkor in Cambodia in a few weeks, and apparently that is better than anything else.
Hitchhiking with the icecream motorbike
As I walked back to the bus stop I passed an icecream vendor and bought an icecream. Kept walking and then the icecream man passed me and offered me a lift. In southeast asia, icecream vendors have motorbikes with a side cart, not vans. I awkwardly sat on the side bit with the icecreams. Wasn’t a long ride, but it was hot so I was very thankful. :D
So seeing it was only midday I decided to catch a bus to Mae Sot, a border town/city with Burma. It took about 4 hours by comfortable mini bus filled with thai people.
