Historical Ayuthaya, Phitsanulok and Sukhothai

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Ayuthaya, Phitsanulok and Sukhothai

Our journey north began with us buying train tickets from Bangkok to Ayuthaya, a city famous for being the former capital (previous to Bangkok). We were surprised to find that the tickets were only 15 baht each - about 25 pence for a 2hr journey which is almost Indian prices! The train however was more comfortable with enough room on a '2 seater' for 2 people, as well as the smell from the toilets being much more bearable.

As we progressed through the suburbs and countryside the train became more crowded, but never to an extreme level. The same presence (if not more frequent) of food and drink sellers kept the public happy - even the member of the 3rd gender (lady-boy) who was standing in the vestibule! A good journey overall though with friendly locals who helped us by pointing out when we had to get off.

Once off the train we had to make a short journey across the river on a rather 'low in the water' ferry (the city is an island that uses the natural river as a moat) then had a short walk to the main backpacker area to look for accommodation. A friendly “Look here first” was called to us from across the street by a very camp sounding Thai man from the threshold of 'Tony's Place'. Not being put off by the initial building work sounds from the otherwise attractive wooded bar area, we were shown an outdoor room on the other side of the road behind the owner's house. Both room and 'facilities' were fine, so after settling in we headed out for some lunch.

The main purpose for our stop in Ayuthaya was to see the ruins of the many temples and buildings from the old capital which are spread throughout parkland to the west of the island called 'Ayuthaya Historical Park'. The area has been designated a World Heritage Site and boasts beauty as well as history. Due to the distance needed to be covered, it is recommended that you ire a bike; something we did straight away to begin our explorations. For 30 baht each we got a lovely yellow bike with curved handlebars that the wicked witch of the west would be proud of (basket and all!).

The roads were thankfully well constructed and the traffic reasonably light so our journey to our first stop - the Historical Study Centre - as not too harrowing. The museum as small but contained some interesting models of what the city would have looked like 700 years ago and information on trade and the people themselves. A good overview to ignite the imagination before viewing the remains.

A short ride away took us through some lovely park with lakes and wooden bridges and past some partially ruined 'Wats'. Our guidebook gave us some info on each one, but it was also nice to just look at the impressive, if rather crumbling structures. One of the more important collection was at the site called 'Wat Phra Si Sanphet' built in the late 14th century and used for royal ceremonies. It has 3 large central bell-shaped chedis (stupas) and is surrounded by many more as well as having the royal palace next to it - not that is much left. This much photographed place was lovely to walk around (despite paying to get in) and had a peace to it that was well received after the hustle of the capital.

Back on the road again we saw several other remains before deciding that, with most places of interest covered in the last 3 hours, it was time to go back to our accommodation the sun set. This was important for 2 reasons: we had no lights for our bikes and the mosquitoes would have a field day in our outdoor shower! This was achieved successfully and the evening was spent eating thai curry in a local bar/restaurant and planning the next day.

The morning dawned and we retraced our steps to the train station via a quick breakfast at a cafe. The owner was very friendly and kept giving us little quizzes such as 'Which 2 football teams in the Premier League have names that start and end in the same letter?' His enthusiasm brought a smile to my face - unlike the price of the train ticket we purchased 30mins later. As the train we wished to get was a 'Special' and an 'Express' (as opposed to the 'Ordinary' train from the day before) the price for the 5hr journey cost us a combined 850 baht! This is still cheaper than home though, and we did have an A/C carriage and a meal provided - classy. Still, a far cry from the 30 baht trip; we would plan the trains more carefully in future.

The train arrived at Phitsanulok in the early afternoon and we had allocated time to see the most significant attraction - Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahatat - before catching the bus to Sukhothai. The temple houses the second most revered Buddha image in the country and is unique as it has a flame like halo around its head. The walk to it was further than we anticipated and carrying our backpacks to it was a rather hot and tiring task; worth it though as the building was well kept and the statue huge! A short while later we were sitting on the bus making the 1 hour trip to the ancient capital of Sukhothai and enjoying a well earned rest.

Arriving late afternoon and arranging a ride in a sawngthaew (like a van with partially open sides and you climb in the back - normal transport over here!) to an area with some nice sounding guest houses in we finally could relax for the day. The city is made of two sections: New Sukhothai, with the modern centre and most of the housing, and Old Sukhothai that is home to 'Sukhothai Historical Park'. The latter holds the ruins of the original capital city of the first Thai kingdom spread out over a large distance, and is much like Ayuthaya in this respect. We were staying in the 'new' area and chose to explore what we could before the evening set in. Some food stands were situated conveniently close to our hotel and we samples for the first time sticky rice with crispy pork - gorgeous! As it was a small portion we headed to a soup stand and had noodle soup with pork but his was less nice, with the pork being reformed (from who knows what) with a rather questionable texture. We retired to our room (a steal at about £4 a night - big, light and with a spotless bathroom in a big, old teak house) after using the communal tv/dvd to watch 'Death at a Funeral' - a taste of Britain!

A short 15min ride in another sawngthaew took us to the heart of the World Heritage Site attraction, and after a quick bite to eat at a roadside café we headed to the bike rental shop. This time we chose more attractive vehicles, with straight handlebars and everything! The park is divided into 5 sections with (to our dismay and contrary to our dated guidebook) separate entrance fees collected by ticket booths strategically placed around the park. The main area was the central section where we now were and had the most intact and important remains, so we paid this fee and entered, following their handy map.

The park overall was far more attractive than Ayuthaya, with more considered landscaping and the only real transport on the internal pathways being other cyclists, the tram and the very occasional car. Wat Mahathat (considered to be the spiritual capital of the old city) was our first stop and by far the most impressive ruins, with several structures and tall Buddha images set amongst trees and a lily pond. We wandered around here for a while before exploring the Wats the central section had to offer, including a couple of 'island' chedi set in their own watery space.

Warren and I decided to be a little devious and see how far we could get in a couple of the other zones before being asked for money. To our surprise we managed to see several other structures, including a chedi surrounded by stone elephant heads, without being challenged - mainly as no-one else was there! The problem only arose when we attempted the most popular site on the north side with a rather nice seated Buddha image - this had a booth and a woman insisting our tickets were not the right ones. We retreated and headed back to the area we did have access to in order to find some lunch.

After pad thai we cycled along the main road back towards New Sukhothai to see a couple more (naughtily unpaid for) monuments. As these were literally right next to the road we could not see how they could charge for a look! Our mission successful, we bought some refreshments and returned to the grounds of the first Wat an relaxed in peace (no-one else was there at all) for half an hour before taking our biked back to the shop and getting a ride home.

That night we went to the night market (food stalls in a designated area) for dinner and had a delicious fruit shake each. Very much like a slushy (from the old days at Garratts!) it is made with real fruit and ice - extremely refreshing, especially in watermelon. The evening was rounded off with a local whisky ('mae kong') and coke and 'Beowulf'. A great day all round!

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