Bangkok nil point Sukhothai 10!!

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Making our way around Bangkok was a lot easier than we had imagined. Using a combination of the Sky train (very clean efficient and most importantly air conditioned) and Taxi’s it was relatively straight forward.

Mental Note when in Thailand: Having read up on taxi driver antics in a guide book we made sure the taxi driver from the airport used the meter and true enough it was a lot cheaper than the Manager back at the terminal had insisted we pay.

We didn’t intend to spend a lot of time in Bangkok just a day to arrange our onward travel. We made an early start (around 12ish!!) the next day and headed for the Mo Chit bus station to buy a ticket to Sukhothai, seven odd hours north of Bangkok.

By 1.30 that afternoon we were sitting on the Sky Train, bus ticket in hand, that wasn’t too difficult!! And that included a marathon walk to the bus station from the Sky train, not good as it was swealtering hot, but we stopped for refreshments at the newly opened JJB Mall, watermelon shake was lovely : ) Then I made a bit of school boy error and
mistook a bus mechanics depot for the bus station and walked in wanting to buy a ticket to Suk-hooo-tie only for them (and Jo) to laugh at me for my obvious stupidity!! (For anyone that’s been to Mo Chit Bus terminal you’ll know that I am indeed, an arse!). On the way back to the Sky train we also got to see loads and loads of cool fish, like three hundred meters of shops all selling pet fish. Each shop had them swimming around in clear plastic bags full of water lined out on the pavement, it was quite a sight.

Before heading back to our hotel we stopped off at the Paragon shopping Mall. What a place!! It was about 5 floors the size of a stadium, just massive. There was a whole floor dedicated to luxury brands. We’ve never seen so many top names side by side, but for what reason? Not many people here can afford the goods inside so it wasn’t surprising that the floor was like a school library; very quiet as nobody is ever in there!!

After a look around the next floors up, something quite strange happened. Jo spotted a ‘Boots’ and suddenly from no where this big broad beaming smile appeared on her face!! An hour or so later and with Jo stocked up on a few ‘essentials’ ; ) we were off exploring the gourmet foods hall (now we’re talking!!). Here we got a few bits for our bus journey (an English Pork pie!!) and had a tuna sandwich which cost half as much as our room for the night!! It was very nice though!

It was while we were eating our very expensive tuna sandwich that another strange thing happened. I looked over and saw four western tourists walking down one of the aisles. Not a biggy I guess? But for some reason I felt compelled to stand up and greet them warmly : S I only just managed to stop myself!! It was weird!! I can only put it down to the fact that they were the first westerners we had seen in almost a day and I felt as if I needed to show some sort of solidarity.

The next morning we had a nice breakfast at the hotel and after checking out we made our way to the bus station. It was here that Jo experienced the very same phenomenon as I had the previous day when as soon as she spotted two western girls board our bus to Sukhothai she nearly leapt out her seat to say hello to them…very strange!! I wonder if it’s just us or if anyone else has experienced the same thing??

Anyway!! The bus journey went fairly quickly, we went 1st class of course!! Well that’s what it said on the ticket. After a refreshment stop about half way we started to see more rural surroundings. Bordering the road were pools of water filled with water lilies and every so often someone was in there, up to their necks either partaking in some unorthodox fishing or simply cooling off. Little raised dirt bridges broke up the pools of water and gave access to a house or business .Also lots of roadside stalls were scattered along the journey selling various wares from brightly coloured plastic statues, roast chickens, whicker baskets and hats to fishing nets and hammocks! Further on from here all you could see were rice paddies stretching off into the distance.

A bit sooner than scheduled we arrived at Sukhothai Bus Terminal and within an eye blink we had a ride to our hotel.

The Lotus Village looked amazing, very tranquil, tucked away down a small side alley it opened out into a treed garden with traditional Thai Teak wooden lodges on either side before a grand old wooden main building with a heavily planted outside seating area water features and all. This would be home for a couple of nights and I have to say we were very impressed.

Well for about five minutes until when asked for my passport at reception I realized it wasn’t where it should have been…..

Many tantrums later and after searching through both our bags we came round to the thinking that it had gone. Quite impressive for a little maroon book to all on its lonesome undo locks and zips, but anyway shan’t name names, but some might say it suggests that there is an employee at the Sawasdee Sukhumvit Inn Bangkok who’s currently traveling under the name of Benjamin John Henry Hedger!! Shouldn’t be too hard to find!!

More seriously, realising that without a passport our onward travel to Laos and Cambodia would be in jeopardy we had no choice but to book on a bus back to Bangkok to get a new passport issued as quickly as possible.

After a cooling down period we decided (Joey did a remarkable spirit lifting speech), that we would still spend the night at Lotus Village as planned and go and see the Historical Park the next day, but instead of a relaxing second night in our very own teak house, we would brave a night bus back to Bangkok.

Our exploring of the Historical Park had to wait a couple of hours as after a call to the British Embassy the next morning we were told that we needed to have a crime report from the local police station…..yep I know what you are thinking, we were imagining the same thing ourselves!! Picture three totally unimpressed poker faced policemen sitting in front of an old wooden desk, iron cell bars stretching out behind them as I stumble my way through in broken English and hand signals!! In reality it was the complete opposite and we were done and dusted within twenty minutes. The officer that we spoke to went through the details very quickly and we were soon sat in front of three officers at a desk, one of which helped type up the first officer’s report. The officers were very friendly and I think we were somewhat of a novelty by the way the others there (crim’s and victim’s), and the officers were smiling at us. However one officer behind the desk seemed little bothered by us and was sat there quite sternly not moving an inch. At one point I lent forward to confirm some details on the report when I glanced to the side and noticed ‘officer stern face’ busy playing snooker on the computer!! Obviously wanting to appear official to us and all the crim’s sat out in front!! It wasn’t until a passing colleague of his gave him a nudge as he was taking a shot that he managed to break a sly smile before snapping back into concentration mode for his next shot. It was a funny moment, guess you had to be there!!

The rest of the day was spent on a little scooter buzzing around the Sukhothai Historical Park looking at all the ruins of temples, Buddha statues and Wats. I don’t know a lot about the Park, but it is thought to have been built around the 13th and 14th centuries. It was declared a World Heritage site in 1991 and inside are the remains of the royal palace and twenty-six temples, the largest being Wat Mahathat. The place is very peaceful with lots of green and huge shaded trees, which you can sit under and just chill out looking at the view of the ruins across the large pools of water surrounding them.

I even managed a t-shirt tan - nice!! And I used to laugh at the bloke on the beach with the t-shirt tan, now I have come full circle and I’m him!!

After the sight seeing we popped back to the hotel for a drink and as we sat there we heard rumbles of thunder in the distance. Then, literally five minutes later it hoed down!! I mean proper down pour. It wouldn’t have bothered us if we hadn’t have just left but two minutes before and were sat on the bike about to fill her up with petrol before taking her back. By all accounts it was refreshing, it didn’t really bother us….well a little at first, but then you realize that you’re going to get soaked whichever way you look at it so why care.

We pulled into the bike rental place absolutely soacked to the bone; the rental guy could hardly contain himself, funny guy!! We were offered a table inside and after a quick chat we decided to stay for dinner. A great green curry was cooked by his wife and after our meal he kindly offered us a lift back to our hotel and in doing so our faith in Thai people was restored. If anyone is going to Sukhothai then TR guest house is a good choice for To (pronounced toe) the owner is a top bloke.

That was a good note to finish on. Our short stay in Sukhothai was over, it was well worth the visit, although besides the Historical Park I am unsure what else there is to do over more than a couple of days.

So here we were again, on a blinking bus traveling back to the one place we didn’t want to be going. The night bus to Bangkok was a lot better than expected. It was comfy, quiet and very quick. It was so quick it arrived an hour early. So apart from worrying about what we were going to do between arriving at 4.30am and when the embassy opened at what maybe 8am at the earliest what the hell was going to keep us entertained from 3.15am…………… The lowest realms of boredom were reached around 3 hours in and we decided that we just couldn’t take it, we were going to head off for the Embassy and if it wasn’t open, then fine, we’d just ride the Sky Train for a bit as at least it was air conditioned!! Just so that you know on the board at the guesthouse it read Temp 28 Humidity 83% at 7am!!

Lucky enough by the time we got to the embassy at 7.15am we only had to wait 15 minutes for it to open and once inside things didn’t take long to get sorted out. The outcome was not what we wanted but at least it was going to be sorted, we would just have to reschedule our flights and other reservations for a date otherwise unknown!! To re-issue a passport it takes 10 working days but Friday’s a sort of half day so all in all I won’t have a new passport until the 22nd of June & our flight out of Chiang Mai leaves on the 12th : S

After a quick crisis meeting, we decided to take a recommendation from Tom and Rachel and one of Tom’s friends Stuart who had spent six months at a place in Kanchanaburi. Apart from trying to pronounce the name right it’s a place where there’s lots to see and do as well as recuperate from this mild dose of drama!!

The definition of misery:
Taking a 7 hour bus ride only to find out when you’ve got there some thieving robbing bar steward’s nicked your passport and you’ve got to take the same 7 hour bus ride back to sort it out.

Definition of amazing:
1 Day Thai Cooking course = 1900 baht
2 Day trip to Waterfalls, Tiger Sanctuary, Hell’s pass and the bridge of the river Kwai, Elephant trek and bamboo rafting = 3000 baht
Thai Green Curry = 160 baht
Watermelon Mr. Frosty = 90 baht
1 hour Thai massage = 240 baht
1 nights accommodation = 350 baht
Total = 5740 baht or £82 to you!! And that’s for two people, me and Jo in kanchanaburi. Now that’s amazing!

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Photos

Lotus Village
Our bed for the night in a traditional Thai Teak House

Sukhothai - Monks on the march
If anyone's played grand theft Auto you'll forgive me for wanting to run them over for the bonus points!!

Comments

[Katie]

sounds great!
You sound like you had a great trip- besides the passport incident. Great pictures, too. Thanks!