Blogs from Sukhothai, North-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia

Leslie and Tiffany are spending their week-end in Bangkok with their Mum. So I found myself with some "me time" to enjoy. We are just back from two weeks adventures, and I've spent part of my week runing all over in Vietnam. The logic would be for me to stay in Bangkok, enjoying long mornings, and hitting the nightlife...well, not this week-end. I've been living close to three years in Bangkok, and Sukhothai is...or rather was still on my list. Slight problem, beside old ruins, there is not much...so not really something for the children. So here it is, I'm heading north for the week-end on my own. Sukhothai is 440km north of Bangkok. Easy option would be to fly there on Bangkok Airways...for a minimum of 5000 bahts...no thanks. Second option , rent a car ... read more

Mittwoch, 7. März 2012 Um 05:30 kam unser Nachtbus in Sukhothai an. Die Bushostess hielt es nicht für nötig uns zu wecken oder speziell darauf aufmerksam zu machen. Glücklicherweise bemerkte Delia, dass wir bereits angekommen waren; Benj wäre sonst wohl, nichts Böses ahnend, schlummernd ohne Halt bis Pjöngjang gefahren... Egal, wohlbehalten und mit komplettem Gepäck, wenn auch etwas übermüdet, waren wir also in Sukhothai angekommen und das Abenteuer Nachtbus nahm ein gutes Ende. Ein Tuktukfahrer brachte uns zum Hotel Ruean Thai, welches wir im Internet gebucht hatten. Kurz vor sechs Uhr klingelten wir die Besitzerin aus dem Schlaf, was wir allerdings zuvor auch per E-Mail angekündigt hatten. Ohne Groll wurden wir von ihr begrüsst und statt nur die Koffer zu deponieren, durften wir bereits das für die nächste Nacht gebuchte Zimmer beziehen - „no charge“! Das ... read more

The culture tour continued further north to the ancient ruins of Sukhothai. These are heralded as the best in Thailand. Different from Ayuthaya because they wear no battle scars from humans but from nature. The now converted historical park had been recovered from the overgrowing jungle. No traffic was allowed inside and was perfect for a peaceful bicycle ride. The park is well manicured with shaded pathways. As long as I stayed here I wouldn't die of the heat. My first stop was the largest temple, Wat Mahathat. This set of ruins covered a huge area with many variations on Buddha images and architecture. A pleasant place to stroll around until I realised I was taking all my photos in "Sunset Mode". What this does is dim the light on every photo I took, making the ... read more

What a bizarre little city this is. I can't make my mind up how I feel about the place. It was the first capital city of Thailand and not too many tourist/travellers make a stop here. Although at least for the experience (if not the incredible ruins), they should. Last night, I took a walk into the old city and it became obvious just how few people actually do stop in Sukhothai. Everyone and I mean everyone was staring at me. Kind of like how I would expect people to look at aliens like the District 9 type walking down Oxford street in London (actually, would anyone even bother turning their heads?)People were laughing and pointing and one boy found me so amusing that he ran in to grab his mum so that they could both ... read more

Ruins and….well, that’s about it Sukhothai has proved to be different than any other area we have been to so far here in Thailand, and, to our surprise, almost everything shuts down by 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. at the latest. People pretty much come here for one of two reasons; you need some time to chill out and recuperate, or you’re coming here to see the ruins of the old city. Since we were here on the weekend, there were a couple of little street fairs and a very small night market, but nothing that would consume much of our time. We couldn’t help but notice all of the random dogs here, though. There are literally 4-6 dogs in your view at all times. At night, it’s been kind of fun to watch Jessie jump away ... read more