Sukothai by Bike

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Sukothai is a small town an hour west of Phitsanulok by a local teeth-rattling bus. Home of Thailand's most impressive World Heritage site, Old Sukothai is best discovered by bike.

I visited the Sukothai Historical Park during the day which was a pity as it would have been nicer to see in morning or evening light. I did it from 11am to 4pm which was of course the hottest time of day!

Here I quote my Lonely Planet: "The park includes remains of 21 historical sites and four large ponds within the old walls, with an additional 70 sites within a 5km radius". Needless to say, I only managed about a quarter of the whole thing but I think I saw most best bits.

I met a German girl in the bus back who was doing a trainee program at BenQ in Shanghai as they went bust and since then has been travelling China, Mongolia, Laos and now Thailand. Fascinating countries!

After a half-hour run down by the river and a hot shower (yes, yes, for 350 Bhat/night/7 Euros you even get a hot shower here!) I made my way to a little restaurant where I had a delicious spicy winged-bean salad and stir-fried veggies and then bumbled over to my favorite night-market to get some fruit for tomorrows breakfast.

Tomorrow morning I will be taking the bus to Chiang Mai at 8:15am, a 6 hour drive. I will be staying there 5 nights. I haven't found a hotel yet, I will take a taxi from the airport and go and look at a few I have marked in my book.

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Photos

Thai Bike
This is definitely the best way to discover the sites.

Sukothai Temple Ruins
The most beautiful Buddha statues are very well restored and kept.

Midday Sun in Sukothai
It was hot but I didn't get a sunburn!

Big Buddha
This was my favorite one...

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
The best fruit stand in town, the freshest papayas, watermelons, pineapples and other things I haven't defined yet.

Comments

[adam]

looks beautiful,
and your pictures are so lovely too! Hope you're having fun (you sure sound like you are :)) defining veggies and travelling thru what looks like a big and interesting place. I just bought loads of 'our' ordinary fruits ;) Thanks for the pictures and the news, it lets us travel a bit with you

[temple_tina]

Grosses Bises de Chiang Mai!
Salut Fragin, merci pour tes commentaires sympas, ca fait du bien de les lire! Keep Healthy et a bientot! Bises et Hugs, Tina

[Wiebi]

Getting hungry...
...when I am looking at the pics with the yummy fruit!!! Don´t forget to eat some sticky rice with mangoes (highly recommended!;-))) Enjoy your vacation, have loads of fun! We all miss u! Wiebi