Phitsanulok (11-13 Aug 12)

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Another long weekend here in Thailand, this time it was the Queen's Birthday, which apparently doubles up as Mother's Day here. I took the opportunity to make an even further trip up north this time, travelling some six hours plus to Phitsanulok, almost at the halfway mark to Chiangmai. The main point of the trip was to visit the nearby Sukhothai Historical Park. The two cities, along with Ayutthaya and to some extent, Lopburi, are of considerable historical significance to the Thai Kingdom. Sukhothai was an ancient capital, and Phitsanulok was the king's preferred city of residence then.

Phitsanulok today, like Lopburi, is an unassuming, quite typical Central/ Northern Thai city, devoid of the madness that accompanies the kitschy tourist traps. Having said that, the odd farang and/ or Japanese/ Korean tourist was almost always in sight. There's only so far you can get off the tourist trail! Phitsanulok lay right on the railway line, so I decided to use it as the base from which to make a daytrip to Sukhothai, which is about an hour's bus ride to the west. I stayed at the Li Thai Guesthouse.

Old Sukhothai city, where the Historical Park is, is described by LP as a somewhat sanitised place, and I could totally see why. The park itself was beautiful -- the grounds well-maintained, and the ruins quite a sight to behold, especially set against the backdrop of well-manicured lawns and picturesque moats. It helped also that the weather held up perfectly, despite it being the start of the rainy season, which I was reminded of when I returned to Bangkok, ponding roads and all. I'd almost had to take a really late bus ride back until I found one that left at a decent time. This being a long weekend, lotsa locals were also rushing back to Bangkok after making their provincial sojourns. You might wonder why I didn't take the train. Well I wanted to, but by the time I got round to enquiring about the return trip, the tickets were already sold out! Lesson learnt -- always buy round-trip tickets if you know for sure if you have return!

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Photos

Wat Mahatat
The highlight of the Sukhothai Historical Park.

Pitsanulok
As typical a non-descript Thai city as you're gonna get.

Deep Fried Bugs
The picture didn't turn out that well but I assure you either way, they didn't look particularly appetising in real life anyhow!

Wat Sa Si
This one was built on a little island in the middle of a squarish moat. Very pretty indeed.

Karaoke Booths @ Phitsanulok Mall Arcade
First time I'd seen something like this! Quite ingenious actually, little sound-proof booths for small groups (even solo individuals!), located right next to the usual video arcade games and air hockey. Lotsa youngsters up for it!

Sgt Maj Thawee's Folklore Museum
A thoughtfully-designed little museum of exhibits from typical Thai village life, including the buffalo-castration equipment and methodology (ouch!) In one of the rooms, one of the groundsmen muttered something in Thai to me, and an elderly fellow inside switched on the lights in the room. I didn't really pay attention to him, and saw that the descriptions on the exhibits were mostly in Thai, so I moved on quite quickly. It was only later when I compared the old man to the photographs in the newspaper articles near the entrance that I realised he was Sgt Maj Thawee himself! Guess that's was what the groundsman was trying to tell me! Clearly my Thai still needs A LOT of work...