Watting out in Sukhothai & Ayutthaya

As strange as this may sound to some, the one thing I really did miss, while traveling was my Mountain Bike. It is well noted that they best way to explore Sukhothai Historical Park is by bicycle, but that by no means, means that you need to rent a bike in New Sukhothai and cycle to the park in the humid heat, which is 20km away (what did you expect), especially when there are much more civilized forms for transport, like thieving Tuk-Tuk’s. The fact is, it almost felt like I was cheating on my faithful bike back home, while cruising along the painfully flat roads of Sukhothai on a cheap Thai hire bike. Though, as they say, what goes around comes around and the 50km round trip to the park and surrounds, managed to undo a few weeks of physical therapy on my right knee (as I discovered once I got back home and after riding 16km, turned homewards, due to the knee pain).

Old Sukhothai was the first capital of Siam and the dynasty, established in the 13th century, lasted about 200 years with about 9 kings. This rich royal history has resulted in some of the most impressive ruins in Thailand, which have been rightly so declared as a World Heritage site (UNESCO, Wikipedia). The park itself has the remains of about 21 historical sites, with an additional 70 sites within a 5km radius, consisting mainly of Wat’s & Stupa’s (temples). So you can easily spend the good part of the day walking through the ruins, admiring the architecture as well getting a ample dosage of Buddha statues. In fact, after visiting Sukhothai and the surrounding area, you can officially announce that your are “Watted Out”, as there is no good reason to even want to even consider looking at anything that could possibly be classified as a Wat, or Buddha statue for the rest of your trip.

As already mentioned, a bicycle is the best way to get around the park and there are really an ample amount of perfectly spaced, shiny and squeaky-clean, bicycles to choose from around the actual park. In fact, I got the impression that a good part of any hire bike shop owner’s day consists of cleaning bikes and spacing them perfectly apart. The only reason I mention this completely irrelevant information is that my bike rarely gets cleans (admit-ably, I’ve made a bit more effort this year) and I was really impressed at the absolute precision in which the bicycles were spaced. I digress.

That evening I had shared a really enjoyable dinner of Red Snapper Fish, with a free topping of local insect, with a fellow traveler from Germany. Sitting under a fan, in an open air restaurant may seem like a good idea at first, but the moment it gets dark and someone turns on the neon light next to the fan, you may want to quickly re-think. Later that evening, I headed over to an excellent Internet café I had found the evening before, after arriving in New Sukhothai and caught up on Nepal posts and played some Warcraft DOTA online (what can I say, I’m an IT Nerd). What really was interesting is that the kids in small towns are encouraged to spend time behind the monitor at the Internet café. Figure there is sense in it, what would you rather have your kid doing… hanging around shopping malls getting up to all sorts of mischief or sitting behind a computer screen playing a harmless online game, where you and your friends get to hack each other apart in a virtual environment, while drinking a refreshing bottle of Pepsi (I drank a lot of Pepsi in Thailand). My vote is for the Internet Café.

Obviously not yet having my full of Wat’s, Stupa’s & Buddha Statues, I headed over to Si Satchanalai-Chaliang Historical Park (50km North of Sukhothai). Learning my lesson, I did however rent a Motorbike this time, which was more of a scooter with gears (no clutch and damn uncomfortable). Apart from being a lot more peaceful and “untouched”, it is much the same Sukhothai. Though it is still worth the trip, if you have the time to kill, if only to feed bananas to elephants.

That evening, over a tasty meal, with a much smaller portion of insects, I decided that I was officially “Watted Out” and that for a change, I’ll go in search of Rama Khamhaeng National Park, which climbs steeply up to the whopping height of 1185m (relative to the surrounds, this is high in the clouds)! Once I eventually found the place… admit-ably it was not the toughest place to find, just head off to the only high lump of dirt you can see (did I mention Thailand is mostly flat). I’m guessing (or at least hoping) that not many western tourists visit Rama Khamhaeng National Park, as the guards at the entrance were exceptionally friendly, friendly to the point of creepy. The one guard kept on rubbing the hairs on my arm and compared various body parts (hands, arms, etc), when he finally gave me a hug to try an compare my waist line, I decided that maybe it was time to go, before things when completely South.

So, climb I did. The trail went straight up the side of the mountain (imagine climbing stairs, but you need to skip every second stair). Though what made the climb pretty tough was the heat / humidity combination, which under normal circumstances would have been bearable, was it not for the cloud of mosquitoes, which tagged along hoping for a free lunch. Stopping turned out to be a bit of blood bath, as each time you stopped to rest, wave upon wave of small black mosquitoes would descend on you and even though one can fight back bravely and kill may of them, there are still those that get through. Though, the view from the top was great!

From Sukhothai I caught a bus back to Bangkok and then backtracked to Ayutthaya(would have gone straight to Ayutthaya, but the guest house made a muddle of my bus ticket). I do not really have much to say about Ayuthaya, it’s just another town with more ruins. So why did I go? Well, apart from being a World Heritage Site (UNESCO, Wikipedia), all over Thailand you can buy stunning photos depicting Monks, Buddha’s, Temples or combinations of these. One of the most photographed Buddha images is that of a Buddha head embedded in twisted tree roots, at Wat Phra Mahathat. Where it not for this, I probably would have given the city a skip.

The ruins of Ayutthaya are however stunning, but after spending time in Sukhothai, ruins were not high on my lists of interests. I did however find a boat museum in the back streets and it is well worth a visit if you have time to kill. It is privately owned, not mentioned in any guidebook and entrance is free, you can however leave a donation if you wish (the owner when to a lot of effort, so LEAVE A DONATION!). The owner of the place is an ex boat builder and currently teaches. Even though he can’t speak much English, he is very friendly and more than willing to take you around his stunning little museum – I stand under correction, but from what I could gather he had built the museum part of his house himself, out of teak wood.

Next day it was back to Bangkok.

The Wats of Bangkok

Two weeks back home already and I can hardly believe that it was almost a month ago already that I was standing in a line inside of Kathmandu International Airport (KTM), patiently waiting to have all my hand luggage un-packed and inspected for those “weapons of mass terror”, which include such deadly items as nail clippers, blunt plastic scissors and safety pins. How is it that once you back in the rat race a single person who can’t be bothered to even stop and think for themselves for a second can cause you more stress and anxiety than the two tourists entering the airplane in front of you with a 30cm Steel Gurka knife sticking out of his backpack.

The flight to Bangkok, Thailand was pleasant, even though my stomach was recovering for a protein overdose the night before (in Nepal, when the menu says it’s a 600g steak that is the cooked weight). The new Bangkok airport is really impressive (not that I’ve seen the old one) and even though taxi drivers & hotels tout you on the way out, it fails in comparison to the valiant touting experienced exiting KTM.

The airport bus drops you right at the entrance of the infamous backpacker street of Th Khao San. If you disregard all standards, finding a room to lay your backpack down in, is really no difficult task (nor is the problem of finding food or drink as the street is packed with vendors). Needless to say, save the practically un-heard of problem of vacancy, I did not have much trouble find accommodation, as my only criteria was that the place needed to be clean (or at least give the convincing impression that it was). Besides I did not plan to stay in Bangkok long, just needed enough time to figure out how things worked and then move onwards.

Surprisingly, after the disco club next door cranked up the music close to midnight and a number of drunken & rowdy Brits tumbled though the corridors at 3am, I felt quite chipper the next day. Resolving that I probably should find quieter accommodation, I spent my morning exploring the local public transit system. Within a few hours I had resolved that the Sky Train and Subway systems are absolutely awesome, you really need to know precisely which public bus to take and that most of the tuk-tuk drivers who hand around Th Khao San can all burn in hell for all I care! Ironically it cost me as much Baht to get and from the Northern bus station as it cost for a ticket on a really nice government bus up to Sukhothai. Stranger still, I later discovered that the long distance government buses are much better / spacious / comfortable than the long distance “luxury” tourist bus (some how a TV does not make up of uncomfortable seats).

With an afternoon left, I did part of the walking tour detailed in the Lonely Planet Guide. First stop, Wat Phra Kaew & Grand Palace, where you literally have to “dress for the occasion”. T-Shirts require sleeves, long pants, closed toed shoes and no short skirts. No dressed adequately, no worries, baggy “one size fits all” pants and sarongs are available at the door. Wat Phra Kaew is mainly famous for it’s Emerald Buddha (closed, due to renovations), though there is still a lot to see in this temple complex, from gleaning stupas and temples decorated in mosaic and marble to the fascinating and stunning mural telling the Thai version of Ramakian, lining the inner walls of the complex. Make sure you have enough camera batteries and that you do not leave all your charged batteries in your hotel room, otherwise it’s a brisk, humid, 45min walk to Th Khao San and back (at least you get to practice ignoring Tuk-Tuk drivers).

Next stop Wat Pho, famous for housing the largest reclining Buddha (not closed for renovation). Now, I’ve already seen a lot of Buddha’s in my lifetime, but this one was really impressive, lying 46m long and 15m high, modeled out of plaster, around a brick core, covered in gold leaf with mother of pearl inlay ornaments for the eyes and feet. Though the only thing I could not quite understand was how they managed to take the postcard photo. Here is a huge Buddha, lying in a closed wall building, pillars all around it, and a space of not even 2 meters to walk around, but yet they manage to have a postcard of the entire Buddha, taken dead center and unobstructed. Pondering this and walking around the rest of Wat Pho, cured me of looking at glittering Thai temples.

I can’t really put my finger on it, but generally speaking, Bangkok did not impress me as much as some other big cities have. Even through I really did like the reliable, safe public transport system. I really like the idea of living in a place where a car is more of a luxury and not an absolute necessity. I also really appreciated the abundance and variety of available food. Talking about food… my favorite street vendor were the fruit ladies, whom have little trolleys, packed with slices of Watermelon, Pineapple, Guavas (big & firm with white flesh, unlike our soft & squishy red ones), Mangos and Melons! At 10Baht, a thick slice of Watermelon is perfect for sorting out the first hints of being hungry and wetting a dry mouth.

I did not find quieter accommodation, I did not even look and I also again did not have a very good night sleep. The bus ride to Sukhothai, was however thankfully very comfortable and pleasant.