Slowing down in Sukhothai

After nearly missing our bus from Bangkok to Sukhothai we were in no mood for any funny business. All seemed well -- powerful AC, passable seats, roadside coffee served up by three bemused kathoey ("lady boys") -- until the video entertainment kicked in. We'd been hoping for a heart-wrenching tale of country girl pushed into the city when her family's water buffalo died, or perhaps some saccharine sweet Thai pop videos. What we weren't expecting was a gory slasher film in the style of The Ring. Anyhow, slightly shaken, we arrived in Sukhothai, six hours north of Bangkok, and settled in at our guest house bungalow.

The main-strip of Sukhothai reminded me of sleepy towns in California's Central Valley -- warm summer nights in a small village with a bit of American Graffiti-style cruising going on, only here it's done on motor-scooter.

After indulging in an evening of ice cream with Dutch chocolate at the fine restaurant Poo, we awoke to clear skies and rented bikes to do some wat cruising ourselves.


Zagat rating available upon request

Elizabeth scored a sweet ride, evidently French, and we set off.


Can you say vroom! Or just cheese


Z getting the hang of the reversed brakes and strange seat height

First up was Wat Mahathat which was the administrative and spiritual center of old Sukhothai; Sukhothai, in turn, was the capital of Thailand in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Wat Mahathat is guarded by a moat that is said to represent the boundary of the universe. Inside, we found a very human scale to the place and were delighted to see so many Thai visitors and even some orange-clad monks posing for pictures.







Calorie intake is never far from our minds and we found some great pad see ew (fried wide noodles with vegetables) along with a refreshing coconut with little effort.



One of the highlights of the day was making our way to Wat Sri Chum. This wat housed a wonderful Buddha statue with elegant, long hands. This was one of the most peaceful parts of the day and we were able to catch our breath amidst the daunting humidity of an impending storm.







We nearly ran out the clock with our final stop at Wat Saphan Hin. This part of the park had actually just closed when we arrived but a friendly policeman said we could run up the hill to take in the view and snap a few photos. Here I really got disoriented -- the scenery is eerily reminiscent of the North Shore of Oahu, minus the surf and slackers.





Trying to beat the clock, (our bikes turned into pumpkins at 5) we pedaled madly back through the outer streets of the heritage park. Resisting the urge to pull over and buy a sturdy bag of local mushrooms, racing an ice-cream tuk-tuk driver, and probably breaking a few Thai traffic laws, we made it back to the bike rental stand just in the nick of time.


Proper order of significance


A fine addition to any family


Since when is cock fighting worthy of world heritage status?



Thoroughly knackered, we returned by tuk-tuk and staggered toward some Dutch chocolate and a sound night's sleep.