Surfcrest
May 12th, 2006, 08:31
Sukhothai
I started making my plans for Sukhothai before I left Bangkok. It was fairly easy to make most of my arrangements for the trip in advance. One weekend in Bangkok at Chatuchak Market I picked up a cheap current edition of Lonely Planet. While this book has a lot of useful information about how to get around, the basics. As I said in my past Chiang Mai thread, I chose to fly from Chiang Mai to Sukhothai to avoid the 9-hour plus journey by bus. This turned out to be a wise choice in light of my short bus trip some days later between Sukhothai and Phitsanulok.
Lonely Planet puts out a lot of email addresses and urlтАЩs so that you can choose and book reservations via the Internet. Sometimes the description of places to stay / eat isnтАЩt always accurate. Not all places will email you back. Sometimes it is more reliable to look the place up in Google if you can and see if they have their own site and not just email address. You can at least verify the address. Its pretty simple and much more reliable to give them a phone call unless you run into the language barrier. I could write a whole book on my experiences with Thai pay phones over the years. My friends tell me to get a cell phone to use when IтАЩm in Thailand. IтАЩd rather not.
I flew Turbo Prop to Sukhothai. Bangkok is the only airline going here and they own the airport, much like they do on Koh Samui. There may have been 10 of us in total on the flight to Bangkok, via Sukhothai. Only two of us got off and no one got back on. I doubt all flights are this empty, or hoping not for the sake of this leg of the trip. They have the same open-air buses as they do in Samui to take you across the tarmac. This is a beautifully landscaped property and they seem to own quite a bit from the long journey from the airport to New Sukhothai. I believe it is over 20 KmтАЩs away. We flew over the city on our way in.
Bangkok Air provides very cheap shuttle service (100 baht) between the airport and Sukhothai / New Sukhothai. You can even arrange to have a return shuttle, although Sukhothai Tuk Tuks are very easy to find and even cheaper. The archeological site known as Sukhothai or Old Sukhothai and is 10 kmтАЩs farther from the airport than New Sukhothai where about 40 000 inhabitants live. You can find accommodation in Old Sukhothai, but the choices are not as good as in the city. I found the meals I had in the different Old Sukhothai places to be disappointing. I found one amazing place in New Sukhothai.
I picked a guesthouse from Lonley Planet as the place was described as a young, fun, and never mentioned all the early rising roosters living next door. I had a cabin to myself in a row that extended into the woods from the main house. I believe the scam in town is that Tuk Tuks wait at the bus station to pick tourists up that are looking for accommodation. The guesthouses pay a commission to the driver if the gusts he/she brings stay. The same applies in Lopburi and probably many other Thai towns. Soon after arriving, I sat out front and watched the routine play out. In the background was an incredibly handsome boy stacking sacks of rice topless, so it wasnтАЩt as though I was only watching the scam.
The public bus to Old Sukhothai left 100 meters away, from 7am тАУ 6pm. These are essentially old dump trucks with backbenches installed, good for about 30 people Thai style (hanging from the roof / sides). It cost 15 baht for the trip one-way, shared a ride in the morning with a dozen or so boys going to school and 30 big women with a weeks shopping (each) on the way back.
I chose to tour the park on a rented bicycle, a 10 baht cost. I took the first bike back when I noticed one of the pedals falling off. The replacement wasnтАЩt all that better, but it did get me a fair distance that day. The temperature was very hot in the sun. Believe it or not, having the breeze from the bike moving was enough to keep it comfortable. As you can see from my Sukhothai photos, it wasnтАЩt always sunny that day thankfully. I picked up a map at the gate; with admission was 400 baht (300 / 100 baht respectively). They charged me more because I had a bicycle. I saw some tourists renting motorcycles.
Most of the archeological sites at Old Sukhothai are in a concentrated area so they are quick to get to from one another. Wat Si Chum is outside the main park as are a few more sites / photos posted in my personal gallery. I made it to most places on my map with the one-day. The park was very quiet, easy to get many shots without other people. There were a few large student groups touring around, but it was easy to avoid them. I stayed two nights, thankful that I had brought earplugs for my second night.
New Sukhothai straddles the Yom River. Charodwithithong Road starts at the traffic circle, just over the bridge. Just north of the traffic circle is a restaurant with green teardrop hanging lights, a menu on a stand out front and the name Caf├й Blahblahblah (In Thai underneath). These are the only directions I can give to a restaurant that served amazing Thai food. There are signs in New Sukhothai pointing to where the Night Bazaar is. IтАЩm not sure when at night this is, but I saw a lot of tourists walking up and down the streets looking for it. The night stalls for eating are easy enough to find, if this is what they are referring to. Apart from that, it isnтАЩt the most attractive city in Thailand.
Old Sukhothai is beautiful. The park is well maintained, the ruins spectacular and the people very friendly. This is one city that if you want to get out and talk to the locals, you are in the right place. With few visitors, the vendors in the park truly enjoy the conversation. I chose to go fairly quickly through the park and do it in one day. You could probably see it better in two. They light the ruins up at night as well as the floating lily, but you wonтАЩt see that unless you are staying in Old Sukhothai. Buses back to New Sukhothai stop well before dark.
It was nice to be away from the big city and take a rest in the countryside. It may have been possible to make a connection with someone in Sukhothai. Apart from eating and wandering around the city, I didn't really go out anywhere at night. Sometimes I get looks in the country and I'm not sure always if it's a "you look different" look or a "you look hot" look. Sometimes its fun finding out, but that wasn't anything I did here. It would probably be a great place to take a Thai boy to. Much better than a shoppingmall.
Surfcrest
I started making my plans for Sukhothai before I left Bangkok. It was fairly easy to make most of my arrangements for the trip in advance. One weekend in Bangkok at Chatuchak Market I picked up a cheap current edition of Lonely Planet. While this book has a lot of useful information about how to get around, the basics. As I said in my past Chiang Mai thread, I chose to fly from Chiang Mai to Sukhothai to avoid the 9-hour plus journey by bus. This turned out to be a wise choice in light of my short bus trip some days later between Sukhothai and Phitsanulok.
Lonely Planet puts out a lot of email addresses and urlтАЩs so that you can choose and book reservations via the Internet. Sometimes the description of places to stay / eat isnтАЩt always accurate. Not all places will email you back. Sometimes it is more reliable to look the place up in Google if you can and see if they have their own site and not just email address. You can at least verify the address. Its pretty simple and much more reliable to give them a phone call unless you run into the language barrier. I could write a whole book on my experiences with Thai pay phones over the years. My friends tell me to get a cell phone to use when IтАЩm in Thailand. IтАЩd rather not.
I flew Turbo Prop to Sukhothai. Bangkok is the only airline going here and they own the airport, much like they do on Koh Samui. There may have been 10 of us in total on the flight to Bangkok, via Sukhothai. Only two of us got off and no one got back on. I doubt all flights are this empty, or hoping not for the sake of this leg of the trip. They have the same open-air buses as they do in Samui to take you across the tarmac. This is a beautifully landscaped property and they seem to own quite a bit from the long journey from the airport to New Sukhothai. I believe it is over 20 KmтАЩs away. We flew over the city on our way in.
Bangkok Air provides very cheap shuttle service (100 baht) between the airport and Sukhothai / New Sukhothai. You can even arrange to have a return shuttle, although Sukhothai Tuk Tuks are very easy to find and even cheaper. The archeological site known as Sukhothai or Old Sukhothai and is 10 kmтАЩs farther from the airport than New Sukhothai where about 40 000 inhabitants live. You can find accommodation in Old Sukhothai, but the choices are not as good as in the city. I found the meals I had in the different Old Sukhothai places to be disappointing. I found one amazing place in New Sukhothai.
I picked a guesthouse from Lonley Planet as the place was described as a young, fun, and never mentioned all the early rising roosters living next door. I had a cabin to myself in a row that extended into the woods from the main house. I believe the scam in town is that Tuk Tuks wait at the bus station to pick tourists up that are looking for accommodation. The guesthouses pay a commission to the driver if the gusts he/she brings stay. The same applies in Lopburi and probably many other Thai towns. Soon after arriving, I sat out front and watched the routine play out. In the background was an incredibly handsome boy stacking sacks of rice topless, so it wasnтАЩt as though I was only watching the scam.
The public bus to Old Sukhothai left 100 meters away, from 7am тАУ 6pm. These are essentially old dump trucks with backbenches installed, good for about 30 people Thai style (hanging from the roof / sides). It cost 15 baht for the trip one-way, shared a ride in the morning with a dozen or so boys going to school and 30 big women with a weeks shopping (each) on the way back.
I chose to tour the park on a rented bicycle, a 10 baht cost. I took the first bike back when I noticed one of the pedals falling off. The replacement wasnтАЩt all that better, but it did get me a fair distance that day. The temperature was very hot in the sun. Believe it or not, having the breeze from the bike moving was enough to keep it comfortable. As you can see from my Sukhothai photos, it wasnтАЩt always sunny that day thankfully. I picked up a map at the gate; with admission was 400 baht (300 / 100 baht respectively). They charged me more because I had a bicycle. I saw some tourists renting motorcycles.
Most of the archeological sites at Old Sukhothai are in a concentrated area so they are quick to get to from one another. Wat Si Chum is outside the main park as are a few more sites / photos posted in my personal gallery. I made it to most places on my map with the one-day. The park was very quiet, easy to get many shots without other people. There were a few large student groups touring around, but it was easy to avoid them. I stayed two nights, thankful that I had brought earplugs for my second night.
New Sukhothai straddles the Yom River. Charodwithithong Road starts at the traffic circle, just over the bridge. Just north of the traffic circle is a restaurant with green teardrop hanging lights, a menu on a stand out front and the name Caf├й Blahblahblah (In Thai underneath). These are the only directions I can give to a restaurant that served amazing Thai food. There are signs in New Sukhothai pointing to where the Night Bazaar is. IтАЩm not sure when at night this is, but I saw a lot of tourists walking up and down the streets looking for it. The night stalls for eating are easy enough to find, if this is what they are referring to. Apart from that, it isnтАЩt the most attractive city in Thailand.
Old Sukhothai is beautiful. The park is well maintained, the ruins spectacular and the people very friendly. This is one city that if you want to get out and talk to the locals, you are in the right place. With few visitors, the vendors in the park truly enjoy the conversation. I chose to go fairly quickly through the park and do it in one day. You could probably see it better in two. They light the ruins up at night as well as the floating lily, but you wonтАЩt see that unless you are staying in Old Sukhothai. Buses back to New Sukhothai stop well before dark.
It was nice to be away from the big city and take a rest in the countryside. It may have been possible to make a connection with someone in Sukhothai. Apart from eating and wandering around the city, I didn't really go out anywhere at night. Sometimes I get looks in the country and I'm not sure always if it's a "you look different" look or a "you look hot" look. Sometimes its fun finding out, but that wasn't anything I did here. It would probably be a great place to take a Thai boy to. Much better than a shoppingmall.
Surfcrest