Surfcrest
May 19th, 2006, 04:32
Just east of Sukhothai, about two hours away by bus is Phitsanulok, a city of just over 100 000 inhabitants. There isnтАЩt any real draw to go to Phitsanulok, other than being the nearest train station from Sukhothai (between Chiang Mai & Bangkok). To reserve a spot in an air-conditioned train coach, buying the ticket the night before assures you a better chance to avoid being packed into 3rd Class. I love 3rd class on a train that isnтАЩt too full, like the train running through Kanchanaburi from Thonburi. Unfortunately the route I was going to take is well traveled especially by Thais and so reservations are best.
I chose to make it an easy mid-day trip from Sukhothai, with an overnight stay in Phitsanulok. Enough time to explore the city, see the sights and make my reservation.
I overpaid my Tuk Tuk driver, who repaid me by taking me direct to the platform and hailing the bus, as it was about to pull away from the Station. The bus was practically full, except for one back seat. Buying a painting in Chiang Mai was going to force me to care for my item through all of my travels. I was thankful for having the backseat and the extra cargo room. It also had had air conditioning and curtains. The curtains came in handy later as a gas mask.
I have never enjoyed very many of the bus trips that I have taken. In Thailand I find the bus too hot and most of all too crowded. I have never seen a bus say no to a pick up and they rarely think how the extra people are going to fit into an already full bus. When parents get on with their small infants, it is common practice to pass their kids to complete strangers to hold, while they stand or if they have too many to pass the extra around. No, IтАЩm not going where you think I am going with this. The Thais give up their seats for the elderly and pregnant women, but women alone are not given any special preferences. Buses can start out nearly full to well over capacity full and still stop along the way for extra passengers. There are pluses and minuses to bus travel. I personally prefer the train.
The standing room on our bus was used up after only a few stops soon after we got going. With construction on the first half of the highway from Sukhothai, it was a bumpy ride right from the start. A girl one row ahead and to the other side vomited very early in the trip. Everyone ignored what had clearly happened out of saving face. We suffered through the smell through the whole trip and it got worse as it became hotter. I was thankful that the next leg of my trip was going to be on smooth train tracks in air-conditioned comfort and again for having the curtains beside me for filtering the smell. The trip was slow going with frequent pick-ups from Sukhothai and then frequent drop offs as we neared Phitsanulok.
Once I arrived an elderly man came up to me on the platform and asked where I was going. I just wanted to get where I was going and was at that point prepared to pay whatever any Phitsanulok taxi driver was about to extort from me. I assumed Phitsanulok would be the same as Sukhothai in that it would have the same patronization arrangement with the Tuk-Tuk drivers to the guesthouses. I had already picked where I was planning to stay and told the guy where I wanted to go. To my horror he took me to his waiting pedal Tuk-Tuk. To add to the comedy, I thought I was at a different bus station than where I was. I assumed I was much closer too. It took us 45 minutes to snake through the whole city from the bus terminal to downtown. I felt ashamed, this guy was using all 100 pounds of bodyweight to push down the pedals and keep us moving roughly half the speed weтАЩd be going if I were walking. I had assumed the guesthouse that I wanted to stay at wouldnтАЩt be full, at this time of year and in a city with virtually no attractions of significance. After I got the bad news that they were full I had the pedal Tuk-Tuk guy take me to a regular full service hotel (not far away) and enjoyed a night of comfort, sleeping in a real bed and with a real hot water shower.
Making travel plans using тАЬlonely planetтАЭ and the Internet is fast and easy, although not really reliable. While many guesthouses have email, it is either common to find outdated email addresses or the businesses donтАЩt answer their mail reliably. Winging it with the Tuk-Tuk guys has its risks too. You never know if the place is going to be good or just a good tip going to the driver.
Phitsanulok is pretty big, clean and well laid out. The khlong west of the river Nan is very beautiful, as are the houses built on the river. I have posted some photos of Phitsanulok and many of the other places IтАЩve visited this year / recently in my personal gallery here on Sawatdee. There are very few sights of archeological importance. Wat Phra Si Ratana Manhat had a very active market going on in the courtyard, including plants and spices. They have a permanent Christmas lights display in front of the train station that was still lit up into March. The motorized Tuk-Tuks were very interesting to see and photograph and I did see a few processions of tourists touring the city with a fleet a pedal Tuk-Tuks. In the daytime the air is full of military aircraft coming and going from what must be a nearby base. I saw a few handsome servicemen in town later that evening. They advertise a night market here as well, but like Sukhothai it too closed quite early.
I recall one night enjoying a drink at Hotmale (Formerly Twilight) and telling the boy that sat next to me that I had been to (Phitsanulok) where he told me he was from. The boy was so excited that I had been there and knew where it was that he invited his other friends (Also from Phitsanulok) over for me to meet. A similar thing happened at Teamboy (Bangkok) with several boys being from Lopburi and Toyboy (Pattaya) with boys from Udon Thani. The boys from Phitsanulok didnтАЩt turn my head like they do in Chiang Mai, but different tastes for different folks. It was a nice place to pass through and even to stay a bit.
Surfcrest
I chose to make it an easy mid-day trip from Sukhothai, with an overnight stay in Phitsanulok. Enough time to explore the city, see the sights and make my reservation.
I overpaid my Tuk Tuk driver, who repaid me by taking me direct to the platform and hailing the bus, as it was about to pull away from the Station. The bus was practically full, except for one back seat. Buying a painting in Chiang Mai was going to force me to care for my item through all of my travels. I was thankful for having the backseat and the extra cargo room. It also had had air conditioning and curtains. The curtains came in handy later as a gas mask.
I have never enjoyed very many of the bus trips that I have taken. In Thailand I find the bus too hot and most of all too crowded. I have never seen a bus say no to a pick up and they rarely think how the extra people are going to fit into an already full bus. When parents get on with their small infants, it is common practice to pass their kids to complete strangers to hold, while they stand or if they have too many to pass the extra around. No, IтАЩm not going where you think I am going with this. The Thais give up their seats for the elderly and pregnant women, but women alone are not given any special preferences. Buses can start out nearly full to well over capacity full and still stop along the way for extra passengers. There are pluses and minuses to bus travel. I personally prefer the train.
The standing room on our bus was used up after only a few stops soon after we got going. With construction on the first half of the highway from Sukhothai, it was a bumpy ride right from the start. A girl one row ahead and to the other side vomited very early in the trip. Everyone ignored what had clearly happened out of saving face. We suffered through the smell through the whole trip and it got worse as it became hotter. I was thankful that the next leg of my trip was going to be on smooth train tracks in air-conditioned comfort and again for having the curtains beside me for filtering the smell. The trip was slow going with frequent pick-ups from Sukhothai and then frequent drop offs as we neared Phitsanulok.
Once I arrived an elderly man came up to me on the platform and asked where I was going. I just wanted to get where I was going and was at that point prepared to pay whatever any Phitsanulok taxi driver was about to extort from me. I assumed Phitsanulok would be the same as Sukhothai in that it would have the same patronization arrangement with the Tuk-Tuk drivers to the guesthouses. I had already picked where I was planning to stay and told the guy where I wanted to go. To my horror he took me to his waiting pedal Tuk-Tuk. To add to the comedy, I thought I was at a different bus station than where I was. I assumed I was much closer too. It took us 45 minutes to snake through the whole city from the bus terminal to downtown. I felt ashamed, this guy was using all 100 pounds of bodyweight to push down the pedals and keep us moving roughly half the speed weтАЩd be going if I were walking. I had assumed the guesthouse that I wanted to stay at wouldnтАЩt be full, at this time of year and in a city with virtually no attractions of significance. After I got the bad news that they were full I had the pedal Tuk-Tuk guy take me to a regular full service hotel (not far away) and enjoyed a night of comfort, sleeping in a real bed and with a real hot water shower.
Making travel plans using тАЬlonely planetтАЭ and the Internet is fast and easy, although not really reliable. While many guesthouses have email, it is either common to find outdated email addresses or the businesses donтАЩt answer their mail reliably. Winging it with the Tuk-Tuk guys has its risks too. You never know if the place is going to be good or just a good tip going to the driver.
Phitsanulok is pretty big, clean and well laid out. The khlong west of the river Nan is very beautiful, as are the houses built on the river. I have posted some photos of Phitsanulok and many of the other places IтАЩve visited this year / recently in my personal gallery here on Sawatdee. There are very few sights of archeological importance. Wat Phra Si Ratana Manhat had a very active market going on in the courtyard, including plants and spices. They have a permanent Christmas lights display in front of the train station that was still lit up into March. The motorized Tuk-Tuks were very interesting to see and photograph and I did see a few processions of tourists touring the city with a fleet a pedal Tuk-Tuks. In the daytime the air is full of military aircraft coming and going from what must be a nearby base. I saw a few handsome servicemen in town later that evening. They advertise a night market here as well, but like Sukhothai it too closed quite early.
I recall one night enjoying a drink at Hotmale (Formerly Twilight) and telling the boy that sat next to me that I had been to (Phitsanulok) where he told me he was from. The boy was so excited that I had been there and knew where it was that he invited his other friends (Also from Phitsanulok) over for me to meet. A similar thing happened at Teamboy (Bangkok) with several boys being from Lopburi and Toyboy (Pattaya) with boys from Udon Thani. The boys from Phitsanulok didnтАЩt turn my head like they do in Chiang Mai, but different tastes for different folks. It was a nice place to pass through and even to stay a bit.
Surfcrest