Surfcrest
March 28th, 2006, 17:35
Sukhothai and Lonely Planet
When you are traveling into unknown waters, carrying a handy copy of the Lonely Planet go go great distances when it comes to making a choice as to where to stay / eat and means for travel.
Having said that itтАЩs also important not to take their word on face value either.
I landed in Sukhothai yesterday and used my handy copy of The Lonely Planet to plan my arrival, stay and to choose a few suggestions for eating. IтАЩve seen a few other gay tourists in the past 24 hours, but there probably isnтАЩt a listing in the current Spartacus Guide. While in Bangkok, I picked up a good / cheap backpack at J.J. and decided to melt in with the backpack crowd.
Bangkok Air flies into Sukhothai from both Chiang Mai and Bangkok twice daily. IтАЩve spent enough time on a bus upcountry to be more than familiar enough already what that experience is like already. The nearest point the train passes by is Phitsanulok, about an hour east of here. IтАЩve done the land trip through this part of the country already and IтАЩll be doing the train thing later, so the choice I made was to opt for the 30 minute flight over the 9 ┬╜ hour bus trip. The difference in cost was only 1000 baht. Bangkok Air actually owns the airport in Sukhothai, a beautiful (yet simple) place quite similar in appearance to Koh SumuiтАЩs.
Anyhow I choose what looked to be the best guesthouse in the Lonely Planet guide. There was no mention in the guide of a house owning many, many chickens (and roosters) next door. Having grown up on a farm myself, I have never recalled roosters starting their thing at 3:30 am. The bathroom in cottage that I have faces next door and it was as if the rooster was sitting on the window sill with lungs like Bette Midler. Thankfully I remembered to bring ear plugs, yet despite this the noise made it impossible to sleep.
The biggest news story in my country about S.E. Asia has been Avian Flu, this being number one (outstaged briefly by Miss Universe). I fond it odd how little I hear about it from inside Thailand. I would have thought the big lesson for Thailand out of this would be that livestock does not belong in urban areas. We banned many years ago for the obvious reason of epidemics, but if that information is being suppressedтАжthe recipe for this happening in Thailand is very real.
The next Lonely Planet problem dealt with restaurant recommendations. I went out with my handy guide (this before the rooster episode) to find the / or / one of the restaurants they recommended. They list the name (in English) and the location on their maps (no where near as good as Sticky Rice maps) and it should be all but too easy to find right? Wrong ! The name of every restaurant is in Thai with no English. The тАЬrestaurantтАЭ in the location that their big pick was, was a street stall with no menu nor remote resemblance to their description. Maybe I had my east / west coordinates mixed up again, but in a town this small you canтАЩt hide anything east or west. Fortunately, I did stumble upon a gem somewhere else. Once you are in the country you can really see how overcharged we are in the big tourist areas. The dishes at the place I found were all around 30 baht and some of the best food IтАЩve found in the country this year.
I was at Angkok Wat last year and this was my first visit to Sukhothai. I was very surprised at how big the historical park is and how many things there is to see and photograph. I rented a bicycle for 20 baht, an excellent choice for getting around to most of the sights in a day. With the temperature in the high thirties or ninety eight degrees, having so many cheap refreshment stands was also a big plus. Old Sukhothai (Where the park is) is about twenty some kilometers away from New Sukhothai (where the town is). Staying in old Sukhothai gives you the option of visiting the ruins before / after bus service (7am тАУ 5:30pm), but limits your options for eating / entertainment at night. They have a pretty good night market in the heart of Sukhothai. Apart from that, they roll the sidewalks up at 10:00 pm. Pretty much everything closes, so that people can get to bed early and get a full nightтАЩs sleep before the roosters wake the town up.
Surfcrest
When you are traveling into unknown waters, carrying a handy copy of the Lonely Planet go go great distances when it comes to making a choice as to where to stay / eat and means for travel.
Having said that itтАЩs also important not to take their word on face value either.
I landed in Sukhothai yesterday and used my handy copy of The Lonely Planet to plan my arrival, stay and to choose a few suggestions for eating. IтАЩve seen a few other gay tourists in the past 24 hours, but there probably isnтАЩt a listing in the current Spartacus Guide. While in Bangkok, I picked up a good / cheap backpack at J.J. and decided to melt in with the backpack crowd.
Bangkok Air flies into Sukhothai from both Chiang Mai and Bangkok twice daily. IтАЩve spent enough time on a bus upcountry to be more than familiar enough already what that experience is like already. The nearest point the train passes by is Phitsanulok, about an hour east of here. IтАЩve done the land trip through this part of the country already and IтАЩll be doing the train thing later, so the choice I made was to opt for the 30 minute flight over the 9 ┬╜ hour bus trip. The difference in cost was only 1000 baht. Bangkok Air actually owns the airport in Sukhothai, a beautiful (yet simple) place quite similar in appearance to Koh SumuiтАЩs.
Anyhow I choose what looked to be the best guesthouse in the Lonely Planet guide. There was no mention in the guide of a house owning many, many chickens (and roosters) next door. Having grown up on a farm myself, I have never recalled roosters starting their thing at 3:30 am. The bathroom in cottage that I have faces next door and it was as if the rooster was sitting on the window sill with lungs like Bette Midler. Thankfully I remembered to bring ear plugs, yet despite this the noise made it impossible to sleep.
The biggest news story in my country about S.E. Asia has been Avian Flu, this being number one (outstaged briefly by Miss Universe). I fond it odd how little I hear about it from inside Thailand. I would have thought the big lesson for Thailand out of this would be that livestock does not belong in urban areas. We banned many years ago for the obvious reason of epidemics, but if that information is being suppressedтАжthe recipe for this happening in Thailand is very real.
The next Lonely Planet problem dealt with restaurant recommendations. I went out with my handy guide (this before the rooster episode) to find the / or / one of the restaurants they recommended. They list the name (in English) and the location on their maps (no where near as good as Sticky Rice maps) and it should be all but too easy to find right? Wrong ! The name of every restaurant is in Thai with no English. The тАЬrestaurantтАЭ in the location that their big pick was, was a street stall with no menu nor remote resemblance to their description. Maybe I had my east / west coordinates mixed up again, but in a town this small you canтАЩt hide anything east or west. Fortunately, I did stumble upon a gem somewhere else. Once you are in the country you can really see how overcharged we are in the big tourist areas. The dishes at the place I found were all around 30 baht and some of the best food IтАЩve found in the country this year.
I was at Angkok Wat last year and this was my first visit to Sukhothai. I was very surprised at how big the historical park is and how many things there is to see and photograph. I rented a bicycle for 20 baht, an excellent choice for getting around to most of the sights in a day. With the temperature in the high thirties or ninety eight degrees, having so many cheap refreshment stands was also a big plus. Old Sukhothai (Where the park is) is about twenty some kilometers away from New Sukhothai (where the town is). Staying in old Sukhothai gives you the option of visiting the ruins before / after bus service (7am тАУ 5:30pm), but limits your options for eating / entertainment at night. They have a pretty good night market in the heart of Sukhothai. Apart from that, they roll the sidewalks up at 10:00 pm. Pretty much everything closes, so that people can get to bed early and get a full nightтАЩs sleep before the roosters wake the town up.
Surfcrest