Thailand's first capital and New Year

We spent two days in Sukhothai, Thailand's first capital. It's name means, "dawn of happiness" and celebrates the kingdom that existed there as the beginning of the Thai heritage we know today.

Sukhothai is a grouping of thirteenth to fifteenth century Buddhist temples, stupas, assembly halls, and Buddha icons (including one that is nine meters tall!) inside a historical park -- 26 total temples. There are beautiful lakes with lotus flowers all around and lots of exotic greenery where you can stop for a picnic. You will notice in three pictures that the temple tops are shaped like a bulb with a pointed tip. This is a very important Sukhothai style of architecture that symbolises the Buddha's thoughts blossoming out of the ground and into clarity like a lotus flower when he achieved enlightenment.

It was so scenic here that Marc was proud to relocate the exact spot of the cover photo of our guide book (see pic)!

The town is grouped into the old city and the new city. The old city is the most concentrated in temples and is surrounded by guesthouses and souvenir shops. The new city is farther away and mainly hotels and higher-end restaurants. Luckily, we booked a cute little guesthouse at the heart of the old city. This allowed us to rent bikes and tour the entire temple complex conveniently, since the park is about the size of a college campus.

Biking was not completely a stroll in the park, though! In Thailand, people drive in the left side of the road. So we had to really focus hard on riding backwards!

Inside the park, the ruins reminded me of a mix between Chichen Itza ruins in Mexico and the tourist atmosphere of St. Augustine, Florida. Unlike the many temples we saw in Chiang Mai and Bangkok (see pics in previous posts) that retained their construction, and were very bling-blinged out, painted gold (very modestly!), with lots of "disco" style glass tiles around the roofs, making them very shiny, colorful, and somewhat overwhelming, the temples of Sukhothai were mostly reduced to their bare bones brick structures. They have been restored but many of the roofs and other structures had been lost over time. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage site, so restoration, greenery, and well-kept maintenance were unsurprising. What was surprising was how calm and peaceful the park was, even at high tourist season! It was so calm that we enjoyed sunrise overlooking the temples and lake (pic below) and a sunset picnic practically all alone. Great place to see the last sunrise and sunset of 2016, no?

Something else added to the peaceful and calm atmosphere of this place: our daily hour-long oil massages at Rose Massage. ;)

After sundown, the park put on an impressive light and music show. Lanterns were lit in the trees and floated in the lakes, and colorful lights shine on the temples (similar to the evening light show in Chartres, France).

We ended our visit to Sukhothai on New Year's Eve and flew to Bangkok for part two of our adventures there and to celebrate my birthday -- in class!! We flew on a boutique airline, meaning we were greeted with a coffee and cake buffet -- at our gate?! And instead of those sad, dry nuts you get on most airlines, we got gourmet lunch -- on a one hour flight!

The classiness continued throughout the night. We arrived at the Sheraton for a special dinner experience, Dining in the Dark (DID). This is not an experience unique to Thailand (in fact, I heard of it in San Francisco) but we finally decided to go for it since we've been wanting to do it for a while. Plus, the prices of food in Thailand are so low that it was worth it.

DID is literally completely in the dark -- not even a candle or night light. You are guided by a blind server into your seats, making the experience even more special. You are guided through a four course meal of the chef's choosing, and your server instructs you where to find your utensils and even how to finish constructing the meal. We had to shake our cocktails and combine the soup broth into the bowl of tempura crab --- completely in pitch black darkness!! We did wear an apron, so don't worry about the mess, lol. We ended up mostly eating with our hands because utensils only get you so far when you can't see what's on them...
Now that's classy!! Below is a photo after we DID it!

We rang in the new year and my birthday at a cocktail lounge with a live band, dancing, and Thai-spiced cocktails (lemongrass, chili, mint, etc.). We spent the first day of the new year touring around the modern downtown Bangkok and explored the Hindu temples, shopping and art centers, and some exotic birthday meals (topped off with Thai brandy)!

Now we are at a jungle resort at Khao Yai National Park. Pardon me as I go back to my nap in my hammock before our jungle bat cave excursion tonight...

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On est arrivés à Sukhothai sans problème, et on a dormi dans une chambre d'hôtes en plein cœur de l'ancienne cité (13e-15e siècle), à l'écart de la nouvelle ville où sont tous les hôtels.

Sukhothai à été la première capitale du royaume Thai, a l'époque où les peuples venus du nord se sont rassemblés sous l'égide d'un seul roi pour repousser les attaques de leurs voisins. Sukhothai devait ressembler à Chiang Mai version moyen âge, avec le palais royal et des temples en brique et en pierre entourés de nombreuses maisons en bois, mais aujourd'hui il ne reste plus que les colonnes et des bouddhas en pierre, et des stupas en brique. Le palais à complètement disparu. Du coup, ce qu'il reste est bien plus sobre et à mes goûts européens que les dorures des temples modernes que je trouve un peu tape à l'oeil.

Sans les bâtiments entre les temples, de grandes allés goudronnées bordées d'arbres ont été aménagées. Elle délimitent des espaces de pelouses et de grands arbres, ainsi que des pièces d'eau construites en même temps que les temples par souci d'esthétique. La réflexion des bouddhas élancés (un style propre à Sukhothai) dans les lacs parsemés de lotus roses au lever du soleil est peut être le plus beau paysage que j'ai vu du voyage jusqu'ici. En plus on a pu se déplacer à vélo un peu comme sur un campus universitaire et pique-niquer sur l'herbe, c'était vraiment paradisiaque !

C'est comme ça qu'on a vu le dernier lever de soleil de l'année, avant de rentrer à Bangkok en avion (qu'on a failli rater parce que notre massage quotidien à duré plus longtemps que prévu). Une fois arrivés, on a sauté dans dans un taxi pour un réveillon hors du commun. On a dîné dans le noir complet, dans un restaurant "Dining In the Dark". Il y en a plusieurs dans le monde, et l'idée est que (1) on apprécie mieux le goût des plats sans la vue, le sens dont on se sert le plus, et (2) on comprend mieux ce que c'est que d'être aveugle (les serveurs le sont tous). Je ne sais pas si le goût était plus prononcé, mais le dîner était délicieux et on a eu tellement de mal à utiliser les couverts qu'on a mangé presque tout avec les mains, heureusement les serveurs avaient prévu le coup et nous ont donné plein de serviettes. On est passés en 2017 dans le bar adjacent, très chic sauf pour les expats accompagnés d'escorts, une triste réalité en Thaïlande qu'on avait réussi à éviter jusqu'ici.

Après un dernier aperçu de Bangkok pour le nouvel an et l'anniversaire de Svet, on est partis vers l'Est du pays, la région la moins visitée sauf pour Khao Yai National Park, notre prochaine destination.Read more