EZ House, Sukhothai, Day 2

It felt great to sleep in an air conditioned room again, and we both wake up feeling pretty refreshed and ready for a busy day. We start with a breakfast downstairs and a few cups of caffeine, before getting ready and jumping on board one of the wooden songthaews they have around here. They are strange, rickety things, but it is actually very comfy and much larger and more spacious then your average taxi.
The journey doesn't take long and we are soon at the ticket office for the historical park. We can see some of the ruins in the distance and it looks great, so we quickly rent some bikes from a shop next door and head in.
The historical park is a bit like a scaled down version of Angkor Wat. Of course, the ruins aren't quite as spectacular, and the park is much smaller, but this gives it a certain charm that Angkor Wat didn't have. What makes it so great is that everything is close together, and biking around the ruins at your own pace is almost more fun then actually wandering into them.
The first one we see is the largest, Wat Mathathat. It is the ruins of what would have been a huge complex, with many large Buddha statues encased in stone walls staring down at you as you walk through. It is very big and very fun. There is something about ruins that I feel makes them more special then the newer temples. The run down feel and the stone and brick structures give them a much more religious and spiritual feel, as if you can see the monks of hundreds of years ago kneeling in front of the statues. They are great, and as we haven't seen anything like this for a while, we don't get bored at all.
We bike up to the next temple, which was originally a Hindu place of worship and has been very well preserved. Three pillars loom over what was once a sheltered walkway, but is now nothing but crumbling stacks of odd lengths. We sit here and relax in the shade for a bit, enjoying the peace and calm atmosphere that these historical parks have.
When we finally move we bike around more. There are lots of stupors and statues, and many lakes that give great reflections of the ruins. After around two hours though, we start to get hungry, so head outside the park for some dinner. We eat stir fried veg on rice which is cooked by a lovely woman who even gives us free bananas as a leaving present. After eating we head to the Northen park, which is famous for Wat Si Chum. It is about a mile away from the central park we first visited, but is a lovely ride. The breeze is a blessing on this boiling hot day. When we arrive and buy a ticket, the main attraction is clear to see. A huge Buddha statue stares out from its stone enclousure as we walk down a path towards what looks from the outside like a giant concrete block. Inside is a huge Buddha, who is sat down, yet is still about 15 metres high (approximately). It is an incredible sight, and something that feels very atmospheric. A monk is next to us saying his prayers, and it makes me wonder how amazing this would be for someone of this religion, and how powerful and emotive something like this would seem in the eyes of someone who is staring at their God.
We leave the statue and bike around the Northern park, which consists of a huge ruin and a newer block of small temples which contain Golden Buddhas. After this we head back to the central park, biking past a great stupor which looks like it is being held up by a row of elephants that surrounds it, and take a breather.
It is lovely to sit at the side of a lake and get out of the sun that has been beating down on us most of the day. As we sit in the calm that is even nicer now the school trips of the morning have left, we see a turtle climb onto a tree root nearby. We try to get closer but it soon jumps back into the water with a speed I didn't think his species was capable off. We take one last walk around the ruins before heading back to the bike shop and getting ready to go home.
We get back on a wooden songthaew and head back to the hotel. We have timed it just as the schools are finishing for the day, so we end up sharing the bus with a group of schoolchildren. Luckily we aren't far off where we are staying, and we soon get back and relax for a bit after what was a very tiring but very good day.
It is only now we are back that Amy's sunburn really stands out. Her neck and face are very red. She doesn't seem to be in a lot of pain though, which means it is okay to laugh about it (I think). We head out to eat at the poo restaurant again and I have Sukhothai noodles while Amy has an amazing green curry. Hopefully, after cooking one at the cooking class, she will be able to reproduce it at home. We head back for a relaxing night. Sukhothai has been a short stop, but has definitely been worth it. Tomorrow we head to Kamphaeng Phet, and the great news is the buses are every hour, so no need to get up early!Leggi altro