Bird’s Nest Bevarage – 25% bird’s nest

From one temple-studded city in Thailand to the next – Sukhothai. This time via VIP bus.

Sukhothai is a small, provincial town of 30,000 where tourism has not forced daily life into the backseat. The market, for example, still served the local population. No fake Thai memorabilia, no counterfeit shoes or bags. Baskets of fresh and dried fish, salted meats, whole chickens and squashed pig’s heads lined the streets. Old women with red teeth sat cross-legged on the road behind banana leaves covered in bright red tomatoes, pink dragon-fruit, yellow pears, mounds of cocunuts, bunches of bok choi and other veg. Other women ground pungent herbs and spices into curry pastes in huge pestle and mortars ready for those making their way home from work. Flowers on ribbons, to protect against spirits or danger are equally not standard backpacker ‘fare’.

Even walking the streets i was reminded that few backpackers bother to stay in new sukhothai and prefer to take a day trip from nearby Phitsanulok. Middle-aged women would giggle and whisper and then call out “hi”, laughing excitedly like a schoolgirl who thinks they have just been particularly naughty.

The ‘wai’, a traditional thai greeting (hands are placed in front of your chest, palsm touching each other, and the head is bowed slightly – so civilized!) is also more common here. Generally the people seemed friendlier, no doubt because the rampant tourism afflicting the south, with too many culturally insensitive travellers, has not penetrated here (no beaches!). At present I can say a few words in thai: hello, goodbye, chicken, chicken soup with cocunut milk, delicious, not delicious, very delicious, diamond (will explain in my next post), spicy, not spicy and a few more. Here i found if i spoke any of these the population were very appreciative, the only trouble being they then proceed to speak only in thai…

But onto the reason for my visit – the temples. Listed by UNESCO in 1991. The Khmer empire (forerunner of modern day Cambodia) was a dominant force in south-east asia during its golden age. Its power and reach extended far into the contemporary borders of Thailand before a rival emerged in 1257, chipping away at the Khmer frontier. This rival power, the first Thai state, established its capital in Sukhothai (Rising Happiness). Militarily and culturally successful, its achievements ranged from expansive conquests into naighbouring states, the development of a uniquely Thai alphabet and experimentation with distinct and beautiful art and architecture; the reason for my visit. After 150 years the state and city were superseded by Ayutthaya (see previous post). Lonely Planet suggests if you have time for only one of the two cities/ruins Sukhothai should be your choice. I disagree. Ayutthaya’s temples were the more impressive – though Sukhothai had much to offer.

After a good nights sleep, now defined as lacking bed bugs, i got a ‘two bench’ (an apt name for transport involving two benches on the back of a truck) to Old Sukhothai where the temple ruins are situated. Like a recaltriant donkey refusing to budge the vehicle remained stationary for half an hour, slowly but steadily filling up. The pace of life in provincial Thailand is a relaxed, sedate affair unhurried by the dictates of package tourists and tourism. The population is moved by slower rhythms that can’t be rushed. Fine by me. Travel is so much more than the simple act of changing geographical locations.

The main difference distinguishing Sukhothai’s ruins from Ayutthaya’s is their location and surroundings. The latter are urbane, part of and intimately mixed up with the new city. Round a bland, concrete monolithed street corner and i would suddenyl stumble on a crumbling chedi! The latter, or at least the central parts are in a designated park, 10km or so from ‘new’ sukhothai. Few cars, lots of trees and numerous ponds and lakes providing a tranquil, complimentary backdrop to the ruins. Wats were located down small, leafy lanes, surrounded by lotus covered ponds or amongst wide fields full of grand old trees.

Got to ticket booth where i soon discovered the park seemed full of forgetful workers.

“Sawadee Khap (hello), one special ticket please”

“We don’t do one”

“But it says here on the board…” pointing to the ‘Special ticket’ sign in front of me. This seemed to jog his memory.

“Oh yes!”

“One special ticket then please”

“We don’t do them here, you need to go elsewhere.”

“Do you have a map?”

“No”

“What’s that behind you?” pointing to the pile of maps.

For the rest of this post please go here.

Tags: Asia, Ayutthaya, Sukhothai, Temples, Thailand, Travel

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 9th, 2006 at 4:12 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.