After
a sightseeing day and one day just enjoying the city treats in Chiang
Mai, I decided to head back south to see the ruins of Sukothai, the
first capital of Siam. This time I took a common local bus, not one of
the special charter variety for tourists which had brought me up to
Chiang Mai. It was similarly battered as the first bus I had been
traveling on, and I was not surprised when the bus broke down after a
few hours. That seems to be a fixed part of any bus journey in
Thailand. This time, however, the bus driver managed to repair the bus
within about half an hour and we continued our journey to Sukothai.
When I arrived there in the afternoon, I booked
myself a tiny bungalow in a pleasant guest house and rented the asian
equivalent of a vespa. Having never driven any type of motorbike with
gears before, I struggled a little in the beginning but soon everything
went smoothly and I was happily cruising along in the admittedly
chaotic but not at all aggressive traffic. I went straight to the old
town, a half-hour ride away from the new part, to have a first look at
the ruins in the soft evening light. Very pretty and scenic! The ruins
of many temples lay scattered around with mirror-like moats and the
occasional water-lilies. Due to my later arrival, almost none else was
around and I could enjoy the ruins very quietly.
Even less people were around when I arrived at the
ruins again this morning before sunrise. This time it even was
relatively cool, not much above 30 degrees. After a few hours cruising
around between the ruins and Buddha sculptures, I had a breakfast and
then headed back to the new part of Sukothai, had a shower, and packed
my stuff up to head further south to Ayutthaia, the second capital, for
more ruins! I am writing this on the bus and so far we had no trouble
yet...
