Do Dos And Ruins

As alluded to in our previous post Lopuri had another little surprise for us, this one not nearly as exciting as the festival we were enjoying. Our room which was otherwise adequate had bed bugs. We figured it was just a matter of time before we found ourselves co-habitating a space with these little bloodsuckers but that was certainly quicker than I expected. So the first order of business when arriving at our next destination, Sukhothai, was to wash everything we could wash and inspect everything else. This chewed up a day and kept us nervous for several more (we're still pretty touchy about bed bugs). What made it particularily unnerving is that we found a bed bug in Dawn's pack after we had left Lopburi. It's a few days later now and no further bed bugs sighted; cross your fingers for us!

Our Songthaew To The Ruins

After a two and a half hour train ride and one hour bus ride we arrived in Sukhothai which is known for its World Heritage Site ruins. Although we were there for the ruins we were most immediately happy to have arrived in a relatively luxurious bungalow. In reality it wasn't all that fancy but both our detached little cottage and the guest house lounge were perfect for a little resting and the chores we needed to do.

 

This will not come a surprise to many of you but I've noticed that I frequently judge a town not on it's sites but rather its food. Sukhothai wasn't a superstar on the food front but we did find a few gems including a good noodle street vendor ($0.70 for a plate of phad thai) and some of the best mango I've ever had at a nearby fruit vendor. What I really enjoy about the mango here is that they sell it in various stages of ripeness - from super tart, to sweet and crunchy, to crazy ripe. So much food to sample so little time.

Dawn and I both agreed that the visit to the ruins was likely our favourite day in Thailand so far. We were up early to catch a songthaew to Old Sukhothai and after grabbing a couple of bicycles we were off for a few hours riding around the ruins. It was so nice to be on a bike again particularly because it allowed us to go where we wanted and customize our visit to this 45 square kilometer historical park. There were certainly some nice ruins but the highlight for me at least was the freedom of choosing our own path.

I feel that Sukhothai was a bit of a turning point for us in terms of communication. We learned how to count in Thai which is of course huge to help with all transactions. We also learned how to effectively order vegetarian food (phonetically: mung saw we rat). We are still close to useless with the language but at least we're getting there and earning a few smiles along the way.

Since Sukhothai we've been working our way to the northwestern corner of the country. Chiang Mai, a five hour bus ride away, caught us by surprise. We knew it was a significant stop on the backpacking trail but we didn't realize just how packed with tourists it was (at least in the part of town we were staying). Further, it was the first town where we really struggled to find a decent place to stay. All the good spots were booked up so after a night in a spot that was ucky and about twice as much as it should have been we jumped on a minivan for Pai. Pai is the beginning, for us, of a northwestern loop that will bring us back to Chiang Mai after about a week or so. We've already booked a place for our return to the city so we'll be prepared this time.

I'll finish off with a quick little note regarding do dos. These tuk tuk like vehicles are common to Sukhothai and instead of being behind the driver, like in a tuk tuk, you're right in the front. At first I thought this was a really neat idea particularly because I can rarely see out of the tuk tuks as they are clearly not designed for big fellas like me. Indeed the view is excellent but I quickly realized that should the driver slam on the breaks you might just go shooting out the front. Perhaps more disconcerting is that the more people and stuff on board one of these contraptions the less the driver can see. It didn't stop us from experiencing a do do though; we just held on real tight.

Me In The Driver's Line of Sight To Capture The Moment

Do Do View