Sukhothai
Thailand
Sukhothai, established in the 13th century, was the first capital of Siam. It is now a major tourist attraction, and I wanted to spend a couple of days exploring the ancient city. I caught a bus from Chiang Mai to New Sukhothai, checked into a simple guesthouse and prepared for a busy excursion of exploring ruined temples the next day.
Luckily for me, the guesthouse happened to be located right near the start of a cycling lane that led all the way to the historical park. Early in the morning, I hired a shabby but functioning bicycle and commenced along the 15.5 km marked route. It was more of a road than a dedicated cycling path, passing cars and scooters more often than I did bicycles. However, it was quiet and peaceful, hugging a narrow river that passed through the outskirts of villages and rice fields. I much preferred this to the highway.
Old Sukhothai is separated into five sections, conveniently named Central, North, East, South and West. Just before the end of the bike path, I unexpectedly entered the East district. Although the temples weren't overly big, a line of well-preserved stone elephants on Wat Chang Lom caught my eye. The other sites I saw were unremarkable.
EAST
The prominent temples are located in the Central region, so I headed there next in an attempt to beat the crowds. Being a weekend, I presumed the site would be packed with tourists, but somehow I managed to avoid the large tour groups. It didn't take me long to see why this section was so popular. The temples were clearly the most interesting and well preserved of all the ruins I saw today, spread out over a wide area. There seemed to be an endless amount of structures to discover, particularly at Wat Mahathat, with intricate details covering many of the surfaces. A moat surrounded Wat Sa Si, sending my camera into overdrive as I captured reflections from every angle. If I was keen I could have spent half a day in this district alone, but I had other areas to explore.
Several kilometres down the highway was the West region, supposedly one of the more noteworthy sections. I couldn't see why. The main temple, Wat Saphan Hin, was situated up a long hill. The couple of Buddha statues and handful of pillars at the top didn’t feel worth the effort to reach it. There wasn't even a decent view as a reward. I only stopped at one other ruin in this area, Wat Chedi Ngam, also on a hill, but it was underwhelming. Other sites I passed were mostly piles of bricks. The only positive was that the section was located in a tranquil forest, with few tourists and almost no cars.
CENTRAL
WEST
After West it was onto the South. No one mentioned the South online, so I didn't expect much. I had left the forest behind and re-entered village life, cycling past ruins that were scattered in between small houses and rice paddies. The only notable temple, Wat Chetuphon, contained a couple of headless Buddhas, but it was the water lily-filled moat around the edge that attracted me. Other than a few cows grazing beside the rubble of an old guard post, I had little reason to linger in this section for long. I only saw one other tourist in this region.
Once I had refuelled with a very ordinary lunch in the old town, I set off again, only to discover I had a puncture. Being nowhere near my accommodation, I knew I had to get this repaired myself. By some sort of miracle, just around the corner from me was a man who fixed bicycles, and he replaced the burst tube within five minutes. It cost me more than it did to hire the bicycle, but for the little he charged I didn't mind.
Finally, it was up to the North region, where there were only two temples worth stopping at. The first, Wat Phra Phai Luang, was a sprawling site that wasn't especially appealing. Unsurprisingly, I was the only person here. The second temple, Wat Si Chum, however, was definitely deserving of a glance. I had heard of it being referred to as the Big Buddha, and it was immediately obvious why. Set inside a compact courtyard with a narrow entrance, it was easily the most impressive Buddha statue I had seen today. Several Thai people were praying in front of it, and there was a line to snap a photo through the constricted vantage point. By this stage I think had templed myself out, and I was glad to have finished on a high point.
South
North
By the time I cycled back to my guesthouse, I had ridden over 50 km, some of them on a flat tyre, all of them on a bicycle that was well past its use by date. But it was the perfect way to explore the area, and it gave me a well-needed workout at the same time.
I had many more plans for Sukhothai, such as watching the sunset over the temples, checking out the night market and going for a hike in Ramkhamhaeng National Park. None of that happened. After returning to the guesthouse mid-afternoon, I developed a violent case of food poisoning that saw me bedbound for the next couple of days. I did nothing but sleep and read, lamenting the fact that I wasn't going to be seeing any more of Sukhothai.
