Day 24 Biking Sukhothai

(photos later.  On our way back to Bangkok)

Another beautiful day!  We were picked up for our bike tour early by a luxury vehicle. 
                                     
For us with auto safety ingrained into our psyche,  the ride into Sukhothai was terrifying.  I haven’t been in the back of a pick up since high school. 
                                     
We bounced along for about 45 minutes until we got into Sukhothai proper. 

We then headed down a dirt lane off the main road past small houses and a boatload of chickens and dogs.  We were really scratching our heads wondering what we got ourselves into.  We finally reached our destination, Sukhothai Cycling Adventures. 

We were introduced to our guide (and the co-owner), Miaow, pronounced meow like the cat noise.  Her engaging manner and infectious smile immediately made us feel more comfortable and we knew we were going to have a great day.

Another couple from England joined our group, and after getting outfitted with helmets

 and bikes (again, Trek 3900’s- I wish I had the Trek franchise for Southeast Asia),

 we were off.  

After taking our life in our hands crossing the main road in Sukhothai, we stayed, for the most part, on small lanes that ran along the canal passing through tiny townships and lots of rice paddies along the way.  

Some of the homes were gorgeous wooden structures 

while some were no more than hovels. 

 All were built in the traditional Thai style, on stilts, to avoid flooding, to have a shaded area in the heat of the day, and to have a place for one’s livestock.

In a couple of places,  livestock came out to greet us on the road.

Both the humans and cows were all very friendly.

In one small village, we stopped to see a woodworking shop.  Miaow explained that each village was semiautonomous, and if they had a strong leader, he would find a craft for the villagers  that they can fall back on when the rice harvest is over,.  The community pooled its resources and shared the profits.  This woodworking business was very successful and some of the pieces were quite beautiful.

At another village we saw these odd mud brick mounds.  Turns outh that these are made for making charcoal.  Would is placed into the hollow mound of mud.  It is then closed up with more mud and allowed to cook for several days. (Kind of like the Big Green Egg).  The mound is then broken open, and voila, charcoal.

We initially stopped at a couple of temples that are outside of the main historical park.  

Wat Chang Lom

Wat Sri Chum

Miaow’s husband, Jip, and their young daughter greeted us with snacks and drinks.

Wat Phra Phai Luang

We continued on toward the old Sukhothai Historical Park.  As we neared the entrance we overtook a peleton of cyclists in a road race in the area. (Isn’t it great how with one static photo you can make up a story).

Traditional Thai historians considered the foundation of the Sukhothai kingdom as the beginning of their nation because little was known about the kingdoms prior to Sukhothai.

The park covers the ruins of old Sukhothai, the capital of the Sukhothai Kingdom in the 13^th and 14 th centuries.  Prior to this, the area had been under Khmer Empire rule, and Sukhothai was merely a trading post.  After the Khmer were driven out, the region came under the Sukhothai Kingdom.  It was a short lived history, though, ending break up of the kingdom (which had included Luang Prabang  where we were in Laos) in the late 1500’s. The old city was abandoned when the capital was moved to Bangkok, and the “new” Sukhothai was built 7.5 miles to the east.  Rama I had built new temples in Bangkok, and had many of the statues  moved there from Sukhothai.The temples were abandoned until July 1988 when the park was officially opened. On December 12, 1991, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The city walls form a rectangle about 2 km east-west by 1.6 km north-south.  There is a gate in the center of each wall. Inside are the remains of the royal palace and twenty-six temples, the largest being Wat Mahathat.

                                                      

Wat Sra Sri

Tra Pang Tra Kuan

After templing all morning, we really worked up a powerful thirst (temps in the 90’s) and hunger.  Miaow brought us to this little dive for lunch.  

We were all a bit skeptical, the place was pretty sketchy. 

I was trying hard to remember where in the first aid kit I had put the LoMotil.  Miaow recommended the “Sukhothai Noodles”, so we decided to give it a try.  It was outstanding!  Much better than anything we had up to this time in Thailand.  We’ll just keep our fingers crossed that our GI tracts will not rebel.  On top of that, the cost was 60 Baht ($2).  We can’t even get a cup of coffee at home for $2.  We also had mango shakes, agin on Miaow’s recommendation.

Back on the bikes for the trip home.  

Passed numerous rice paddies.  Rice is this areas’s life’s blood. The farmers use lightly used roads to dry the rice.

Scarecrows are critical to keep birds from eating the rice.

High tech farm equipment is pretty scarce.

The last part of the trip was on a dirt track with big potholes that was a blast to ride on.

Back to Jip and Miaow’s home/bike center.  The whole family got into the act, her uncle was our limo driver, her mom prepared our snacks, and her daughter, well she was just plain cute.  The surrounding homes on this lane were all Miaow’s relatives. 

The bike tour was probably our best experience yet on this trip.  Miaow gave us huge amounts of information on Thai culture, history, Buddhism, and rice farming.  We were sad to say goodbye (not as sad as having to get back into the pickup, but somehow now knowing our driver was Miaow’s uncle, we felt safer. Go figure).

Tomorrow, we are going to take it easy before our trip to Koh Chang