On our way up to Chiang Mai we planed to make several stops at the old capitals of Thailand.
The way of travelling is quiet easy - you choose between Train or Bus, cheap or really cheap (no aircon) price and jump on to the next who arrives. The public transportation system is really good and everyone very helpful to show you how to get along.
Our first stop is Ayuthaya - just 80km north of Bangkok.
This was the place I worked here when I came to Thailand for the first time - but never made it to the old city to see the temples.
Once arrived we checked in at our guesthouse, hired two bikes and explored everyone of the remaining ruins ... and there where many!
A nice way to explore is by boat - so we hired one for 2 hours and went to all temples located at the riverbanks of the old City.
More on:
http://picasaweb.google.at/marco.schoeggl/ExtremWatIngInAyuthaya#
On the next morning we took the local train to Lob Puri - 50km ride for 30cent!
What do you get for such little money?
A LOT! Actually too much! Too many people, too many sellers and actually no space! But an adventure itself!
Lob Buri is famous for the gibbons (monkeys) who captivated the main temple of the city.
Unbelieveable how many live here and how the locals take care that they will stay as well. Some of them already spread out in the next streets and start intruding further to the city, so be prepared for the new episode of "Planet of the Apes"!
More on:
http://picasaweb.google.at/marco.schoeggl/FightTheMonkeysInLobPuri#
After we escaped the monkeys we took the next (better)train to Phitsanulok where I initaly planed my meditation retreat. Unfortunately they locked themselves up due to swine flew which gave us more time to explore the city instead.
It seems the tourism is not existing yet, as we where more or less the only foreigners here. People are open and curious to you and the tourist office even can`t speak really English!
But it was worthwhile stopping here as the temples here are full of life and are part of daily life!
More on:
http://picasaweb.google.at/marco.schoeggl/LivingTemplesInPhitsanulok#
Finally we reached Sukhothai - the first capital of Thailand and a UNESCO world heritage site. As it features so many temples and ruins from the 12th century we planed to stay here for at least 2 days.
We stayed in nice bungalow guesthouse in the new city and took the old pick ups to the ancient city 12ks to the east.
Here again we rent bikes as you can`t make the entire area of 10km2.
It`s a real magical place - even you need a lot of fantasy for some ruins to put the pieces together and make a picture out of it.
Even though we didn`t walk we got grilled instead on our bikes! The last days we had always above 35 in the shadow, but there where too little shadows for both of us x-)
So packed ourselves with water where possible and kept drinking and drinking and drinking...
... but be careful in Asia - only drink things which are still sealed and in the orignal bottle!!!
Arrrrgggghhhhhh
More on:
http://picasaweb.google.at/marco.schoeggl/TheLostKingdomRuinsOfSukhothai#
