We left the hustle and bustle of Bangkok hoping for an idyllic countryside of lush green rice fields and small towns and headed north to the first capital of Thailand – Sukhothai. On our train journey (2nd class, one working seat, one perma-reclined seat!), we were surprised that the scenery was not as verdant as we imagined – due to the fact that we are here in the middle of the dry season and the landscape is quite brown.
Lonely Planet had listed Historic Sukhothai as one of the top things to see in Thailand and enjoying history and ruins ourselves, we took the advice. The ruins didn’t disappoint. New Sukhothai, on the other hand – where the hotels and restaurants are – has a population of 37,000 and seems to be there mainly to support the tourists coming in to see the historic sites, with the dust and noise on its one main drag as its main streak of character.
We got to the ruins early in the morning, when it was cool, the light was good, and it wasn’t crawling with people. This UNESCO World Heritage site has an impressive number of stupas and stone Buddhas and is historically significant as the first capital of the Siamese kingdom 800 years ago. Everyone explores these ruins by bicycle, so we followed the crowd and rented a couple of cheap ($1 for the day!) bikes just outside the Historic Park. The grounds themselves are quite gorgeous (see Eugene’s fantastic photos) and it was especially peaceful as we made our way to the less visited ruins outside of the main city walls.
One big thing we discovered is how little either of us understands about the history and philosophy of Buddhism. I suspect we’ll begin to learn a bit more as we continue our time in Thailand.
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- Sukhothai Historical Park
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- The “Slow Your Roll” Buddha
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- Overgrown ruins
