"To know nothing of what happened before you were born, is to forever remain a child" - Cicero
Sukhothai is by far one of my favourite province in Thailand. All of those beautiful aged ruin and very smiley locals are just something unforgettable. Sukhothai is not a place that new generation of Thai teenagers gonna visit, because it is historical town and no shopping malls around. This problem make only foreigners come to Sukhothai only. There are some Thai but they are working adults. I would say the ratio of visitors from another countries and Thai would be 9:1. This is a sad story. I would love to see Thai people travel to Sukhothai more because it is very important to every single Thai. Sukhothai is our 1st capital city before Bangkok and yet Thai seems to feel like this is another boring history fact. I don't wanna see Sukhothai represent as a dull province, so this blog I will try my best to describe Sukhothai in a different way, more fun and less boring.
There are many options to go to Sukhothai--car, bus, aeroplane--I choose aeroplane because it's the fastest way and I can't drive. The only airline that go to Sukhothai is Bangkok Airway. I love this airline so much because even though me and Sam were economy class customers but we were allow to get into the lounge. Inside, there are so many snacks and drink. We spent our time tried every single thing in there. Sam love em all. He kept picking snacks and ate and repeated lol. I shoulda taken his photos while he chomped the treats. The flight wasn't long at all, around 30 minutes. When the plane landed, the first thing I noticed was the airport here doesn't look like others. It is more like a farm land. The arrival hall was built similar to Thai traditional pavilion. Next to the arrival hall, I saw buffalo, cow and horses. I am so sure the is the most unique airport ever. If you have spare time, don't forget to look around the airport. It's free! After we got our suitcase, I went to information to book a van to my accommodation. From the airport to old Sukhothai, I paid 300 baht. The ride was pretty far. I remembered I napped, when I woke up the van still didn't reach my accommodation yet, so 300 baht was fine. The place me and Sam spent our 3 days together called Old Town Boutique House. I really love this place, the owners were nice, the room was perfect, the price was not too pricey and very close to Sukhothai Historical Park. Click here to book a room at Old Town Boutique House.
Look how fantastic my accommodation was! I was very in love with the painting on the wall. It gave me the boho and Buddhist kinda feel. I definitely recommended this place to everyone who has a plan to go to Sukhothai Historical Park. Anyhow, we were exhausted when we arrived at accommodation, nevertheless, me and Sam decided to walk around for a bit. Just 2 minutes walk, we saw a temple called Wat Tra Phang Thong. The main chedi, an alternative term for a Buddhist stupa, of this temple has circular bell shape, surrounded with 8 subordinate chedis. What I love about this temple is, it constructed on the island in the middle of the reservoir, such a perfect scene to take photos. Believe it or not, that was the only temple we visited on that day lol. After that, our stomach called for food. We went into a restaurant that shouted "welcome" to every foreigners who walked pass by. I don't remember what I ordered, all I remember is the food ain't tasty, plus Sam was so panic about food poisoning. He told me his stomach wasn't felt good. I knew immediately he needed a burp. When he burped, his face looked soooo relieve, which mean I was right! At the end of the day, I felt sick, not because of the food. As a result, I chose to sleep faster than normal, hope for the best that my body gonna get rid of those virus or bacteria tomorrow.
Before I went to sleep, me and Sam discussed about how we gonna look around Sukhothai. Luckily, I did some research about biking tour around Sukhothai. So I was like "what do you think of bicycle tour?" After that question, we nod so many times. I called to Sukhothai Bicycle Tours and booked for Sukhothai Historical Park tour then I went to bed.
Next day we woke up early because the bike tour start at 8.30am. We went to 7/11 to get some bread and milk for our brekky. I was sick completely. I had snot, coughing and sore throat but I wanted to do bike tour so much. I promised to myself after the bike, I will go to clinic or something. At 8.20am P'Jib, a founder of Sukhothai Bicycle Tours, picked us up at the accommodation. Don't worry guys, it includes in the price. A starting point of the tour is P'Jib and P'Miaow's house. They are married couple. P'Miaow is native Sukhothai and she was our guide! The cool thing about this tour is their every bikes ain't bad, in fact, the bikes have 24 gears with brilliant quality plus helmets. Hence you don't have to worried at all. What about drinks? Again this is amazing tour, P'Miaow provided many bottles. The first stop of the tour was the canal not far from P'Miaow's house. She told us that go back to more than hundred years ago this canal used for import and export goods. Nowaday the canal size is smaller than before because people lives along side of this canal.
Our next stop was the wooden factory. It helps the locals stay together and doesn't have to move to another city or province to find jobs. Some families work here as a part time job. Since most of Sukhothai people are farmer so after they finishing transplant in the paddy field or harvest the rice, they can go to the factory and get little jobs like cutting wood. At first start, there are only 5 families who join the factory. Right now there are more than 300 families.
Along the way, we saw many rice fields. Sam never seen those before, so I told P'Miaow to stop here for a bit. On the left side, the rice was almost ready to harvest, in contrast, the other side of the field the rice just started to grow. These two require different water level. The rice that about to harvest doesn't like water. If the rain fall, it will rot. On the other hand, water is a must for first grow rice. It require 250-400 mm. depends on the type of rice.
Next destination was Wat Chang Lom. To make it easy to remember, it is a temple surrounded by elephants. The bell shaped stupa is built on a square foundation 18 meters on each side and surrounded by 32 elephants along the base of the stupa. The scenery around the temple was like tiny jungle. There were so many trees and the air was so fresh. I breathed in so deep to make sure my lungs got all the fresh air every bit. Sukhothai is one of the province I saw they still make charcoal like literally from incinerator. Unfortunately, the night before it was rain hard so the charcoal maker didn't make many of them.
Wat Si chum was our next place. P'Miaow lead us to the very greeny road, not too long the big mondop appeared with a single narrow high slit at the front. Wow, it is beyond mazing. I have seen Wat Si Chum from postcards and telly. All of those can't compare to the beauty of reality. We parked our bikes at the parking lot. Foreigners entry price is 200 Baht. For Thai, like me, only 20 Baht.
Wat Si Chum gave me goosebumps when I got to see it close. This might be the most enigmatic temple of Sukhothai. The narrow slit I mentioned earlier, it glimpse the peaceful face of a single huge seated Buddha image that almost completely fills the space enclosed by the building. Not just that, there is a tunnel deep down into the ground and surface appears at Si Satchanalai, the channel tunnels between the walls can go through a back of the Buddha statue, on the both sides of the wall have painting is in a state of disrepair and faded as the time passed by. At the tunnel ceiling cover with a sheet of slate-carved and painted is in the Buddhist Jataka stories and also have a Thai words specifying the name of Jataka Stories. The Ramkamhaeng National Museum is attempting to replicate this experience in the museum because the tunnel does not allow anyone to get in. The legend of Wat Si Chum still go on. King Naresuan went through the hidden passageway and addressed to people through a hole, making the soldiers and people believed the voice they were hearing was actually the Phra Achana's voice. The purpose was to build and boost martial inside them before war.
The meaning of Si Chum can be translated as follows "Si is Sankrit word which means sacred, Chum is a Khmer word which means assemble, so "Si Chum" means the assembly of sacred"Phra Achana is the name of the single Buddha in mondop. It means one who is not frightened or unperturbed.We arrived at this temple around 11am. What I wanna say is the weather was very hot. Me and Sam didn't apply any sunscreen so we were like "screwed us".
There is a Khmer style temple just across Wat Si Chum called Wat Phra Phai Luang. P'Miaow told us that this temple got destroyed the most and it is one of the oldest monuments in Sukhothai. The cool stuff does not end yet. Wat Phra Phai Luang was construct during King Jayavarman VII, who built some of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. You might wondering what was happen? Well, Sukhothai area was an outpost of the Khmer empire back at time. It was the center of town and the most important temple of that time. The temple was dedicated to Trimurati in Hinduism due to three Khmer-style prangs testify to its origin, though only one of them is still mostly intact at present. The interesting fact about this Khmer temple is although Wat Phra Phai Luang is Hinduism temple, but because Sukhothai people are mostly Buddist so at pediment on the prang, a seated Buddha Image was carving with disciples below.
We walked little further then a huge brick stupa that has standing Buddha image appeared at front. You will not see this in Italy or France or elsewhere. It was around noon when we finished sight seeing Wat Phra Phai Luang. I had 1/4 energy left in my body. P'Miaow didn't hesitate to told us that we gonna have lunch after Wat Mahathat. When I heard that my legs turned to jelly then she said "nevertheless we gonna have a break here. I have some cold soda cans and snacks with me. Feel free to eat and pick any you like". YAAAAAAY I didn't get starve to death! Well P'Miaow is very professional, she know what she has to do and what clients want.
After our break, we biked to Wat Mahathat: the most important and impressive temple compound in Sukhothai Historical Park. The temple's name can be translated to temple of the great relic and many Thai cities have a Wat Mahathat, where relics of the Buddha were kept. The design is based on Mandala, representing the universe with the main principal stupa, built in 1345 to enshrine relics of the Buddha, surrounded by smaller stupas in eight directions. The main stupa has the graceful shape of a lotus bud, which characterises the Sukhothai architectural arts. The eight small stupas, of which the four at the corners are in Mon Haripunchai - Lanna style and the four in between show Khmer influence. At the main stupa which has a big viharan built by laterite and has a big podium which once enshrined a biggest bronze Buddha in Thailand before, which was Phra Sri Sakyamuni. In the reign of King Rama I of the Rattanakosin Period, this Buddha was enshrined in the Grand Hall of Wat Suthat Thep Wara Ram, Bangkok. At both sides of the main stupa have two 9 meter tall standing Buddha images called Phra Attharot. We didn't spend much time at Wat Mahathat because it was so hot! and we still had several places to visit. P'Miaow took us to a shop to have lunch. I ordered Sukhothai noodle and Ovaltine. For Sam, he wanted to try American fried rice. The thing is American fried rice does not invent by an American but Thai and it does not exist in America. Since coconuts in Thailand is not pricey; he ordered a whole coconut. Everything we ordered have included in the tour already.
Next temple was another Hindu temple called Wat Si Sawai or Wat Sri Savaya consists of three large Khmer style prangs and two viharns. Normally, Hindu temples in Sukhothai will facing to east because Hinduism in Angkor Wat was very boom. Nonetheless, Wat Si Sawai was built facing to the south because after the end of Angkor Wat, Hinduism in Lopburi was very boom. The prangs are adorned with stuccoed carvings of several mythological creatures like multi headed Naga serpents, Makaras and Kala, a mythological monster like creature without lower jaw often found depicted on Angkor temples. Niches in the upper part of the prangs contain images of the Buddha. In all three prangs is a cella containing a pedestal which once held the linga, the representation of the Hindu God Shiva.
Next temple is Wat Sa Si, where the Walking Buddha with the gesture of Imparting Fearlessness is located. Most Buddha images throughout Asia are in one of three postures: standing, sitting or lying down. The creation of a walking Buddha image is a distinctive feature of Thai art in the thirteenth century. Walking images of the Buddha continue to be made in Thailand to this day. To be honest, after Wat Sa Si, I was exhausted by the heat. But the tour wasn't complete. P'Miaow took us to King Ram Khamhaeng monument. He created the first Thai alphabet so that it was a symbol of the nation's independence. Although his original script has undergone some changes, it is still in use now. It consists of 44 consonants, 32 vowels, and 5 tones of sound. That's why Thai is hard for foreigners to learn. Moreover, King Ram Khamhaeng created the first inscription. It recorded about the history of the Sukhothai Kingdom, during and after the reign of King Ram Khamhaeng. The first inscription was registered as the Memory of the World in 2003 by UNESCO and described about this inscription that "This inscription is one of the most important historical documents in the world because it contains essential information about various significant histories and world cultures" and "Describes about the states of Sukhothai in the 13th century thoroughly and also reflects the universal values which many states around the world abided together".
Next we headed to Wat Chetuphon, along the way the walls are decorated with Benjarong Porcelain into beautiful art. 15 minutes after we arrived at Wat Chetuphon. The most striking structure is the brick and tall mandapa, which has stucco sculptures of Buddha Images at the four cardinal points. The were (are) images of a Walking, Reclining, Standing and Sitting Buddha image each face a different direction. The standing Buddha West and the walking Buddha East facing the large viharn are still in a fairly good condition, although the head is missing on both. Nothing remains of the sitting and reclining images on the North and South ends of the mandapa. The roof that sheltered the images inside the mandapa has collapsed. There is another smaller mandapa at Wat Chetuphon, with a Buddha Image referred to as Phra Sri Ariya, or Lord Buddha of the future.
There are also the remains of an ordination hall and of a viharn. It rained a bit before we left the temple and this is the last thing to do of the tour. We biked back to our accommodation. The first thing we did after we got into the room was how much sunburn we got. OMG we got super bad sunburn especially a white man like Sam. He got farmer tan and the tan part was very contrast with his white skin haha. 1 hour after resting, I felt like I need to go to see a doctor. The owner was sooo nice, they took me to a nearest clinic. I really appreciate them for that.
That was it! my part 1 of Sukhothai. So far, I really enjoy seeing historical places and old ruins. If you are curious what nationality visit Sukhothai most. The answer is Italian, French, Austrain, Dutch and German. This information I got from P'Miaow. What about Asian? Well, tbh Asian loves shopping malls more than history. So if you have Asian friends, I am not recommended Sukhothai, take them to Bangkok to visit Siam Paragon or Jatujak instead. They will love you to death. Then why I like Sukhothai more than shopping mall? I didn't say I donn't like shopping mall. In fact, I am real shopaholic. However, history does not bored me. I think it's charming and I love history stuff since secondary school. I got very good score on my history class. That's why I wish I can travel all of World Heritage site around the world but, you know, I have to be rich first! I have to end my experience in Sukhothai part 1 here, don't forget to check out part 2 because it's so fun! xx
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