Sat 26th Jan - Heading north today to Phitsanulok and had planned to go there via Ayathuya by train. The guesthouse owner suggested a better option by bus that would take less time and probably cost less. The Green Leaf Guest House is a really friendly place to stay, the only downside being only cold showers in the rooms. Sometimes this is ok, but it's nice to get a warm shower occasionally. Free drop-off at the bus station and the ticket stand is there to ask you where you want to go as usual. My bus was due at 10:30 and cost 231 Baht direct to Phitsanulok (on its way to Chang Mai). Amazingly, it arrived at 10:29 and left at 10:31. How's that for timing! Due to arrive at what is abbreviated to 'Philok' at 17:00. A good time to then find digs in daylight. A really comforable aircon bus too. The train option wouldn't have arrived until 20:45 at least.
Heading north, the scenery is a mix of towns and open countryside intermingled with enough inersting sights to keep It interesting. At Lopburi, one of the ruins was swarming with macaque monkeys, for which it is famed. The temperature is roasting outside and the aircon isn't great, so a bit of a sticky journey.
As an aside.....most towns in Thailand have no intelligible english to help you know where you are. There are some clues though, apart from signs on the major roads, that vanish in smaller roads, my favourite one are ATMs. Virtually all branches with a machine will have the name of the town in english somewhere on their sign. On this journey, I am the only foreigner so no help from the locals who don't speak any english.
The temperature was rising a bit too much to be comfortable. The aircon certainly wasn't doing much conditioning. At Nakhon Sawan the diver pulled into the station as normal and some passengers got off. About 5 minutes after pulling away he turned Into another depot and switched the engine off. The dodgy aircon was leaking oil all over the ground! Half an hour later we were transferred to another, less comfortable bus with half as much leg room. At least the replacement was cooler.
If only everyhing in life worked out as expected!
The bus should have arrived at 5pm but arrived at 6:30pm. Not a problem as I'm in no hurry. According to the guidebook, the bus should have dropped at a station at the end of the road of the hotel I was aiming for. Instead it stopped 3km away and they wanted a lot of baht to take me there, so walked instead. It was a warm night, so soaked through by the time I got to the planned hotel... Which was full! So, aimed back to what was advertised as a youth hostel. It isn't really. The Lithai Guest House turned out to be ok. For 240 Baht a night I got a nice bed in a clean tidy room, hot shower, TV, café and restaurant on site serving super quality food at cheap prices...and in typical thai fashion.....you order it and it's in front of you in 30 seconds!
A little bit about Phitsanulok....
In the 15th century, for about 25 years, the town was the capital of Thailand. It straddles two rivers and is sometimes called 'Song Khwae' or two tributaries. It is the only city in Thailand where it is legal to still live on a houseboat. No new houseboats are allowed. More as I go along......
New place and lots to see, so off on walkabout to se what Phitsanulok has to offer at night. Funny thing in late January to see 'Merry Christmas and Happy New Year' signs around the town with bright lights...Good to be able to celebrate two new years!
A couple of minutes walk from the Lithai is the Night Bazaar that runs along Puttabucha road which flanks the Nan river. A really good atmosphere to it, loads of clothing stalls and liberally sprinkled with places to eat plus stalls selling tasty snacks. If you need a thai massage there are a few of them too. Headed over the bridge to the riverside and stopped for a drink at the 'Calito coffee bar & restaurant for a drink and listen to good local band with a lovely sound. Nice and relaxing after a travelling day... Might treat myself to some catfish soup here tomorrow, which sounds nice. Between the bridge and the Calito is a floating thai massage centre... Something else for tomorrow I guess. Massages here are much cheaper than in the south. A 1hr massgae costing between 100 and 120 baht.
Sun 27th Jan - Lots to see today, so filled up on a good breakfast and off walkabout. Followed the Nan river to the 'Wat Phrasri Rattana Mahathat Vora-Maha-Vihara' complex, locally called 'Wat Yai' as many would die in the process of pronouncing the correct name. Part of the same road was host to the night bazaar, but is shut up this morning. Wat Yai is bustling with many things going on. The main temple houses a superb buddha image called 'Luang-Por-Yai' or by most thai people 'Phra Buddha Chinnaraj'. Its main feature is the flame casting surrounding the head. Here are also 'Makorns' either side, which are mythical sea creatures with trunks. I find it fascinating to just sit and watch pilgrims going about their rituals. Here, there are many types of ritual going on, from incense burning outside at many locations, to rituals involving the lotus flower. One ritual that you will see throughout Thailand (that I didn't see at all in Nepal or Indian buddhist temples because it's history is from China), worth noting is the fortune sticks......
28 numbered wooden sticks are held in a cylindrical container and the contained held between hands in prayer position. The container is shaken until one stick drops out. The number of the stick refers to a leaflet the pilgrim collects from a stand or wall mounted holder. The leaflet tells the pilgrim what fortune or bad luck will be coming their way. If more than one stick falls out, they can try again or just randomly pick one of the sticks. They don't have to do the shakers every time they visit, only when they want to check their fortune. The leaflets here are all in thai, so cannot understand what they are being told. Fortunately, later in the day, I had some good luck, as will detailed later.
Many things to do in the complex. Other temples, lots of beautiful orchids spread amongs the gardens, young students beating out a rhythm on some drums at a thai teak house out the back of the complex, a great market full of tasty dried fruit in many imaginative ways. Bought a nice thai/chinese style button fronted shirt. There was a lovely performance of thai classical dance going on which I sat and watched for a while. Some pretty young children in traditional costume in the caste that added a nice touch to it. I love traditional thai music as it makes you feel really mellow.
There is a tourist tram that does a circuit from the complex at regular intervals for 20 baht, but decided to pick up a Samlor (peddle cab) to head for the other end of town instead. Did you know that Thailand was the first country in Asia to use the tram....in 1887 during the reign of King Rama V. Well you do now! The horse-drawn tramway in Phitsanulok open in 1888. Unfortunately, the last one ceased in 1968 in Bangkok after they had all gone electric.
Onwards....as I said, got a Samlor to the Dr Thawee buddha casting foundry. Free entry.... Always a good thing for a traveller that! Here they caste buddhas from small to enormous using the 'Lost-wax' method. Basically, a sculptor hand makes a buddha image from hard wax, which they carve using simple tools that are warmed as necessary. The wax model is then covered in a few layers of cement/plaster type mix and when set, the wax is removed. Molten brass or bronze is then poured into the mould and the excess poured out, to leave a hollow image. This is the left to cool. Any imperfections are removed before final preparation. One method is to cover in black laquer and then gold leaf. If the image is large then the mould is taken to the site/temple where it is o be housed, and the casting and finishing done on site. For really large castings a pit is dug at the site and the mould lowered In the ground to make it easier to handle.
Next to the foundry is 'Garden birds of Thailand'. 50 Baht entry fee to pay towards buying bird food. Being one for the birds, I couldn't miss this. There are 946 types of birds found in Thai gardens and some of them are stunning (both the feathered and flesh type!). For the budding ornithologists out there... Some of the ones they have here are: 10 species of Hornbill, white-rumped Shama, Green broadbill, Green leafbird, Indian roller, Blossom-headed parakeet, Black-headed woodpecker, Flamebacks, Asian fairy bluebird. Plus many many more. I was allowed to play with one of the talking parakeets and feed it which was nice.
Across the road is 'Dr Thawee's folk museum' (50 Baht entry). Over the years he gathered many traditional artefacts from thai history, which he has turned into a really nicely presented museum set out in teak buildings.
Hungry now, so stopped at a street café for some thai pork noodle soup. Made the mistake of overdoing the chilli...Flamio! O buggerit my lips on firio! Reach for the iced water....sssss...that cooled em down a bit.
The temperature was rocketting now, and what better time to decide to go for a mammoth walk. Not good timing, but seemed like a good idea at the time. Wanted to get to the lower bridge crossing the Nan. Took a while but worth it (even popped into a guitar shop on the way to play for a bit). In the southern part of town, the river Nan used to be home to many houseboats. Most of these have since been moved elsewhere. Nowadays, there are still many old floating raft houses with some real characterful old faces going about their daily chores. Haven't seen a foreigner all day and get so many smiles from the locals and people coming up to me to say hello. Well worth the effort to get there.
Nice stroll back to town via the fresh veg market. Made a stop at a beautiful chinese buddhist temple. Remember me saying I had some luck later. Well, the curator of the temple was superb, and spoke enuff ingrish to ansa sum o mi kestons (say this with a chinese accent!). They also had the 28 fortune leaflets in thai, chinese and english! So now it all fits into place. For example.... Fortune number 1..... Wishes will soon be fulfilled, support received, plans accomplished. Better not rush. Family enjoyable, patient recovering. Lost persons will be found. Good lucks gradually approaching, discovering mate who could become a good match.
Many of the others seem to be a bit along the same lines. Maybe, like western horoscopes, they don't want to upset anyone by giving them really bad news! Patient recovering is an interesting statement. A few of them make statements about giving more donations to increase good luck! Always works that one.
The really nice curator then gave me a big bunch of bananas and loads of fresh water to take away. The chinese love their takeaways don't they!
Shower and change and off for that massage I promised myself yesterday. The floating thai massage centre was busy. For 120 baht got a great hour long traditional thai massage with the gentle sound of thai music in the background and nice surroundings. The guy who did it hit every nerve and pressure point and many I didn't know I had. As with previous thai massages, thai seems to be about pushing, pulling and basically flexing every muscle until you cringe. No pain no gain as they say. Nothing wrong with paying for someone to inflict pain on occasions!
Thoroughly relaxed and hungry, I moved on to the floating restaurant next door, meal accompanied by some nice chilled live acoustic guitar music from a talented young guy. Something I notice about live entertainment generally here - back in the UK, the audience applaud when a song is finished. Here hardly anyone responds. I do, and the artist usually nods or thanks for it. You sometimes get looks from people for appreciating the music. Odd that.
The river was alive tonight with flying fish. A few got it wrong and hit the side of the restaurant with an occasional thud. Good entertainment all round!
Off to the night bazaar again, so many beautiful girls around it's good for the soul, and then called it a night as tired after all that relaxing.
Mon 28th Jan - Moving on to Sukhothai today. About 60km north east of Phitsanulok and only connected by bus. Could have got a local bus from the city bus stand to the main bus terminal, but decided to take a more leisurely sãamláw instead. Bargained him down from 80 baht to 30 baht, the city bus would have only cost 8 baht, but this way is much more pleasant. The man in the seat was a really old chinese guy, complete with chinese hat, clothing, wispy long moustache and a real character. Kept chatting away in chinese and waving his hands a lot....couldn't understand what he was on about most of the time, but it made good entertainment anyway.
The bus terminal is well organised with may booths each clearly marked as to their destinations. The stands for the buses are also marked with desinations. 41 baht for an aircon bus, straight on and departed within 5 minutes of getting there. Thai music VCD playing during the journey. By the way, karaoke Video CDs are popular here. You can pick them up everywhere for 80 baht or less. If you have an mp3 CD player, you can get compilation CDs with up to 200 or so tracks of the latest music for 80 baht too. Good time to stock up.
A bit about Sukhothai.... A small town split into the old part (meuang kào), which has been made into a historical park (classified as a world heritage site), and the new. The old town is about 12km away from the new and linked by a bus and sãwngthãew. It was Thailand's first capital city in the days when it was called Siam. Sukhothai means 'Rising of happiness' - Isn't that a wonderful name. In its heyday of the 13th/14th centuries, It was considered to epitomise the classic thai style. One of their most important kings, Rankhamhaeng brought some major influences back from his visits to China, one of which was what became the thai alphabet, giving them the ability to write, something that must have caused a major advancement.
On the way there I had been deliberating about whether to stay in new or old Sukhothai. Got to the bus terminal and sat opposite where the bus sopped was an old sãwngthãew. Decision made! Jumped on it alog wih some old women back from their market shopping. 20 baht and go dropped off at the main park entrance. I had looked into options, so wanted the 'old city guest house'. Couldn't be easier to find and what a great choice. 150 baht for a room in an old rambling teak house. Straight out to hire a bike from around the corner for 20 baht a day. Walk in and they size you up in an instant. From entering to leaving with a bike can't have taken more then 1 minute! The weather was a bit hot, so taking it easy. 1 day is plenty to see the sights here, even though they are spread out. You can buy a combied ticket costing 150 baht covering all of the areas. To be honest, it is cheaper to pay separately as some areas are no more than tiny mounds of bricks, with not much else left. I got into those free anyway, as I said I had already paid enough and they said go in free anyway! I only paid 60 baht total for all sites! It started to rain late afternoon and that was a relief.
The main historical park is contained within a square cmpound. The main sights I thought worth seeing were 'Wat Mahathat' with is famous standing Buddha image and 'Wat sa-si'. Outside of the main site, 'Wat si Chum' is worth a visit as it contains another famous image which thay have clothed in a golden sash. Gold leaf is still present on the hands making it a striking sight. As you walk towards it, you can only see part of it through the gap between the two entrance posts, which then open out making it quite a dynamic approach.
