The Buddha Factory and Peanut Milkshakes
Phitsanulok -> Sukhothai, 8th to 9th 2002
I only spent the morning in Phitsanulok, and I intended to check out
the Folklore museum. All the guide books give it rave reviews, but
of course, it was shut on Mondays, so that idea went out the window.
I spent a few moments walking around the Buddha Foundry where
tourists are welcome to watch the process of Buddha images being
made. It was quite interesting to see the various stages of
production, but I think you need to be with a tour group to get more
out of it.
At about midday, I jumped on a bus to the nearby town of Sukhothai.
Sukhothai is famous for one main thing, the collection of impressive
ruins in Old Sukhothai National Park.
Hiring out a bike, I toured around the sprawling collection of ruins
for the morning of the next day. The central zone has some carefully
restored temples and huge Buddha images. It's quite inspiring to
cycle slowly around, taking in the sheer scale and planning that
went into building this place. The ruins spread out for many
kilometres, becoming fewer & further between. The central zone, the
main target for tour groups, is carefully trimmed & tidied and kept
well ordered (perhaps a little too much so). But the outer zones
have been left a bit more to nature. Moss and bushes grow over and
around the temples, and herds of cows nonchalantly chew the grass.
While in Sukhothai, I stayed in an amazing little guesthouse called
'No 4 Guesthouse'. It's actually a collection of rustic, wooden
bungalows on stilts, gathered around a little eating area. It's got
a really laid back, peaceful, Thai countryside atmosphere. It's a
great place just to relax, read and chat with other travellers. They
do a top banana & peanut milkshake too!
The only other thing of interest I did in Sukhothai was visit the
outdoor swimming pool a few times. At only 20B (30p) to get in, it
was a perfect way to get some exercise and escape the stifling heat.
One thing that is getting a little annoying though, is that I'm
getting almost constantly stared at. Don't get me wrong, I like
attention, but I don't know WHY they're staring, and they can't
explain because they speak Thai! I guess it's because I'm a farang,
but they're not that uncommon around here, so why stare so much' I
did manage to impress a few locals by speaking a bit of Thai to
them, when they shouted to me in English!
Tomorrow I'm off to Chiang Mai, my last stop on this visit to
Thailand, before I head off to Lao. And I've just realised that the
Thai New Year festival, Songkran, starts in a couple of days. It's
possibly the biggest event on the Thai calendar, but more about that
later...
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