From Chiang Mai to Sukhothai!

We took the bus from Chiang Mai to Sukhothai, this time a day bus since the schedule was more convenient. This was a relaxed trip (thank God we have some too!) and we got to Sukhothai around 7-8pm. At this point our “flight attendant” starts asking each passenger at which stop they wanted to get off the bus.

After showing her the name of our guesthouse, the lady kindly told us to leave at the “Old City”, which was the following stop, so we quickly gathered our things and left the bus along with several other passengers.

After getting off the bus and looking around us a bit, all we could see were a couple of restaurants, one of which with 2 westerners having dinner, so we asked them if they happened to know where our guesthouse was. They appeared as if they were in Sukhothai for a while now, but they had never heard of TR guesthouse. Well, ok, they weren’t locals. We then asked them where we could get a tuk-tuk or taxi and they replied saying it wasn’t easy getting one there, we would have to wait a while or start walking towards the center…

Ok, where the hell were we then? Usually, after 1month and a half travelling, everytime we get off a bus, train, airplane or a bamboo raft there are several local drivers fighting one another to catch us travellers, so we thought it was a bit strange.

After a while we spotted a tuk-tuk and we had to bargain down from 300 to 150 baht, still a lot of money, but we accepted since we were 3 people, due to meeting a french woman travelling for a year and a halp, that was also wronged by the “flight attendant” and was staying at our guesthouse too.

During the trip we realised we were almost 15 km away from the guesthouse, therefore we knew for sure the “flight attendant” didn’t have a clue of where our guesthouse was when we asked her. In any case the bargained 150 baht seemed a more reasonable price then, so we were happy! =)

In the middle of the trip, Sara started to feel unwell and when we got to the guesthouse and checked-in, we took our stuff to the room and that was when the epic 3 day constant journey to the Seven Eleven store nextdoor started. Sara either caught Diogo’s gastro or she picked up a new bug. In any case, 3 days of indoor recovery and she was as good as new!

In the last day and with both of us feeling ok, we finally got out of the guesthouse to visit the old city of Sukhothai, the first city/capital of what is today Thailand!

We got a tuk-tuk driver that was harassing Diogo everyday, everytime he would go to Seven Eleven for a fresh supply of  food, that finally landed his customer on our last day there. Standard price 150 baht, they all ask for the same for the Old City. We thought about renting a bike/scooter but given the circumstances this time we passed.

The driver was a real character that spent the whole trip trying to convince us of his special price of 450 baht for which he would take us and bring us back, plus take us to all the good places inside the old city with the tuk-tuk, so we would not have to walk or ride the bike (the old city is huge inside). He played his part of course, constantly saying “up to you, up to you” has if he didn’t care if we hired him or not, almost as in a Seinfeld “It’s not you, it’s me” kind of way. Not bad, but not enough! Our initial plan was to rent a bike inside the old city for 30 baht each and that’s what we did! =) Here is a small sample of the funny driver:

So, why visit Sukhothai? At the beginning of the 12th century (ok, we just lost half our readers), a people from Yunan province in China, moved to the northern regions of the Khmer empire. They were know as the “Thai”, that means “free men” and they organised themselves in small comunities. They obtained their independence from the empire and through several of their kings they expanded their territory and region of influence beyond Sukhothai into areas which are nowadays a part of Thailand territory. Although this capital was short-lived, since it was surpassed by Ayutthaya a few years later, this period was crucial to determine the basis of what would become Thailand. The city was built with an extensive canal network inside and on the outside (in a square like Chiang Mai) to help manage excess water during monsoons. Inside the city you can find several temples and statues paying homage to the Buddha. Enough of words.

After the visit, we had a quick lunch and then our funny driver took us back to TR Guesthouse to get our backpacks and take us to the bus station, where we would depart to our next fun destination: land of lady boys, crazy driving, street food heaven, Bangkok here we go!

So keep tuned for our next episode, cause we will do so too!