sukhothai, thailand

crying baby, sticky heat, uncomfy seat, and train loudness were all aboard the bangkok-phitsanulok night train with me. after very little sleep, I arrived phitsanulok at 5am, and took a bicycle tuk-tuk to the bus station to go to sukhothai.

sukhothai was the capital of the sukhothai kingdom during the 13th and 14th centuries (hello wikipedia) and the old city ruins are now a national park. 

I had read (and heard from a a friend) that the best way to see the ruins is to rent a bicycle and ride a round. so, I get off a the bus station and ask how to get to the park and say I need a bike. after a lot lf trying to understand eachother and failing, the bus station information man sent me to a guesthouse, where the lady just gave me a bicycle and a map. 

I thought, "ok I can ride 15km to the old town", not realizing that riding in sukhothai is not the same as riding in long beach.

I get my heavy city bike, repeating the instructions in my head, "turn left there, then at the intersection, turn right, then straight straight straight". 

I'm sure I did some ilegal turns at the intersection and the whole way was a combination of praying to the thai road gods for my safety, laughing in excitement, hating how heavy that bike was and being scared for my life. the whole 15km, which I calculated in miles as I rode and then hated myself a little, I just kept praying there were no bikes for rent near those park gates (and secretly wishing I had outsmarted everyone, for my own sake). 

I don't know why I didn't take a picture of this, but when I arrived to the park, extra sweaty and tired, there were hundreds (not exaggerating) of bikes parked at the gate. they were for rent at a third of the price that I had paid for mine, all looking at me like "oh, honey...". this is what happens when you just wing it (you get funny stories?). 

I rode around the park for most of the day, and it was peaceful and beautiful and humid (have I mentioned I've been sweating non-stop?), but mostly beautiful. here are some pictures: 

my day at the park ended with this last picture, followed by meeting new friends and speaking about traveling, in spanish, for about an hour. no, i didn't ride the 9 miles back, I was too tired. my new Argentinian friend offered to share a tuk-tuk beck to town with me, and we tied the bike to it. 

back in phitsanulok, after seeing the night market, having some glass noodles and getting lost a little bit, I took the train again. this time to chiang mai, and yes, there was a crying baby onboard. good times.