Ayuthaya & Sukothai

First a bit of random interesting information about Thailand: In Thailand, Mondays are the day for everyone to wear a yellow shirt to show their love for the king. I was in Phitsanulok this Monday - and at least 40% of the people were wearing the exact same yellow polo shirt. It's actually almost a bit creepy to see. And while Monday is the official day for wearing the shirt, you see lots of people wearing them any day of the week. There are also a lot of giant posters of the King up everywhere you go. Apparently on Fridays you wear a blue shirt for the Queen, but I haven't noticed this so clearly she is not as popular.





I've spent the last couple days visiting Ayuthaya and Sukothai. Both of these are locations of old capitals of Thailand from the 13th & 14th centuries. In both places, there are many ruins of the temples from those times. In Ayuthaya - the present day city and the ancient city are in the same spot - so the ruins are scattered in among the current city shops and temples. In Sukothai, the current day city is about 20 mins away from the ruins of the old city, and so the ruins are situated in a very well maintained and beautifully serene park. From an overall perspective, Sukothai was more enjoyable but my two favorite Buddah statues are from Ayuthaya (in the photos with this post) I'm sure some people are a bit bored by seeing the old temples, as you are just looking at a pile of rocks in some cases. However, I found it great to imagine what the site would have looked like hundreds of years ago and imagine that people would have been walking down the same paths that I was on. I think in Canada in particular we lack in sites that are really 'old' and so I found that sense of being in a place with so much history really wonderful. In Aythaya in particular, there were many families coming to old Buddah statues among the ruins, and saying prayers and leaving offerings of flowers and incense. I imagine it must be really powerful to feel that sense of connection to your culture and your past, knowing your ancestors were coming to the same locations, saying the same prayers and making the same kinds of offerings. Or perhaps I'm just romantasizing .... :)

In both cities, I rented a bicycle to get around. I was a bit nervous about this in Ayuthaya since you have to ride on streets with cars, scooters and tuk tuks everywhere. However - it was actually better than riding at home in many ways. They actually are fully expecting all kinds of vehicles to be on the road and will happily just drive around you. You just have to learn not to try to be polite and yield to anyone (pedestrians included !) as it will be unexpected behaviour.

Thailand is definitely a very cheap place to travel. Yesterday I had a pretty expensive day since I had a bunch of buses & taxis to pay for and I spent a total of about $30CDN (Not including my hotel). Now, some of the hardcore backpackers take this to the extreme. One group I had met up with a couple times was heading to Chiang Mai a day ahead of me. They decided to call ahead of time to reserve a place because they were arriving late at night. In general if you are going to stay in these budget places, you should wait to actually see the place before booking because the quality can vary greatly. So - if it was me - to hedge my odds in favor of hoping to get a decent place, I would have gone for a slightly more expensive option. These guys proudly told me they found a place for 100 Baht a night including breakfast. 100 Baht is about $3.50 CDN !! Maybe it turned out OK for them, but I wouldn't have wanted to find out - my $250 Baht a night place in Ayuthaya was about as budget as I could handle - and I've opted for the much much pricer option here in Chiang Mai ($40 CDN/night) as just can't deal with not having my own shower with hot water (I'm supposed to be having fun !).

OK, I could write about a lot - but one last thing.. My stomach is more used to the food now and so I'm enjoying the food better. I had the most delicous BBQ chicken of my life from the vendor on the train the other day ! Two nights ago I ate at the night market in Phitsanulok. I saw people walking around eating little cups of corn kernels and finally came upon the stand selling it. There was a giant bowl of freshly steamed corn kernels - Yum !! I asked for some, and expected the woman was just going to put a scoopful into a cup for me. But first she put the corn in a bowl and added salt, something from a can that I think was condensed milk, butter and 3 teaspoons of sugar. She mixed it all up and then put it in a cup for me. There were some other optional toppings people were adding but I couldn't tell what any of them were so I passed. The corn was delicious - although a bit sweet from the sugar. I also had a hot dog wrapped in a waffle (very much like a corn dog) ! Not very Thai - but the Thai people were eating it up so I thought I'd try one. It tasted pretty much like you would expect :)

That's all for now !

Photos:
Photo 1 is of the park at Sukothai
Photo 2 is my favorite, very peaceful looking Buddah sitting outdoors
Photo 3 is a funny statue of an elephant giving an offering to Buddah. There is also a monkey giving a bannana, but you can only see his back in this photo