Sukhothai Hotel

... not looked where they were walking. Funny!<br> <br>We did feel quite jaded early on and a little templed out. So we focused more on having a bike ride and left the park at around 1pm to catch the bus back to Sukhothai. As it turned out, we ended up sitting by the roadside until 3:30pm waiting for a bus. We didn't arrive back to our guesthouse until around 5pm, so we spent the remainder of our night having dinner and watching tv, as tomorrow we would be on the move again.<br>

... and walking past would be to rob oneself of the magic of this place.<br>The aptly named Big Buddha looked down from high above with knowing eyes. Humbling. He is reputed to have spoken to members of the Thai army in days gone by, giving them encourage and inspiration in their forthcoming fighting. He certainly has presence. Make your mind up about that one though.<br>Cycling ...

... s recommendation to stay at the Ban Thai guest house. (bad choice).<br><br>It was the first capital of Siam (Thialand). It was established in the 13th. century and its' dynasty lasted 22 yrs. and had 9 kings. King Ramkhamhaeng was the most famous and reigned from 1275-1317 and he developed the first Thia script. He also expanded the kingdom to enclose almost all of present-day Thailand.<br>

Boon Lott's Elephant Sanctuary (BLES) I had heard about a very unusual elephant preserve that intrigued me. Boon Lott's Elephant Sanctuary is definitely well "off the beaten track." My 3 day stay at BLES was one of the highlights of my two month trip to Thailand and Vietnam. Yes, we know that I am already a fan of Thai Elephants, and that I am drawn to spend more time with these grand, intelligent, and social mammals. Anyone who loves the outdoors and is interested in relaxing ...

... up a hill on a shale pathway. We bought water from the guy selling it and headed up the pathway. Im thought I was in decent shape but had to stop a couple of times. I think my banana shake at lunch was catching up with me. Finally made it to the top and on the way down I got extremely sick. This wasn't turning out good. Luckily the ride back was slightly less uphill and the wind helped to settle my heaving stomach. . Our final Wat was the supposed to be the talking ...

... His travelling buddy had been struck down with some kind of gastro thing, bad enough to see him hospitalised, and, a train they were on in the south of the country was derailed. Like we said, something to tell the grandchildren. It was very nice to while away the best part of an hour chatting to someone who spoke our language and who had a sense of humour. On our return we went back to the same place we ate yesterday ...

... the 7/11. Thailand is full of 7/11s by the way. A sawngthaew is a small truck with two rows of seats in the back where the passengers sit. It works like a bus. When I got dropped off at the ruins, I rented a bike for 30B. Sukhothai was the original capital of the Thai kingdom from 1257-1379. Now only the ruins remain but they are better preserved and less urban that the other ancient capital, Ayutthaya. Entrance to the historical park was 100B ...

... Leute hier. Einige Tempel sehen aus wie die in Karate Tiger 3, Pavi koennte das bestimmt bestaetigen!! Auf jeden Fall hatten wir hier einen sehr entspannten Tag, man konnte die meisten Tempel zu Fuss erreichen und man wurde nicht staendig von irgendwelchen fliegenden Haendlern angefallen. Morgen werden wir uns dann mal wieder aufmachen und noch weiter Richung Norden nach Chiang Mai fahren, wo es mit Sicherheit nicht ganz so entspannt ist.

... visited again last night, told me it will take 3-4 more days to heal, so I figured this was certainly worth 5 baht (about 15 cents).<br><br>After about an hour of eating and "healing" we finally went out for the promised tour. Many of the things he explained to us we did not understand. Many other things contradicted what the Lonely Planet guide said. Nevertheless, it was very entertaining, not to mention that Sabrina and I were the envy of all the other ...

... the rain. <br><br>We did get the odd little spell of spitting rain, but I guess it could be worse as we're currently in the middle of monsoon season here and the evening news is always full of graphic footage of floods and general chaos in other parts of the country. <br><br>I'm sure they'd love to have had the "terrible floods ...