Chinawat Hotel Sukhothai

... and they really did make us feel at home. The food was delicious, their knowledge was priceless, and not to mention they introduced us to Channel 7 in Thailand, which has some bizarre Thai Soap's on it. Emma is now hooked.

11th September
Just in case you are wondering why the town is called New Sukhothai, the old town is home to the famous ruins, which we would explore the next day. To get there we woke up at 6am for breakfast and then headed into town to ...

... of gold and grandeur into one big lake of gaudiness. The simple answer, the reason, if I was being truthful with myself, that I wanted to visit Myanmar was to impress.
In reality it was to gain bragging rights to a country so few ever visit, and to impress whom?????

LESSON 2 # The only person you ever need to impress is yourself - and a white sand beach, lapped by turquoise blue waters impresses me a lot.

It was time to start heading South...

... several bouts of gentle rain. Of course the rain is warm and acts as a freshener to the general atmosphere. Somehow, however, the rain also seemed to bring the whole area into focus; the temples standing within their pools and lakes, the lush green trees, the bushes and the rice fields all around seemed to make more sense in the rain. As we walked along under our umbrellas, the rain seemed totally right, the missing component from all our earlier walks.

Later ...

... a rabbi etc...

I sat on a rock in the shade of a tree and looked at the ruins from a slight distance. A benefit to travelling in low season is that many of these places are nearly empty. There were just a few people around and all I heard was the sound of the birds chirping and the breeze rustling the leaves on the trees. I thought it would be a great opportunity to meditate, I've been seriously slacking in the respect. I looked down at my ...

... in Laos. Please forgive me for telling your age. I hope that when I am 85 years old, I will be trekking with elephants and still able to ride them just like you! Katherine is quick to point out that she has not created BLES alone. The generosity of many people, make BLES. The Elephants Umbrella Fund has been a great help to BLES. Anon and many other friends of the elephants have donated the money, time, labor, and ideas that have turned Katherine's vision into a paradise ...

... of equal in importance to Angkor Wat, and to see a glimpse of Thai life in the countryside away from the large cities and towns and crowds of people and other tourists. This visit was definitely off the beaten tourist track and has my highest recommendation! The lodging choices here are to stay just outside of the Historical Park in a hotel or guesthouse, or in a hotel or guesthouse in "New Sukhothai" as the actual town is known. New Sukhothai is 7 kilometers ...

... on behind the guest house, they are playing a techno version of Que Sera Sera, Doris would be horrified. We're going to the night market to eat tonight. One of the nice things about getting into a place where there are tourists is that it's much easier to get the food you want. Most places have photos of the dishes they do, so you just point and wait, otherwise, it's a little bit hit and miss. The really nice ...

... like how he is depicted in most of these statues. This matters not, as the image only acts as a reminder and symbol of his teachings. The architecture and precision in which these statues and temples were constructed is amazing. Projection of belief, politics, religion, etc through architecture was very important in ancient times. We don't see a lot of that anymore which is both a good and a bad thing. Good because we aren't subjected to the ...

... Our favorite of the Sukhothai temples was Wat Si Chum. This temple has a giant Buddha built into a tiny little space. The style of the whole thing is unlike a lot of the others, which might help to explain why we both liked it so much. By the end of the second day, I think even Tony, an avid temple and ruin enthusiast, was starting to get a little tired.

... ago.

I must admit that I'd never heard of Sukhothai before, but Katie had found it in the guidebook & it sounded interesting.

We weren't quite sure what to expect, but we were really looking forward to hiring some bikes and getting some much needed exercise!

After the usual haggling we secured some bikes ...