Cycling Sukhothai
Phitsanulok,
Thailand
Thursday, October 31, 2002
I rode back to the main road and stepped into the aircon comfort of 7-11 and bought myself a cool drink. I downed it pretty quickly and then with some more time to kill before my 4:10 bus back to Phitsanulok I stopped at the Ramkhamhaeng National Museum where I stupidly bought a 30B ticket even though my 150B historical park ticket included the museum admission.
The museum was being renovated so there were lots of exhibits closed or moving around the museum. There were a few interesting artefacts, but mostly Buddhas. After skirting around the museum I headed back to my bike and returned it to the hire shop. I sat at a plastic table waiting for my bus and the shop owner alerted me to when the bus was leaving and I jumped on as the bus barely stopped for me to do anything but swing off the step. On the ride back to Phitsanulok I contemplated the sunburn I'd gotten during my ride.
On my walk from the bus stop back to the guesthouse, I ran into a large group of people doing aerobics along the riverfront. I was almost tempted to join in, and walked past with a bemused smile on my face.
At the guesthouse I met up with Simone and Ylongka who had had a pretty boring day in Phitsanulok and were wishing that they had come with me to Sukhothai. I had a shower and washed the day's grime and sweat off. We then went for dinner across the road where Simone and Ylongka had sussed out the aircon. This was my only genuine Thai meal of the trip. For 30B we had our choice of dishes served with rice and a big bottle of water to share between us. The old man that ran the restaurant came over and spoke to us. He had excellent English and said that he had taught himself and practised with patrons in his restaurant. He was a very cute old man - quite a lot taller than other Thai men I'd seen, with white hair and age spots like freckles on his cheeks. He wore a warm and genuine smile.
After dinner Simone was feeling a gurgle in her stomach so I suggested that she use my bathroom while Ylongka and I sat on the couch talking in the `lobby' area on our floor. I packed up my bags and headed to reception with my key. Simone and Ylongka had left their packs at reception when they checked out earlier in the morning. We asked the guy at reception to take a photo of us all ready to leave.
We walked to the train station which was only about 500m away and checked the platforms that we would leave from, which was the same o;ie, cuuuut 40 minutes apart. There were lots of other travellers waiting to depart. Most people around us were backpackers too, although further down the platform was a group of soldiers decked out in their camouflage gear, duffel bags slung over their shoulders. To get to our platform, which was in the middle, we crossed the tracks directly. An asphalt path had been laid down and we crossed there.
While we were waiting, Simone was complaining in German about a hole in the seat of her pants. I asked if she was talking about the hole in her arse and she looked at me, surprised that I knew what they were talking about (it wasn't hard as they were pointing and feeling her pants). They then said a phrase to me in German and translated it. Ylongka scribbled it on a piece of paper for me. Magst du meinen arsch nicht. Don't you like looking at my arse? Their train to Chiang Mai arrived and they were gone.
My train was not far behind the train to Chiang Mai (as it had been delayed). I had to walk to the far end of the platform to get into my correct carriage. As it was almost 10:30pm the beds were already pulled down and I put my pack up onto my bunk and followed it, with one last glance at a Thai couple who were still sitting and drinking.
