Its day 2 of our adventure and its been quite eventful so far. As the administrator of the blog, IT savviest person of the group and the only member of the group who possesses the means to upload the photos we took onto this blog, the heavy responsibility of presenting our adventures in a multimedia format thus falls upon my shoulders. i believe Chun Wee and Elgin will tell our story through prose so I’ll leave it to them to describe our story in detail. I’ll present it through photos.

 DAY 1 - GETTING THERE

Our flight was at 1100h. Nothing much to report here. Zihao came to send us off. Other than that, a really uneventful start to our holiday/trip/history lesson/shopping spree. We touched down at about 1330h (Singapore Time). Note: From now onwards, all times will be GMT +7 (Bangkok time).

We touched down at the new airport near Bangkok, the Suvar—–(can’tremember its name). It bloody far from the main part of Bangkok city. If memory serves me, its supposed to be part of the former Thai PM, Thaksin’s, centrepiece for his “Aeropolis”. The idea was to create a thriving city built around and to support a MEGA airport. We did see evidence of contruction while cabbing away from the airport but nothing spectacular. Mostly vast expanses of undeveloped land. I wonder whats gonna happen to the place now that Thaksin’s been deposed.

 To cut a long story short, we took a cab to Mo Chit Bus Terminal. With the help of helpful people, we got tickets for an 8 hour long bus ride to the northern province of Sukhothai - also the first capital of Thailand. We set off at 1600h (Thai time now) and arrived at 2300h. The shuttle bus that took me to camp was probably more comfortable than the bus. We had seats near the toilet so it reeked for a while.

You can’t really see it in this photo, but this was a self-taken shot of the three of us riding in the back of a pickup. You’re probably wondering: Why are those three clowns in the back of a pickup and smiling so happily in the wee hours of the night, when we should have been totally tired, confused and lost after an interminable 7 hour long bus ride that left us somewhere in the middle of a foreign town, far off from the bus terminal where we expected to have alighted at.

This is because, we met 2 extremely kind and helpful and benefactors. May they lead long lives and be blessed forever. If I in charge of issuing karma points, I would most certainly without a doubt issue them with enough points to ensure they live well for the next ten thousand years. Basically, they saw us poor lost souls, offered us a lift to the guest house at which we planned to stay and when we found out that it was full, fetched us around to various other guesthouses, all at 11pm+, a time when all deserve to be at home resting and enjoying the company of their family. I think Elgin and Chun Wee will say a bit more about them so I’ll just leave it to them to spread the word of their kind deeds.

DAY 2 - EXPLORING THE OLD CITY

We woke at 0800h. While we were preparing our stuff for the day and walking in and out of our little room, Elgin unknowingly let a cat into the room. It had sneaked into the main corridor when I opened the door to our little house and lurked around waiting for an opportunity to get into the room and enjoy the comforts of our bed. Anyway, Elgin picked it up with the blanket and we chased it out. We have not seen it since.

This is us posing for a group photo in front of one of the ruins of the ancient Thai capital of Sukhothai. Exploring the ruins was our first activity of the day. This involved MUCH walking. Some of the ruins were rather plain and uninteresting, while other more awe-inspiring figures and towering edifices commanded and demanded our attention, which we lavished upon them with our photographs. We walked several kilometres under a scorching sun to see most of the historical sites. Thanks to Elgin’s advice to be attired appropriately when viewing religious sites, we were all wearing trousers. Never again. Other than being dressed in something comfortable and appropriate for the prevailing weather, I would also advise would-be explorers of the Sukhothai old city to know how to ride a bicycle so that you can rent one and bike around. (only 20 baht for the day and you get to avoid our hours of untold suffering trekking in the sun) Fortunately, the entire area wasn’t too large. I estimate that we covered an area of about 4 square kilometres in all. But the weather, landscape and general sense of desolation reminded me Tekong.

Herds of cattle roam the area, leaving trails of excreta behind to mark their path.

The name of the wat(temple) where I took this photo eludes me. Indeed, the names of all the wats that we visited elude me. Anyway, this was really impressive. This particular figure was 15m tall and enclosed in an imposing looking shrine structure. Apparently, this shrine was where Sukhothai incription No. 1 was found. This stone tablet contained some of the earliest recorded histories of the Sukhothai civilisation and Thai culture.

More ruins… Impressive, you’d agree.

This is a close-up of a ruin. Most of the ruins are made of this particular material. Its known as “stucco” and is apparently made from limestone. Secondary school geography teaches us that deterioration of rock structures in situ is known as weathering. (Erosion is when the deterioration involves movement of the rock eg. in avalanches). The uneven distribution of the weathering is evidence that the material is actually a mixture of various types of sediments and minerals. They weather at different rates because of their different hardness/density/resistance, hence the uneven weathering. Heng Tang Tang be proud of me! I have not forgotten your teachings!

More pictures…

And more…

These were just a selection of the photos that we took. Very, very grand and magnificent. A very productive and enriching morning indeed. After lunch, we went to the nearby musuem to learn more about the history of Sukhothai and to look at more historical relics and artefacts.

This is Chun Wee and myself riding on a rickety open air bus. Elgin took the photo. A good number of buses ply the route between the bus terminal near the Sukhothai new town and the old city. I estimate that one leaves/comes by every 10 minutes. The fee per passenger is 20 baht, regardless of where one drops off. These buses do not only serve tourists wishing to travel from the bus terminal to the old city but also pick locals up. Anywhere along the route, anyone can flag down the bus, hop on and signal to the driver when they wish to be dropped off, paying 20 baht to the driver upon alighting. Bus stops do not exist. Its a remarkably efficient system.

We got off at the bus terminal, which was amazingly near our guesthouse (1 min walk) and went back to the room for a well-deserved rest before venturing out in the evening for dinner. This is our room(air-conditioned). As you can see, there are 2 beds side by side. The three of us sleep across the beds.

Ah, I forgot to format this photograph. This is our “house”. inside it are 2 rooms and 1 toilet. The three of us share 1 room, the other is unoccupied. So we effectively have the whole structure to ourselves for 2 days (400 baht per day). A very good deal. As you can see, when the curtains are drawn back, there is totally no privacy. Anyone can look in. And the guesthouse happens to be in the middle of a village. Opposite us are locals’ homes. Its a very open concept. The place is laid back and quite idyllic. Nice stuff.

 Thats all for my post. I understand that its a bit choppy and broken up. I hope Elgin and Chun Wee have filled in the blanks. Its been pretty fun so far, and Thailand has been kind to us. May it stay this way.

Both serendipitious and unforseen happenings seem to have graced our trip so far. Time and again our hides have been saved by the unsolicited help freely and kindly offered by many gracious people we met during our short travel in Thailand. Things have a way of sorting themselves out of any mess and often the best thing to do when we were at a loss about what to do is to just smile, look blur and in need of help.

Upon touching down at Suvarnabhumi Airport we were quickly confused by the signs and were struggling to find a way out of the airport and to Mo Chit Northern Bus Terminal. We asked questions and found out that taxi was the best way to the terminal. We hopped onto one and were on our way. The taxi driver, being the resourceful person that he is, began asking us about our travel plans and destinations. When we mentioned that we are going to Sukhothai, he made an offer of 4000 bahts to drive us to Sukhothai, which he subsequently reduced to 3600 baht after we expressed our lack of interest. A fee of 4000 bahts was to put it mildly, stopping just short of robbing us, since a first class bus ride there costs a mere 350 baht per person.

At that point of time I was pretty peeved and suspicious of the taxi driver for trying to exploit our seeming lack of experience and knowledge (”Bus leave 9 o’clock, taxi travel fast, cheap!”), but his actions after we reached Mo Chit Bus Terminal made me look at him in a different light. Immediately after reaching the terminal, his first reaction was not to get us to pay him money. Rather, he went out of his taxi and strode over to the bus ticketing counter for the Bangkok-Sukhothai route to enquire on our behalf the price of tickets to Sukhothai. He told us the price and aided us in the purchase of tickets, and warned us about drivers who cheat tourists of money.

His actions would seem rather paradoxical, since he seemed to have swayed from being exploitative to being a really kind man, and this incident to me set the tone for our trip and the prevailing nature of our experience so far. Shit happens but good things happens too, and both things happen when you least expect them to happen. We are often the benefactors of unsolicited, random acts of kindness by locals, and when things don’t go well, somehow they straighten themselves out after a while.

One really special person was this lady and her husband who offered to take us all over Sukhothai town looking for a guesthouse to stay in after we reached Sukhothai New Town at the decidedly ungodly hour of 2300 on Wednesday night. The streets were totally empty by then when the bus driver stopped along a row of anonymous shophouses, went out of the bus, took our luggage out of the bus and said “Sukhothai” to us before driving off. We were lost, because we had no idea where we were at that time since we planned to arrive at the bus terminal and the bus driver have taken the liberty to leave us just before the Sukhothai bus terminal (there, another random bad event, ha!).

We enquired about the location of nearest accomodations at the 7-Eleven we saw, but we were only provided with vague directions. Just when we wanted to try our luck and walk in the opposite direction of the bus route, a Thai lady asked us in broken English where we wanted to go. We told her we wanted to get to Ban Thai guesthouse and she asked for the map in our guidebooks. She studied the map and I was thinking that she would give us directions to the guesthouse. Instead, she beckoned us to hop onto the back of her pickup. That was the point where we felt that we need not be resigned to sleeping on the streets for that night.

As you might have guessed, shit happened and Ban Thai was fully occupied when we reached there. We were so happy and ready to stgay there that immediately after reaching we took our luggage out of the pickup and bade farewell to our kind benefactors in our own mangled Thai version of “thank you”. At that point of time we were fully prepared to just say thank you to the kind couple and roam the streets in search of accomodation. Instead of just leaving us there, the Thai couple asked for the map and asked us where we want to go looking for guesthouses next.

As you might have guessed again, we were unable to find accomodation at the other places recommended by the guidebook. I told the lady that they should just leave us at a hotel nearby where we are almost guaranteed of a place, but she instead insisted that it was too expensive for us to be staying at the hotel and started thrashing out options with her husband regarding possible places to go look for accomodation for us. Her husband recommended Phuaroon Guesthouse (We have never heard of it, since its not listed in the guidebook) and we went there immediately after.

The place was totally dark by then and when we knocked at the gates of the guesthouse, there was no response. Once again our hearts sank to the ground but miraculously, the lady’s husband whipped out his handphone and started dialling a number. We heard a phone ring from a room somewhere in the guesthouse and a lady in her 50s emerged from the house. The couple started conversing in Thai with the operateor of the guesthouse and soon after that we were inspecting a room at the guesthouse for serviceability. The kind lady repeated told us in hier broken Chinese that it was okay if we find it to be unsatisfactory or too expensive as she will help us find another one.

We did not reject the offer since the room was in immaculate condition and the price was reasonable. On top of that the guesthouse had a back door entrance to the bus terminal (this was something we discovered the next day). The Thai lady was happy that we manage find accomodation and instead of leaving us as we are, she gave us her home phone number to call just in case we needed anymore help. We thanked the Thai lady profusely for her efforts in helping us, before she disappeared into the night in her pickup with her husband.

Serendipitious? I would have to say yes. And this has reinforced my belief that good things do happen and bad things do not last long. I would have to say that it is such experiences that makes backpacking worthwhile and memorable.

Day 2 of the trip and we’re all settled in Sukhothai. Today we explored the old city, once capital of the eponymous empire. The modern town is small and rural, but that this was once a great city is very much in evidence from the ruins we saw. Pictures will go up when it is more convenient.

Day 2 has been rather sedate compared to Day 1; we nearly ended up sleeping on the streets and were only saved by a couple of extraordinarily kind locals. The full tale, perhaps, will come when we have more time.

This is just to let you all know that we’re safe and having a ball of a time in Thailand. Hope everyone is fine at home too.

Well, I’m typing this at the airport… we’re leaving at last. Wish us all the best on our trip, and see you lot in a week with hopefully a suitably enthralling account of our travels.

Till then.

Misfortune seems to have plagued this trip even before it even happened. First it was the coup in Thailand, then the floods, Zihao going for an operation and now part of Chatuchack burned down. Hopefully nothing else significant happens during the trip.

Seems a rather gloomy opening paragraph, but trust me I am in pretty high spirits looking forward to the trip. Everything is packed properly and I have a long shopping list. If any of you guys reading this blog wants me to get anything, just email me; I will try to read my email at least once daily.

Speaking of packing stuff, I have brought a minimum amount of personal items along. One long pants, one shorts, three shirts and a pile of disposable underwear., on top of the essentials like toiletries and of course, a good book. Its Orhan Pamuk’s My Name Is Rose. Plan to read it on the plane trip and the bus trip to Sukhothai and back. If there’s not enough clothes, I will just buy and wear as we move along. cw is doing the same too, don’t know about roger though.

Tomorrow would be pretty exciting, primarily because we have absolutely no idea when the bus for Sukhothai departs from Bangkok tomorrow, and hence we have no idea when we will get to Sukhothai from Bangkok tomorrow. Oh, there is also the little problem of not having a hotel room booked at Sukhothai for our stay. That is because all the guesthouse we contacted don’t check their emails, and they have no website. We might have to spend the night in the ditches. haha. ha.

Keep your fingers crossed, eyes opened and hopes up guys.

This trip is gonna be fun.