Sukhothai

Hi, everyone!
Last weekend Grandma and Grandpa and my Thai friends took me to visit Sukhothai. Sukhothai was the first capital of Thailand, before Ayutthaya or Thonburi or Bangkok. The Thai kings built Sukhothai about 800 years ago! There are lots of stone and brick ruins, but most of the walls and all the roofs are gone. We visited three historical parks that are World Heritage sites.
Sukhothai is in the north central part of Thailand, so it was a long drive to get there. My Thai friends hired a van and driver for the weekend, and I got my very own seat by a window!
On our way north, we stopped at a temple in Singburi. Sing is the Thai word for Lion, so that was a special place for me! We saw the reclining Buddha that is as long as a building. The temple also had a display of really old pottery from the area and some from China. It was very pretty! And I got to make a lion friend, too!

When King Ram Kamhaeng the Great was ruler of Sukhothai, there were a lot of other cities nearby that were also in his kingdom. Most of them are abandoned now, and all that is left are the city walls and parts of some of the temples. After we left Singburi, we visited the World Heritage site at Kamphaeng Phet, one of those cities. We visited the ruins of six temples. I saw lots of Buddha images in standing and sitting poses, and I made some more elephant and lion friends. Then we went to a nice hotel with antique furniture and an art gallery in Sukhothai to spend the night.

The next day, we visited two more World Heritage sites. It was very hot and sunny on our trip, so I made sure Grandma and Grandpa had their hats available! In the morning, we visited Si Satchanalai Historical Park. This is a really big park with over 250 ruins. I was very glad to be able to ride in the van, rather than walking between the temples! There were more elephants all around the walls of one temple, and another temple had seven rows of chedis (memorial towers) around it. Another temple still had a wall with part of the original decorations on it. The local goldsmiths still make jewelry with those designs!

At lunchtime, we visited the Gold Textile museum and saw some very old cloth woven with the local patterns. Some of the fabric had gold thread in it! I got to see a local weaver at work, and there was a display of old farm equipment. Turns out Grandpa was right when he guessed the wooden mill we saw at the Siam Cultural Park was a rice hulling machine! We had a yummy lunch of Sukhothai noodles down the street at the Ancient Sukhothai Noodle shop.

After lunch, we drove back to Sukhothai Historial Park — our third World Heritage site in two days! There are lots of temple ruins here, too! Somebody put gold leaf on the fingernails of one of the Buddha images at the Grand Temple! I was beginning to get tired, so I took a nap while my Thai friends rested. I saw some of the special trees with lots of nooks in the trunk. When somebody has something religious, like a Buddha image, that they don’t want anymore, they can leave it in that kind of tree. The last temple we visited had a secret passage inside the walls! King Ram Kamhaeng the Great invented the Thai alphabet and left a written message about Sukhothai carved on a stone in the passage.

The next morning it was time to head back to Bangkok. We had a yummy breakfast on the hotel porch, then we visited two museums. The first one was right next to the hotel, and it displayed lots of pottery from the local area. I made another lion friend there. The plumeria are just starting to bloom, and they remind me of Hawaii at this time of year. At the second museum, I saw a model of the kind of kiln (oven) where the local pottery was made, and I made another elephant friend.

My Thai friends wanted to make sure I saw the Buddha image at Wat Yai, in Phitsanulok. There was a fair going on, and it was as crowded as Yaowarat Road on Chinese New Year! First, we had lunch at a noodle restaurant by the river. Everybody took off their shoes, sat on the floor and let their feet hang over the edge! The noodles were yummy here, too! Then we walked through the temple grounds. I saw lots of animal statues and there were all sorts of stalls selling food and clothing. Finally, we went into the temple to see the Buddha, which is two stories tall. My Thai friends say this is the most beautiful Buddha image in all of Thailand.

It was a long drive back to Bangkok, but there was one more surprise. The van driver suggested we eat at a restaurant that would be easy to reach without driving in too much traffic. That turned out to be Grandma’s favorite restaurant in Bangkok, the one on the river just below the Rama VIII bridge! That was the perfect end for our weekend trip!

The next day, Grandma gave an all day workshop. My Chinese New Year and karaoke friend, Dr. Shusee, invited Grandma and Grandpa to join her for a dinner cruise after the workshop, and she invited me to come along, too! There was a nice cool breeze on the river, and we enjoyed cruising past the historic buildings that are lit up at night. I got a chance to see Grandma’s favorite restaurant from the river and to cruise under the Rama VIII bridge.

After such a busy weekend and a late night cruise, Grandma says I need to catch up on my sleep! I’m taking lots of naps so I’ll be ready for more adventures next weekend!
Love,
Lion-san