After relaxing among beautiful mountains, waterfalls and caves in the green and quiet
Pai (
https://www.marsontheroad.com/en/destinazioni/60/pai-backpackers-paradise), it's time to start our trip towards
Bangkok.
First stop:
Sukhothai.
Sukhothaiis a small town (35,713 inhabitants) in
northern Thailand. It was the capital of the homonymous province during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and it has become a popular destination thanks to the ruins of the
ancient city of Sukhothai. In fact, its name means
"the dawn of happiness".The modern city was founded around the end of the eighteenth century by
King Rama I, after the devastation suffered by the ancient one during the
Burmese invasions that caused the destruction of the
Kingdom of Ayutthaya.
The historical park is now managed by the
Department of Fine Arts of Thailand under the supervision of
UNESCO which in
1991 declared it a
World Heritage Site. Nowadays it is visited by thousands of tourists every year.
Sukhothai is divided into the old city and the new city. We recommend staying in the new one where most of the hotels are located. We choose to stay at
Happy Guesthouse 2: a double room for THB 200 - about € 6.
In the morning we take a shared taxi, on the main road opposite the
Seven eleven, for 30 THB. After about half an hour, we arrive in the
historical park of Sukhothai where we rent a bike for 30 THB and so we start to visit the park.
The park entrance is 100 Bath plus 10 Bath for the bike.
The whole park is enclosed in a rectangle and is surrounded by 3 circles of walls that served as protection for the
Burmese and
Khmer invasions.
Ancient Sukhothai was built around the main temple of
Wat Mahathat. The relics of the
Lord Buddha are believed to have been placed in this temple.
We continue to ride among the other remains:
Ta Pha daeng Shrine,
Wat Si Sawat,
Wat Sa Si,
Wat Saphan Hin and
Saritphong.
In the east, outside the walls, is
Wat Tra Phang Thong Lang. To the north:
Wat Phra Phai Luang,
Wat Si Chum, Tao Thu Riang. To the south:
Wat Chetuphon.
We decide to visit only the main historical park, the one inside the walls. Indeed, the entrance to each area is 100 Bath plus 10 Bath for the bike. Otherwise, there is a pass that encloses all areas at a cost of 350 Bath.
If you want to visit all the ruins, we recommend going early in the morning. We take around 3 hours to visit the park. It's really nice to cycle in the middle of ruins and vegetation, far from the traffic jam. In addition, the bike creates the perfect breeze that gives us a little breath from the heat.
If you want to discover remains of temples also in Ayutthaya read the following article: