Insomnia plagued me for the first days of my trip while somehow allowing me to rise early. I'd wake up each morning at 5, 6, or 7 am without having to make an effort to do so. Maybe because of Lena's and Vinny's influence, maybe because of Thailand's magic, I've adjusted to a much more leisurely pace of life without worrying about starting my day as soon as possible to not "waste time." With two and a half months in Southeast Asia, it's a bit silly to be running around as if I had two weeks. So, I left Phitsanulok around one in the afternoon and arrived in Sukhothai an hour later. It was too late in the day for it to be worth the 150 baht tuk-tuk ride into the old city, so I lounged around, ate, and wrote until evening.
Despite the peaceful tropical garden feel of 4T guesthouse, New Sukhothai is unremarkable. The main street is ugly and I had little desire to explore the rest. I did, however, venture down the dusty, empty street to find a place that served Sukhothai-style noodles, a dish unique to the city that features rice noodles in a slightly sweet broth with pork, sliced green beans, pork balls (balls of ground pork...), and crushed peanuts. One of the best dishes I'd had in Thailand so far.
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| 4T Guesthouse |
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| Sukhothai noodles |
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| Wonderful New Sukhothai |
The following morning I stupidly headed out for the historical park in the rain, figuring drizzle wouldn't be enough to ruin the experience. Soon after accepting a tuk-tuk ride, I understood I'd been wrong. The tuk-tuk, if that's what it's called, was a reverse tuk-tuk, with the motorbike pushing that passenger cart from behind. I was exposed to the rain. The small raindrops came straight at me for the 20 or so minutes to the old city and accumulated on my skin and clothes until I was shivering. I spend 150 baht for a "big" Western breakfast in a cafe and waited four hours for the weather to clear up. It never did, so I just sucked it up and entered the park. A German guy was heading in the same direction and we wound up exploring the park together and had a few great conversations, like about our respective Big Brother governments monitoring our phone calls and internet search histories. The only thing was that he didn't care much for history, preferring to stroll by the ruins than to learn about their significance.
The day was not wasted though. In addition to my German companion of two hours, I spent time with a Bavarian and a Canadian and learned about their travels and lives. The young German woman I met on the sorng taa ou (truck taxi vehicle with two rows of seats facing each other). She worked marketing Monster energy drinks in German speaking countries: Germany, Switzerland, Austria. We went out to eat at the same restaurant I'd tried to Sukhothai-style noodles and spoke for hours. Heading out for lunch at the corner down the street from my hostel, I met a Serbian-Canadian, who I'd first guessed was Greek. Although she was easy to talk to and pleasant like the others, I found her enthusiasm to find "authentic" culture experiences and--I swear she used this word--"savage" people naive. She was rushing through Thailand, barely spending any time in each city and having at one point traveled thirty hours straight because there was nothing worth seeing compared to what she'd already seen. I couldn't help telling her that she would never find what she was looking for because she was a foreigner. You have to be born in or integrated into a society for years before locals interact with you like they interact with one other, and being a white girl, the latter still wouldn't accomplish much. I didn't say that last bit, but she still became defensive, referencing an experience in Cambodia where she crashed a wedding and had a heart-to-heart with the bride or something. I nodded and decided to push it no further. Maybe crashing weddings is a centuries-old Cambodian tradition.
I did eventually get to enjoy the park in good weather. Once again, I can't the beauty into words, so I'll let my photos speak for me:
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