Thread: 2 days in Sukhothai

Oops, I've misplaced my camera, maybe it's in the truck. Be back in a moment with images & report.

Images currently uploading.

My brother-in-law invited me & my wife up to his mums place in Sukhothai, and not wanting to hurt his feelings, I accepted. However I forgot just how damn far it is Took about 500 km's to get there. As I had to return to BKK on business we went in two separate trucks, at different times as I was in the shower when they called round to get us. The route we took was by way of Bang Pa-in, Ayutthaya, China & Phitsanulok, basicall the same way we went to Chiang-Mai last year. As I recall I paid 60 baht in tollway charges for the outbound trip. The trip up there was boring & uneventful except for the gas stops, snack stops, drink stops & slash stops.

The place we were headed was Sisatchanalai, which was outside of Sukhothai city by some way. We arrived around 6pm, just in time for dinner.

The nice Thai house where we stayed. Upstairs was traditional Thai construction but they had converted the former cattle pen (downstairs) for guests.






Here is the shower room. You will note that I disconnected the hot water heater, as it was an accident waiting to happen.

Originally Posted by sabang

A very short and succinct TR.

Oh yeah of little faith.


Anyway after dinner there was a bit of drinking & we all went to bed, separate beds of course (except for me & the wife who traditionally sleep together). The next day it was decided that we go sightseeing, I said that I was too tired to drag my ass round historic sights and didn't want to drive. A kindly volunteer took it upon himself to take the wheel of my nice new truck & act as chauffeur(sp). They chucked raffia mats & drinks containes in the back of the truck and off we went.

First stop was,



The only thing I found worthy of imaging was the nearby river.



A green for the first person to tell us the name of the river. I haven't a clue.

The party of Thais accompanying me headed straight for the food shop & ordered som tam(sp), rice, water & cola. They were obvioulsy less keen on their history than I was.

Note to travellers. take a leak outside of the park cos inside it costs 3 baht. I'm sure there was also an entry fee but we didn't pay anything.


More to follow if anyone is remotely interested.

Next on the agenda was...



The reason they took me here was cos I complained that I wanted to eat a cheeseburger for lunch, and just opposite the park is a nice array of places selling farang food, at quite reasonable prices. I ended up eating scrambled egg with bacon & two slices of toast. The ppl. with me also took the opportunity to stuff their faces.

As I recall it costs about 50 baht to take your truck into the park & each person pays an additional 10 baht. farangs prolly have to pay more but I hide in the truck so as to avoid that well-played scene.

Travellers tips. If you don't have a car, then you can rent a bicycle outside the park, or you can walk or you can rent a tuk-tuk looking thing or you can go on a tram thingy. No idea what they cost, sorry!

I asked how old the stuff in the park was, some said 700 years & some said 1,000 years. However it doesn't look that old to me.




Just take a look at those buildings etc. they are all made of red brick. Now I think the English started using red brick around the 15th/16th centuries, which means the Thais were using it long before. The guide said they've undertaken lots of repairs, using red brick. Repairs my arse, I said, you've just rebuilt the place is all. I was having none of it & muttered that I wanted my money refunded, ... that just fell on deaf ears.

There were two German lesbians wandering round soaking up the history, sadly they hurried away when I started pointing my camera at them from behind one of the statues. I also seem to bump into German s on my field trips.

more to follow ...

""Now I think the English started using red brick around the 15th/16th centuries, which means the Thais were using it long before. The guide said they've undertaken lots of repairs, using red brick. Repairs my arse, I said, you've just rebuilt the place is all. I was having none of it & muttered that I wanted my money refunded, ... that just fell on deaf ears. Red brick has been used in Europe certainly since Roman times, the Auraelian walls around Rome and much of the remaing ancient Roman structures are made of red brick."

the firing of the bricks at 950-1100c was a major turning point going from adobe (sw us terminology) to brick.

1st firing of clay was in 3000bc in Mesopotamia .. (just googled it up.)

I wonder when the clay was 1st fired in Thailand?
are there any ruins in LOS pre-Sukhothai?
Oldest brick structures in LOS?
I doubt adobe was long term useful in Thailand as it dissolves in rain.

I actually worked on an adobe home in northern New Mexico in the 70s .. my friend made his own adobe bricks. The house is now almost 40 years old .. I haven't visited in 10 years but on my last visit it looked the same as the first day.
with a a shallow well (his drinking water is bottled), solar water heating, solar electric panels & a propane refrigerator he is off the grid. he can see the lights of Taos from his deck with no wires going to his house.

is the color of brick due to the clay?
I recently took down an old chimney at my US home (build in the 30s) so have been working with brick rubble as recently as yesterday .. many colors of brick

Originally Posted by Itchy

Just take a look at those buildings etc. they are all made of red brick. Now I think the English started using red brick around the 15th/16th centuries, which means the Thais were using it long before. The guide said they've undertaken lots of repairs, using red brick. Repairs my arse, I said, you've just rebuilt the place is all. I was having none of it & muttered that I wanted my money refunded, ... that just fell on deaf ears.

Red brick has been used in Europe certainly since Roman times, the Auraelian walls around Rome and much of the remaing ancient Roman structures are made of red brick.

In my home town in the UK there is a building that has red brick walls and foundations (dates back to pre 10th C).

If you don't like the manicured sites that Sukhothai has to offer you might prefare Srisatchanalai.

theres a very very old temple complex in ku keaw district, nr udon thani, that is very old, theres some stuff on the net somewhere with regards to dates and archaeology, and as we all know ban chiang is thought to be one of the oldest cities in the world Udon Thani, Thailand. google earth ref:17 10'39.55" n 103 09'13.42"e elevation 190m
amphoe ku kaeo