I finally left Chang Mai, and this started a very hectic day of travel that involved just about every source of forward motion except planes, elephants, and riding on a mangy dog. My destination was Phitsanoluk, and it is know for three things. It is known as being the gateway to the ancient city of Sukothai, beer drinking, and having a long goofy name. Phitsanoluk is pronounced like pit san o look. In Thai the ph if like a hard p and not like an f sound in our language. Sukothai is an ancient capital city of Thailand dating from the 1300s, and was my reason for being in the goofily named city.
I arrived in Phitsanoluk at 6am and got 1 hour of sleep on the train. I was sitting in 2nd class seats because the sleepers were full. I have never been in a more uncomfortable seat in my life. Plus they kept the bright florescent lights on all night. Anyways, I disembarked at the Phitsanoluk station and walked to the London hotel. I was met by an elderly gentleman who said “welcome to the London hotel.” I asked how much and he said 100 baht. This is $2.50. This is the first hotel I have ever stayed in that was $2.50.
When the elderly gentleman said welcome to the London Hotel, he might as well as said welcome to the shit-hole, but for $2.50 I guess you can’t expect much. The rooms are dingy with mosquitoes flying around. I then went to take a shower and there was only one valve. Please let this be the hot valve, but for $2.50 I guess it was silly to expect hot water. I danced in and out of the cold water splashing it on myself and got out rather quickly. What cracked me up about the place was the name. How could the dingiest little hotel in Phitsanoluk be named after one of the greatest cities in the world? I would have hated to see the Paris or New York hotel. I wonder how many homesick British travelers arrived at this hotel expecting a nice hotel only to be disappointed with this crap hole.
I was hoping to hit the Sukothai ruins right away, but I did not think it would be such a good idea to see on sleep deprivation, so I took a nap. I woke up around 10am and headed out. I have no map of Phitsanoluk, so I took a cab to the bus station. From the bus station I took a bus from Phitsanoluk to Sukothai. The town of Sukothai is actually the new city and to get to the ruins you have to take another bus. I was not sure where the bus was, so I took a tuk-tuk to the ancient city. I asked the tuk-tuk driver if there was something to eat at the ancient city and he assured me there was.
I arrived at the ancient ruins and he pointed to a restaurant and I sat down for some soup. The menu said beef soup, chicken soup, meatball soup, and a couple other derivations of soup, and I settled on some beef soup. I actually love this soup. It is served with noodles, cilantro, sprouts, and your choice of meat. Then I threw some peppers and chilies on it and made it spicy. It is very tasty and actually quite filling. You cannot beat the price for 50 cents.
I told the man “aroi mok krap,” which means very good thank you. I am getting proficient at a few Thai phrases. The word krap means thank you and they are such a polite people that they throw this word after almost every expression. This is convenient for me because it is similar to one of my favorite English words, which I also throw at the end of many expressions. For example, this is a piece of crap, you are full of crap, oh crap. Because of this I found it easy to make the adjustment. It is interesting how you could be a foul mouth punk in one language and a polite young man in another by using the same word at the end of the sentence. Life is all a matter of perception.
After soup I crossed the street and rented a bicycle. This was one of those townie bikes that look like the bike my mom had while growing up. The lady showed me a sign that said “stay out of the grass.” This was due to the risk of a flat tire. The first thing I did at the first temple ruins was loose control and run off the road and get a flat on the grass. Crap, I said, and I was not saying thank you. I was dreading going back to the old lady and catching hell. I pedaled back to her and I feared the worst. I already had that hang dog I am guilty facial expression before I was even in front of the lady. I accidentally passed the place, and I turned and I saw the elderly lady looking at me as I passed. I think she kind of shook her head and said dumb farang to herself, but by the time I had turned around and approached the shop she had already gotten another bike out for me and she was as nice as could be. I bowed and thanked her and then headed back to the temples.
I then went into the 7-eleven and got some water and some more film. I gave them a 1000 baht note and my purchase was 250 baht. She gave me back 550 baht in money and then handed me these silver 7-eleven tabs and said 200 baht. I was confused and then a guy explained that the silver things were like 7-eleven tokens, so she gave me these tokens instead of cash. I probably could have used the tokens since this was not my last trip to 7-Eleven, but I did not really want another thing to look after, plus I was not sure if I was going to drink 200 baht worth of slurpies and big gulps, so I asked for cash instead and she complied.
I headed back out and drove around the ruins. I think this may have been my favorite day in Thailand. The ruins were absolutely beautiful. The beautiful pictures that I had seen in the library did not do the ruins justice as they were even more amazing than the pictures. The real thing did not disappoint at all. The ruins were as impressive as anything I think you would see in South America or Mexico. The highlight of the park was these big giant Buddha statues surrounded by stone pillars. Even though they are ruins they are still breathtaking.
The park is huge, so it was great having a bike. The fact that the park was so spread out was also nice as far as solitude. There are about fifty different temples in the park and the park is probably four or five miles wide. This really spreads out the amount of people at each site and it was also not a very busy day there. I had a couple temples almost entirely to myself. It was great.
One place I really look forward to is the temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. They are said to be the largest religious temples built in the world and they supposedly blow away the ruins of Sukothai. I bought a book on the temples which I intend to read before I get there. That was the only problem with Sukothai is I had absolutely no idea what I was looking at except it was beautiful. When it comes to Angkor Wat I want to be prepared, I don’t want to be like Angkor What? (Pun intended and stolen.) I think the thing I look forward to most about Angkor is there is a bar in the lonely planet guide near the temples called Angkor What? With a goofy name like that it has to be good.
While driving around the ruins there were a few school bus-like vehicles that were filled with young school children. The vehicles were driving really slow, and when I drove past a few of the children would yell “hello.” I would then yell back and wave saying “sawedti krap,” (means hello thank you). The whole bus load of kids then replied as one in a chorus of “sawetdi Krap.” It was so cute. As I found time and time again; people of other countries really appreciate even a token attempt at speaking their language.
The most impressive temples were gathered in the center, but I drove pretty far out to some of the distant ones too. They were not as big, but it was nice being out in the Thai countryside. At the very end of the park there were some hills that started to rise in the distance. The only problem was it was extremely hot, but at least the center of the park was really shady.
I finally had enough and began to make the epic journey back to my $2.50 shit-hole for the night. I took the bike back to the lady, then a bus from the 7-eleven across the street to the Sukothai bus stop. The bus was more like a truck that had these long benches in the back. At first I was the only one in there, but then the driver picked up a whole truckload of screaming Thai middle-schoolers. They were pretty well behaved for the most part so it was not so bad. We got to the bus stop and I figured everyone would disembark. Only one child got out and the driver started to pull away. Crap, I thought, again not thank you and got up and prodded the driver on the shoulder. I don’t yet know the Thai expression for “hey you, where the hell are we going, krap.” Hey looked at me and laughed and said sorry, and stopped the bus because he forgot I was there surrounded by all the kids. I was completely penned in by a mass of Thai kids, so I gave him the money, and I climbed out the window and swung myself down and landed on the ground rather gracefully. The Thai kids were impressed with this maneuver and they were all smiling, laughing, and waiving as they pulled away.
I then grabbed the bus back to Phitsanoluk. After getting off at the train station I got a moped ride back to my hotel. When I got to the hotel I took a cold shower and it felt great after roasting in the heat all day. I was about ready to leave when the proprietor started a commotion and talking to me about the room number 4, which was my room. I had no idea what he was talking about. He got the token English speaker to come over and tell me that I had to move to room number 5 as room number 4 had bugs in it. I should have told them that for $2.50 a night I not only expected bugs, but wanted bugs. It would be disappointing to sleep in a shit-hole and not experience the amenities that a shit-hole provides. I moved to room number 5, which is two feet from room number 4. I am not sure how moving one room over is going to avoid bugs, but I did what they asked.
I then went out looking for dinner and an internet cafe. I found a cafe and asked the waiter for a menu. He said they did not have a menu. I asked what they had, and he said soup. I will have the soup then Krap (thank you not the other one.) After that I could not find an internet place, so I grabbed a tuk-tuk, but this time not a motorized one, but of the bicycle variety. Tuk-tuks are like motorcycles that have a widened back with a cushioned seat in the back where people can sit. This tuk-tuk was powered by the driver’s legs. He dropped me off at this internet place and here I write. So this ended my circle of transportation for the day.
While at the internet café I had read that the Sammy Sosa era has ended in Chicago. I knew the end was not long after I attended the Cubs vs. the Houston Astros game last August. After the game, I was in the pisser at the Cubby Bear when all of a sudden the guy next to me yells “fuck it,” and rips off his brand new Sammy Sosa jersey and throws it in the urinal and starts peeing on it. I would estimate that the jersey was probably $150. He told me later that he was trying to shake Sosa out of his slump (he struck out three times in the game all at key junctures.)
I headed back to the luxurious London hotel and went to sleep. They did not have blankets, just a sheet, so I grabbed my only long sleeve shirt and used that as a cover. It was really hot, so it was not that bad. I am happy to say that I was not assaulted by any critters in the night. Room 5 is bug proof. I was a little disappointed. I felt like I should either get my money back for the disappointing no bug experience or give them a couple more dollars. I wasn’t sure which
