Our route through central Thailand is
one of the many examples of poor planning on my part. There were
probably better ways to make the trip work but I just never dedicated
the time to working out the many various possible routes before
settling on the best. My only rules were to start with Vietnam and get to Chiang
Mai by Songkran. The chosen route brought us to the old temple ruins
of Thailand after visiting Angkor. This is a mistake. I'm sure that
those locations in Thailand would have seemed much more spectacular
if I could have somehow avoided the Khmer ruins until after visiting
Thailand's old temples. That being said, the route through central
Thailand was interesting and fun, but at the same time, a bit
disappointing.
There were three sets of temples on our
list, Ayutthaia, Lobpuri, and Sukhothai. While Ayutthaia and Lobpuri
can be seen as day trips from Bangkok, Sukhothai is located several
hours away at about the half-way point between Bangkok and Chiang
Mai. Originally I was hoping to skip going to Bangkok and jump right
into the temple route but Bangkok offered us the opportunity to
lighten our bags by sending some things home. A month and a half into
the trip, lugging around so much weight everyday, we had a good idea
of the things that we brought but didn't need. Furthermore, we had
acquired souvenirs that we were happy to get off our backs for the
following three months that remained. However, taking that day out to
stay in Bangkok meant knocking a day, and a temple, off our central
Thailand list. After speaking with a fellow tourist in southern
Cambodia, I decided to skip Ayutthaia. First, he was disappointed
with what he found there. Second, we will be in Bangkok again and
Ayutthaia is the closest of the temples to Bangkok. If I really want
to see it, I can see it later.
Lobpuri is a small town with both an
old and a new section. We found this out when we had to look into
moving on to Sukhothai, our next destination. On account of the busy
Songkran holiday approaching, routes were already starting to fill.
Even though we were able to arrive in Lobpuri by train, the train
that we needed to take to Sukhothai was already fully booked and we
had to move by bus. While the train station is at the center of old
town where our hostel and the temples are, the bus station is a few
kilometers away in the new town.
Immediately after arriving in Lobpuri
by train, history and ruins are at your fingertips. Just across the
street old stone and brick stupas shoot up out of the ground. Without
even looking at the guidebook I could see a style that was new to me
as well as a style more familiar. One of the buildings was clearly
built in Khmer style, reminding me of Angkor.
While Lobpuri has many temples to see,
I'd be lying if that is the only reason I came to this small town.
No, its the monkeys. Back at Angkor we got a chance to hang out at
watch the monkeys, but Lobpuri is known for its monkeys. Shortly
after setting out on our evening walk to explore the town, we found
the monkeys. A large group of them crowded around one
of the town's intersections. They were swinging on the power lines,
taking food trash from various road stalls, fighting on balcony
railings. That night we were quite timid, not wanting to get close to
them. Guidebooks warn to keep an eye on your things as they like to
steal.
The monkeys of Lobpuri call one of the
town's old ruins home. In guidebooks, on tourists maps and on signs displayed
along the road, the temple is commonly referred to as monkey temple.
The people of Lobpuri take care of the monkeys by sharing
both space and food with them. In turn, the monkeys attract tourists
which brings revenue to the city. Sometime during the year, a monkey
festival is held to thank the monkeys.
Our encounters with the monkeys got
much more personal at monkey temple. We circled the temple admiring
the scene. Hundreds of monkeys hanging out around the temple; the young
playing and fighting, the old stoically surveying the landscape, the
mothers nursing the babies, and the curious approaching us. At first
we were hesitant. If any got close I would make a sudden move toward
them to scare them away. Instead of running, they would stop and hiss
at me with a wide open mouth. Eventually, after seeing how others
were responding, we submitted and took to playing with them. They
jumped on us and climbed around our backs. I had a stick that three
or four playful monkeys would grab on to and I would swing them. What
began as an interesting yet frightening experience turned into a
playful one.
Connections between the cities of
central Thailand have proven to be the most difficult thus far in our
experiences of travel in Southeast Asia. With the train all booked up
between Lobpuri and Sukhothai, we had to find another way. First,
there was finding a songthew station that would take us to the bus
station of new Lobpuri, about a ten minute drive up the road. When we
got there, we tried to book a ticket for the next day and couldn't.
Instead we'd buy the ticket on the bus the next day. We lucked out
when a young Thai couple offered to give us a ride back to our
guesthouse from the bus station as we couldn't figure out how to get
back. The next day we finally boarded the late bus to find it full,
forcing us to do the better half of the four hour ride sitting in the
aisle. The bus took us to a bus station outside of Phitsanulok where
we had to first go to the train station to book tickets for three
nights later, then find another ride to the other bus station that
could take us to Sukhothai. Sitting at the second bus station we were
informed that the bus that we planned on taking had gotten into an
accident and would no longer be coming. Instead, we can take a more
expensive mini van with the couple of other foreigners waiting. That
minivan, of course, dropped us off at a bus station outside of
Sukhothai where we had to pay another man to take us into the center
of town where we would find a guesthouse. Thailand proved to be the
most frustrating country to travel in. This surprised me because it
is the country in the region with the greatest experience with
western tourists. I suppose it's their way to maximize profits and
spread out tourism dollars as much as possible. Instead of buying one
bus ticket to get from point A to point B; I needed two songthews
(kind of taxi), two tuk tuks (a different kind of taxi), a bus, and a
minivan to get from Lobpuri to New Sukhothai. It was a full day
affair. Another two way songthew was necessary to get to the ruins
and back.
Our second visit to Thai temple ruins
on route to Chiang Mai was Sukhothai, the capital of the kingdom
that bore the same name in the 13th and 14th
centuries. The guesthouse was in New Sukhothai, a small city located
a few kilometers from the historical park. The tuk tuk brought us in
at around 10 pm and the city seemed as if it had already shut down.
Our driver rang the doorbell of the guesthouse to call the owners out
so that we could check in. Their restaurant was closed but they
informed us of a part of town still serving food. Very few people
were out on the streets aside from a few foreigners at the corner bar
and a few final clients at the roadside stalls across the bridge. We
joined those last few clients for some noodles and rice, our second
meal of the day after breakfast over twelve hours earlier.
The following morning I discovered why
things were shut down at 10 pm. After a good night's rest I rose
early and went for what I expected to be a quiet morning walk. At
6:30 am the town was buzzing. Shops were opening their storefronts,
the market was filled, and saffron-clad Buddhist monks were making
their morning rounds. Sometimes they would be on their own, other
times in a group of three as they walked around town periodically being
stopped by a local making alms. Prayers would ensue, gifts of food or
money were given to the monks and they would carry on to another
local needing a prayer for a prosperous day. At one point, I saw a car
stop near the monks and a lady jumped out to give alms.
The historical park was a nice,
manicured lawn, with various ponds and groups of ruins around the
complex. We rented bikes to get around but still ended up running out
of time on account of a treacherous storm on the way. On the
bike-ride we checked out each part of the main section. There was
also a north and an east section that we didn't get to for lack of
time and because we didn't want to pay extra for it. It was a nice
bike ride and a good way to spend some extra hours of a day but,
after seeing Angkor, it was hard to get enthused about the Thai
ruins. I'm sure that things would have been different if our
itinerary took us through central Thailand before Siem Reap.
The temples of central Thailand are
pretty interesting and they are definitely picturesque. I blame my
disappointment in them on the greatness of Angkor and my own lack of
previous knowledge about the old kingdoms in the area. They are,
however, on route to much greater times in the north of the country.
Chiang Mai was the next stop, but more travel suffering would have to
commence before Songkran festivities began. Tuk tuk, bus, overnight
crowded third class train...
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