Back Into the Land of Smiles

My original plan was to travel the length of Vietnam and then cross into Laos from Northern Vietnam. What I didn’t realise was that this is a very little used border crossing and is hardly ever used my foreigners. There is no English spoken, nor are there any facilities for changing money. I would also be on an uncomfortable bus for up to 40 hours – the only food available being the meat and rice that comes as part of the bus ticket. As someone on her own with no Lao money, no language skills and a non meat eater, this did not seem the ideal journey. Instead I decided to fly back to Bangkok and then make my way through northern Thailand and cross into Laos that way.

So I caught the 9am flight out of Hanoi into Don Muang airport in Bangkok. This is not the main international airport but it is the one AirAsia use. If you get the option of using this airport – take it. Within 10 minutes of landing, I had walked the length of the airport, gone through immigration and picked up my luggage. A couple of minutes later, I was on the shuttle bus taking me directly to Mo Chit – Bangkoks main bus terminal. I bought a bus ticket to Sukhothai and within an hour of touch down I was driving out of Bangkok again. Landing back in Thailand felt wonderful, I was immediately relaxed, the people here are very helpful and rightly deserve their self given nick name of “The Land of Smiles”. Sukhothai is a small town just over halfway between Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Most travellers go directly to Chiang Mai but they are missing out on a little gem. Sukhothai was the first capital of the Kingdom of Siam established around 1240. Today the historical park containing the ruins of the ancient city has been granted Unesco status. What sets these ruins apart from others, is the immaculate grounds they are kept in. When I first arrived at the site, there were more gardeners, hedge cutters and leave sweepers than there were tourists.

The site is around 30 square miles but all the major sites are to be found in the central zone which is a tiny 3 sq mile area. I was going to cycle around the site as is the common practice but when I realised how tiny the central zone is – I decided to walk. Some of the ruins were that close to each other it was more hassle than it was worth to cycle between the two and find an empty cycle rack to leave the bike in. After a while more tourists arrived as did an extremely large school party, none of the tourists however appeared to venture further than the main temple Wat Mahathat and its incredibly large Buddha’s. I decided to sit for a while and wait them out. I saw a lovely looking bench in the shade of a large tree and thought – ah perfect. Only when I got to the bench I found a snake had beaten me to it and was happily basking in the sun. Not knowing if the snake was friendly or not, I opted for sitting on the floor in the direct glare of the sun rather than the bench. I spent a pleasant couple or so hours wandering the complex, continually astounded by the lack of tourists anywhere apart from the main temple. Then I treated myself to my latest addiction - a watermelon shake, before jumping on a bus to take me back to town. The new town, although it sees some tourists only has a couple of restaurants aimed at westerners. That food is tasty but small portions and not spicy. I ate at the local restaurants, some have translated part of their menu into English so I could order vegetarian curry – thai style. No idea what sort of curry it was, or indeed what was in it but the sheen of red oil on top indicated that it was going to be spicy. I had asked for “little spicy” but even so, at the local places, little spicy means enough spice to blow Zoe’s head off.

I then watched the locals perform open air keep fit with the music blasting loud enough to be heard on the opposite side of town. S.E.Asians do like their communal fitness in public places. Whilst I was very glad to be back in Thailand, two things came as an unwelcomed shock. First the mosquitoes, they were out in force. There had been no mossies in Vietnam, consequently I had gotten out of the habit of wearing repellent. That first day I was eaten alive. Something else I had gotten out of the habit of applying was sunscreen. There was no need when Hanoi was under a permanent downpour. As I arrived in Bangkok and Sukhothai there had been large thunderstorms, and as I set off around the ruins it had been overcast. Instead of raining – which is what I presumed would happen next, the sun came out. By the time I left the ruins and came home I realised I was sunburnt. In fact the next day it became obvious that I had been burnt quite badly on my shoulders. It is the first time this travels I have burnt but I will remember to carry the sunscreen about with me from now on. So as I left Sukhothai, my shoulders ached because of the burn and my legs hurt because of the bites. I may have looked and felt a mess, but I was glad I stopped here!