Bankok to Sukhothai, October 24-26, 2009

Sukhothai, Monday, October 26, 2009
Woke up at 6:30 and fell back asleep til 9. Started the diary, stretched, showered and went to the pool. Talked to the frenchman in the pool. He wanted to change to a room next to the historical park also, so we decided to check out and meet at the entrance. I showered again and packed. Checked out before the check-out time of 11 and paid the 430B tab. The clerk suggested hiring one of the tuk-tuks just outside. One of them agreed to take both of us for 100B, more than the 30B I expected for the taxi on the main road, but the extra baht saved us a short walk and some time. The driver stopped at the Vitoon Guesthouse, which had rooms starting at 300B. The frenchman had a recommendation for the Old City Guesthouse, about 100 feet along the road and setback 50 feet from the street. The driver drove us there.

I liked the 150B room because of the price, although the bed is a pad on a board. The pad is thicker than the one in Chanthaburi, so it should be OK. The bed at the J&J was a box spring, but was extra firm, and was OK for sleeping. The room is on the second floor and the bathroom is shared. The frenchman took the larger first floor room, with bath, for 300B. While I placed my pack in my room and registered, paying 150B for the room, the frenchman paid the driver, and I reimbursed the frenchman for my half, 50B. The room included a 920ml bottle of water, a towel and a small roll of toilet paper.

The frenchman decided to rest during the middle of the day and visit the park later. I walked to the park, stopping first to buy a little bag of cut pineapple, for 10B. The LG guidebook recommended the museum so I paid the 150B admission and followed a tour group, apparently from Canada. They spoke English and one man wore a Toronto Maple Leafs T-shirt. I listened to their guide for a few minutes then walked around on my own. They left quickly. The museum is not large, although it is 2 story. The museum added little to what I had read, so it wasn't worth much to me. No photos allowed in the museum. I looked at a small display behind the museum and looked thru the gift shop. Bought a 300ml bottle of OJ for 20B.

Hadn't rented a bike even though the guidebook and the frenchman had recommended it. I wanted to get a better idea if I needed one by getting closer to the park. The entrance is set back a quarter mile from the road and I could see at the entrance that the park was very large and the restored temples were widely spread out, so I rented a bike inside the entrance. The entrance fee was 100B and the bike, a girls bike with fenders and a covered chain, was 30B. A small chain and padlock were included.

At the first, and largest, wat I bought a small tray of fruit, for 20B. The fruit, I think, is pomelo. It looks like large grapefruit, but has very little flavor. A small packet of sugar, with salt and chilli powder is included. I used all that and it tasted good.

I pedaled from wat to wat and walked thru all of them. Outlying areas have more wats, but that would have taken more than the 3 or 4 hours I spent, and there were separate admission charges to the other areas. I saw the frenchman pedalling around and talked briefly, before I turned in the bike, about 4. I walked back and kept walking past my guesthouse, looking for another wat. Found out later that I had walked the wrong direction.

About 5, I returned to the room, took a shower and rested for a couple of hours.

I had dinner at the Coffee Cup, right next to the guesthouse. Only one other couple eating there when I sat down. The menu is a book of hundreds of items, less than half is Thai food, but with photos of most items. I ordered the Sukhothai noodle soup, with vegetables, for 35B, fried ginger with rice, for 30B, mango juice, for 30B, and water, for 10B. It was all very good. Everything tasted fresh and full of good flavors. The vegetables in the soup included mushrooms and so many others I couldn't begin to list them. The mango juice was full strength, like eating ripe mango. After all that I ordered a papaya shake, for 20B. It was blended fruit and ice. Had the flavor of fresh, ripe papaya. Great taste. Had to eat it slow to keep from freezing the roof of my mouth. Charged me 125B, less than $4.

So my outlay for today is 885B, nearly $27, but that included 2 rooms.

Sukhothai, Sunday, October 25, 2009
Woke up at 4, got up just after 6, stretched and showered, said goodby to Bill, finished packing, took my key, and walked to the bus stop. Caught a tuk-tuk to the Skytrain, BTS, for 5B. Took the escalator up and rode the BTS to the Asok station, for 20B off my card. Then took the subway, MTS, to the Hualumphong Rail Station and arrived 7:30.

The information desk clerk gave me a schedule and circled the 8:30 train to Phitsanulok. I was directed to the proper ticket window, after walking along the entire row of about 20 windows and seeing most of them closed. When I asked for the ticket circled by the info guy I was told 'all book'. I didn't think to ask for a fan seat. The agent said the 10:50 train had seats. Maybe Sunday wasn't the best day to travel. I thought I had better buy it before they sold out of those seats, so I paid the 449B for the 2nd class AC seat.

Didn't see any juice or fruit stands in the very large station seating hall, so I went in to the food court. No fruit there either, so I asked for the only juice drink listed and was told they were out. Frustrated, I ordered a papaya salad, for 30B, expecting something like I had a couple weeks ago. This was not like that and wasn't very good, but I was hungry and ate it.

I didn't want to wait till 10:50 so decided to change to the 9:25 regular, 3rd class, train, even though it would take an extra 3.5 hours. The agent sold me a ticket. There are no assigned seats. He refunded me the difference, minus the penalty for cancelling a ticket. I had read that in the guidebook, but had forgotten about it, so the exchange cost me an extra 75B and the refund was 155B. Hopefully, that is the only contribution I make to the well being of the Thai rail system.

To wash out the taste of the salad I ordered an ice milk, which is mostly ice, with a red liquid syrup, tasting a little like strawberry, topped with a little condensed milk, for 15B.

I tried to board early, at 9. From the outside it looked like all the seats were taken. I went on one middle car and found one empty seat. The seats are wood benches, alternating throughout, one facing forward and one back. The other 3 young Thai men didn't seem to speak English. The overhead rack was large, so my pack and camera bags, and water bottle, fit easily. I kept a seat the entire trip, moving to the window side, still facing forward, when the young man got off after about 6 hours.

The train pulled out about 10 minutes behind schedule and by the 3rd or 4th station, the aisle was clogged with standees, and food vendors, trying to walk the aisle and announce their food and drink, all in Thai. The toy vendor had left before the train pulled out. Most of the vendors were barely audible, but 2 of the women were loud and therefore, irritating. Probably would have been worse if I knew what they were saying. They weren't both on at the same time, because the vendors walk for a while, then get off and are replaced by a different vendor. They are of all ages, both men and women.

Trish called about 1 and we had a nice talk.

I expected that I would see more on this slower train. I did, but mostly I saw a lot of repetitive scenes and most could not be photographed well. Either they were too fleeting or the scene was marred by wires and/or trees, buildings, or other things. A lot of the extra time was spent in stations and on sidetracks, waiting for other trains, including freight trains to pass. Much of the way is single track, so timing is tricky, and the 3rd class does a lot of waiting, as well as stopping at most of the stations. The seats become harder as the time drags on. The standees gradually left until there were none after the first 7 hours.

The schedule showed 8.5 hours. The train was 50 minutes late getting into Phitsanulok, arriving about 6:40pm, after dark, I won't intentionally take a long 3rd class ride again without a cushion and some reading I want to do, because the seat is too hard, and the waits are boring, although I like the fresh air. I probably won't take the AC.

On leaving the station, I asked a samlor driver if the bus to Sukhothai was still running tonight. He asked someone else, who said yes. The driver said the ride to the bus station was fifty baht. A large sign by the samlors listed the price at 60B. He drove as fast as vehicle, looking like he was going to run into the scooters. The samlor has only one front wheel and is small and narrow, and runs close to everything. I was the only passenger. He stopped near the ticket windows, but in the traffic lane. I gave him 70B and he gave me 10B change, so his fifty really meant sixty. Too dark to get a photo of the samlor.

I looked for a window with a Sukhothai name. Found 2, but they were empty. One agent was directing people and pointed the direction, but I got it wrong. He meant on the other side of the row of windows.

The fare was 39B and the bus was ready to leave. The only seats were the back bench. I used my backpack for a backrest and shared the bench with 3 adults and 2 kids, until the kids and one woman got off after a half hour. The ride was much more comfortable than the train and lasted only 1 hour.

At the station I was looking for a place to set down my pack and pull out my guidebook. One Thai asked me where I was going. I said I wanted to find a room. He told me J&J Guesthouse was very good and the driver with him could take me there. If I didn't want it I 'can go other place near.' I remembered the name J&J from the guidebook and decided it must have been in the budget section. So I agreed to go.

The ride was in the front of a motorcycle taxi, like a motorized push cart, with a cover, probably the real tuk-tuk. Great for viewing the passing scenery. Not so good at night because it is too dark to see much and there are lots of bugs hitting me in the face. J&J is alone on a backstreet, with no visible lights of any adjacent business. I pay the 50B for my ride.

The lowest room price is 300B. The room is nice, with a toilet and shower with hot water, fan, and twin beds. Very clean and like new. I feel too tired to look elsewhere and I don't want to pay to ride elsewhere, so I take it.

J&J has its own restaurant at the entrance. I register and order Panang curry with vegetable and chicken, because they are nearly out of shrimp, plus a papaya shake, because mango is not in season, a bowl of white rice, and a large bottle of water. The charges go on my room bill. The curry dish is spicy hot and the shake tastes like papaya. Both are very good. The rice is essential for me to lower the 'hot' of the curry.

The pool is open from 9:30 to 8. I start on my diary and shower, and turn out the lights at 12:30.

So my outlay for today is 494B, about $15, plus BTS and MTS card reductions, and a bill to pay in the morning for the room and dinner, 430B.

Bangkok, Saturday, October 24, 2009
Slept in til 9, stretched, drank last of the OJ, read and worked on repacking to fit everything into my pack and camera case and fanny pack. I'll leave 3 of my lenses and flash in the suitcase. Still have 5 lenses with me.

Found that the external DVD does work without the power cord. Must have been stuck, so it wouldn't open til I pried slightly. Works fine. I installed the camcorder programs and imported the files from the camcorder, then made a DVD for Bill and a copy for myself.

Had yogurt and the rest of the mango for lunch, along with the first of my malaria pills.

Did one small load of wash for 20B, while Bill and I went to the Coffee Art shop to download a music video for Bill, and upload my blog and photos. Took about 4 hours and then Flickr hiccupped, so my upload froze at 88%. Only charged me 105B for all that time even though the rate is 35B per hour.

Bought a broom and pan for Bill, 70B.

Didn't have time to make copies of the northern sections of the guidebooks, so I'll pack both of them. Would have been 200 pages anyway.

Finished the last of the green tea and cooked rice for dinner.

So my outlay for today is 195B, about $6.