Sukhothai & Bangkok

Sukhothai & Bangkok

It was the twelfth day of the second month in the year 2024 after the birth of Jesus Christ. The day dawned bright and clear. The ominous absence of clouds promised another day of sweltering heat, a climate not made for hobbits normally living so far north, a reminder that we have already travelled far into distant lands. But fear not stout reader, that day was filled with the magic of indoor ice breathing dragons that can withstand the heat.

We spend the majority of the day in cool comfort hardly noticing the many miles we ventured through the tropical monsoon climate landscape of northern Thailand. Our hearts already dreaming of the old stones waiting to be explored in Sukhothai while our minds relished in the gothic adventures of a young girl named after the middle of the week. The afternoon sun was still burning brightly as our comfortable vessel of transportation left us at the outskirts of Sukhothai. Ready for a bit of walking the two of us in the company of our trusted animal companions set out for the place we wanted to stay in for the next couple of nights. After hitting only three dead ends and a couple of semi-necessary detours we reached a nice Hotel. At this point in time we were drenched in sweat as our short walk turned out to be a bit longer than expected, so sought out the cool embrace of the hotel's own water hole. Afterwards, we embarked on a quest for dinner, which we ended with a very tasty bubble waffle.

And for future us: we also had a call that day.

13.2

The next day was filled with old stones that sung old tales of long-forgotten times. The first main event of the day was breakfast. The local tavern we stayed in had a buffet with unlimited access. Without a hope of a second breakfast, we ate enough for two meals and packed another snack. With satisfied stomachs the lust for adventure rose in our hearts so we called a horseless carriage to take us to the Sukhothai historical park. As the sun continued its steady climb over the cloudless sky slowly roasting us, we strolled between old temples, large stone statues whos ever smiling faces stared down to us and old, murky ponds filled with ancient moor-spirits. Overall, a very pleasant experience. The temple ruins were awe-inspiring. But the relentless sun was determined to boil us alive, so we left the ruins behind us at noon and tried to order a Grab for the way back. Due to the lack of Wifi and horseless carriages, it took us a while to get one. Not ready to leave productiveness behind we asked the driver to drop us at the bus station. There we had a very difficult choice to make: how to get to the cursed city of Thailand. After that, we ventured back to our hotel. On the way, we acquired food at a local number market, one under the protection of numbers 7 and 11. After lunch we spend the afternoon being productive and lounging at the water hole.

14.2. – Valentines Day

This may surprise you but neither of us had a date that day. Instead, we would spend the day as many creatures would choose to do it in our position: lots of food and hours of Netflix.

Ok, this may sound sad if we say it like this, so I might have to fill in some more details.

We rose early that day to take full advantage of the breakfast buffet. Breakfast is after all the most important meal of the day and if there is no opportunity for a second breakfast a multiple-course breakfast will do. We might also have taken some more snacks from the buffet for elevensies and afternoon tea. Then the road called and we left our lodging with the next destination in mind: Bangkok.

As you might have noticed, we have long given up on trying to be productive in busses and coaches. Trains are a completely different matter. As a matter of fact, I’m writing the second half of this blogpost on a train. However the lack of tables and the constant shaking makes any form of productivity a prolonged and frustrating process. Additionally, busses make us tired. I mean this time we did try for a bit. But after about half an hour we went back to watching Wednesday. After finishing that we returned to Outlander. The lack of toilet breaks due to the onboard toilet made the journey considerably more pleasant compared with many previous bus rides. That and the comfy seats. At a quarter to 12 the bus stopped for a simple lunch which was included in our ticket. We also got ourselves ice cream … you know because ice cream. Back on the bus, we continued watching Outlander, ate crackers and sandwiches we packed in the morning until we reached Bangkok at around 5 pm.

We reached our destination, now we just have to get to our hostel, shouldn’t be too hard. Or so we thought. To anyone whoever has been in Bangkok, the next story will be very unsurprising (as it was to us because we have been, but we underestimated the situation). After following the flock of locals going to another intercity bus terminal, returning to our previous point, unsuccessfully trying to locate the metro, we decided to take the local bus. We showed the lady at the counter where we would like to go and she told us to wait for bus 49. So, we waited. Around half an hour to 45 minutes later the bus arrived and we got on. The traffic in Bangkok is notoriously bad. We knew this, but we expected that the bus ride should be slightly faster than walking (that would have been 2 hours). We were wrong. We spend the next two hours in the local bus and continued to watch Outlander. In case you have never had the pleasure of walking through Bangkok, the air and streets of Bangkok are about as clean as flea bottom in Kings Landing. So, you judge yourself if we regretted our decision. In case you are wondering why in the name of Merlin did we travel there then. We had no choice really. If you want to get to Malaysia from Thailand by train without spending a lot of time going south, you have to go through Bangkok.

15.2.

Our morning in Bangkok we spend grocery shopping for our train ride, fighting a battle with the guardians of a future destination of our adventure in a café and having a really good lunch at a vegetarian restaurant. We took the metro to the station and are now peacefully ratteling in our favourite vessel of transportation towards the next country, where our adventure will continue. Until then… don’t let the muggles get you down!