Left: Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat in Srisatchanalai Historical Park.
Right: King Ramkhamhaeng Monument - he invented the original Thai alphabet and is a beloved former ruler of Thailand. He ruled the first truly independent Thai Kingdom.
Bottom: The "talking" Buddha at Wat Sri Chum. Massive and in very good condition.
Up early with the sun - before 6. Fixed coffee in the room and got ready for my day of touring the ancient capital of Siam in Sukhothai and Srisatchanalai.
My guide, Nantawut Vannaros (Nan for short) and my driver, Puck (who had a much longer name I couldn't say!), picked me up promptly at the hotel at 7 am. We headed off for a 3 hour drive to Srisatchanalai, due south of Chiang Mai.
Our drive took us on a "super highway" (complete with stop lights!), over a mountain and through "the jungle". The countryside was beautiful. Surprisingly, the traffic once we got out of the city wasn't too bad and the driver was very skilled and didn't scare me as many of them do. We travelled about 300 km to the Sukhothai Province.
We passed miles and miles of rice paddies - many bright green with their crop. I had flown over these last night and seen them from the air, so now I know exactly what I was seeing. Beautiful. Many of the farmers were busy getting their crops planted or tended. These fields will be harvested in July.
Nan and I talked for most of the ride about life in Thailand. He was very knowledgeable, especially about Buddhism which I questioned.
The Thai culture is so interesting to me. For example, I asked Nan about their free elections - Were they democratic? He pondered my question for a while and then responded very carefully: "If I tell you that our elections are crooked, this will reflect poorly on my country, and I don't wish to do that. But if I tell you that our elections are completely free then I may not be telling you the truth. So I will put it this way. The Thai elections are more open than those in Myanmar. In Myanmar, no one would be allowed to come in to observe the elections. But in Thailand our elections are completely open for review." I loved his answer. Smart man.
We arrived at the Srisatchanalai Historical Park, an ancient town formerly known as Mueng Chaliang and was renamed as Satchanalai during the reign of Phra Ruang. There are 134 monuments in the park.
I found it interest that there is no direct translation of Thai to English so they spell things differently in English - and it is no problem for them. Sometimes I saw Srisatchanalai, or Si Satchanalai, or just Satchanalai, or other versions - all the same place!
First stop was Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat. Nan pointed out the unique Sukhothai style of architecture some of which has a Khmer (Cambodian) influence. Picture shown above.
Wat Chang Lom was next and was viewed as the most important historic building and the main chedi was in Sri Lankan Style. Architecture certainly showed how "fluid" things were back then - there was a lot of fighting and conquering from one tribe to another and the architecture was carried with them and evolved due to this. Wat Chang Lom was really cool as it had 39 elephant sculptures surrounding it built like the elephants were holding up the temple. Most had fallen into ruin and not restored but a couple were still in original condition.
All of these temples and structures were made out of "laterite" a stone that is high in iron which makes them red and the stone contains aluminium.
I was powering through bottled water as the sun was so hot and the air was humid. I was glad when we went for a lunch break at a nice outdoor restaurant with a buffet of Thai foods. Really good. The papaya and pomelo (large grapefruit) with sugar was delicious. A welcome break - enjoyed a Singha beer too!
Then we drove another 45 minutes to the Sukhothai Historical Park. Sukhothai was the first truly independent Thai Kingdom. This is where King Ramkhamhaeng invented the first version of the Thai alphabet. The Thai alphabet has 47 characters some of which are in the original King Ramkhamhaeng's version. There was no paper then so characters were carved into stone and many artifacts were found to document this.
The Sukhothai Park is huge with ruins of the royal palaces, Buddhist temples, city gates, walls, moats, dams, ditches, ponds and canals.
Our first stop was at the King Ramkhamhaeng Monument - a 2x life-size bronze monument of the king holding a stone tablet with the first Thai "words". This king is certainly beloved.
Following were various other monuments and temples - each impressive in its own right. It was part of the way through this tour where I got extremely overheated and thought I was going to pass out. Drank lots of water and tried to stay in the shade which was difficult. But I kept trekking on. Reminds me why I continue to "explore" places like this now while I'm physically able to make it. I really enjoy climbing up the monuments and "going to the top" to see the view, so kept on going.
My favorite of the Sukhothai stops was Wat Sri Chum or Wat Si Chum which reminded me of the temples in Egypt. It had a main sanctuary that contained a monumental Buddha. The temple was built with hollow walls so when the people gathered to pray and make wishes (like before a battle) they would make their wishes and then the temple would "talk" back to them and they were amazed. One of the monks or officials would get in the wall and speak back to the people. The holes in the wall were at the same level as the mouth of the Buddha so the people thought it was Buddha talking to them. So they knew they would win the upcoming battle!!!!
So much history here. They have huge celebrations here at certain times of the year with lights on the monuments and in the lakes, ponds, and canals. Many people ride bicycles through the park - that might be fun, but I was glad to have the air conditioned van for refuge from the heat and humidity.
We finished touring the sites in late afternoon and headed back toward Chiang Mai. Again, I marveled at the countryside. The rice fields were such a bright green with their new crops but Nan feared that they have had too much water and this might ruin the crops. The farmers and their families were hard at work in the fields - they work so hard and have so little!
I enjoyed the ride back through the jungle. We passed a huge Elephant Hospital where they bring elephants for medical care - don't have those in the U.S. Apparently in the north they use elephants on working farms and in the forest and there are still many land mines so there are casualties. They bring the elephants here so they can get the best medical care.
Nan explained to me that the Thai people all have access to medical care. If you go for an examination for an illness it is 30 baht - about $1. If you go into the hospital for a procedure and stay 30 days it is 30 baht - about $1. The government controls the medical profession so they are able to do this. Doctors and nurses aren't generally paid that much so that's how this all works.
Gasoliine is also very cheap - subsidized by the Thai government. Gas is only a litte over $1 per liter.
We arrived back at the D2 Dusit Hotel about 8 pm. I was still hot and dehydrated despite drinking lots of water. Had a quick light dinner and went to bed early. I'm going to try to stay out of the hot sun tomorrow as much as possible. A long but enjoyable day.
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