Sukhothai, Thailand

Oct 04 - 08, '18

In Sukhothai, Thailand's first capital, we spent another 3 full days. We noticed that the further north you go, the cheaper everything gets and the worse the English of the locals becomes. Although this city is not very unknown and attracts several tourists, we were stared at even more here than usual, greeted joyfully, and asked for selfies.

On the first day, we explored the ancient city by bike, the temple complexes here are better preserved than in Ayutthaya. Afterwards, we found a market where we stocked up on a bunch of bananas, pomelo, and roasted insects. I was surprised how crispy and flavorful the insects were, Esther found them "too hairy". Then we visited another temple and took a tuk-tuk back home.

On the second day, we treated ourselves to our first Thai massage. Our hostel was a little disaster, so I didn't get much sleep. After an hour of being pressed on my back, we felt much better and had a relaxed day.

On the last day, we finally went into nature. The Rhamkhamhaeng National Park is an hour away from Sukhothai and is perfect for hiking. So in the morning, we rented a scooter, even though I had never taken a driving lesson in my life, and set off. Just keep to the left and wear a helmet, those are the only rules here 🤷🏼‍♀️. Just before reaching our destination, just as we turned onto the lonely country road, my scooter got a flat tire. So we started pushing, with almost 4 km ahead of us. Suddenly, two girls with their scooter stopped next to us and signaled that they wanted to help us. They couldn't speak a word of English. So they pushed the scooter with their foot and we followed behind until we reached the nearest mechanic. Within 15 minutes, he replaced the tire and only charged us €3 for it. Now we could continue.

Before that, we had debated whether we should do the 6-hour hike up Khao Luang Mountain, but due to the climate and time pressure, we decided against it and stumbled upon Sai Roong Waterfall instead. There, we finally got to take a really nice shower :)

On the way back, we took a break at a roadside market. Apparently, tourists haven't been seen here often because everyone was very excited when we tried their stuff. We still don't know what this little cake is, the woman just pointed at the palm tree behind us... so something with coconuts, I guess.

Our days in Sukhothai were very eventful. Next, we are heading to Chiang Mai, allegedly the most beautiful city in Thailand. But unfortunately, we missed our train and have to wait at the train station for another 5 hours. That's why this blog entry turned out to be so long :)

Greetings to Berlin 🧡