Sukhothai

Now it was time to think about where to go next. Continuing the journey turned out to be difficult. On the one hand, I couldn't find a nearby meaningful destination, and on the other hand, there was no proper way to travel. So, I had to go back to Chiang Mai first. Then, I had the choice of either heading further north towards Chiang Rai or slowly heading south. That's when I came up with the idea of going to Sukhothai, a city located about halfway between Chiang Mai and Bangkok, which meant that I didn't have to travel nearly 11 hours straight to Bangkok by train.

So, in the morning at 8 o'clock, I set off with the minibus back to Chiang Mai, where I took a one-night break and then calmly took the bus to Sukhothai the next day. The travel time was about 6 hours, so I reached Sukhothai shortly after sunset. Here's something to know: there is Old Sukhothai, where the historical park is located, and New Sukhothai. I settled down in New Sukhothai. I rented a motorbike for the next 2 days and first went to the old town here.

Sukhothai was the capital of the kingdom from the 13th to the early 15th century, where the first Thai people lived. You can visit their ancient temples here in a large park. Very beautiful and I would say an important destination when traveling through Thailand.

Si Sachanalai

A similar destination, but less known and less visited, is the site of Si Sachanalai, about 60 km away from Sukhothai. And that's where I went the next day. I followed the 2-lane well-built road here, which was almost free of cars. The site here is naturally smaller than Sukhothai, but you are pretty much alone here, which increases the Indiana Jones feeling, of course.

On the way back, I took a different road on the other side of the river, which you follow all the time. Actually, I wanted to completely empty the scooter's tank, just as I received it, but that didn't work out and I had to refuel with 20 Baht (0.55 €) just before Sukhothai, what an expense!