If you're going slow, which means staying put more than cycling, there is still plenty to do. The agenda for our days in Sukhothai is in the mornings riding our bikes to the many temple ruins strewn over the historical park which covers about 79 square kilometers and taking it easy in the afternoon. We have time to work over our pictures, write our journals, read. I guess the word is chill, really appropriate for the cooling effect of the emerald green swimming pool that we can almost call our own since at the moment no other guests are here. Towards evening we might make another foray to the park with our cameras, trying to get some shots of the ruins at night (unsuccessful) or catch a sunset (no journal is complete without one).
Apropos camera: In the previous entry I mentioned that Janos's camera got damaged. On our first day here, while I laze and read in a hammock at the swimming pool, Janos cycles the 10 km into New Sukhothai in hopes of finding a Canon dealer. He is only partially successful. Yes, he finds a fairly decent sized shop selling Canons, but no they can't help him with the bent lens. The compromise he settles for is an inexpensive point-and-shoot digital camera for the rest of the trip. Basically, the camera is as good as the photographer and I know that Janos will now be taking some more great pictures.
After seeing this monk taking pictures of his fellow monks, I feel better that I am always tempted to whip out my camera whenever I see monks in their brilliant saffron robes.
Janos cycling in Sukhothai Historical Park which covers 70 square Kilometers with 193 ruins - a lovely place to cycle. There are plenty of bikes for hire, but there's nothing like having your own, especially if you have long legs. Bikes here are not made for tall westerners.
We also visit the Sangkhalok Museum in New Sukhothai which displays an interesting collection of ceramic wares produced some 700 years ago in the northern region of Thailand. Sangkhalok is the name of ceramic wares produced in the old city of Sukhothai.
Thuriang Kiln Site: The kilns of Sukhothai are famous for the beautiful Sangkhalok ceramics once produced there.
Bowl at the Sangkhalok Museum, New Sukhothai. Fish are often represented on Sukhothai's early glazed stoneware. "In the water there are fish, in the field there is rice", described Sukhothai's wealth in the late 13th century.
Here's that fish again: the delicious tubtim fish we had on our last night in Sukhothai. Or at least I thought it was the same fish depicted on the pottery 700 years ago. Google disillusioned me: "Tubtim (Oreochromis sp.) is a new fish species for aquaculture in Thailand."
