Feb. 23, New Sukhothai - Kamphaeng Phet: More ruins coming up - Cycling in Thailand North to South 2010

February 23, 2010

Feb. 23, New Sukhothai - Kamphaeng Phet: More ruins coming up

At the bus station we fold our bikes and are soon on the bus to Kamphaeng Phet, a distance of about 90 km. Although the bus isn't empty, we are surprised to see that the best seats in front, the ones with plenty of leg room, are not occupied. We congratulate ourselves on our luck and settle in. It isn't until a while later that it dawns on me - these seats are reserved for the elderly and monks. Stupid foreigners! From our seats we have a good view of the road and realize we probably would not have enjoyed cycling this stretch, 90 km with too much traffic and not much of a shoulder.

From the Kamphaeng Phet bus station a few kilometers outside of town we cycle to the highly recommended Three J Guesthouse. It's not yet noon when we check in and we have the rest of the day in the Historical Park. We might be reaching our saturation point with temple ruins now. We limit our visit to just one day.

Door to our room at the Three J Guesthouse in Kamphaeng Phet; the room is small and air con a must.

The ruins of the historical park are partly within the city walls, but the more extensive, sprawling grounds are farther to the north. While not quite on the scale of Sukhothai or even Si Satchanalai, the Kamphaeng Phet historical park covers a large area. We start with the central complex.

The part of the park outside the city walls is located mostly within the surrounding forest. It's a quiet, hilly area where in the evening many locals are out jogging or riding bikes.

Phra Si Iriyabot was a large monastery and originally housed large Buddha images in each of the four postures deemed suitable : sitting, standing, walking or reclining. A standing (restored) Buddha is the only remaining image.

Here we can see traces of the sitting Buddha image.

As the sites at Sukhothai and Si Satchanalai, Kamphaeng Phet also has a large chedi with laterite sculptures of the forequarters of elephants.

The laterite originally was covered with stucco decorations. Some have been restored.

The heat continues and tomorrow we will be taking a bus to Ayutthaya.

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