23rd January 2009

Up bright and early thanks to the cockerels in the yard, we made our way to the bus station in Ayutthaya. We are getting pretty used to the bus travel here in Thailand and have now learnt the difference in 1st and 2nd class buses. There is no toilet on the 2nd class buses which can also be a blessing thanks to our previous experiences. So needless to say we opted for the 2nd class option.

After a reasonable 6 hour journey we arrived in Sukhothai and hopped on a songthaew to our new hotel, J & J Guest House (http://www.jj-guesthouse.com/). We were a little nervous arriving, as we turned down a quiet side street full of run down shacks and our guest house was in front of a canal, which was a lovely shade of green and a little fragrant! We need not have worried as our resort was very nice, we even had a swimming pool! After 10 minutes in our room, we decided to upgrade to a bungalow which was practically next to the pool, as the mattress in the previous room felt a little wooden. Our new bungalow was very comfortable with a soft mattress and cable TV.

As we arrived late in the day and it was very hot, we decided a dip in the pool was needed. As the swimming pool was deep for its modest size, Clare decided to dive straight in, whilst Adam tentatively made his way down the steps. We cooled off and spent an enjoyable hour chatting to 2 English guys from the midlands, Craig and Jay. Beer o'clock was calling, so off we went to get showered and to explore the town. Calamity struck after our showers, Clares new glasses were missing! Clare was convinced she had left them in the room and not taken them to the pool, so after searching the bungalow from floor to ceiling, we headed to the poolside armed with a torch to search around the sun loungers. After 3 circuits, upturning all the chairs, there was no sign of her glasses. We even asked reception and no-one had seen them anywhere! Clare was very upset that her new glasses were lost, and the only thing we could do was to go out for dinner and drown our sorrows. We ended up in a place called "Poo Restaurant", again the clue was in the name and the food wasn't brilliant but the beer was cheap! Craig and Jay joined us for a couple of drinks and confirmed our suspicions that Clare WAS wearing her glasses when we got to the pool. The swimming pool opens at 9am, so decided on an early start and that a daylight inspection was needed.

We woke up at 6.30am the following morning and found a way into the locked pool area. After a good search we decided to write them off as lost, that is until Adam spotted something glistening in the deep end of the pool. Surely no-one could be so stupid as to dive into a pool wearing their glasses, can they??? Well, there they were, untouched, so Clares punishment was to put on her swimming costume and dive into the freezing cold pool and retrieve her specs! No damage done, they were fine, only a slight bruising to Clares ego!

Now that we were up early, we had a day of sightseeing ahead. We boarded a local bus to the old city of Sukhothai which was the old capital of Thailand before Ayutthaya. This is a world heritage site, full of ancient ruins and temples and was the size of a large town, surrounded by a moat. We grabbed some lunch, hired a bicycle each and set about exploring the city. The grounds were beautifully kept which made for a relaxing ride around the city, stopping now and again to walk around the ancient ruins of a bygone era. We spent over 3 hours in the city resting from the sun, much needed water stops and the obligatory photo opportunity's. For such a large tourist place, it was very quiet and for the most part felt that we had this ancient city all to ourselves. After retuning our bikes and a quick stop for a cold drink, we hopped on the local bus back to our guest house, for a much needed cool down in the pool.

We spent our last day in Sukhothai relaxing by the pool, as we were feeling a bit templed out! Our last night out in Sukhothai proved interesting. We found a nice Thai restaurant a little way from the guest house and decided to have a delicious Massaman curry each. Our food arrived and our jaws practically hit the floor! It looked like Massaman, but didn't smell like Massaman, in actual fact it tasted of nothing. To top it off it even had raw potato floating in it! Needless to say we did not eat it and promptly paid and left. I do not think we will be ordering that dish for a while.

Sukhothai was an interesting place to while away a few days. Full on ancient history and with the added bonus of a swimming pool it made for a good few days. As always and early start was needed in preparation for our next destination - Chiang Mai.