Ruins in Sukhothai
Well the bus ended up being late so we didn't get to Sukothai until almost ten p.m. and of course it was raining. We were the only farang (a sometimes humorous, sometimes derogatory term for foreigners) and immediately approached by an older man who was a Saamlaw driver. Saamlaw are kind of like tuk tuks but the "cab" is really a cart in front of a motorcycle. We knew the fare was supposed to be around 40 Baht, so the game started when he told us it was 100 Baht.
All the other drivers were hanging back as he was apparently King pin since he spoke English reasonably well. We bantered back and forth and I figured that, as much as we didn't want to be stuck in the rain at a grimy bus station, he wasn't exactly being overrun with customers. After feigning indifference for a bit, he saw it our way and we settled on 50 Baht. Proud of our awesome bargaining, we hopped in for a rather harrowing ride in the rain.
The 
The next morning we hopped on a Sawngthaew which is basically a large pick up truck with really uncomfortable wooden bench seats down the bed to the
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The ruins of Sukhothai Thailand
Next we walked to the Central zone and Wat Mahathat, a large set of ruins surrounded by a moat, Wat Sa Si on an island in the lake nice for napping and Wat Si Sawai, actually by accident when we got lost having decided that we could find our own way out and ignore the signs.
We had an excellent lunch at the Dream cafe which was a really cool old teak building with tons of antiques and great food, if some what bizarre music.
After a couple of Singhas on our verandah and a nap, we walked to the night market for dinner and on the way home got caught in a torrential downpour with water running down the street four inches deep (come visit and see the video!). We tried to wait it out and stood under an awning watching the vendors get soaked putting away their fruits and vegetables, finally deciding to just wade home up to our ankles in water. Other than Cindy worrying about snakes (we saw a cute little one at the Sukothai ruins earlier), we made it home fine but wet.
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Pouring Rain in Sukhothai Thailand
Tomorrow it is off to Chiang Mai.
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The Dream Café in Sukkothai is a cute little restaurant, crammed with old antiques from around the globe in a somewhat dark, wooden environment. The food is excellent and the menu is huge with very authentic and tasty Thai food as well as some western interpretations. In addition to the food, they of course have cold Singha beer (mandatory after a long day checking out the ruins) and some “medicinal” alcohols that we neglected to try but are supposed to have various restorative factors. The music is eclectic Thai folk, new-age and rock stuff and quite entertaining. The staff was very attentive. It is located centrally on Thanon Singhawat, about 100 meters from the Historical Park entrance.
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We stumbled on this fantastic little place on the Travelfish site (www.travelfish.org) which is a travel site dedicated to travel in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam and it was a great, friendly place to stay. Located in the older part of Sukothai, it is about a 5-10 minute walk into town and nicely isolated with a variety of accommodations from simple bungalows with fans to nicer, bigger ones with air-conditioning. As you can see, some of the rooms are on stilts above a very pretty lotus pond and have nice balconies (where you can enjoy a cold Singha beer!).
The gentleman who runs it is French and a very nice guy full of information about Thailand and the sites at Sukhothai. A really good breakfast is included in the price (ranging between $20-$35). Highly recommended ��" in high season, you might want to book ahead. Nice website too!
