Kaze Lavie Kaze Travel: The First Thai Kingdom @ Sukhothai Historical Park 素可泰歷史公園

HOW DID I GET HERE?

From the New City, I found the cheapest way to get to the Sukhothai Historical Park is by catching a local “songthaew” (means two rows of benches in Thai) to the Old City. It fare costs (30B) one-way. The songthaew travels from the New City to Old City at a designated bus stop, which is about 100m away from the 7-11 shop along the main street.

This songthaew looked totally different from other songthaew in other towns I have rode so far. It was painted with the colors – red,blue,white, in which I could immediately think of the Thai national flag. In contrary, the other type of the full rod daeng (means red songthaew) can be seen anywhere in Chiang Mai and Pattaya.

On the way back to New City, I just catched any songthaew that is parked in front of the Historical Park. It is easily enough to get back to town. But you just need to wait for at least 10 people to fill up the seats; the driver will start the engine once it’s ready.

SUKHOTHAI สุโขทัย (13^th-15^th Century)

The Sukhothai (literally means “Rising of Happiness” in Thai) kingdom used to be the golden age of the Thai ancient civilization. The Kingdom of Sukhothai is often recognized as the first true Thai Kingdom. The Sukhothai era had great influences on the Thai art, language, literature, religion and architecture of the modern Thai society. The art of the Buddha sculpture and building architectures are the classic Thai style representations and they have many influences across the country.

The Sukhothai Kingdom had lasted for 200 years and with 9 king rulers. Among the kings, King Ram Kham Haeng, is the most honored king for developing the first generation of Thai script. During his rule, Theravada Buddhism was adopted as the official religion throughout the empire. Later during 14^th century, Sukhothai kingdom was absorbed by Ayutthaya kingdom from the south. UNESCO declared the Sukhothai Historical Park as a World Heritage Site in December year 1991.

WHAT TO DO THERE?

In fact most travelers came here to visit the ruins of the ancient city Sukhothai. I rented a bicycle for about (50B) a day and headed to the main office counter. I purchased the entrance ticket for the Central zone for 100B. A detailed colored map of the entire historical map was provided. (Scanned copy)

This extremely huge historical park spans 70 sq km and 45 sq km. The whole are was still partially rebuilt. It divides into 5 zones – Central, North, West, East and South. Each zone there is a separate entrance fee for 100B. The bad thing is it is not possible to purchase all tickets in main entrance.

There are almost 200 ruins within the whole park! It’s impossible for me to visit all within few hours. So I just picked some important ones. It was kind of tricky if you reach other zone, as there is no clear sign of the park or ticket counter in other zone, also depending on the direction or route you use, you may also lose your way especially in the West zone.

I spent about 4-5 hours cycling around the CENTRAL, WEST and NORTH zone.

My bicycle route: Central zone ->West zone -> North zone.

(I did not make it to the South and East, as I was short of time and the heat is the biggest drawback)

The main entrance of Sukhothai Historical Park with all ASEAN country flags.

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CENTRAL ZONE
TICKET : 100B
TIME : 06:00 AM - 18:00 PM

Starting with the Central zone, my first stop was at the King Ram Khamhaeng Monument. This is the most famous and much respected King during the Sukhothai golden era during year 1275 and 1317 and he is credited to develop the first Thai script. The worshippers were offering food to the king.

My second stop was at the Wat Mahathat. It is the largest and most spectacular Wat in park. It is surrounded with pillars and brick walls. It was once the main center of spiritualism and administration during the Sukhothai period.

An impressive and graceful-looking Buddhas.

Chedi (stupa)

Some Buddha carving within Wat Mahathat.

The condition of the statues are deteriorating due to the climate.

My next stop @ Wat Sra Sri, reflected on the pond.

Lush looking landscape with lotuses in the pond

The main sanctuary

A graceful looking standing Buddha, which the head moved aside, with the right hand raised up and left heel lifted upwards. It was really hot even in the morning, almost dehydrated! Cold drinks are really essential!

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WEST ZONE
TICKET : 100B
TIME : 06:00 AM - 18:00 PM

According to the map, I need to ride pass the “Or Gate” to reach the West Zone. It was a tricky one as there wasn’t any sign to reach the West Zone from the Central zone. I sought help from a villager who passed by on a bike. I was told to ride following the main road to exit from the village. My instinct I should be somewhere in front since there seem to be a village ahead of us. After few minutes ride, I was able get out from the village (part of the Central zone?) and was at the exit of Central zone(?). I rode to look for the “Or Gate”. I only noticed the “City Wall” sign. I was told to pay for the entrance fee 100B.

The ticket counter is just opposite the City Wall sign. This zone is less visited by the time I visited. There’s one impressive standing Buddha above the hill, Wat Saphan Hin. Besides, there’re some smaller ruins around this area, some of them are hidden in the trees and not guarded by anyone and I decided to keep cycling along the empty road and enjoy the scenery around. The field of sugar cane under the blue blue sky. The view was awesome.

Wat Saphan Hin - Huge Buddha on top of the hill. There is a guard to check the ticket at the bottom of the hill. I met few Japanese on the way up the hill; probably they have left a bamboo tag inside the alm. There is a news about a Japanese girl has been murdered by a local somewhere around this area.

Note : Should consider to ride here alone with extra cautious and be constantly aware of the surrounding in here as this area is very less visited and quite a distance from the Central zone and not certain if there is any wild animal that may attack tourist. Best to avoid this area during rainy seasons and when sky turns dark.