Thailand & Cambodia are awesome!

[Tee Kay]

I got them off wikipedia. Do you mean that they look crappy or aren't accurate? Or both?

Both. A lot of those borders just follow modern borders, and where they don't they're lazily drawn. Besides, applying modern political cartographic conventions to medieval Southeast Asian polities is misleading anyway, since they were organised quite differently (typically, a dominant city-state with some sort of vassalage relationship with the surrounding city-states).

And I wonder if you might be helpful in naming temples once we start getting to the ones that I have no idea about. That'll mostly be in Cambodia when I was templing around like a madman... Although with maps and timestamps I *should* be able to figure a bunch of them out.

I know about Thai stuff just because I was born there; not sure how helpful I'll be on Cambodia though I was in Siem Reap a few years ago probably touring the same temples that you've been visiting.

 

[warpus]

Both. A lot of those borders just follow modern borders, and where they don't they're lazily drawn. Besides, applying modern political cartographic conventions to medieval Southeast Asian polities is misleading anyway, since they were organised quite differently (typically, a dominant city-state with some sort of vassalage relationship with the surrounding city-states).

That's a very interesting article. I guess the problem is that political maps are so common, so it's tempting to present historical data in the same format even if the question of "who controls what?" is not quite accurate. And I mean, say I wanted to find some maps to post from specific Thai time periods which were more correct? Where do I find them? I really have no idea. I've just been googling stuff - a lot of maps are too small, a lot are ugly, there's a lot of garbage, so you sort of go with what you get. And I think any of the historical maps I find are going to be of the political map variety.

The whole mandala business is very interesting though, I sort of had no idea. It puts a lot of the things I experienced when I was over there in a slightly different context in a way. Thanks for the link!

I know about Thai stuff just because I was born there; not sure how helpful I'll be on Cambodia though I was in Siem Reap a few years ago probably touring the same temples that you've been visiting.

Yeah, probably. I forgot you were from there, I think I might have known that, from the "Where should I go in Thailand?" thread maybe.

 

[warpus]

Exploring Ayutthaya island

Ayutthaya was burned to the ground by the Burmese army in 1767. The city was never rebuilt in the same place and today the central island and surrounding region remains a vast archaeological site. It is also a UN World Heritage site.

The tuk tuk dropped me off near the centre of the island at about 3:30pm. The first thing of note that I saw was this:

And then this:


Link to video.

This guy here doesn't seem to be having a very good time..

And that hook...

Viharn Phra Mongkol Bopit

 

[warpus]

Wat Phra Si Sanphet

Built in 1448, Wat Phra Si Sanphet is the largest temple ruin in Ayutthaya. It's literally a couple steps away from the temple in the last post, so it was the obvious next stop on my walk around the island.

It didn't really seem like any part of the complex was off limits.

Wat Phra Si Sanphet was awesome, but I was getting hungry. I consulted a map and started heading east.

 

[warpus]

Wat Thammikarat

Walking throuth Ayutthaya historical park was a treat.

I was walking north-east, by necessity of the paths laid out in front of me. I was trying to go south-east. Ah well. And what is that behind the bush there?

Is it...

Yes..

Yes

YES

Yes, if you want to see rooster statues, you've got to go to Wat Thammikarat

 

[warpus]

Deep fried duck and the end of day 4

I was now tired and hungry. Walking east took me closer to restaurants, but I decided not to head to the backpackers' part of the island. I wanted to treat myself. My lonely planet guide claimed that there were a couple really good restaurants right on the river, southwards... I made it my mission to locate one of them and make dinner into a feast.

Here's my last picture from Wat Thammikarat, from a display set up by one of the vendors who tried to push her wares on me:

And here's a guy I ran across while trying to find a road or path to take me south.

This is Rama public park. I should have explored it, but.. I had only one thing on my mind: food.

An hour after I left the army of roosters behind I was sitting at a decently nice looking restaurant, overlooking the Chao Phraya river.

I had no idea what to order, but didn't want standard Thai fare. I was feeling adventurous. I ordered some sort of a deep fried duck, spring rolls as an appetizer, and a beer named Leo.

The deep fried duck arrived.. it looked like a mess, was smothered in a sweet bbq-like sauce, and sat on a bed of crispy noodles.

And it turns out that I LOVE deep fried duck. It was amazing. This is definitely one of those meals that I will never forget. I devoured everything on the plate and got dessert.. and another beer. When I was done it was getting dark and I had to start thinking about finding my guest house, which at the time I estimated to be about a half an hour away on foot.

Aaaaand I got lost. Sort of. The pamphlet I had from the guest house I was staying at had a map on it - but it was sort of a bit vague. I asked a couple random people on the street if they could point me in the right direction, but nobody seemed to be able to make out the map.. Long story short two very friendly Thai girls called the guest house for me and pointed me in the right direction. Thai people are awesome like that - you can ask a random stranger on the street something and you are likely to get a warm response. 97% of the time that's what my experience was anyway.

Back at the guest house I met an older British gentleman who was good friends with the owner. He treated me to some pizza and told me stories of his travels, after which we of course discussed English football.

I fell asleep that night still thinking about deep fried duck.

 

[Cutlass]

Were English speaking people common there?

 

[MilesGregarius]

The deep fried duck arrived.. it looked like a mess, was smothered in a sweet bbq-like sauce, and sat on a bed of crispy noodles.

Pictures!!!

 

[warpus]

Were English speaking people common there?

A lot of people who I approached could speak a bit of English at least and a decently sizeable subset of those people were pretty good at it. But even if they didn't really speak it or understand it, they would look at me, look at my map, and they would try to help by pointing me in the right direction. But yeah, the majority of people I approached knew at least a couple words.

Mind you I only tried to approach people who seemed approachable.. which was sort of most people, but if I found myself in a part of town that didn't seem very tourist-frequented, I generally tried not to mingle.. unless I really needed help. A lot of my trip also took me through parts of the country where tourists tend to go, meaning that the locals would have been used to people asking them things in English - and might have tried to learn a bit of the language for that reason, for business reasons, or whatever.

I'm pretty sure that none of the villagers that we ran across on my hike near Chiang Mai understood any English, for example. But if I were to compare my experience to Peru, Thailand wins hands down. It was incredibly hard to find English speaking people in parts of Peru, even though it is also a big tourist destination.

Pictures!!!

Unfortunately as soon as the food arrived I began to dig in. No time to get the camera out. Besides, I'm not really one to take photos of food.. although I did do that a couple times on my trip.

 

[warpus]

Birthday celebrations in Sukhothai

That's right, day 5 of the trip was my birthday! Day 5 aka my birthday aka Thursday, November 21st, 2013. Also known as one of the least eventful days on the trip. But that's okay, because I didn't mind a mellow day at all.

It started with an early rise and a 6 hour long bus ride from Ayutthuya (near Bangkok on the map) to Sukhothai.

The bus ride was fairly uneventful. I sat beside an older Thai lady who spoke not a word of English. She was quite nice, even offered me some of the snacks she had bought at the rest stop. The rest stop which was weird - a bunch of random food stalls and an open air convenience store type place with chips, snacks, and drinks.. There were a lot of bags around. Bags filled with stuff. Most of the stuff did not look familiar to me, so I bought a bag of chips.

Upon arrival in Sukhothai and checking into a guest house I was immediately greeted with an invitation to partake in a birthday shot. See, when you check in you usually have to confirm which exact dates you will be spending at the establishment by filling them out on a piece of paper.. So I quipped that I of course know what day it is.. Next thing I know the guy behind the counter is pointing to a large seethrough vase that's standing on the counter. It had.. a whole bunch of stuff in it. It looked like water you'd maybe scoop up from an aquarium or something.

I thought it was a joke.. but it totally wasn't a joke. The stuff in the vase was something homemade. I did the shot and it was birthday worthy.

So why was the rest of the day so uneventful? Well... initially I wanted to do something for my birthday. But it was already almost 5pm. By 6pm it would be dark and I was beat. I just wanted to relax. There weren't really any bars around.. but there was beer you could buy at the restaurant attached to the guest house! The seats were in a cool courtyard type place with many plants, paintings, and generally a very nice atmosphere. I sat down, stayed for a couple hours, ate a bunch of tasty Thai food, drank a bunch of beer, surfed the web on a small ipod touch, checked my email, read a book, read up on the historical park I wanted to visit the next day, met an English guy named Nathan who hated football (soccer) and who was bitten by a dog.. and.. yeah, that's how I spent my birthday. It was good. An entirely enjoyable feast and a relaxing evening with the internet and a book and of course beer.

This was actually also the 4th time I've celebrated a birthday on a new continent. In chronological order we have: Europe, North America, South America (Patagonia, 2008), and now Asia. In 2010 I flew to New Zealand a day after my birthday, so I could have had oceania too. Ah well. And I guess next I'll be celebrating my birthday somewhere in Africa?

 

[warpus]

Sukhothai Historical Park

Sukhothai Historical Park is about 13km (8 miles) from the modern city of Sukhothai, which is where I was staying.

Let's let wikipedia do the talking here:

The Sukhothai Historical Park covers the ruins of Sukhothai, capital of the Sukhothai kingdom in the 13th and 14th centuries, in what is now the north of Thailand. It is located near the modern city of Sukhothai, capital of the province with the same name.

The city walls form a rectangle about 2 km east-west by 1.6 km north-south. There are 193 ruins on 70 square kilometers of land.

So I woke up, ate breakfast, stumbled into town, found an ATM, jumped on a bus to the historical park, rented a bike, and spent a couple hours leisurely exploring the place. There is a lot of green space there and water as well - a pleasure to explore on a bike.

The first temple that caught my eye was Wat Mahathat. It is surrounded by brick walls and a moat.

I guess it's also a good place for wedding pictures?

I had to leave my bike behind and explore Wat Mahathat on foot.

 

[Goodfella]

I guess it's also a good place for wedding pictures?

Yeah, he looks like a boss.

 

[Tee Kay]

Sukhothai by the way is just about my third favourite place in the country (after Go Ngai and Doy Inthanon)

 

[warpus]

Yeah, he looks like a boss.

I like to imagine that he wore those sunglasses through the ceremony too.. If this was a wedding pic, and it sort of looks like one.

Sukhothai by the way is just about my third favourite place in the country (after Go Ngai and Doy Inthanon)

I researched Inthanon and had it on my radar, but didn't end up venturing further than I think Doi Suthep park, just outside of Chiang Mai...

Sukhothai was great, I'm glad I stopped there on my way to Chiang Mai

 

[warpus]

More Wat Mahathat

This was one of my favourite Thai temples. Parts were just truly beautiful, even if so incredibly beat up

 

[warpus]

Even more Wat Mahathat

I like how this photo turned out

I know selfies are lame, but here's a Buddha selfie.

 

[warpus]

Cycling around Sukhothai Historical Park

I got back on my bike and continued exploring the park.

The King Ramkamhaeng Monument looked interesting enough to visit.

Turns out it was actually built in 1971 and that King Ramkamhaeng is the guy from Civ 5.

I can't stress enough how much I enjoyed this bike ride. It was just so relaxing.. and beautiful.

 

[warpus]

Wat Sa Si

That pink thing must have been a remnant from the Lok Krathong lantern festival, the one I witnessed in Bangkok on day 1.

The next temple I stopped at was Wat Sa Si

Perspective can be a funny thing...

Same statue

 

[Goodfella]

I like to imagine that he wore those sunglasses through the ceremony too.. If this was a wedding pic, and it sort of looks like one.

Aren't Thai wedding dresses colorful?

 

[warpus]

Aren't Thai wedding dresses colorful?

I had no idea, but:

Thai brides don't have a standard wedding dress but tend to wear a traditional, close-fitting, brightly colored Thai silk ensemble during the wedding ceremony. It is often adorned with gold jewelry encrusted with semiprecious stones. White is growing in popularity, and some brides opt for a Western-style wedding gown at the evening reception. Black is never worn -- and should not be worn by guests -- as it is considered to be bad luck and the color of mourning.

Based on that description that looks a lot less like a wedding dress, but if you google image search Thai bride dresses you can find a couple girls who wear something similar as in the photo.. plus there seems to be a lot of liberty in the type of dress that people accept as a wedding dress. So who knows, but that looks like a wedding photo to me.

edit: oh great, I'm already seeing ads for Thai bridal dresses on other websites