Old Sukhothai to New Sukhothai

December 6, 2019 to December 8, 2019

The New Bike Trail

The New Bike Trail

There is a brand new bike trail that goes all the way from Old to New Sukhothai. Well, it’s not brand new because Frankie rode on it three weeks before. But the asphalt was still looking quite brand spanking new. We were thrilled to be able to ride just a hundred meters from our guest house and be on the trail without having to deal with cars for ten miles. A brilliant idea to connect tourists who mostly stay in New Sukhothai with the ancient ruins of Old Sukhothai.

The new bike trail from Old Sukhothai to New Sukhothai complete with signs.

We hadn’t gone far when the trail went right past a beautiful ancient temple ruins - Wat Chang. We had to stop because, well, you have to stop at ancient temples as far as I’m concerned. And there sitting on the ancient wall we met Urs from Switzerland. We had quite a nice conversation with him. He lives many months per year in nearby Phitsanulok and had ridden his bike over to Old Sukhothai as he has done many times. Wat Chang is one of his favorite Sukhothai sites. It was a very peaceful setting. We talked about everything important in order to save the world and then he was off. We explored Wat Chang a bit and then we were off.

Urs, our new friend, at Wat Chang. Chang means elephant.

The chedi at Wat Chang. The chedi is the symbolic burial crypt for Buddha or the actual place for relics of The Buddha. The chedi is almost always directly in back of the viharn or main temple.

Frangipani tree against the backdrop of Wat Chang's chedi.

The bike trail winds through rice fields and quiet neighborhoods and generally follows the same little stream, Mae Ramphan, that our bungalow was next to. In places it held water but farmers were pumping it out to irrigate their crops. It seemed they were dead-set on emptying that little stream of all its water. In other places the water seemed deeper and the surface was covered with water lilies, lotus, and other water plants making for as much greenery as the green green rice fields.

I wouldn't mind a bike trail like this through the entire country.

I've found that rice fields provide a nice backdrop for photographing grasses and wild flowers.

The end of the bike trail for us, the beginning for anyone starting in New Sukhothai.

The bike trail made for a very relaxing ride and I expect coffee shops and restaurants will pop up along its length and they too will be relaxing places to be because they will be in the countryside or in quiet neighborhoods. There is great potential if tourists use it. We were certainly met with lots of friendly greetings as the neighbors were realizing the potential too.

It was a rude awakening, after ten miles, to suddenly in front of a busy, noisy highway. We were not far from nice guest houses and the downtown area of New Sukhothai so it wasn’t that big a deal to navigate.

Coincidentally we chose the same guest house Frankie had chosen three weeks earlier; Baan Thai Guest House ($14). And even more of a coincidence was that we were put in the same bungalow he had. It was one of the smallest bungalows we’ve ever stayed in and we kept referring to it as our camper van. The owners were very friendly and the housekeeper fed the many large koi by hand. During feeding times there was a lot of very loud sucking sounds coming from the koi pond when the fish were literally sucking the food out of her hand. I’ve never seen anyone feed fish in such a manner.

The grounds of Baan Thai Guest House were full of flowering trees and other beautiful vegetation.

From within our camper van bungalow at Baan Thai Guest House.

We stayed in New Sukhothai for a couple of days because we liked our bungalow and I have always been under the impression that Sukhothai was a great town. It turned out that it was a nice town but not great. I found my favorite food at a restaurant - tray food - very nearby so I was happy. One night we ate on the street under trees filled with thousands of birds. We’ve found that a certain species of of bird congregate around sunset like crows do and always have a lot to talk about before bed. We also found very cheap and good real coffee and we interacted with several of the locals, one who had visited Seattle, spoke quite a bit of English and gave us hugs upon our departure. Hugs are rare from Thais, so the reason I mention it. It was quite sweet and special.

Eating on the street and deafened by birds.

Mannequins that had to be photographed because they were so strange.

You don't have to walk far to find food stalls anywhere in Thailand.

A typical menu board at restaurants. Andrea taught herself to read Thai so she can sound out things slowly.

Saturday night was the Walking Street which is something done in a great many cities throughout Thailand now. It may have been born out of showing tourists in major cities, like Chiang Mai, what the Thais had to offer in the way of foods and crafts. But it is now a totally Thai gathering on a street every Friday or Saturday night. Food is the main attraction and at this particular Walking Street there were hundreds of Thais eating it up. Again we found ourselves to be the only tourists. We walked back to our guest house with more than enough bags of curries and rice than we needed for dinner (chicken curry, pork with long beans, 6 fish cakes and rice = 80 Baht or $2.66). We dumped it all into our bowls and had a feast next to the koi pond.

We also were enjoying the cold wave and even had to dig out our fuzzos (fleece jackets). Mine was at the bottom of a pannier and I seriously didn’t think I’d see it again until the flight back home. It actually felt good in our mornings which were a chilly 54F, (12C). Again, we were the only ones at the guest house so we chose a neighboring bungalow with more sunshine on their patio on which to eat our papaya breakfast concoction. Superb in the warm sun.

A patch of sun hitting a neighboring bungalow makes for a perfect place to eat our breakfast.

It was a pleasant and relaxing time in New Sukhothai. Our entire time in Thailand had been this way and we were starting to realize we were not on a hair-raising bicycle trip after all.

lovebruce

Today's ride: 10 miles (16 km)
Total: 373 miles (600 km)

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Comment on this entry	Comment	3

Ron SuchanekI love the bike path. Also, it looks you're enjoying some well-deserved good weather in Thailand.
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4 years ago

Jen RahnDinner for two, $2.66?!
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4 years ago

Andrea BrownTo Jen RahnThis is why we tell you you would like Thailand.
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4 years ago