Fri 27Jan
Up bright and early and grabbed breakfast at the scooter ladies café before crossing the road to the busy train station . Headed up the platform to the front for Carriage 2 – 3rd Class BHT168 each! Very happy when we boarded to see padded seats as thought we might be on benches all the way – 5 hours to Phitsanulok and then change to a bus or minibus to Sukhothai. We were definitely in the minority – a few backpackers dotted around but mainly locals. Many food vendors walking up and down the carriages singing their ditties to sell their wares (wasn’t at all tempted!) – happy with our peanuts and roasted broad beans! We revaluated our dates and journey times and decided that after Sukhothia we would certainly have had enough of Wats so maybe we should head straight to Chiang Mai after – if Sarah & Glyn could have us earlier and of course this meant we would miss the flower festival there which I had really been looking forward to! Messaged Sarah and this would work for her  though was a little confused when she told me the Brazilian would be ready! Not sure if she intended for me to have a Brazilian waxing or whether she thought I’d ditched Alan and had some hunky South American man waiting my arrival .. all the excitement ended up being an auto correct on the phone (should have read Braai (BBQ)!) still exciting enough! Her and Glyn think we are crazy doing all these Wats – keep asking whether we’ve “pissed and had a look”! Anyhow the train finally pulled into Phitsanulok station about 45 mins late! Dying to pee but didn’t want the train experience so waited for the station! Not sure it was any better and charged 3 BHT for the privilege! Decided we needed a lunch stop first before trying to find the bus for the next step of the trip! A little search found a café – food seemed to have a Vietnamese influence so I happily ordered some fresh spring rolls – wrapped in rice paper and full of veg and herbs – yummy choice! Went in search of minibus/bus to continue our journey. Seems like we had to make our way to the bus station – but a Dutch man we had spoken to earlier had told us that the bus passes by the Traveland Hotel and you can go from there, the hotel was opposite! Firstly the hotel could be seen way in the distance – towering above all buildings! Decided to get a metred taxi there as too hot and a little too far! Mistake agreeing on price before we left – should always turn metre on! Lady taxi driver set off for hotel and was getting confused due to language miscoms, every time Alan said bus she started to take off to bus terminal and I kept telling her no Travelland – what a fiasco – she drove right by (I think sometimes their lack of understanding is intentional)! Heading off to the bus station – I told her to pull over immediately and drop us there! Crazy lady . So off we bounded over pavement and dirt track – back to the hotel. The Concierge pointed us in the right direction! Finally after trying to wave down a random bus the driver signalled for us to move further up the road and then we found the “stop” with a very cheery group of basket sellers who apparently wanted the same bus as us! Much laughing a smiling and waited about ½ hr and it finally came along! Overloaded with people and luggage – great – hold your breath and dive in – slight problem is the bus is built for Thais – so anyone over about 5’10” cant stand straight! Was going to be a comfy 50 mins journey! Alan stood in the open doorway (we were at the back) and I started with a bent head but after much hilarity with our new friends, the basket sellers, decided it was better to lean forward over all the back packs! I eventually ended up sitting on some of them! Then the bus conductress tried to rip me off 100BHT in change by also pleading ignorance and nodding and smiling. I wasn’t going to let her get away with it and finally I handed her back the wad of change and she sheepishly grabbed the right change and handed it back – much snickering from my new friends! Got a seat for the last 10 mins but poor Al stood all the way! Happy to see Sukhothai Station we baled out and decided to get our tickets for Chiang Mai on Sunday whilst there . Piled into a tuk tuk in search of the Blue House Guesthouse! We had decided to stay in new Sukhothai as more choice and cheaper – old Sukhothai is 14kms away and very small. Interesting approach to the GH through an active day market area, wondering what we were going to. At the end of the little street was the brand new building with the Blue House – rated 9 on Agoda.com! Very clean and new and friendly chap, Dean, welcomed us and gave us our key. They all need passport details on check in and he gave us a map of the area and told us where we could get food! Great room with towels rolled to make swan – heart creation on the 4 poster, net adorned, king size bed with a pretty flower on top! Off to a great start and had a mini fridge in room too – all for bargain rate of $51 for 2 nights. No hope of finding anything but a hard mattress in Thailand though! Found a restaurant nearby called “Poo’s” where we had a Thai meal – am getting picky now and can tell a good tasty Thai meal from a tourist produced one, just way more flavourful! Catching up on month end stuff for Canadian bills and making sure the 3 dependants have enough to buy food! Sleep in (probs because hard bed meant much tossing and turning through the night) – and up at 8.  

Sat 28 Jan
Good breakfast in GH – very friendly and accommodating family run it! Luckily they have a very western breakfast menu – usual fruit yog and muesli for me and coffee involved grinding the beans and making us 2 mugs of steaming hot very tasty coffee! Yes I love this place! We rented a scooter – BHT200 – to drive to the old city and have for the day . Passed the “Big C” supermarket (hadn’t seen one since Phuket) so made Al pull in and look for some kind of herbal teas as I have run out and you cant find anything except reg tea around! Found a box of Twining's green tea with mix of apple, orange, lemon, jasmine and plain – sounds good to me so off we set again! Arrived at Sukhothai Historical park and parked the scooter by the gate – only bikes are allowed to ride around the grounds – for a fee of BHT10! Again – thanks to the late King – all entrance fees waived! This impressive World Heritage Site has the remains of 21 sites and 4 large ponds in the park and over 70 sites outside the walls and within a 5km radius! Most of the Chedi are of the lotus bud style – making them very attractive – the ponds are also scattered with beautiful pink lotus flowered water lilies! Wat Mahathat is the largest one and an amazing site to stroll around! Very busy with some tourist groups – mainly French speaking. Took so many pics and there were so many Wats that I'm not going to name them! You’ll have to go there to see the beauty and awesomeness of it all! Spoke to a French guy who was giving us tips for Laos and Cambodia – said there are so many Canadians there – he was travelling with a Canadian girl for a bit! He reiterated about the boats on the Mekong being overcrowded so Al & I decided it would be worth paying a little more and taking the Nagi Line of which I had read only good reviews about, and Mums contact, Ivan, had recommended – so messaged Sal as the Makin's are likely joining us on this part of our travels. We decided to go for it and emailed for space on 12th Feb – southbound – 2 day journey from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang (Laos) – booked it and decided we would try and meet Mike & Sal in Chiang Rai on about 9th Feb. Spent the morning looking around and then had smoothie and a papaya salad at a nearby café. In the afternoon we explored some of the outlying Wats, including Wat Si Chum , Wat Phra Phai Luang with beautiful ruins, one with a brand new Wat (very bright gold painted Buddha) and one with a tiny little temple with a green 1000 year old Buddha hidden away. We travelled a little out of town to the Wat Saphan Hin which is located on the top of a hill and had to walk up the stone Bridge ( really a slate raised path by now) to get the good view back over the trees of Sukhothai. We passed many ruins coming back through the countryside into the old town. We had a quick look at a temple over a small bridge housing Buddha's perfect footprint! Now hot and tired we grabbed an ice-cream before heading back to the new town on the scooter. Had a quick squiz around near where we were staying so we knew where to walk to in the evening and then returned the scooter to the GH. Time to put the feet up for a while before heading to the night market. Market was packed with younger kids - food stalls everywhere so we decided to try the sausages as a man was cooking different types and they were going like hot cakes. I got the most delicious little round balls all in the casing looking like a string of beads. Once cooked they cut the balls off and give you a plastic bag and a skewer to eat them - omg they were so tasty - full of lemongrass, basil, chilli and pork based. Also got some chicken satays from another stall and then got potato chips on a skewer! A potato cut on the swirl and then deep fried! Wandered around looking at the pretty junkie clothing and jewellery stalls and decided to have a drink in a lively pub on the way home. Had a Mai Tai and shared a plate of spring rolls and tempura veg with Al - served by a Lady Boy - only knew when he opened his mouth and the deep voice came out- so hard to tell! Strolled back to GH and packed up ready for next day departure!