Phitsanulok to Sukhothai: Excerpts From My Thailand Journal

If you are just tuning in, we are currently exploring Thailand on my school trip in 2019. We started in Bangkok and explored the old capital Ayutthaya. We then headed west to Kanchanaburi where we saw the remnants of World War II in the death railroad and checked out the floating market. Now we are heading north towards Chiang Mai, but first we have a stop in Phitsanulok and Sukhothai.

Day 1

Let me tell you, Phitsanlulok was the most fever dream part of this whole trip. We had arrived in the late afternoon after a long drive from Kanchanburi and a stop at the 100 Year Old Market and for lunch. After lunch was a 3 hour drive. I am serious this was such a long travel day. That’s the thing about tours: its cool that you get to see so many different places, but a lot of your time there is spent traveling around. You have to be prepared to spend a lot of time in a bus. I think you can still make this an exciting adventure though. I can’t tell you enough how content I am to just put in earbuds and stare out the window. There is still so much of the country you can take in.

Here was our itinerary for our seventh day of our EF tour of Thailand

Day 7 of Tour : Kanchanaburi | Phitsanulok
– Travel to Phitsanulok.
– Enjoy a free evening or
take an evening rickshaw ride through
the market.

We opted to take the rickshaw tour, because why not?

We were a bit tired when we arrived at the hotel so we rested for a bit and then began our ricksaw tour around 6. We toured around the city and would end at a market where we would get to try bugs (fever dream I am telling you.)

On our way to the bug market we stopped at a temple. At the market I tried a worm and chicken stomach while the others tried grasshoppers, beatles, frogs, and even scorpions. We walked through the market a little but and then went back on the ricksaw to a dining area. – June 12, 2019

I am stopping my journal entry here because there is much to unpack before the next chaotic stop. First lets begin with the concept of a ricksaw. Sure at 17 years old this sounded so fun! I was riding in the cart of the back of a bicycle while a local drove me around. Now I am thinking how terrible that was to be a white person in Asia having a local have to physically pedal me around. I know they got paid for it though. It was their job. They did it willingly, but some part of me still feels a bit guilty. It was still fun seeing the city this way though. You could take in every bit of it, not just the sights. You could hear everything around you, smell it, and feel the evening air. Then there was the zumba class just casually happening on the side of the road, like what is this place?!

At the market we went to a stand to try bugs. I am a pretty adventurous eater, but not when it comes to bugs. Quite a few people in our group was a bit more adventurous and tried it all. I drew the line after half a silk work and a chicken stomach. Those seemed just like chips or a cheeto, but I could in no way trick myself into eating a scorpion or a frog. I was just an observer for this one. Now lets continue this insane tour.

We ate chicken satay and mango sticky rice from the market. We also played a game where people had to catch the cooked veggies that the cook was frying up. Ms. J, (insert name), and (insert name) dressed up in hula costumes and had to catch them with a garbage can lid. – June 12, 2019

This one can’t explain to you. You just have to watch the video. I had no idea what was happening and how we ended up here. The food was amazing though! I had been wanting both chicken satay and mango sticky rice, so I was enjoying myself. It was just so unserious.

Afterwards we headed back to the hotel to eat even more food (I guess bugs and satay was not dinner?) I had papaya salad, some pad thai, and then somes foods that I have no idea what they were. I described them as “sushi, and jelly thing, and a coconut pancake thing”. After that was bed time

Day 2

We now were beginning our journey northward to Chiang Mai. It was going to be another long travel day. Thailand seems like it would be a small country, but it in fact is not. I was starting to wonder if Phitsanulok was a stop on the tour just to give us a break to Chiang Mai, but it ended up being one of the cities that stayed with me the most on this trip. My dad has a cousin married to a woman from this town, so being able to have visited where she is from is a really cool connection. Even so we had a lot more cool experience awaiting us.

Here was our itinerary for our eighth day in Thailand.

Day 8 of tour: Phitsanulok | Sukhothai | Chiang Mai
– Visit the Sukhothai Historical Park, a UNESCO
World Heritage Site and the nation’s spiritual
center. You’ll have the option to take a bike ride
around the temples after the tour.
– Travel to Chiang Mai via San Kamphaeng and
Bor Sang.
– With your Tour Director, visit the Chiang Mai
night market.

I am only going to talk about the pieces up until Chiang Mai, because trust me, Chiang Mai deserves its own post.

This day was an interesting one for me because it had marked the one year anniversary of my grandma’s death. She was on my mind all day, especially as I was biking around Sukhothai, because how happy would she be for me to have this experience! I have a pair of clip on earrings that were her’s from Siam. I am not sure if she ever actually visited, or if they were a gift to her, but either way I felt Thailand bringing us together.

One hour into the drive we stopped at Sukhothai, the old capital city of Siam. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We took a bike tour around the park. Some people ever rode tandem bikes. Like usual there was a stray dog following us. We stopped to take a look at some temple, memorials, and statues. I though it was really cool. As we drove by people smiled at us. I don’t think they get many tourists outside of Bangkok in Thailand- June 13th, 2019

It was beautiful day I think is the best way to describe it. I still remember to this day almost 7 years later and how it felt to be deep in my thoughts while biking around this site. It was a gorgeous day and it was so peaceful. There wasn’t really anyone other than the local bystanders that smiled and waved as we rode by like we were in a parade.

Sukhothai reminded me a lot of the old temples we had seen a few days previous in Ayutthaya, but they also felt different. I think it was the gardens and the ponds. It also was located in the countryside. There were rolling hills and green trees. There was something just so happy about it which is probably why is is called “Dawn of Happiness”. It was the golden age of Thai history and culture and much of what is considered Thai today comes from this 1200s and 1300s region of Siam.

After a bike ride through the temples and a stop for lunch we were back on our way to Chiang Mai, our furthest north stop on the tour. And that you will just have to read about in the next post.

If you haven’t read the rest of my posts from this trip, please head over to my Thailand page to see what else we did on this amazing trip through Thailand and Thai culture.