this past weekend i went to another ancient city in the north known as sukhothai. this city is an overnight bus ride from chonburi, so i left right away after school on friday. sarah and i were able to catch a 4:50 bus that eventually made it to the city of phitsanulok around 2 in the morning. phitsanulok is about an hour and a half outside the historical park of sukhothai, so we decided to spend the night before making our way over to the ruins.

rice paddies lined both sides of the highway as we approached the park. i sat in awe trying to comprehend the shades of green that seemed impossible. it was the greenest green i have seen in my life. it was so….. perfect.

we dropped our bags off at a hostel a few kilometers from the bus station, rented motorbikes, and left for the park. the park was very similar to ayutthaya. it was calm, quiet, and full of buddhist statues. there were crumbling brick walls and motionless ponds.

the whole park is essentially what the ancient city was. there are different zones, including a central zone which was surrounded by water and palm trees. since sarah and i had already seen ruins a couple weeks ago, we decided to take the motorbike somewhere random.

we left the ancient city wall to the west, and started picking roads to follow. i would choose one, sarah would choose the next. we stopped as cows crossed the road. we were greeted by local children, as they happily spoke the little bits of english they knew. we found more rice paddies, and found the points where they connected. we also saw the perfect-circle-sun set over the mountains.

it is truly awesome that most places in thailand offer motorbike rentals. the freedom of having a motorbike to explore on our own is one of my favorite perks of traveling thailand. it allows us to adapt when we have no structured plans, and also lets us find those hidden places. as a documenter, i am always trying to find that place that is unknown to everyone. i want to find the places that are real, whether i am in thailand or back home.

thank you, thailand, for making traveling so easy and carefree.

p.s. i have plans for vietnam, laos, cambodia, malaysia, singapore, indonesia, nepal, and india (in that order).