I'm now in Chiang Mai; I just booked three nights (Sat-Mon) in a place called "Sixty House". How did I get here?
Thursday Night
The last night in Ayutthaya I went to a nearby bar, the "Jazz Bar". Kind of a funny name because there was no jazz, and it was barely a bar. The establishment was about 200 sq ft and contained a bar and a fridge and that's it. All the tables and chairs were outside on the sidewalk and on the road. I watched the owner walk my yellow curry to me down the street from where ever his kitchen was. I met a couple Yanks. The one guy came to Thailand in July and just can't leave. His whole face lit up whenever he talked about his fondness for the Thai people. The next day I caught the bus to Sukhothai early.
Friday
The bus trip was six hours. I got in about 3:30. I spent the trip sat next to a Slovak guy. It turns out we were on the same train from Bangkok to Ayutthaya two days earlier and didn't know it. We booked two rooms as close to the Historical Park as possible instead of in the city. It was a quiet street with a couple restaurants and not much else. This was the first night where I went as cheap as possible: room without air cond ($8.50), and a small meal ($1). The meal was just noodle soup with big chunks of chicken, but the white meat tasted so much better than back home. I realized why the next morning. We walked around a small temple that had a sort of moat around it. It was full of fish that looked like perch and catfish. A small boy threw some fish pellets into the water and a hundred fish came to the surface. There were so many fish packed together that some of them squirmed on top of the mass and were completely out of the water. The big catfish just sat there with their large gaping mouths open and long whiskers jutting out of the water. Afterwards the two of us had a couple beers (big 640ml bottles for about $2.30).
Saturday
Woke up with the sounds of roosters piercing through the window. At one point I heard a chicken squawk and then the thawp of a meat clever on wood. I reckon if you want free-range, organic, steroid-free, genetically unmodified, fresh chicken, this is the place for it. We were on bicycles by 7am, and had completely seen the park by about 9:30. The park was wonderful. The grounds were beautiful with ponds everywhere amongst the huge ruins of an ancient empire. Had a spicy ginger chicken dish and a coconut full of milk. Caught the 10:20 bus to Chiang Mai, and got in about 3:30. The Slovak fellow and I booked in the same place in Chiang Mai, but we'll probably part ways pretty soon. He's just starting an 8 month trip through Asia, US, and Mexico. We didn't book ahead of time but just looked at a few guesthouses, and found one that we liked.
Some observations:
- The sun really is directly overhead in mid-day. It is hard to find shade because there are no shadows.
- I seem to be getting used to the heat. Sitting in the bar Friday night, the temperature was still 30C, and it felt very pleasant.
- The Thais are really good sleepers. They need no encouragement at mid day. You see them on buses sleeping, or even lying on the city streets on mats.
