"I visit Sukhothai 5 times with difference group of friends and difference itinerary. Some of the places I visit more than 1 time but when P Hong (“P” stand for older sister with the same pronunciation with Thai word) who never been to Sukhothai try to group 6 friends to join trip to Sukhothai. I say yes (again) as the first one and I invited Fang and Yui (who always join trip without any question) and another 2 member Kero and Anh who seemed to be permanent member of my travel gang.

The date was set since December 2021 to be 21-23 January 2022 but because some of us start busy with works after Covid-19 situation is getting better. So, we decided to leave Bangkok at 11.00pm of 21 January as we expected to reach Sukhothai early morning to enjoy local breakfast there.

Since everyone are living in the city center except me so our meeting point was set at Amari Watergate Hotel. The reason because of me who live at border of Bangkok and always travel with my laptop want to spend some hours for works before start the trip so I book the room at Amari Watergate

https://www.amari.com/watergat...

The room I booked was Premier room with special rates voucher which I bought from travel fair for Thai at BITEC. I checked in at hotel before normal check in time but they were so kind to let me check in. I dropped my luggage at they transfer them to my room while I was out for lunch.

I like this hotel in term of location, it is very easy to go out for local food or even for shopper should be very happy because there are lots of shopping mall around the hotel and we can go more far by sky train (Ratchathevi station or Chidlom Station).

After lunch I came back to the room and saw the hygiene certified sticker on the door. And here are my room.

Good size for 1-2 persons or even 3^rd person as they have sofa bed. I guess that sofa bed can turn to be extra bed. Less decoration makes more space and the color of the room not to bright or dark.

View from the room with the wide glass wall can see nice difference view for day and night. Large bed looks very comfortable.

Fully amenities in bathroom and 6 bottles of drinking water.

It good that they have iron and iron-board then I can iron my jacket for tonight.

I spent hours working happily in the room (wi-fi is free).
10.00pm everyone ready at hotel’s lobby. Our captain today is Mr.Nhoo with the minivan with SHA+ certificate. We left hotel around 11.00pm as schedule and heading up to the north.

First stop after we left Bangkok around 3 hours is at the gas station in Nakornsawan province.

After that with another 3 hours, we reached to Sukhothai province (more early than our plan). We stopped at the local market (Wat Trapung Thong market) near the Sukhothai Historical Park because our driver recommends a good noodle shop.

But we arrived to early so the noodle shop was not ready yet. So, we were walking around the market to see what they are selling. See, what we picked.

Sticky rice with taro wrapped with banana leaf and and grill. 

Coconut pan cake

deep-fried dough stick

This one is you can find only in Sukhothai "Khanom Wong" it made from sticky rice power, deep fried and top with sugarcane and white sesame.

Grilled pork

"Khanom Tom" made from sticky rice power with sugar and coconut inside and top with coconut

Coconut steamed cake

Grilled banana with sweet coconut inside

Congee and Thai traditional ice coffee

And this is the way we eat congee with deep-fried dough stick

Actually, i was 5.30am but we had full table (not the main dish yet). We finished all of them but the noodle shop still not ready. And it was time for give alms to a monk. So, we all joined with local people.

After that went back to noodle shop again and our noodle was ready.

And she never disappoint the shop (always take two).

This noodle shop is recommended for those who arrive to Sukhumvit early morning. This is good stop before start tour around Historical Park.

We continue to Sukhothai Historical Park (they open 7.00am). And contacted the bicycle rental shop. And paid THB 30/bicycle for rental fee.

And we were ready to ride around.

We paid admission fee for ourself and bicycle. 

And this the check in point which no one miss.

In case that you do not want to ride the bicycle you can rent a electric car as well.

But we all preferred to ride. 

We stopped at Wat Mahathat temple and spend around 30 minutes there.

I came here 5 times already but still like to visit this temple. Sukhothai was a capital city of Thailand since more than 700 years ago (before Ayutthaya). But we still can see beautiful historical site.

Originally, Sukhothai was a Khmer empire's outpost named Sukhodaya. During the reign of Khmer Empire, the Khmers built some monuments there, several of them survived in Sukhothai Historical Park such as the Ta Pha Daeng shrine, Wat Phra Phai Luang, and Wat Sisawai. About some 50 kilometer north of Sukhothai is another Khmer military outpost of Si Satchanalai  or Sri Sajanalaya.

In the mid-13th century, the Tai tribes led by  Si Indradit  rebelled against the Khmer governor at Sukhodaya and established Sukhothai as an independent Tai state and remained the center of Tai power until the end of the fourteenth century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

We left Wat Mahathat and continue riding to another stop.

Since Covid-19 situation so we stopped only the place where there are less people and spend short time on each place. We finished riding around historical park in 1.30hrs.

And return the bicycle to the shop. This shop provide good services. They have small parking area behind the shop which very convenience.

We left Sukhothai Historical Park and continue to the famous temple "Wat Si Chum"

This temple is not big so we do not need to ride bicycle. 

And this is the reason why we did not see much picture of Anh at Sukhothai Historical park. Because she was finding traditional costume. And she is beautiful in this costume.

"Wat Si Chum" is one important temple in the Sukhothai's history.

Situated 800 metres west of Wat Phra Phai Luang is Wat Si Chum. A wihan in the form of a square mondop, which is the main sanctuary, houses a large monumental stucco Buddha image in the attitude of subduing Mara called “Phra Atchana”, which is 11.3 metres in width. “Achana” means a person who is not anxious but strong. The roof has already disintegrated, exposing just 4 walls of stuccoed bricks. There is a narrow passageway in the south wall with steps leading up to the side of the Buddha image and onto the top part of the wall. On the wall of the passageway features 700-year-old fainted paintings while on the ceiling are more than 50 engraved slate slabs illustrating Jataka scenes. A spectacular panoramic view of the Sukhothai Ancient City is visible on the rooftop accessible by the passageway. To boost morale of the ancient soldiers was the main reason for such mystery in Wat Si Chum. The kings of the Phra Ruang Dynasty were famous for that. One could go through the hidden passageway and address the people through a hole, making them believe the voice they were hearing was actually the Buddha's. There are no windows here. It is believed that a vaulted roof probably covered the wihan.https://www.tourismthailand.or...

We walked around the wihan and got some nice shots for them and then left for "Sawankhalok"
another district to see old town and famous street arts.

The district was originally the capital district of Sawankhalok Province, which in 1932 was merged with Sukhothai Province. The new province was at first named Sawankhalok, but in 1939 was renamed Sukhothai and its capital district moved to Sukhothai District.

In 1917, the district was renamed from Mueang (เมือง) to Wang Mai Khon (วังไม้ขอน). In 1938 it was named Mueang Sawankhalok (เมืองสวรรคโลก),which was changed to Sawankhalok in 1939 following the provincial renaming.

In the 14th–16th centuries the area was a center of ceramics manufacture, Sangkhalok ceramic ware being its best-known example. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

The reason we visit this place is the famous street art art which there are many artists paint on the wall along the small street here. And another reason is to try the noodle shop which selling more than 100 years. But we were not lucky , the shop closed.

It was 2pm so we must find something for lunch.

From Sawankhalok next stop is Banna Tonchan but P Hong requested to visit Si Satchanalai Historical Park. 

Since we have to reach to Banna Tonchun at 4pm so we decided to join the tram. 

There are 3 important temples in the Historical Park and the first stop was "Wat Chang Lom" Wat Chang Lom (Thai: วัดช้างล้อม) was built in 1286 by order of Ramkhamhaeng after the discovery of a Buddha relic on the site. The main structure of the temple is a two-tiered square base round the Sri Lanka-style laterite stupa. The name of the temple come from the statues of 39 standing elephants around the first tier of the stupa base. 

The elephants are remarkably full sized in front of the wall. Normally only the front half of the body is shown as in Wat Chang Rop and Wat Chang Lom in Sukhothai Historical Park. Also on the second tier of the stupa base are 20 niches that were originally filled with 1.4 m high Buddha images. Some Buddha images can still be seen today. There is a ruined vihara in front of the stupa as well as other smaller structures in the temple compound. 

The main sanctuary is surrounded by a thick wall made of laterite stones.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Opposite to Wat Chang Lom is "Wat Chedi Chet Thaeo" Wat Chedi Chet Thaeo (Thai: วัดเจดีย์เจ็ดแถว) means the temple of seven rows of stupa. The temple is one of the most important historic sites inside the town wall of Si Satchanalai. The temple is located in front of Wat Chang Lom and is considered unique among the temples in Sukhothai Kingdom, because it consists of 32 stupas of different sizes in different styles. The gigantic size of the temple in the town center indicates that this temple was built for the royal family. Vajiravudh wrote in his Phra Ruang City Journey that a local claimed that the temple was once called Wat Kalayanimit and was built by a daughter of Lithai. Damrong Rajanubhab believed that the temple was the burial place for the ruling family of Si Satchanalai. Pattern of Stupas at Wat Chedi Chet Thaeo are influenced by various artistic styles such as Sri Lanka, Lanna and Bagan stupa which has unique square tower base with a spherical top and arched hall façade stucco for standing Buddha image in beautiful Sukhothai style. Inside the temple, there were vihara, ordination hall, five mandapas and a sacred pond. There was also a defensive wall around the temple which was originally surrounded by a moat. 

And the last temple was "Wat Nang Paya" (Thai: วัดนางพญา) means the temple of queen. In Phra Ruang City Journey, Vajiravudh reported that, according to local legend, the temple was built by Pasuja Devi, a daughter of the Emperor of China; however, there is no archaeological evidence to support such a legend. The temple ground is fairly extensive. There is a large laterite stupa and remains of a seven-roomed vihara, in the typical style of Sukhothai and Lanna architecture, in the center of the compound. The temple is famous for the remains of beautiful stucco-reliefs on the wall of the Vihara. The stucco-reliefs are protected under the tin roof shelter.

P Hong really happy to visit Si Satchanalai Historical Park so our mission was done. We left and continue to Banna Tonchan. https://www.facebook.com/HomeS...

We stayed at "Baan Mae Rumporn" this community is really lovely. People hear are friendly and welcome all tourist. They have 30 homestay but when you make reservation you can not select home to stay by yourself. You just need to inform them number of pax and the period of stay and they will check capacity and availability of the house for you. Very good management.

And this is Aunty Rumporn the owner of our homestay.

There are 3 bedrooms as we are 6 persons.

3 bathrooms and toilets

Very nice house.

We dropped all luggage and went out for sightseeing around the community by local truck.

He took us to the first stop to try pure honey lemon.

Fresh lemon from picked from the tree and with the 100% honey bee.

Fang is always food auditor

And just a few minutes later.

In the same area there are big flower garden where open for tourist to take nice short.

We left the lemon farm and continue to another place.

Seem that this period is good to visit this community as there are yellow flower blooming around area.

We continue to next stop to enjoy children activities

Kero and Anh ordered this wooden jumping doll. This one can help you exercise your fingers.

After enjoyed the wooden jumping doll we continue to another place

Walking along the bamboo bride over the green rice field and take a deep breath to get fresh air was a very good moment.

And after the sunset, there were lighting from every houses.

So, it is time for dinner. We reach to the house for refreshment and prepare for dinner.

Food were ready by P Rumporn

And we were ready as well.  All food are very delicious. And sitting on the floor having dinner together like this is hardly see in Bangkok.  

So, when you step out from your place mean you are going to get new experiences. Experience with friends, food, culture, people etc., And this is the reason why we love going out.