Thailand has a long history of Kings (yes, only kings), uniting varied provinces and leading with foresight and pragmatism.
One of these kings ~ the third king of the Phra Ruang Dynasty, Ram Khamhaeng, ruled Thailand in the late 13th century, he invented the Thai alphabet and according to some sources is credited with the establishment of Theravada Buddhism as the state religion.
Sukhothai is the traditional home of this king and his dynasty, and although it hasn’t been a royal seat for about 400 years, Sukhothai still has a lot of pride. Previous to the Phra Ruang Dynasty gathering power in this location Thailand was a fragmented set of provinces and smaller kingdoms…..much like Italy or Germany prior to their own unifications process.
We rented bikes and rode through our first UNESCO world heritage site of Southeast Asia: Sukhothai Historical Park. The ride was heaven on earth with no car traffic, a relatively enjoyable temperature and our guide who was there to answer all of our questions as we made various stops along the way.
We also visited our first museum on this portion of the meander ~ the Ramkamaeng National Museum. The museum itself is pretty small, but has excellent English signage and a small sampling of original artifacts both inside the building and in an outdoor pavilion.
From Sukhothai we drove down the road a ways to see the 2nd home of Thai royalty ~ Ayutthaya. The drive was loooong (5/6 hours), and by the time we got there we were ready to be out of the van. This is the first road in Thailand that was consistently bad and Danny explained to us that it was a main commerce route for trucks so the road tends to need a lot of work. (If you look at the map of Thailand, you’ll notice Ayutthaya is directly North of Bangkok, making it a straight shot for trucks hauling goods to the Gulf of Thailand.)
Ayutthaya’s historical park was very cool ~ the Venice of the East. Historic Ayutthaya is surrounded by rivers, which made the kingdom easily defensible….until the Myanmar army invaded and burned it to the ground in the late 1800s. Not to make light of it, but they looted and pillaged and generally tried to destroy what they weren’t taking home with them. They left lots of headless buddha statues in their wake, which is kinda creepy and kind of interesting all at the same time. The Thai people quickly re-established their country and kingdom further south in Bangkok, relegating these ruins lost until they were rediscovered by another Thai king in the early 20th century.
One of the things I find most interesting about Thailand generally is the incorporation of all kinds of art and architecture from nearby countries who were sometimes friend and sometimes foe. Particularly, the temple ruins at Ayutthaya reflect a Cambodian influence ~ a corncob type topper as opposed to bell shaped or upside down lotus. The bell shaped topper and upside down lotus (“lotus butt” as described by Danny), are influences from other parts of the region. This royal endorsement of differences is evident even though the centuries have been full of strife/reconciliation/strife/peace with Cambodia, Myanmar (Burma), India, China…..you name the country in the region, the Thai people had “experience” with them.
Today the royal family is generally based out of Bangkok, but you see pictures of the current king and his queen literally everywhere. Because the king was born on a Monday, his color is yellow. When you see yellow and white bunting on a building you know it is a government run site, whether it’s a hospital, government office or police station. In case you’re looking for gift ideas for us, Marla’s color is green and Erin’s is blue.
The food in both locations was yummy. We’ve discovered some new favorites: a curried noodle soup called khao soi and a spicy-sour soup called tom yum. However, we’re starting to get a little jaded in our choices at this point. That feeling of “I’ve made this before in a cooking class and mine was better” kind of thing. Crazy but true!
One new food we had in Ayutthaya is a type of candy made from sugar cane named Roti Sai Mai. Sugar cane is boiled until it comes to a soft ball stage, then colors are incorporated and it is eventually stretched like ramen noodles. The strands get to about the diameter of vermicelli then cut into foot long-ish lengths, left to dry then packaged for sale. We had this sugar on sugar treat inside a very thin pancake like a little sweet burrito. Super sweet and super delish!
Would we live in either of these places ~ nope. Would we visit again? Probably not, but they are worth seeing at least once.
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