Phistanulok - Fits on a log

A bit of a long silence as we've been doing a lot of moving . . . or sorta moving. . . or moving kinda slowly. We left Koh Chaing and made the long journey back to Bangkok (in Thailand, it seems that All Roads Go Through Bangkok) but this time we decided to try a new hostel and were greatly rewarded. The hostel, Suk 11, was tucked down an alley with a few open air bars on the ground floor. Everything in the hostel was wood and cozy. Lots of rooms for people to sit and relax. The best best best part was, after a long long day of traveling, Kyle discovered that the hostel had outdoor showers. They were fully enclosed and on a sort of open porch. The hostel was pretty quiet so the luxury of taking a shower and listening to the bustling BKK below was a luxury indeed. Then out to an indulgent dinner - Italian food!! The pizza was great but the red wine left something to be desired. Guess you can't have it all. Anyway, it was a real luxury and the day of travel was a little rough so we needed a treat.

The second time around, Bangkok was much less overwhelming. Our home base was better, we knew our way around the Skytrain and to avoid the damn Tuk-tuk's at all cost.

The following morning, we packed up again and made our way to the train station (an adventure in itself!). After 4 hours on one of the bumpiest trains ever, conquering the squat toilet on said turbulent train (Indian Jones would be impressed) and bearing the odor of the smelliest European alive (there should be laws about that kind of stink in an enclosed public space) and we arrived at Phitsanolok.
P-lok is a bustling town with a lively riverfront night market and two vast food markets. One of the best features of town is the amazingly hilarious outdoor fitness/play area. Imagine your gym's elliptical machine or rowing erg painted yellow, red and blue and cemented into the city's public park.
Kyle and I met up with one of Kyle's friends from her NOLS trip to Alaska this summer, Liz, and her boyfriend Chris. Both originally from Seattle, they are traveling for several months as well. We played some cards at the hostel while drinking Chang and Singha beers (oh Portland . . . I miss your microbrews!!) before heading to dinner and a stroll through the night market.
We snacked on these little crispy pancakes with what appeared to be marshmallow Fluff and other soft pancakes filled with another kind of custard/pudding. After snacking, strolled through the night market - fully of oddities. We rounded out our night with more Singha at the waterfront stalls, each stall blasting it's own music and serving the same beers. The four of us had a really pleasant evening of strolling and eating.

Today was an early day to get to Sukothai which has a historic ancient city just outside the modern city of Sukhothai. A 1 hour bus ride turned to two and a half but we eventually made it to the historic city. After renting some fantastic cruiser bikes, we made our way around the ruins. Amazingly, there were very few tourists and quite a few Thai families having picnics. We walked all around the amazing ruins of a city based around temples (Wat) devoted to different images of the Buddha. I took a zillion pictures as well. We ventured down a lonely road to see the two ruins outside the main part of the city. With no one around and just fields on all sides, it was an amazing way to beat the heat.

After we just couldn't stand the sun anymore, we headed back to town for lunch and back on a bus to P-lok. The heat is still fairly intense but I think I'm learning to just deal with being sweaty and take cooling showers in the afternoons. Tomorrow, we're off to Chang Mai to see the northern part of the country and maybe do a little trekking. After today's bicycle adventuring, we've decided that's just the only way to see the town sights!