Sukhothai Historical Park

The second half of our Sukhothai tour was on bikes. I had not rode a bike in 10 years. I guess it is true that you never forget how to ride a bike. But you do become clumsy and awkward when you try it again for the first time in a decade. I chose a lovely pink bike. So did our guide, Kitti. From the bike shop we had about a mile and a half ride to get to the park. Part of this trip was on a busy road. God help us. We saw many temples, Buddha statues, and hot, sweaty, grumpy tourists. Many of the structures were around 700 years old because Sukhothai was the capital of Thailand during the 13th and 14th centuries.

Amazingly, everyone survived our bike trip in 95 degree heat and we headed back to the hotel. As we rolled in it looked like we just made it because the afternoon storm clouds were starting to roll in. Once again Kitti threatened to not take us to dinner because of rain. People were not happy about eating at a hotel again so we made the trip anyway. It was pouring. We stopped at a very local outdoor place where I fought a losing battle against mosquitos and flies all night. I lost both in terms of bites and inability to eat my fly ridden food. Stray dogs were everywhere hoping to get a bite of food. One of the cooks at our restaurant suddenly grabbed a whip and whipped the dog so hard it let out a scream that made our whole group jump. If the flies in my food and the bites all over my body weren't enough, that really killed my appetite.

Luckily, we stopped at a fruit market and tasted some delicious fruits on our way back. My favorite is the very common Rambutan. We also tried some Dragon fruit, and one that tasted like pomegranate.