Bangkok one last time and more temple diving in Sukhothai

The next day we woke up around 5:30 to be ready for our taxi at 6. We wanted to get to the Thai border as close to 8 as possible because we wanted to make it back to Bangkok that day, if possible. Well, on the Thai side of the border we found a van, not a bus, which shaved a couple hours off the trip and we got back to Bangkok before 2. We relaxed most of that afternoon at the White Lodge, the hotel from our first few days in Bangkok, and then had a very American night.

We had McDonald’s for dinner and then went and saw Mission: Impossible 4 at one of the huge mega-malls near our hotel. That movie was terrible, but then again I wasn’t exactly hoping for anything special. I’m not entirely proud of having such an American night while in an awesome foreign city such as Bangkok but I feel like we could justify ourselves easier than most people: we’d spent the last two years out of the US and (I at least) had been craving some fast food and a movie theatre for a while.

The next day Henry and I went to the Laos embassy to try to get our visas and man did that turn out to be a pain in the ass. The BTS didn’t go all the way there, so instead of doing that and then getting a cab we decided to just take a cab the whole way. Well, it took us about an hour to get there in the cab because the traffic was so terrible. The total we spent in transportation that day was more than we’d normally been spending on hotels. Well, we got the visas but to add another kink in our plans, the cell phone network was down so we couldn’t call Patrick to tell him and Paul to go get bus tickets the next day.

That night we met up with a married couple named Susan and Adam. Susan had worked with Kim Peven, a fellow PCV from our training group in Cameroon who extended for another year, in New Orleans when Kim was getting her MPH. Now, Susan and Adam live in Bangkok where Adam teaches English at an American school and Susan does Public Health consulting. Susan was also a PCV in Cote D’Ivoire and was one of the last volunteers there to finish her service before the evacuation before the civil war. They were two awesome people and let us stay at their house that night. Not only that, but they ordered a couple pizzas (almost entirely for us) and left us to our own devices for the most part as they were somewhat overwhelmed with work. They also had a new baby, Meryl, who was adorable, and a big dog, Chester, who was a lot of fun to play with.

The next day was Susan’s birthday so we gave her a small present that Kim had sent with us: a little dress made out of traditional African fabric. Susan seemed to like it while Adam may have been a bit confused as to why it also came with a little head wrap made from the same fabric. I guess you have to have lived in Africa to get that part. Anyway, like I said earlier they were two standup people and we were very thankful that they opened up their house to us so eagerly—without even knowing us. This was our first lesson about RPCVs (Returned Peace Corps Volunteers): we stick together. (I guess I should say “we and our significant others” to not exclude Adam, who was equally awesome.)

Anyway, we soon headed out and made our way to the bus station north of town where we soon caught a bus to Sukhothai. Sukhothai was an ancient Thai capital from like the 1400’s and is also a UNESCO world heritage site. There was a little contention in coming here as I really wanted to, Henry and Paul hadn’t really heard of it, and Patrick didn’t think we’d be able to due to time and travelling around Christmas which we were told was a bit difficult (or maybe he didn’t want to at first, I don’t know). Anyway, I coaxed them into agreeing to go and we followed our normal protocol and immediately walked away from the bus station and found a beer before figuring out where to stay.

We found a really cool hostel called “No. 4 Guesthouse”. It was possibly the guesthouse that was the least “advanced” but the most charming. We still had wifi here but the little bungalows were made of wood and bamboo and seemed like they could fall over with a strong push. It was also built in the middle of a swamp so the mosquitoes were everywhere. Inspite of this, I loved the place. The woman who ran it was eclectic and funny and the place just had an awesome charm to it that I haven’t seen since.

We spent two nights in Sukhohthai and on our one full day we rented motos and rode out to the “Old City” where we saw some more ruins that were really quite awesome. They were on a much smaller scale than Angkor Wat, though I think I enjoyed Sukkothai more. For one, there were a lot less people and commotion. For another, it was a lot cheaper and low key. We got in for around 3 bucks and were able to ride our motos just about everywhere except on the actual ruins. We spent a good number of hours exploring the temples and trying not to compare Sukhothai to Angkor Wat, but doing it nonetheless. Also, the degree to which the Thai government kept the ruins shows a big difference between the two governments—and societies. I got the feeling that Cambodia preserved Angkor Wat to a large extent because it was a good money maker for the state. My impression with Sukhothai was that it was preserved and promoted more out of a respect for the past and the history of Thai culture. I might be very uninformed but that’s what I drew from the differences between the two places.