The next morning we woke and had a great breakfast. A couple owns this guesthouse. The man is probably in his early 60s and had white hair that was slicked back and golden skin. He is Italian but has been living in Thailand for many years and is married to a Thai woman. I asked him what originally prompted him to come and he said that things in Italy got too expensive, busy and money-centered. He said he loved the Thai laid-back lifestyle. He had this super thick Italian accent and was such a character. When he would speak Thai it was so hard to understand him because it was infused with so much of his accent. Anyway, the breakfast they served was toast with fresh jams and a little omelette. There were also these little bananas, fresh honeycomb, and really nice black coffee. Paulo, the owner, served us our food and would say "delicious", "ammmazing", "fresh honeycomb from the jungle" really loudly with his accent. He was hilarious.
After breakfast, a professor from Naresuan University (which is in the nearby province of Phitsanulok) gave us a lecture on the history of Sukhothai. Sukhothai is the ancient capital of Thailand and it is unique because it is covered in ancient ruins that were built during the empire. Originally people lived in the forest surrounding these ruins and built homes around them. But about 60 years ago they renovated the area and turned it into a national park. (Which unfortunately also meant that they had to basically kick these homeowners out of the area) The ruins contain many buddha statues and are situated between these small bodies of water that were originally constructed as water sources for these ancient people.
We headed over to the park after the lecture and took a guided tour in a little trolley car around the grounds. The sky was a perfect blue and it was really hot so the sun created these great shadows and all of the details were accentuated. Next we went to the museum on the grounds and got to explore for a while. Sukhothai is also known for its ceramics. During the lecture we had in the morning the professor explained that Sukhothai became renown for its style of having tiny cracks that create a great sort of spider-web design around the ceramic. We were able to see some of these ceramics as well as some other great things. After that a few friends and myself rented bicycles and rode around the park exploring all of the ruins. It was pretty hot so by the end we were all dripping with sweat but it was such a cool way to be able to look at everything. We would ride a little bit, stop at a ruin, walk around and take pictures and then ride some more and stop again.
The next day we drove to Phitsanulok which is about an hour away from Sukhothai. We stopped at one temple along the way and also went to a folk art museum. Friday night in Sukhothai we went to a hotel near Naresuan University and had a big dinner with some of the students there. The students at the dinner were mostly in their fourth year of school and were in the social sciences department. The students at my table were so nice... most of them knew a good amount of english and we also were able to practice some Thai with them. The dinner was really good. There was even a salad bar! This is something I have not seen in Thailand anywhere yet. Vegetables are always cooked here so it was nice to have some fresh veggies. First, they performed a traditional thai dance that I have seen a few times since I have been here. I think that it is a typical to open up ceremonies with a dance like this. We found out later that the woman who was dancing was actually a 'lady-boy'. I don't think I have mentioned lady-boys yet but there tons of transvestites in Thailand. It is really accepted for men to dress like women and most of the time you wouldn't even know they were men until they speak. Te=hey are called "lady-boys" or the thai word is "gatoy". Myself and my friend Kelsey were given the task to put together a little performance for them. We sang a thai children's song for them first and then had some people show off their special talents. A couple people juggled and then one girl sang the ABCs with her mouth closed. Lastly, we taught them the "make new friends but keep the old" song in small groups. It was pretty silly but it did the trick. Throughout the night we exchanged gifts and did a lot of dancing. After the party a bunch of the Naresuan students took a group of us who wanted to see the town out with them. It was so interesting to see the nightlife of this smaller city. It was somewhat similar to Chiang Mai but had more of the feeling that everyone knew each other. And at 12:00 PM I was even sung happy birthday to! And of course, there was a little bit of drinking being that it was my 21st. I don't think that I ever thought I would be with a bunch of university students in a small province in the middle of Thailand on the eve of my 21st.
The next morning, before we left to drive back to Chiang Mai we stopped at a Buddha casting foundry. It explained the whole process which would be kind of long to explain but it was so interesting and there were all different sizes of these sculptures. We got to watch people as they worked on various parts of the process. They all looked so calm and comfortable. It made me want to just quit school and run away to Thailand and learn how to cast buddhas. You could just meditate all day while creating these beautiful things. Maybe that's what I'll do in retirement. The best part was when I went into the gift shop, the clerk was a Thai woman wearing a shirt that had 'New Jersey' written across it. New Jersey was surrounded by hundreds of buddha statues for sale seated all around her. It was too perfect. I don't think she had any idea what New Jersey was before I told her it was my home. She even let me take a picture of her outside in front of a large buddha. That concluded our adventure for the weekend. It was a really great weekend again.
Here's some more pics from the weekend.
http://s438.photobucket.com/albums/qq110/emilyfwolff/Sukhothai%20and%20Phitsanulok/
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