Sukhothai, Si Satchanali, Sawankalok (oh yes, and Maesot)

The Four Musketeers raid a ceramics shop called
"Ree Thai Antique" near Thailand's ancient city of Sukhothai. It specializes in "new antiques".

Next stop: Sukhothai [sook-oh-tie]
This 13-14th century city in central/north Thailand was the capital during the 13th-14th centuries before moving to Ayudhya and later Bangkok. We felt it was high time we dropped in for a cup of chaa.

Sukhothai is noted historically for its quality ceramics with characteristic fish and bird motifs, regarded these days as a part of national heritage. Years ago in Straya, we had a collection of fine old pieces, but always felt a tad guilty. Now that we were actually at Sukhothai itself, we bought a few copies:

Stopping en route for a drink at a roadside stall, we inadvertently discovered a Wat in a village called Pa Sang. It sported a small library, where Buddhist scrolls are normally stored. Its venerable age bestowed on it a dignified if slightly mouldy countenance:

Having always promised ourselves a visit to Mae Sot, a border-crossing town into Burma, we diverted to it via the scenic route, by-passing Sukhothai for the moment:

Pretty and dramatic country, especially the jagged range in the distance which we nicknamed the "Dragon's Teeth". Later, we drove right through them - wow:

Maesot turned out to be a multi-racial melting-pot: Thai, Burmese, Bangladeshi, Indian etc. Very interesting but it had a less-than-welcoming vibe - and the architecture was mundane - so we headed back towards Sukhothai and found a place to stay the night. Next day, early, we drove to the Old City and found some fabulously romantic ruins, between 600-700 years old. The basic building material was laterite, a porous volcanic rock. You can see some loose blocks being lifted by the roots of this tree:

Brenton urgently supplicates Phra Buddha to send a Sign (preferably not in Thai script) which might guide him to a half-decent Tiramasu shop within 100 kilometres. (No Revelation Scrolls in Brenton's spiritual Inbox yet).

Alan imagines the long wooden roof which once sat atop these pillars:

Yes, it was leaning... no need to adjust your reality:

The only part of the seated Buddha left on this block [photo below] was a section of a foot and a hand. It was so deteriorated that it was difficult to photograph, but the worn outlines were there in stone. In another 100 years they may not be...

The many small recesses in this stupa are a cultural hangover from times before Buddhism evolved out of Hinduism:

I wondered about the original purpose of these symmetrical ponds...

How very Khmer. The 3 stupas are pure Angkor, reminding one that the region known now as Thailand was once just an outpost of the Khmer (now Cambodia) kingdom:

The tiny Strangler Fig seedling germinating underneath this stone door lintel might just be the beginning of the end for this shrine. Have a peek at the gigantic figs presently destroying Ta Prohm at Angkor in Cambodia.

The Museum at Sukhothai Historical Park is worth an hour or so. Here are some pix from the garden outside the complex:

A reconstruction of a pottery kiln:

Sukhothai was a complete city, but only its religious buildings were constructed from stone - in order to last forever to protect concealed Buddha holy relics. Even the King's palace was wooden. There are remains of monasteries, tombs, stupas and Wats dotted over a huge area, but all other constructions have long since rotted away or been (ahem) otherwise mysteriously recycled. I just can't help thinking back to Ozymandias.

Then northwards to Si Satchanali (Si is sometimes written Sri). This ancient city wasn't as manicured as Sukhothai, so its atmosphere seemed more natural and romantic to me.

Here's a 14th century Wat to which I took a fancy: Wat Chang Lom, laid out like a mini Angkor Wat, itself a microcosm of the mythical Mount Meru:

Chaang = elephant, Lom = shade. The name Wat Chaang Lom therefore suggests that temple is protected by elephants, ie, 'shaded' by elephants.

There are gates at all 4 cardinal points. This one clearly boasted some statues, some of which are now thankfully housed in the museum:

The conical stupa has typical Sri Lankan style (!) corners, and a ring of no fewer than 39 larger-than-life elephants symbolically support its entire weight:

These weighty pachyderms aren't all in the best of shape, but are nevertheless still revered by local Buddhists:

So many eucalypt trees. Just like at Angkor, perhaps they were first planted deliberately to suck up excess water?

En route back to Chiangmai, you may be tempted to tuck into one of thousands of ripe Durian fruits. You can smell 'em even with the car window shut:

Trip to Phrae, Nan, and Pua

The elephant pond outside a shopping centre in Chiang Mai.

Now is the perfect time for tripping around North Thailand - the monsoon rains are beginning so the weather's cooler, the air's much clearer, and the world is puddle-wonderful for all wee balloon-men. There are almost no tourists because they all been told that the Wet Season is intolerable. (No, not compared to North Queensland it ain't.)


Piling into the Honda Jazz with Alan and Brenton acting as stern chaperones and tireless tiramasu-spotters, we headed off first to the town of Phrae, about 4 hours drive south-east of Chiangmai in search of traditional weavers who were rumoured to lurk in remote villages.

The Great Fabric Hunt was on: however, the "Lonely Planet" guide has an significant blind spot for this region, probably because there are no full-moon parties, no bungy-jumping or discos - just fabulously lush mountain/forest scenery that no self-respecting hard-drinking backpacker could possibly enjoy, viz:

But after tortuous questioning of puzzled locals and numerous tight u-turns, SUCCESS! This was at the village of Mae Tha:

When we asked if the dye was natural or chemical, this lady slipped outside and produced the very leaf which provided the fawn colour in this piece of material:

...and Alan unearths a derelict loom out near the rice paddy, and considers the merits of carting it home:

Then after the obligatory round of iced tea and copious exchanges of "Kop khun maak kaa" etc, it was back into the Batmobile. We screeched to a halt when we saw this Wat with the most fem-looking Reclining Buddha we'd ever seen. Whitening Cream, maybe? Ladybuddha? Mae West, eat your heart out:

We took a quick reality check when we spotted these soldier statues guarding Mae's temple gate. But really, the assumptions are no different from Western armies who actually employ chaplains and priests, yes? The Religious-Military-Industrial Complex is certainly as healthy in Thailand as anywhere else:

At the town of Nan, we gaped at this astonishingly baroque Wat:

Check out the multi-headed flying elephant (a la Shiva) in the photo below. It can also be seen in the photo above, at the centre of the left margin. A truly fantasmogorical dream-like Asian-Gothic scenario, all in gold. Hieronymous Bosch, stand aside.

(To view detail fullscreen, click on the photo.
Afterwards, click your Back button to return to this page).

Alan bonged every gong he could find:

This was inside the Wat, looking upwards to the 15-metre ceiling, with the camera held right next to one of the decorative teak pillars:

And here’s another view of that amazing ceiling (thanks, A & B). Outside, within the Wat grounds in a purpose-built shed, was one of the longboats used in the local annual boat-races:

...with a close-up of the cool paint-job:

Phrae boasts many old teak houses. This was Vongburi House, bequeathed, I think, to the community:

Continuing to the town of Nan for the night, we trooped around the talaat yen (nightmarket) much to the astonishment of the locals ...even more so when we spoke Thai. No other farangs here:

Plenty of yummy(?) things to eat here: we noticed various novel items in the few local farang-oriented cafes - such as:

.......... Frence toas

.......... Orange juice soup

.......... Geremam salad

.......... frefh fruit

.......... fresh fat juice

and if yer wanna read even more extreme menu items we've collected over the years, click here.

More weavers were mercilessly tracked down at the small rural village of Nong Bua:

Check out the fine weaving:

Nearby, we passed an old Mien hilltribe woman weaving a basket near the roadside:

In the same region we had read about skilled silver-smiths. Many u-turns later we e-ven-tu-ally ferreted some out, no thanks to 'that' guide book (which was wrong wrong wrong ...as usual). Faded and rusting signs, some with vines covering the information, sure didn't help:

A cool bamboo moment en route to Pua, not far from the Laotian border:

Pua had an uncanny resemblance to Innisfail in North Queensland. This view was from a restaurant, and yes, the steamed red schnapper in lime sauce and Phad Phet Gai were truly excellent, thanks...

At a local Wat, Alan gets a gong - again:

Older Thai folks played petanque (boules) under an enormous cool raintree in the Wat's grounds. Big French influence due to proximity to Laos:

...and all to the accompaniment of a busker playing a 2-string (fretted!) "saw-oo":

On the walls of the Wat were old painted murals, the usual illustrations of Buddhist legends and allegories. We felt this one of a shipwreck may have been a metaphor for "The Decline and Fall of the Pereira Family" in Straya. Gee wiz, how did the artists achieve such accurate portraiture? And who's the dude at the helm?

(Shame they forgot to draw the sharks)

Returning to Chiangmai via Lampang, we dropped in to a ceramic factory where there happened to be (of course) a little tea-pot pyramid to decorate the garden. Time for an impromptu performance of a traditional Thai line-dance to "I'm a Little Tea-pot".

Here's a Tile-Art toilet wall. Perfect pixelization?

And lastly, we discovered the great-great-grandson of the virus which gave Marie her Dengue Fever. We lured it out of a rice paddy with a tiramasu-baited hook, then deftly zapped it with a lethal dose of chilli sauce and Thai ginger:

It worked!

But wait, there's more! A and B have a super-photogenic all-singing-all-dancing blog with more photos here.