Driving Round the World: The Historical North

Tourist elephants at Ayutthaya

Since leaving Plodd Stop we have headed north to the historical centre of Thailand and alternated days between visiting old temples and going to cooler climes in the beautiful National parks.

Wat Si Samphet Ayutthaya

Stopping first in Ayutthaya, we spent a day wandering round the ancient temples of the old Capital of Thailand from the 12th to 18th centuries. With its easy access to Bangkok it is very touristy with plenty of coaches bringing people for day trips including rides on the "ceremonial" elephants. Spread over a large area it was hot and thirsty walking through the extensive parkland which has been established around the monuments.

Wat Mahathat Ayutthaya

Wat Si Samphet was built on the site of the old royal palace in the 15th century with each of these elegant Chedi housing the remains of a previous king. Across the park the other major temple Wat Mahathat is one of the older temples built in the 14th Century and the main temple for the city. It is famous for its fallen Buddha head surrounded by tree roots.

Green Pea Fowl - Ban Bueng

After the heat of Ayutthaya we headed to the wildlife sanctuary at Ban Bueng. This out of the way reserve attracts few tourists (6 the previous day), and the staff seem somewhat unwelcoming, as though we are an intrusion on their peace. Their campground is closed as they had an incident with an elephant a few years ago, so we ended up camping at a nearby fire research centre where the security man was very helpful. In the reserve the next day three coachloads of schoolchildren arrived but were soon swallowed by the forest so we walked a couple of the trails, seeing some lovely birdlife and a few deer. This park has the densest population of tigers in Thailand and their pug marks are sometimes seen near the camp - but not by us.

Wat Sorasen Sukhothai

Back to the historic circuit we drove to Kamphaeng Phet - a smaller town with deserted temple ruins, then north to Sukhothai. This was the capital of Sukhothai Kingdom which separated from Khumer rule in the 14th century and is considered the foundation of modern Thailand.

Big Buddha at Wat Si Chum

The main centre of the old town was surrounded by a wide moat and walls enclosing an area 2kms by 2kms, inside which are the main temples. many smaller temples were built also built outside this area.

Wat Mahathat Sukhothai

Buddha Head

Wat Si Sawai

Borrowing bikes from the hotel we cycled round the town in the evening cool, enjoying the evening sun lighting the monuments, then the following morning visited the main temple sights.These included the famous Big Buddha at Wat Si Chum noted for its incredibly long fingers on its hands, The main and huge Wat Mahathat with numerous Buddha figures and Wat Si Sawai. Interestingly Wat Si Sawai was originally built as a Hindu Temple and was later converted to a Buddhist shrine, explaining its completely different form.

Doi Inthanon National Park

Back to the mountains we headed to Doi Inthanon National Park where we camped for two nights at 1100m, and drove to the highest point in Thailand at 2600m. The top has a small shrine to King Inthanon and is a very popular outing from Chiang Mai, but no real viewpoint, though part way up there are two new shrines built by the Air Force to commemorate the 60th Birthdays of the revered previous king and queen. These huge structures occupy a lovely location on the mountainside with views across the other peaks, and are surrounded by beautiful colourful gardens. Doi Inthanon has numerous beautiful waterfalls on its many rivers.

Colourful gardens round king and queen 60th Birthday Stupas

Back down to Chiang Mai where we have spent a couple of days while the car is serviced and enjoyed wandering along its friendly and tourist occupied streets. We visited the more famous of the 300+ temples here, it is easy to get templed out, most of which are still active with many Buddhist monks in attendance, even offering chat to a monk session to learn more about Buddhism.
In less than a week we shall cross into Myamnar on the next stage of the journey.