11-14-10: Pitsanulok to Sukothai

Today we completed our journey to Sukothai. We ate breakfast at the
Lithai Guesthouse because it was included in the price of our room!
That's right, we paid 350B for an air-con room with an en suite hot
water shower, tv and breakfast. It was a crazy good deal and an
excellent place to stay. Robert really liked his rice soup, but there
was some miscommunication with my order because I was given a giant
meat omelet on top of rice and a cup of meat broth (I tried to order
vegetable fried rice). I made a mini bowl of rice soup and had another
cup of coffee.

Next we had to find the bus to take us to Sukothai. We hoisted our
bags and set off. Our four year old guidebook had marked on the map
where to pick up the bus, but that's all we were going on. We got to
the place indicated by the map and didn't see a bus depot. At this
point we were ridiculously sweaty and walking up the shoulder of a
pretty major road, it seemed like we were completely lost and never
going to find the bus. Robert remembered a city bus stop that we
passed, so we backtracked to that. Just as we walked up, a bus
magically appeared, stopped and asked if we were headed to Sukothai.
We weren't as lost as we thought! (This is one of my favorite things
about traveling. Your fortunes can vacillate so widely, so quickly.
One minute you think you are going on a cheap tour of the city, the
next minute your driver is running a hard bargain scam. One minute you
think you are lost, the next minute you have the perfect bus
presenting itself for your convenience.)

We enjoyed the hour long ride in air conditioned heaven and got
dropped off at the bus depot outside of Sukothai proper. According to
our guidebook, you can walk from the bus depot to a few guesthouses if
you are willing. We were willing, so we found the small sign marking a
dirt trail leading off into the bush and happily walked that way. It
was basically boiling outside and quickly we had soaked our shirts for
a second time in one day. We found the first guesthouse very easily,
but the rooms were quite open and not so nice, so we opted to look
around a bit more before settling. The next guesthouse took forever to
find. The map we had was not complete and we got lost in a maze of
small side streets. Eventually we decided to just walk into town, as
opposed to continuing walking in circles. We found a landmark and then
were able to strike back out into the side streets again, this time
finding two guesthouses in quick succession. Either of these was
adequate, our opinions swayed by the heat I'm sure, but there was one
more nearby that had received excellent reviews on TravelFish, so we
opted to wander a little longer and check it out. We saw a sign and
followed it, but made a grave error halfway there that cost us about a
mile of extra walking. We gave up and turned around, only to discover
we had simply walked past the place without realizing what it was.
Their rooms were overpriced anyways, so we ended up back at 4T
Guesthouse.

This place was actually pretty nice for the price. 300B/night.
Internet. Private hot water shower. Nice restaurant to eat or hang out
in, which we did for a few hours, recovering from our trek through the
desert. The women in the kitchen were extremely helpful, correcting my
mispronunciations and offering new words to learn (kluay pan and
sapparot pan- banana shake and pineapple shake), yum! Sapparot was
definitely better than kluay.

Finally our core temperatures had cooled enough to stave off heat
stroke and we set out for town, getting directions to the post office
(ply-sanee) before we left. It only took asking three times and about
ten attempts at pronouncing the new word before we were understood.
Then the post office was closed. If you want a postcard, I'd be happy
to send you one, but you have to send me your street address as I have
none with me!

Next we wandered around the market streets. We split a crinkle-cut
cantaloupe, but was too shy to ask for the name in Thai. Then we found
the donut lady and she had Bavarian creme donuts! We got two,
retreated a few feet, discovered they were better than any other
Bavarian creme donut I have ever had and went back for more. We
eventually realized they were so tasty because they weren't deep
fried- they were just baked sweet bread, covered in powdered sugar.
Then we went across the street and got a kilo of lamut, alternately
called sapota or sapodilla in English. They were tasty. I think Robert
got some sausage, too. I love wandering around the markets here. Once
it got dark, we went in search of real food, sidewalk restaurant row.
The place we ate not only had cheap beer, they seemed to understand my
rendition of "vegetarian" and offered me a veggie dish. It was great.
(so great that I had it the next night too!) I think it was pad kee
mau, or called drunk noodles in the states, lovingly prepared sans
meaty bits.

Next, we moved on to a place called Chopper Bar. It is a
traveler-oriented bar, playing stereotypical classic rock, but with a
nice upstairs patio perfect for street watching. We played cards over
another beer. Robert now regrets teaching me his gin strategy as he no
longer wins every hand! poor kid. Then back to the guesthouse for
sleeps. All in all, a long day, but better than most travel days.