Sukhothai’s split but happy personality

If travel isn’t making you happy, you shouldn’t be doing it.

But if you are looking for travel to make you happy, you could do worse than Thailand: its nickname is, after all, the “Land of Smiles”. And if Thailand really is the land of smiles then its roots must lie in the Kingdom of Sukhothai, whose name (อาณาจักรสุโขทัย) means “The Dawn of Happiness”.

You can visit the town of New Sukhothai in north-central Thailand and 12 km away find the ruins of the ancient Sukhothai Kingdom which existed in the 13th and 14th centuries. The countless red brick structures, crumbling but undeniably majestic, are scattered across a large area which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The place is truly amazing, but very friendly and accessible – logistically but also psychologically. There is something very human about the place, and visiting doesn’t have the oppressive feel of tourism or the stress of struggling to understand what you’re looking it.

It is what it is; trees sway benevolently all around, the ruins lie as they have for centuries, and the wide paths lead anywhere you want to go under the golden sunshine. Sukhothai is very welcoming.

Masayo and I arrived in New Sukhothai on Day 211 of our trip from Loei. Our bungalow at Garden House in New Sukhothai was excellent. Very cheap, and the little dark wood huts were set on a small path that extended back in the woods, with star fruit trees right outside our door.

Accommodation in Thailand is one of the greatest values on the planet.

It was on Day 214 that we rode by tuk-tuk to Old Sukhothai, bought tickets for the UNESCO ruins, and rented bicycles. We pedaled around the large rectangular park for hours, jumping off our steeds to scramble over this wall, dart through that tunnel, snap photos of ruins, flowers and streams, gaze up at giant benevolent Buddha figures, stop to let farmers lead their flocks of livestock past us, and walk across rickety wooden bridges.

Sukhothai is well-preserved as a World Heritage Site, and there is (of course) no car traffic inside the old city walls that make up the perimeter. When we were there, there were only a few other tourists, and biking around the paths at random we often found ourselves completely isolated, just two wanderers under large, healthy-looking green trees and mysterious, towering red-brick monuments to a glorious and fading history.

The detail and architecture still quite evident on the buildings, which were created in a variety of styles, are very engrossing even to casual travelers who aren’t history buffs. The tickets we bought for 150 baht (about $4) were good for 30 days, and it was tempting to stay and understand and catalog each edifice and each statue. I sure wouldn’t mind some more nights in pleasant, quiet Garden House bungalows.

But we couldn’t spare the time required of such archaeological dedication. Fascinating as Sukhothai is, it’s time to leave Thailand, once and for all; we’ve spent nearly four months here, and now we must be off to our next destination: Cambodia.

Have you ever visited some ancient ruins or area and felt an overwhelming sense of being welcomed? Tell me about a remarkable place where you felt happiness and a deep sense of connection to your surroundings.

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