Thailand: Sukhothai

Thailand is really a place to visit at least once in your life: one of the cheapest country with really amazing places to see! Depending of what you are looking for, the south of Thailand may interests you for its incredible islands and beaches while the north will bring you to a more authentic and adventurous experience.  Bangkok is however the place where most of tourists will land, and if you are planning to move to Chiang Mai (the second biggest city of Thailand, in the top north of the country), you should defenetly make a stop in Sukhothai.

 Sukhothai is an UNESCO site and was the ancient capital of Thailand. Today, it's more a large number of ruins dispatched around lakes and forest than a real city. The place is however incredible and gave me a peaceful memory. Usually, there is not that much tourists around, especially if you visit the ruins the morning. This is really appreciated in a country like Thailand where tourists are coming from all over the world.
 

The place is quite large! It will be hard to visit everything by walk! Tuk-Tuk and bikes can be rent, for days or hours! As there is no cars allowed in the site, the place is calm and safe. However, there is not that much explanations on each temple: you should take a guide or some documents with you if you want to have a complete overview of the site! You can take a look there, it would be a good beginning !

 Traveling in Thailand is long, uncomfortable and not convenient: making a stop there was really appreciated, and actually, I would say you can spend several days in Sukhothai! For me, it's basicaly the thailandese Siem Reap (Angkor Wat). Sukhothai was definetly my best visit in Thailand. I feel really sad to not having spent more times there!

The new city is quite far from the UNESCO site, and is not very interesting and small. However, you will still find friendly places to star and cheap hotels, like every where in Thailand! Sukhothai is not over-visited and that's why it worse the visit! Don't forget to drink your Chang beer at the end of the visit! Really appreciated!

You can reach Sukhothai by bus from Chang-Mai and Bangkok. The easiest way is simply to ask for directions and time-tables in information centers (be careful to find a real one, not a fake one, and don't ask tuk-tuk drivers to bring you to the closest one, they are sometimes paid to go to bring tourists on unofficial places!). From Bangkok, buses can take at least 5 or 6 hours, but often more. From Chang-Mai, it's faster (because closer!). Traveling with cheap prices are often not confortable in Thailand, the best option can be to travel by night and paying a bit more to get a confortable seat and have a sleep !

Thanks to Fabien for the pictures :)