Despite the hard sell for a driver, I opted for biking in Sukhothai...and was immensely glad I had made that choice. Once our tuk-tuk driver dropped us off at the bike shop, I could see that almost everyone bikes, and it's the best choice for seeing the grounds.
Rental bikes in Asia are usually utilitarian standard affairs. No multiple gears. Sometimes the seats don't even adjust so you have to find the bike that best fits you before you take off. Nevertheless, it's just fun. The terrain at Sukhothai is as flat as a pancake. The sites are connected by paved or well-kept dirt and gravel roads and the area for the ruins is fairly small and contained.
We had just missed the Loy Krathong celebration that takes place at Sukhothai, so the grounds were very peaceful, with only a handful of tourists and a local school group or two, taking in the sights. With a map in hand, we were able to see all of the different ruins, plus most of the outlying ones by mid-afternoon, although there were a couple that we just couldn't seem to find, even though we kept asking questions and biking down odd roads only to turn back convinced that it surely couldn't be this far out.
For lunch, there were a few places to grab food, but the food vendors were a little rough around the edges (translation: questionable hygiene). If the food doesn't look too appetizing, just subsist on strangely flavored potato chips and soda.
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| There are a lot of stray dogs roaming around Thailand. These were some of the cuter ones we encountered, but many of them are pretty mangy and disease ridden. |
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| How to get home? The tuk-tuk drivers congregrate near the entrance. |
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