i was out of my bungalow at the crack of dawn, walking to the bus stop to go to old sukhothai city. "early!" the woman at the bike rental shop exclaimed when she saw me, didn't even bother to have me sign anything, figured somebody who's up that early to look at ruins would have better things to do than to steal a bicycle. i was hoping to see the sunrise but it was cloudy and all i got was some haze. a few hours later though, the sun did eventually come out, with in return brought the oppressive heat. i focused on the western part of sukhothai today, the part that rarely gets visited. i also checked out some favorites, like wat sa sawai. during my time biking around i finally learned how to ride without hands. it was fun circling the park over and over, turning without the handlebar.

sukhothai moat sunrise

sukhothai countryside

red basilisk

roadside chedi

sukhothai reservoir

tropical monarch chrysalis

tropical spider and prey

yellow glitter beetle

wat si chum buddha

buddha's hand portrait

walking buddha ruins
(wat phra phai luang)

mango tree and wat si sawai

chedis (wat mahathat)

when buddha ruled the earth!

in the evening i met up with craig for some street dinner. we watched geckoes catch bugs while we waited an hour for our food.

craig

tomorrow morning i leave sukhothai for ayuthaya. i've got a bit of stomach thing but i think i'm well enough to ride a bus for 6 hours, provided it doesn't break down again like last time.