Thai Cycling (again) : 3

A view over the Naan at Taphan Hin.

Onwards then, I head north from Nakorn Sawan, more or less following the river Naan towards Taphan Hin, this makes for scenic and flat enough riding, although I am having a bit of trouble with the bike, a spate of spokes snapping leaves me worrying that the whole wheel is going to disintegrate beneath me.  It doesn't though, and I find a shop in Thapan Hin where they replace the spokes and indeed align the wheel for the princely sum of ฿150, or about £4, result.  I can't say Taphan Hin is particularly exciting, I struggle to find somewhere open to eat in the evening in fact, eventually ending up in a self described 'food garden' some way away by a main road, I eat dinner and have a couple of beers while a succession of ladies take to the stage to sing a couple of songs each, interesting.

Bridge over the river Yom.  Why yes, I did cycle over it.

I continue along the Naan, next stop Pitsanuloke, a large enough place this, I manage to find a Thai style bar with cheap beer and indeed cheap Pad Thai, all good.  My next stop is Sukhothai, yes I have been here before, a bit of a struggle to get to it this time though.  I get my first puncture of the trip, and it turns out I am not quite as prepared for this as I had hoped - the spare inner tubes I bought in Kanchan turn out to be quite a bit too small, they do go into the wheel but I have to really overinflate them, and unsurpringly each only gets twenty kilometres or so before going flat.  My puncture repair kit doesn't work too well either, I spend an hour or so trying to fix the various tubes without much joy... and then of course, ride back the wrong way for a bit.  Annoying as in fact I was only a few kilometres from Sukhothai, well, eventually I roll into town with a flat front tyre, not the end of the world.  Nice to see the place again, I return to the Chopper Bar near the river, it seems to be christmas here for some reason.

At Wat Chedi Ched Taeow.  Means something like, Seven Rows of Stupas Temple.

I'm not staying though, been there, done that and all, nor am I heading for Taak as previously.  Rather, due north from here there is another ancient site, Sri Satchanalai, dating from the same period as Sukhothai and the second city of the kingdom at that time.  There isn't really a nearby town, but I am hoping that as with the old city of Sukhothai there'll be plenty of nearby guesthouses etc., turns out not so much, but I manage to find one, pleasantly situated on the bank of a new river, the Yom.  They are most welcoming, I even get some much needed washing done with an interesting machine that requires various switches and valves to be turned at appropriate points...

Impressively large free standing elephant statues at Wat Chang Lom.

Definitely worth a day off here, I spend some time assiduously fixing inner tubes, and also ride around the ancient city, much as at Sukhothai there is a square walled area containing many ancient temples, with more or less restored Buddha and elephant images.  Not nearly as many tourists here, think I am off the beaten track a little, the style is a little different too - many of the temples have 'mandapas', small buildings with surviving peaked stone roofs.  Unusually for a Thai city, there is a fairly substantial hill within the boundary walls - apparently when the city was built, a local hermit advised the king that this hill would be a good location for the 'fire ceremony'.  Nowadays there are a couple of ruined temples at the top, and a fine view of the surrounding area, just about worth the climb up in sweltering heat.  My hope that the cool season would last until I finished this trip has sadly not really worked out...

Photos to go with this post can be found here.