Thailand

Bangkok Sep 8 - Sep 23 Islands Sep 24 - Oct 10 Chiang Mai Oct 12 - Oct 25 Krabi Dec19 - Jan 8 Sukhothai/Ayutthaya Jan 9 - Jan 12

Sukhothai was a pleasant surprise. The town itself is not much to speak of, but the ruins of this ancient capital were in a very beautiful setting ...lots of flowers and manicured, green grass. I didn't find the ruins themselves that spectacular, but the setting made for a perfect bicycle ride.

We stayed in a beautiful guesthouse called Lotus Village. The charming rooms and bungalows here were surrounded by flowers, fruit trees, and small ponds with lotus flowers. We really liked our room a lot ...it's such a treat to have hot water, toilet paper, a sit down toilet, and towels!

Not too far from the Lotus Village, we found a cool restaurant called Dream Cafe ...great atmosphere and food (a three pig rating)! We liked this place so much, we ate there 2 days in a row.

All in all, Sukhothai is a perfect "weekend getaway".

Ayutthaya is another ancient capital city. We didn't find Ayutthaya nearly as charming as Sukhothai. It's much larger and the temples are spread throughout the city ...so you have to maneuver your bicycle around traffic. The ruins were actually much more impressive at night ...when they're lit up.

We met a really fun group of people during a night tour of the ruins. That's the part about travel that we love most ...meeting people and making new friends.

region	lodging	$US / night	rating	notes
Sukhothai	Lotus Village	$12.0		Beautiful setting, comfortable room
Ayutthaya	Chantana GH	$6.0		Basic, new and clean