Sukhothai was the capital of the Siamese empire (predecessor of Thailand) during the XII-XIV centuries. While not as impressive as the Angkor, it’s definitely worth visiting.
Happy new year!
We are now in Chang Mai. Yesterday it was the Chinese new year, also observed in Thailand. We had a few beers to celebrate. All people at the table (except for one) are Romanians. They saw the Romanian flag on the bike and the came to talk to us.
The Bridge over the river Kwai
This time, the real one. Almost. The railway is indeed the Burma railway, built during the WW2 by the Japanese using some 160k Asian slave workers and 40k allied POWs. The bridge was also there but not the river itself. The award winning movie made the setting famous, so in in 1960 the Thai government renamed the Mae Klong river as Kwai. The steel bridge was originally constructed in Java but was dissembled in 1942 and rebuild here. Some of the original trestle viaducts are still in use.
Reinforcements have arrived
Just recently we got a package. New visor for me (I scratched the brand new visor just after departure), Skullcandy ear buds for Laura, seat cover for both of us, a coolant tank cap and a sprocket for Palomina and some lithium batteries for the GPS tracker. I also updated the damage report page.
Many thanks to my sister and the Romanian embassy in Bangkok for the logistics support.
Pattaya
Around 150km South-East of Bangkok is Pattaya. The islands might be nice (we didn’t go there) but the continental beach itself is not that good, being only 10-15m wide and covered with rocks. But since we haven’t been to the beach since 2010, we were happy regardless.
