CampariO

After a night with little sleep (never again a simple bungalow complex with a pool - Thai kids are probably allowed to run wild in the pool at 1 a.m. without supervision 🤬) we have a quick breakfast at Amazon before our next destination opened its doors at 9 a.m.: Wat Chantanaram (also known as Wat Tha Sung). The complex has 500 Rai!The main building is completely mirrored inside: diamond-shaped mosaic mirrors decorate all the columns and the walls also have mirrors as well. A laser show would look great here. You can drive through the grounds to the other buildings. But now I'm fed up with temples. Until the next trip.

We slowly begin our journey back and spend the night in Uthai Thani. After checking in at a bungalow complex, we look for a restaurant on the river. Many were closed on Saturday, but this one was open and was right on the water.

We probably wouldn't have gone there if it weren't for Wat Phipat Mongkhon, 44 km to the west. A temple with a blue roof... I can't remember ever having seen one. The temple complex is still under construction and when you see all of its splendor, you wonder how much it all cost. Despite it being the weekend, there are hardly any visitors there. The temple is located a bit away from the larger towns.

Si Satchanalai Historical Park is an hour north of Sukothai Historical Park. There are lots of big trees there that provide some shade. At 37 degrees, that makes a difference. It's nice to ride between the ruins on a rental bike for 30 baht plus 100 baht entrance fee (20 for Thais). There's not much to see there, though. No comparison to Ayutthaya.

The next morning we visited the big Buddha before continuing north.

Even more stones: You can have a nice picnic by the lake. There are also many restaurants. The young girls were a bit shy.

Let's go to Sukhothai.

A short road trip was planned: first feeding Mrs. CO's family in Chaiyaphum, then count the stones in Sukhothai, with a detour to the historical park Si Satchanalai and the "new" temple Wat Phipat Mongkon. On the way back we stopped in Uthai Tani where we admired Wat Chantanaram (Tha Sung). At the end the Honda had 2000 km more on the clock. I'm used to having unannounced guests at family dinners in the village. But this guest was not only unannounced, but also unwelcome. He was only discovered when we were cleaning up, after the relatives had just stuffed themselves. There has been a new western restaurant in Chaiyaphum for about a year now: Maia. The food pictures on the internet are appealing. We tried the pumpkin cream soup, pulled pork burger and pork chop. All delicious, only the sauce was a bit too sweet. Opposite the Hop Inn, where I prefer to stay, there is now a cozy Thai pub with music. Also recommended.

We had dinner a the coffee house, a Thai style Pub with live music, food, Hoegaarden, and so on. Nothing what one could not find in any larger town in Thailand. Otherwise search in google maps, the choice is very limited.

There was just a brief shower in Huay Yai. Saves me having to water the lawn.

In China now many cities with AQI 200-300. I just returned from Chaiyaphum: The sugar mills are now no longer taking sugar cane whose leaves have been burned. (Government order). Now the farmers have to cut off the leaves (at extra cost) before loading them onto the truck... only to burn the leaves afterwards because they have no other way to get rid of them.

There you go: Bigsteve and his pretty "girl".

I don't know what package you have, other than it costs 200 Baht. What provider (AIS?), for how many days and what speed? AIS for example has a 30 day internet package that includes 30 GB of data and unlimited internet at a speed of 15 Mbps. This should last for a while unless you have some features activated which are draining the data. Best would be to go to one of the provider shops and get their comments why this is happening. Difficult to give advice here on the forum.

I believe it was this lady stamping my passport. I am in love. (Pic from The Pattaya News)

Arrived in DMK from Da Nang early afternoon today, same time as a flight from China. Unfortunately our plane arrived a few minutes later. All immigration kiosks were open, with 20 passengers waiting in front at each and another handful in the main line. The Chinese passengers were mostly elderly people who had problems getting their finger prints taken. 5 fingers instead of 4, left hand instead of right, you see what I mean. One guy couldn't find his passport so a big commotion started with the flag waving bitch screaming at him. He finally found it and when it was his turn to have the prints taken, the immigration officer almost exploded when he tried to put both hands on the screen at once. She actually carried herself very well, but when she saw me laughing, she couldn't stay serious anymore and started laughing. Will look for a flight to Suvarnabhumi next time. I don't need that.