It's probably too much information, but let me tell you anyway

Yesterday I left Chiang Rai to stop at Sukothai before getting back to Bangkok (and I just read that there are protests in the city but they are by the airport which is far from where I'll be when I get there, so no se preocupen, mami y papi). The picture above is from the famous Buddha statue at Wat Si Chum in the historical park. I was actually on my way straight to Bangkok, but then I came across a UNESCO World Heritage magazine that featured the sites in Thailand and saw that Sukothai was listed with this famous Buddha statue (and his famous long fingers), so the other night I reworked my plans to make a two night stop here.

This is from what I wrote in my journal yesterday (all that traveling to get here)-

There was no way around wasting a day of traveling. All the buses leaving from Chiang Rai to Sukothai left during the day, so I took the earliest one at 7:30 am thinking I would get to Sukothai early enough to maybe see part of the historical park. (nope!) The trip took 7 1/2 hours! (I thought it would have been 6). I am still sore from sitting down for so long. Anyway, I got to the bus station and all these tuk-tuk (motorcycle type cars) drivers came running to our bus to try and take us to our next spot, it was overwhelming. They all come at me at once asking- "where you going?" "where you go?" "That's far! Let me take you" I and learned from one of the drivers (who was trying to give me a ride but I was determined to either walk if it was close enough or pay the cheapest fare on a bus) that it was too far to walk and pointed to where we were in relation to the guest house I was trying to get to; damn, we are far, I realized. So once the crowd of newcomers from the bus took off to their next destinations, the waiting area got calm again and drivers hung out to wait for the the next batch, I mean, next bus of people. I sat there, too, waiting for the next local bus to get me closer to the guest house I was trying to get to; assuming the bus schedule was on time, the next one wouldn't come for another 45 minutes, and by this time I was exhausted. I had gotten my period earlier that morning, I was on the bus for 7.5 hours, and I was still recovering from a bad stomach bug and I had all these stomach rumblings and bad cramps- I didn't even dare to fart on the bus fearing the worse would happen....traveling is not just all beautiful scenery and spiritual moments. It's this stuff, too.

So, I sat there and thought about what to do, when another bus arrived at the platform and there went the group of drivers again, rushing to the new bus. Suddenly, I thought, hey, I can share a tuk-tuk with someone else! So there I go too, rushing to the new bus and looking for a solo traveler who would be willing to share a ride- I was going around asking (ok, I did this with only two people) "where you going?" "I'm going in that same direction, let's share a ride!" I was laughing in my head at the whole situation. I ended up sharing a tuk-tuk with a guy from Japan. So I still saved on my fare! I was so proud of my savings- but then I felt even more fortunate when the guy refused to let me pay for the ride at all, so I got the ride for free!

This morning-



I think I hopped on the local cargo bus this morning because aside from another old man, I was the only one on the bus headed for the historical park. I ended up helping unload vegetables from the bus at two stops, and finally, I did make it to the park. It was beautiful weather for cycling! Tonight I am having dinner with a couple I met at the park (they're from Chile) and tomorrow morning I take the first bus to Bangkok. My stomach is much better, too!