NYE is not very special nor celebrated largely here in Burma just because people dont really consider the month of December as the long holiday giving the fact that there is only 1 official holiday which of course is Christmas. Christmas is not largely celebrated in Burma as the majority of people are predominantly Buddhists.
My family do not celebrate Chistmas simply because they don’t know about it and it is not at all in our traditions and customs. It is really surprising (or unsurprising) to see that people do not celebrate it at all in any way. It was just a public holiday where people stay home or for a few people take a short days trips.
NYE is the same thing for Burmese. As Burmese have their own calendar , they celebrate their new year in April like CRAZY. They are not particularly excited for the year end party or whatever.
Last year NYE , I was on a bus traveling back home from Bagan where I spent 2 days with my brother. It was amazing to see Bagan again since I was there working for half a year in 2012.
This year , another unplanned trip came in last minute. This time to a little town in Upper Burma called Mogoke aka the land of Rubies. It is really famous for its world wide popular precious stones especially rubies. It is said that the ruby on Queen Elizabeth 2’s crown is from Mogok Burma as the country was under British Burma for a long time from 1824 to 1948.
They “said”the rubies from the region were so expensive that one stone could buy a whole nation (region) back in the days.
I have never been to that town. The weather there is moderate all year round. The temperature at night can drop to as low as 4 degree Celcius in December thru February. So I am also excited to feel cold as I am from Yangon , the always hot and hotter region of Burma.
One thing I am really looking forward to is of course FOOD. Mogok food is popular in Yangon. I really want to try some authentic tastes of Mogok. They have got their special noodles and stuff , Shan Style as there are alot of Shan , Lisu , Palaung and Karen living in Mogok.
Would love to write about my journey ahead in Mogok. So excited 😬😬😬
After my 5 days traveling in amazing and cool Northern Thailand, I decided to go to Sukhothai (meaning “Dawn of Happiness”) which was the Thai capital during the 13th Century C.E. The Sukhothai Historical Park is a main attraction to visit.It is also one of the UNESCO heritage sites in Thailand.
Many people told me that Sukhothai is a bigger version of Ayutthaya. I really wanted to see Sukhothai because I wanted to know how is it different or similar to Bagan from Burma.
Wat Mahathet
As usual I took a bus to Sukhothai from Chiang Rai. I thought I needed to buy the ticket in advance so I went to the bus terminal which was close enough to walk from my hostel only to find out that I needed to go to other bus terminal which was 15 minutes drive by taxi. So I took a taxi to the other bus terminal (50 Baht , no meter) then asked the lady there who told to me to come 1 or 2 hours before departure time and no need to buy ticket in advance. She told me that the buses were leaving at 7:30,8:30 and 10:30 respectively. I realized that I spent some money I could have bought myself a dinner for nothing. I decided to go back to my hostel by Songthaew (little buses there) which would only cost me 20 Baht. I asked a lady on the bus if it was the right bus going to the Bus Terminal one , she said yes after confirming with the other 2 Thai students. She asked me where I was from. As soon as I said I was from Burma , she talked to me in Burmese that she was also from Burma. She did not notice that I was from Burma though I looked exactly looked like Burmese because my English was not very Burmese accented. She was surprised that I was traveling alone in Thailand for over a week as that ain’t quite a thing for Burmese. She said she had been living in Bangkok for 19 years and she was visiting a friend in Chiang Rai. We had some nice conversations until She got off near a shopping mall in city center.
The next morning , I got up early and went to the bus terminal and bought the ticket for 10:30 bus as that was the only thing available. I was expecting to buy 8:30 ticket but there was nothing I can do about so I just killed my time reading “Americanah” by Chimamanda Adichie Ngozi over a double shot expresso (only 55 Baht) in a cool looking café near the bus terminal after my breakfast meal of pork leg on rice (40 Baht) which I did not eat the very fatty parts of the leg.
As I was having my breakfast , I noticed that the locals always drank their water with ice (full of crushed ice in cup into which you pour the water , a pretty common practice throughout Thailand) even though they were wearing jackets and stuff to keep themselves warm in little bit cold season of Northern Thailand.
I boarded the bus at 10:20 am and the bus left Chiang Rai at 10:40 -ish. I thought it would take about 5 hours to get to Sukhothai but it actually took about 7 or 8 hours. I arrived in Sukhothai Bus Terminal around 6 pm with nothing planned, not even a hostel booking for the night. I found a power outlet in the arrival hall and I literally was sitting on the floor charging my phone while googling about where to stay in Sukhothai. I searched a bit on Booking.com which I usually use to book my accomodation throughout Thailand and found a cheap hostel with high review score. It was Somprasong Sukhothai Guesthouse where I got a single room all to myself with the price tag of only 250 THB for a night. It was a very basic room with a bed but it came with en suite bathroom (without hot shower). It definitely was a good value for money. They also have a Italian restaurant downstairs (the owner was an Italian) which I ate a nice pizza (160 Baht) before check out. As soon as I arrived the guesthouse, the owner took me directly to my room and told me to come down for check in after a while , such a great service heh ☺️☺️. Then I came down and did the check in which was just registering my name and passport number in their book. Great ! Then he handed me a map of Sukhothai telling me all the information I needed , buses leaving to Historical Park , times , entrance fees , 7/11s , local food stalls around. That was quite impressive.
Then I left the hotel for a little walk around the area and for my dinner. I just ate a Kwae Teow which was good but I found a stall selling rice congee (rice soup according to the signs of the stall). I have read that rice congee (Jok) in Thailand is really popular among Thais so I decided to try that too. It comes with raw egg in it and shredded gingers which gave a kick of hot tastes to the sweet rice congee. I liked it a lot.
It was time to call it a night once I got back to my room and I tried to sleep with the excitement of seeing the beautiful temples and ruins in Sukhothai.
The next morning I woke up at like 8 and set off my journey to Sukhothai Historical park. I found an old bus and got on (20 Baht). Once I arrived at the entrance of the park, there was a bike rental where you can choose whatever bike you fancy for 30 Baht for the whole day. I got my bike and I was more than ready to explore Sukhothai. I had to pay 100 Baht to enter the park.
As soon as I entered the park, the tranquility welcome me. It was still early for the tourists so I did not yet see alot of people in the park even at the main temple site. It was very quiet and peaceful to be there alone on a bike padeling into the direction theat your eyes took you.
The ancient temples and architecture are impressive as always. The styles of the temples are somehow similar to Bagan temples of Burma to me as they were built during the same era. They still preserve the ruins so the historical values of the temples are not destroyed.
ancient temple in Sukhothaianother temple ; I enjoyed a lot just roaming around the ruins in the park
There are some important temples to see in the park according to Wikitravel such as Wat Mahathet and Wat Si Sawai. I tried to see those temples first. I first stopped near the site where Wat Mahathet was located. I did not see a lot of tourists as it was still a bit early. I looked around the temples and ruins. It was impressive to see the architectural designs of the temples. I think the styles of the temples and pagodas are similar to those of Bagan in Burma as they were built in the same era. Thailand did a great job in preserving the ancient monuments without destroying the historical values of them where as Burmese do not quite understand the historical aspect of the temples of Bagan and they just want to keep renovating and destroying the ancient art and style which are really priceless this day. I hope the preservation and maintaining the cultural heritages in Burma will be developed more in the near future. In Burma , there is only one UNESCO heritage site which was just announced last year (i guess?). There should be more heritage sites and cultural cities in Burma.
Then I headed to the Khmer style temple that looks a lot like Angkor Wat in Cambodia. It is a small temple but you can definitely see the difference from the other temples in the park. Some tourists started coming in bits by bits by now. So I tried to avoid some big groups. I was supposed to go to the other side of the park which you have to buy another 100 Baht ticket but I decided not to go as I wanted to chill out in the park and write my travel diary.
say Hi to my bike with the backdrop of Khmer style temple in the park
So I paddled around a little bit and took some photos. Then I bought a coffee (iced of course) and went by the lake , near an old temple and sat there just enjoying the scenery and tranquility of the place. I really LOVED to sit and relax doing nothing.
After an hour or so chilling by the lake , it was around 1 am when I left the park , returned the bike and took the bus back to the city. It was 30 Baht on the way back.
the King who created Thai alphabetswhat a view ,i sat there for like 1 hour just enjoying the tranquility
Got back to the hotel where I checked out since the morning so I did not have my room to get back to. I just was sitting in the restaurant of the hotel , using Wifi , reading my book , just killing the time before my evening bus back to Bangkok. I ordered a pizza. It was good but I couldn’t finish it so I asked them to put in box so that I could have it as my dinner. But it turned out I ate them all again later before I set out to catch my bus.
I did not need to buy the ticket in advance as usual. I planned to go to the bus station around 9 pm and catch the 10 pm bus. I left the hotel around 8 I think , and went to a café to grab a coffee and again to sit LOL. The café was closed at 9 so I walked a little bit to see the night market of Sukhothai. There were a lot of food stalls , BBQ , fritters , juices , Thai snacks , a LOT of food. I just bought a box of Takoyaki , a Japanese snack popular in Thailand.
Then I took a tuk tuk to the bus station (60 Baht) and bought the ticket to Bangkok. I had to wait at the bus terminal for about 1 hour before I boarded to the bus.
I really enjoyed Sukhothai. I made a right decision to come to Sukhothai and see the heritage sites. The town is small but rich in history. The temples and pagodas are ancient and gave me an idea of how the city was prosperous and rich back in the days.
I did my solo traveling across Thailand 🇹🇭🇹🇭🇹🇭 for 2 weeks in early December 2015 (well the first couple of days in Bangkok was with my mom and some friends)
My real solo backpakcing journey started after they left ; when I hopped on a night bus going to Chiang Mai (meaning “new city” in northern Thai dialect) , a famous city in Northern Thailand where I met some of the most amazing people I have ever met in my life.
Since I have budgeted myself 30 USD (~1050 THB) per day for my voyage, I decided to go to Chiang Mai by overnight bus which was a lot cheaper than flying and much faster than going by train. I got onto BTS skytrain of Bangkok and interchanged to MRT to go to Bangkok Northern Bus Terminal (Mochit). I tried to walk from the MRT station to Bus Terminal but after asking two random aunty and uncle , I realized that it was not quite a walkable distance in the middle of the night plus needing to catch the bus in time. I took a taxi which with the first one I could not successfully communicate where I wanted to go 😂😂 then the second one was okay but he dropped me off on the second floor where I spent my 15 minutes waiting just outside the booth of a bus company when an auntie was busy calling to different numbers and checking the system in her computer for me only to find out that (with the help of another lady) I had to go downstairs to check in … cool 😃😃 The fun things of backpacking were getting started. Finally I successfully checked in with the help of a young lady who responded me with such a lovely smile (or almost a laugh) that “little bit” when I asked her if she spoke English. You gotta love Thailand. ❤️❤️
Then I had to go to one of the “platforms” where the buses were supposed to leave. I needed to go to platform 101 which I did not see any signs or direction.As usual, I asked someone who pointed me to somewhere I read the signs saying 1-99 which I went into anyway.
“efff !! where the eff is 101 then ?? ” I said to myself just before I found myself in front of the tens of dozens of high way buses where of course my bus was not one of them. After asking 2 more times and walking about 10 minutes to the other side I made it to my platform 101 which seemed to have its own way to come into from the booths.
My ticket to Chiang Mai waiting at platform 101
A Chinese tourist who spoke very little English if not at all said Hi to me which I re Hi-ed him in the waiting area. He told me he was from “Jee Na” which turned out to be the real pronunciation of China. He even asked me if I spoke Chinese. He laughed when I replied I only knew a few words like “wo pu min pipe” which can be translated as “I don’t understand”.
I am not really sure how Chinese thought of someone who dont look like “white” writing something in English. But he definitely looked at me and said (almost shouted) “In Ga Rih” when he saw me noting down in English in my notebook. Or he was just saying he somehow knew English letters ??
Then we boarded onto the bus which luckily was not full. I booked the very front seat so that there would be no one sitting before me. They provided a blanket which I did not need as I could control my overhead AC by adjusting the direction of the air coming out. Little snack box was also handed by the bus attendant,a lovely lady who talked straight in Thai to me just like everyone else in Thailand as I looked very much like Thai (may be from Southern part where they have a similar facial features and skin tone as me). Snack box contained a packet of very sweet fried banana chips , again a very sweet chocolate cake-ish thing and a bun stuffed with some meat. I ate everything. Then I tried to sleep on the bus and I had some sleep. Oh I also left my phone charging near the driver throughout the night as my phone was dying (as always). When I went down to take it back in Chiang Mai , he already was outside looking for me to give it back to me, such a nice person.
After a 9 hour ride on the bus , I arrived in Chiang Mai bus terminal where I had Kwae Teow (Thai noodle soup with pork/chicken) for my breakfast.
Kwae Teow
My Couchsurfing friend picked me up at the bus station and take me to his place (where I stayed for 2 nights) by his motorbike which I found alien to ride on even when I was not the one driving as motor bikes in Yangon were completely banned that I could count the times I have been on a motorbike with my single hand in my entire life. One funny/ local thing was that we had to stand still in the middle of the bus station as the speakers played the National Anthem of Thailand. I just ignored some ignorant tourists who kept doing whatever they were doing as the Anthem was being played.
He showed me around Chiang Mai visiting all the important temples and pagodas. Before our motorbike tour , we stopped by a cozy , trendy looking café called “Ristr8to Coffee Estate ” which served one of the best mocchiatos. Also he took me to the beautiful Lanna resort and café with a small waterfall and a stream going by with the beauty of a stunning garden/park area where locals enjoy their coffee after we devoured Southern Thai style lunch. I loved that place.
un bon caféBeautiful Lanna Resort
ancient temple called Wat Chedi Luang Look at that food décor Mural Painting @ Wat Phra Sing
The best part for me was that he introduced me different cuisines of Thailand ; northern food,southern food etc. One of the perks of being accompanied by a local when it comes to food was that you could try the real local tastes , what and how locals ate their meals. My friend took me to different local eateries where you found no foreigners/tourists at all. I had a feast over the local food he ordered during 2 days in Chiang Mai. I fell in love with Thai food some of which were very similar to Burmese food but with deliciously stronger tastes. Spicy Delicious Food @ a local restaurantView of Chiang Mai form topPig Blood Soup, a great soup with a weird name Kwae Jub with A LOT of meat
He took me to Chiang Mai University where he worked as a lecturer. I really liked the environ and atmosphere of Chiang Mai Uni and their famous lake with a backdrop of beautiful mountains. It is just wonderful place to sit and watch students. I saw some of the pre wedding photo shoots too which the bride and groom seemed to be the former students of CMU.
Chaing Mai Uni Lake
We visited to some museums as well where I learned more about Northern Thailand , their long and rich history , lovely culture and everything. It was very informative to visit them.
We visited Royal Garden where a lot of flowers and plants are displayed. There were Internatinal Gardens as well such as Chinese , Korean , Indian Gardens with some of their tradtional landmarks décors respectively. They also have Royal Pavilion inside the garden. The garden is huge and could be a good place for family picincs. A lot of shady places to sit and relax.
Royal Pavilion
another temple
I really really enjoyed my stay in Chiang Mai , a cool city with great nature , a rich history. I would definitely love to visit again just to see the city and its people.
A massive thanks to Ted , my one and only wonderful friend in Chiang Mai.
Some random thoughts of mine 