Sukhothai!

Drive was about 4 1/2 hours but it was good. I listened to music and reread sections of a New Earth. It's good to have reminders like that. Got to the hotel. Very nice. I have a single as I am the only male an this is Thai culture lol I'm not complaining. Got lunch from a small shop after I finished my pad Thai from Payap. I bought something that for a second I thought was fried bugs but then realized it was just rice lol headed to a museum about Sukhothai. Very interesting. Saw some friends from Chiang Mai. Pretty funny :) then headed to two temples. The first was beautiful! I would have loved to been enlightened there :) there was a big open field and then a huge building with Buddha peaking out the doorway. It was so peaceful. Really special. There where sellers before the temple. A ladyboy who was really nice and did great hand paintings. There was also a 94 year old woman who sold handmade gifts for 10 baht! That's about 30 cents. Crazy. It's so interesting because these stalls are most likely these peoples lovleyhoods. Such a different world. Then we went to a walking Buddha image on a hill. Walked up a rock wall/path to get there. So beautiful. Great view and it was so nice to hike up a hill in the woods and be in nature again. This whole place seems different than northern Thailand. We are in the central area and there are hardly any hills. It feels like I'm in a different country lol the people even seem different. More tourist oriented. But maybe that's just what I'm seeing, as a tourist. We have a great driver. Really sweet guy. He helps us all in and out of the van even though we clearly don't need it. Touching is so different here. Guys and girls can't touch but guys can touch guys in ways that would be perceived as sexual in the US. I think it's really cool :) One time when I was getting into the van, out driver lightly spanked me lol it was sweet. More like a sign of friendship than anything else. And it was totally fine. But in the US it would be a very different story. After the temples we went to dinner at a small Thai place and I got pad Thai which had green beans in it. Different! Lol then back to the hotel for some rest. I'm excited for the rest of this trip. At first I was like, why are we doing this? But now I get it. It's beautiful and educational. Great vacation :) love it!