Contentment is Natural Wealth...

On the train to Phitsanulok, heading towards Sukhothai. Children bathing in pools beside the tracks, rice planting and ploughing in the paddy fields, mighty gold Buddhas on the hillsides, and thousands of black and white wading birds. I saw a white squirrel running along a telegraph line in the glaring sun, and a kite gliding though the air reminded me of Oxford. I saw cattle with enormous drooping ears. Their white bodies seem to be melting, beaten down by the white heat of the sun, their molten flesh pulled down in gravity's unrelenting grasp.

Sukhothai itself seemed uninviting, but the Old City I've come to see is some distance from the town. We pulled into the bus station, but most of the passengers stayed on board, heading towards Sukhothai Historical Park. I was anxious, thinking I'd be forced to hire a tuk-tuk to take me back to the bustling town to find a place to stay, but I've got an en-suite room for less than £4 per night, inside the city walls. Opposite the guest house is an island temple where there are Buddhist proverbs on wooden plaques attached to the trees:

It is not the man who has too little who is poor,

But the man who craves more.

Old age is no cause for regret.

Regret that one is old,

Having lived in vain.

He who is afraid to ask is ashamed of learning.

By others faults wise men correct their own.

Today I was up at cock crow to watch the sun rise over the ruins of the Old City. I had coffee and papaya salad for breakfast at the family restaurant next to the guest house. I was sceptical at first, snobbishly preferring to eat from the street vendors at the market, but a girl I met in the temple at sunset told me it was nice, and we were taken there last night by Kot, a local taxi driver, who recommended dishes and explained how to order them in Thai. Needless to say, it was excellent food. For lunch today I bought sticky rice and chicken tails, and I'm amazed at the Thai ability to make almost anything taste delicious. The honey sauce used on the barbecued chicken in this part of Thailand is particularly good.

This morning was magical. The cool breeze was almost a shock after the oven-heat days, and a lesson that rising early is essential here in Thailand. The incredible richness of the morning sun as it struck the temples was absolutely breath-taking. Sukhothai's Old City is by the far the best park I have come across, and I felt especially prifvileged to be there early in the morning before the crowds arrived. I spent much of the time simply walking around and laughing out loud at the tranquility and peacefulness of the place. I'll go back to Wat Maha That to watch the sun set this evening, and I have no doubt it will be as richly rewarding. But I am beginning to understand the Thai ability to sleep anywhere and anytime at literally a nod of the head...