I found my favourite Buddha in Sukhothai

Yesterday I left Bangkok behind - somehow I just didn't enjoy it that much. Khaosan Road was full of potential new friends, but I just thought of them as pretentious drunks, kids who think they're somehow adventurous if they flock together to Thailand and stay in a guesthouse. Not too different from what I'm doing though, so you can call me a hypocrite. I just didn't stay in Khaosan Road (but slightly north of it in a lovely little ascetic guesthouse by the river) or drink beer. I think my opinions were highly influenced by the three days without appetite and without proper meals... you ever seen a young woman who misses two meals in a row?!

Getting to the Bangkok Northern bus station was easy enough, and an extremely kind Thai woman on the local bus took me under her wing. She and her daughter showed me where to buy a ticket, where the platform was and even waved me goodbye! The bus journey was amazing - happened to be a 1st class bus with lots of space for my feet, free water bottle and snack and a free lunch at a service stop! The best part however was watching the endless rice fields glistening in the setting five o'clock sun, incredibly green in the soft red light.

Today I went to see Old Sukhothai, the ruins of the capital of an old Thai kingdom. I toured the area with a bike, which gave me an amazing feeling of freedom. The central ruins were well looked after, surrounded by lawns, tall bright green trees, red-blossomed hedgerows and pools of water. The outer areas are proper countryside with corn fields, forests and hills with the occasional wats scattered in between.

The ruins were mainly red brick, which contrasted beautifully the green all around them, and I found myself falling in love with one of the Buddha statues. It was surrounded by some simple pillars and the statue wasn't anyhow grand or special. It just sat there, looking so calm and wise, that everything I had learned previously about Buddhism came flooding back to me. The statue made me smile by its simple serenity in the middle of ruins.

The Buddhist temples in Thailand have been somewhat busy compared to the Chinese ones. A lot of glitter, gold, colour, kitsch. A lot of offerings to Buddha, and many people and donation boxes to ask for money. The statues are golden and grand, but somehow I do not sense them as places of religiousness, although the religion seems an important part of life here. In China, many temples had the serene feeling of religion, but it appeared as Buddha was someone to worship, not someone who's ideas should be considered. A visit to a temple was obviously important, but very brief business. But you never know with religion, as it is personal and not necessarily a topic to ask about.