I’m About Templed Out

On my bike

Temples are to southeast Asia as Catholic churches are to Europe. They are everywhere and after awhile they all start to look the same. Don’t get me wrong they are beautiful, I just think perhaps I have done too many in such a short while. However there are just a few more to see before I head to the beach for awhile and they came as a sweet surprise. They were not like all the others I had seen.

13th century Wat

Let me back up. I traveled to Sukhothai, the oldest and first capital of Thailand. It was a beautiful day and Laura and I rented bicycles to explore the ruins. It was great. There was hardly anyone around, and we practically had the place to ourselves. The grounds resembled Palm Springs mixed with Southern Georgia and large ponds were scattered throughout. In the middle of this beautiful landscape where thousand year old ruins. I would be riding along a tree lined road and out of nowhere a broken temple would appear. The structures must have been amazing in their day, but all that’s left are the Buddha statues and remittance of what use to be magnificent. Every now and then I would come across a place that still has a bit of paint on it or a beautiful carving that has not completely turned to rubble. They stand in stark contrast to the temples that are in use today and the ones I have been visiting a lot lately. I suppose it is the ancient unknown that fascinates me and why I love the aged, impressive remnants from days past.

Buddha still remaining intact

It was an amazing place to explore. I am glad that I decided to add one more temple site to my list. I was very reluctant at first, but in the end it was beautiful and memorable and I would have missed out and shorted myself if I had skipped it.