The Journey(s) of Ian

The major city of northern Thailand, population 170k in the central city, with maybe a million or so in the city environs, 315m or so in elevation, centred around the 'old town', which is a city founded in 1296 by King Men Rai the Great, and made somewhat hazardous by the smoke from bush fires in neighbouring Myanmar and Laos (Thailand already having burnt most of its forests). (The neighbouring province of Tak ("Tark"), which abuts Myanmar, is near to declaring a disaster, due to the smoke.) This inner city is surrounded by a wall (not in the best of condition, I doubt if it could withstand assault as it is, and a moat). ...And, the inner city is where the action is... Chang Mai bus station. Chang is a tourist city, there are lots of tourists, lots of hotels, lots of guest houses, lots of tasty restaurants, and plenty of things to do. I have heard Chang described as boring, nothing to do. To those people I say "you are so wrong!"  I found the i...

  Information plaque for the first temple. The first wat you will see. Wat Phra Si Rattana Maha That Chaliang. As described in my blog post on the Sukhothai Kingdom, this former Kingdom is survived both by the modern Kingdom of Thailand, and by three archaeological sites, which together form a UNESCO World Heritage site. These three sites are the former three, major cities of this ancient Kingdom. The first and largest, the ancient city of Sukhothai, was described previously, here I will describe the second city of the Kingdom, the city of Si Satchanalai ("C-sack-chan-a-lie"). This site is officially termed the "Si Satchanalai Historical Park". Si Satchanalai is found in the north of the province of Sukhothai. Reaching Si Satchanalai is easy enough. Buses regularly leave from the Sukhothai city bus terminal for the ~50kms, ~70min trip to the site of Si Satchanalai, this is along the route, Bangkok to Chang Rai, with the next major stop b...