Day 5: Having caught a tuk tuk from the hotel to the main bus station, we bought our tickets for our next adventure (45 baht) and hopped on the next coach to Si Satchanalai. An hour or so long drive brought us to the front of a street-side shop where we were able to hire bicycles for the day (again for 30 baht). Here the man told us there would be returning buses at 14:00 and 16:00 later that day. As we approached the main entrance to the historic national park we came to a long wooden suspension bridge, held together with wires, old nails and rickety wooden boards- only about 2m wide. Deciding it would be safest to dismount our rides, we started the precarious walk along the bridge. About a third of the way across, we found we were being tailed by a moped. Half-way and another was coming toward us. With no help from us, they expertly made their way past us after which we hastily got off the bridge, ready to begin another day of riding and temple sightseeing.

Despite a few showers at the start (and the particularly muggy weather), we were virtually alone for most of the morning, perhaps seeing only a couple of other sightseers in the area. What a serene and perfect way to appreciate our surroundings. A highlight for me began with our approach to one temple in particular: Wat Khao Phanom Phloeng.

As we approached on our bikes we witnessed dozens of birds circling the skies above and could hear their constant calls. We climbed the approximately 60 brick steps to the top of the hill to discover that this was the roosting site of what seemed like hundreds of storks. Their movements and calls consumed us, and we allowed ourselves time to watch in awe as they bobbed their heads to each-other, brought sticks and grass back to their nests and fed their young.
We traversed the guano-ridden path to the neighbouring hillside as quickly as possible (fearing being pooped on), and made our way up another set of stairs to the next temple. As usual it's wonder and beauty did not disappoint.

We slowly made our way through the other temple remains, each one giving us more insight into how the area might have looked all those centuries ago.

At the end of our self guided tour, as we prepared to return to our starting point, I heard a thump, some bird calls and could see a distant rustling in the leaf litter across the street. Being the bird lover that I am, I wandered over only to find not a bird, but a green and black snake sitting curled up at the base of a tree. I called Xi over and we realised that in fact the snake had caught a frog and was proceeding to constrict an then consume it whole. We watched until the snake stopped to rest and then went on our way (realising how many snakes and other creepy crawlers we had probably already bypassed in our travels.

On our cycle back to the front entrance, we stopped off at a quiet eatery for some lunch - fried chicken, stir fried morning glory with chilli and a noodle dish not dissimilar to pad see ew. Washed down with a generic brand cola we were yet to realise what a good decision it was to stop for food.

As we sat and ate we overheard that there would be a 3pm bus back to Sukhothai. So racing back to the bus stop to return our bikes we arrived to find a Canadian couple who had already been waiting since before 2pm. Before long everyone we had encountered along the way had joined us. An hour went by. Then another and our travelling comrades were becoming increasingly frustrated (perhaps because they had chosen not to eat anywhere that day). Finally at around 17:30 a bus arrived and we eagerly ran across the road to greet it and climb on, weary from the heat and our long day of riding.

Upon arriving back to the new city, Xi and I bought some skewers from the stall we had been to the day before. Took them back to the hotel, and ate them greedily. They were as delicious as we remembered. After that a night swim in the colourfully lit hotel pool and a movie before falling asleep. This was another very old day!