Thursday, Nov 10 - Petchabun - Sukhothai

Today we walked down to breakfast and enjoyed the pretty hotel grounds on the way.  Then it was an hour or so drive to the next stop…raining most of the way.  The rain stopped just as we arrived at the town of Phitsanulok to see the Wat Mahathat temple, home of the Phra Puttachinnarat – “the most beautiful Buddha in Thailand.”

While the Buddha was most certainly beautiful it looked like many others.  

But what was really beautiful was the magnificent hall in which it resides.

And the buildings and grounds were interesting.

While waiting for the bus we walked to the river where we saw fish, eels, turtles and snails on sale for release into the river.  Turtles and eels are for long life and snails and turtles for strength (because of their shells).  Don’t remember what the fish are for.  It turns out that all are grown in farms…so this is a way of also repopulating the river.

The rains started in earnest just after we left and continued all the way to Sukhothai.  We checked into the hotel and enjoyed a half day off, with it raining most of the rest of the day. 

The hotel is a series of duplex bungalows on gorgeous grounds.  Our patio overlooks a long pond filled with waterlilies.  

And the breakfast room is an open pavilion.

We were only the people eating at the restaurant for lunch.  However, as we sat on the patio in the afternoon a number of tourist vans pulled up and things filled up.  So looks like there will be others here for the night.