The Long Holiday

I had a break from work for the Thai holiday. Initially, there were plans to make a short flight to the North of Thailand, but last-minute things came up. I'll go there during my next break :). There was still time though for a short trip, and I ended up in Sukothai (the ancient battleground city of Thailand) and Uttaradit.

The countryside of Sukothai was really gorgeous. The air smelled of wet flowers and natural earth. I wanted to see as much as I could, so when I arrived, I rented a cute little bike (Insert bike bell here:) for the afternoon. I rode around the ancient ruins, the rain lightly touching my face the whole day. It was so beautiful, and I loved the light London fog :-).

As I rode, clouds would pass and part, giving glimpses to these small green mountains in the distance, small reminders that I was a good ways from Bangkok. It was like I was in a different world.

On the side of one road, down a beaten trail, there's the largest Buddha shrine in Sukothai. You wouldn't know it's there without a Thai person to tell you. There's no park designation, no real landmark of any kind.

You ride up on your bike, and the attendant sleeps while you leave 20 Baht in the "Entrance Fee" jar. The temple and ruin itself has an attending sign that explains the 'renovations' undertaken to ensure the shrine's upkeep. I read, most interested that the people had refurbished the brick work already, that the future held two more restoration projects.

I walked up to the shrine. It was dark, blotched with reds from the brick, blacks and browns from time, greens from the growing algae. I moved slowly around the temple's outside, touching the brick, feeling the history, inspecting the pocks and chips created over the years. I thought of the people laying this work, what their lives were like. I still really have no idea...

The shrines themselves date back to around 700 A.D., but the work and restoration had finished ten or twenty years before. Fully redoing the bricks, keeping the history of the country alive for all the people that visit the area and the shrine. That was what the sign told me anyway.

I found myself at the outside wall, staring at the colors. As so often occurs, my eyes wandered to other sights, the inside columns; they looked bent and wobbly... To the left of the ruins, there were some stairs open to enter the old site. I walked up one flight and in I was, glancing at the columns tilting sideways. They were old and dark, bleeding colors and succumbing to algae fingers creeping up the sides

I read somewhere that the governor there initially wanted to do something about the place. He had plans, but other political forces pushed those away. He might have had other projects or more pressing needs. Other forces with money might have had other ideas as well; some projects and institutions must always get monetary support.

I was wondering what people who actually visit the shrine feel. Maybe they want to do something. Perhaps they don't really care, and even if they did, they probably don't know where to start fixing it. History also may not be too important these days.?.? Admittedly, I still don't really understand the Thai culture.

From the inside, I looked up and through to the center of the shrine. I saw the face of the Buddha, smiling, slim, green. At first I thought his eyes looked strange.

I walked up closer to see more, and realized that his eyes were closed, or maybe averted to a small flower patch, an area where the Buddha didn't have to look at the state of the shrine.