Sukhothai

Our morning lesson was on the Thai alphabet, which has 44 consonants. The 15 vowel symbols are around the consonant (before, above, or after depending upon the sound) and there are also intonation symbols. Just like English some sounds may be created with a choice of letters (like a hard c and k sounding the same). This combined with the Thai law that your family name must be unique led to problems - your official documents may accidentally have different spellings for your name. The Thai language was formalized in the 12th century by the king. It has its roots in Mons (from Burma), Khmer (Cambodia) and Sanskrit (India).

Our primary visit for the day was to the temple area of Sukhothai, the first capital of Thailand (from 1238-1250). We know from the stone tablets of the time that this was a peaceful, prosperous period in Thai history.

Wat Si Sawai

Wat Si Sawai is similar to an Indian Hindu Temple with towers to Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu. The older portions built by Khmers are made of laterite stone, a soft stone underground that solidifies in air. This is then covered with sandstone for carving. Newer parts are built in brick. We continued to see other Hindu images: the smiling face, kala; the female goddess, Apsgrai; the snake, Naga, and the half bird half man, Garuda.

Wat Sa Si has a walking Buddha and many bell-shaped Chedi. The rings on the top represent 27 Buddhist principles. A smaller temple near-by is actually the main chapel, indicated by the standing stones surrounding the chapel. This temple is smaller because at the time, only royalty could pray there.

Wat Mahathat has a Lotus bud shaped stuppa as its outstanding feature - this housed a relic of Buddha. Surrounding this stuppa are 168 monks, walking around the temple.

Wat Mahathat

We finished the day at an indigo clothes operation in Phrae. They soak the indigo leaves for 2 days to get a green dye which they mix with lime paste. This is then used to die fabric. By using this Batti method, wax patterns on cloth, they create the final design.