Sukhothai’s silent partner

Posted by admin on January 15th, 2008 filed in Culture & customs, Up Country, The North, Top attractions

Sri Satchananlai-Chaliang Historical Park is often over-looked and plays second fiddle to the much grander Sukhothai nearby, but it’s worth a visit and has fewer tourists. On a recent trip I discovered this gem, and its unique characteristics. And it’s only about three hour’s drive from Chiang Mai.

 

Actually I was on my way to Sukhothai and decided to seek out this site en-route through Lampang and Uttaradit. Beyond lampang the road gets quite interesting and is more scenic than the highway to bangkok which goes through Tak. I wouldn/t say there’s much of note in Uttaradit, but the park is certainly worth taking this route. More on Sukhothai.

 

For starters, we had a little difficulty finding the site, as we had approached from an unusual direction and it wasn’t clearly sign-posted in English. If you’re coming fmro the Sukhothai side (south) it might be easier. Sri Satchanalai sits besides the Yom river which starts out way up north in Phrae province as the Yam river and is big enough to navigate. For this reason a city was built her some time between the 13^th and 15^th centuries and it later fell into ruin along with the larger city of Sukhothai. It would have been part of a flourishing period in Thai history when stability and organised power in the region lead to a big leap forward in civilised arts and crafts.

 

Sri Satchanalai actually became famous for producing a distinct style of ceramics called ‘Sangkhalok’, and it maybe the nearby town of Sawankholok has taken it’s name from there. In any case, you can see the kilns in the ruins site and the museum points out that the ceramics were traded as far away as China and Indonesia. Thailand culture.

 

The city itself is guarded by the remains of ancient walls, about a mile square, some of it well kept and other parts reverting to forest. This is what I really liked about this site (as apposed to Sukhothai) is that you could find a nice private picnic spot in the trees where no one else ventured). There is also a ridge running through the centre of the site which provides some good vantage points and views. 

 

Within the city are several temple ruins, with large chedis and some of these include Wat Chang Lom (the Elephant temple, apparently built by Ram Khamhaeng himself in 1285 making it older than Chiang Mai) and Wat Chedi Jet Thaew. There is also a stupa nearby known as Cat Nang Phaya. All of these are within walking distance of each other and on the hill is Wat Khao Phanom Phloeng.  There are several other sites dotted about the grounds, which are well kept, and hiring a bike is the best way to see them. Other parts of the former city are scattered remotely, some along the river. 

 

For me, the best impression was Chaliang, a separate settlement 2kms east of the main site. It sits in a bow of the river, at a point where it swings 180 degrees to form a narrow peninsula, before flowing off south. There are several temples here and an enormous, well preserved chedi at Wat Phra si Ratana. We arrived at sunset and the orange sun sat perfectly behind the chedi. The Khmer styled ‘phrang’ nearby suggests that some of these ruins date from the 12^th century, making them some of the oldest in Northern Thailand. 

 

Sri Satchanalai is only a 45 minute drive from Sukhothai and if you are visiting this famous highlight of Thailand I’d recommend you find your way here too. One of the great things about Thailand is it is dotted with similar ancient sites. 

 

Chiang Mai ancient town