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Si Satchanalai Historical Park can easily be visited on a day trip from Sukhothai, Thailand. So if you are in Sukhothai province, do drop by Si Satchanalai Historical Park. Here are some of the temples (or wat) you can see upon your visit to this park:

1. Wat Chang Lom, this impressive temple is distinctly Sri Lankan in appearance. The characteristic stupa is supported by 39 laterite elephants which are already worn-out. These elephants are unlike those found at other temples.

Elephants supporting the chedi of Wat Chang Lom

2. Wat Chedi Chet Thaew or “temple with seven rows of pagodas” is located south of Wat Chang Lom. In this temple you can see the main chedi with lotus bud-shaped top and 33 subordinate chedis adorned with Buddha images and other stucco decorative images reflecting Sri Lankan, Pagan, Srivijaya, and various architectural style. This temple is believed to contain the cremated remains of the Sukhothai royal family.

Lotus bud tower (chedi) in Wat Chedi Chet Thaew

3. Wat Suan Kaeo Utthayan Yai is located near Wat Chedi Chet Thaew just across a dirt road. You can see a large image hall within this monastery. This temple is also known as Wat Kao Hong or the “nine-room temple”.

4. Wat Suan Kaeo Utthayan Noi also called Wat Sa Kaeo contains a Chedi with lotus - bud spire with a Buddha image niche on its front and a pond in the West. The architecture is unique in Si Satchanalai due to the brick building in front of the temple. The ruins consist of a whole laterite image hall with laterite roof.

5. Wat Nang Phaya, located southeast to Wat Chedi Chet Thaew, is known for the laterite blocks used to construct the chapel, the external walls are decorated with intricate stuccowork in the art style of the early Ayutthaya era. Another attractive feature of this temple is the main, Sri Lankan-style pagoda supported by a high base adorned with sculptures of elephants similar to those at Wat Chang Lom.

Stucco detail on the viharn building of Wat Nang Phaya

6. Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat Chaliang is located a couple of kilometers to the southeast of Si Satchanalai Historical Park. This large historical complex in Chaliang is one of the most impressive sites here. The decorative stucco work at the main entrance of the temple exhibits the Bayon art style of ancient Khmer. You can also see from this complex a rope footbridge where you can take great photos of the Yom River.

Gate detail at Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat Chaliang

Photo credits: vtveen, jbeaulieu, roadstars, hewy @ flickr.com (in this order)

Related Posts:
Si Satchanalai Historical Park, Thailand
The Charm of Si Satchanalai Architecture

If you are on a holiday in North Cyprus, do visit Salamis. Salamis is a must-see place and a great place for a day out in North Cyprus. It is the most important ancient city in Cyprus. The ruins are impressive. The site is over one kilometer long lined with a sandy beach. The site of Salamis was excavated in 1882 but was stopped in 1974 so much of the ruins are still uncovered from the sand dunes.

Salamis Ruins from air, Famagusta, North Cyprus. Photo Credits: TRNC Ministry of Tourism

From the pictures below, you will see the original Roman baths remodeled by the Byzantines and the plunge pools of the caldarium (or cold room).

Salamis Ruins from helicopter, Famagusta, North Cyprus. Photo Credits: TAK News Agency

Salamis Ruins, Famagusta, North Cyprus. Photo Credits: Ersin Taser

Tip to travelers:
1. Take a hat in the summer coz there isn’t enough trees to hide you from the sun.
2. Make sure you have plenty of time coz it might take almost 5km to trudge the entire site.
3. Bring a bottle of water this is a thirst quenching adventure.

More information about Salamis can be read from cyprus44.com.

Here are some of the photos of the beautiful archipelago, Isles of Scilly.

Aerial view Isles of Scilly taken by Richard Everitt of g4zfe.com.

The aerial view of the Isles of Scilly is really awesome. You have to travel by air to see the isles’ breathtaking beauty from above.

According to Richard “the Isles if Scilly are an excellent place to walk along open cliff land and along nature trails. Scilly is also a unique place for the bird-watcher as the islands are ideally situated for migrant birds.”

Hugh Town, Isles of Scilly taken on April 2008 by traveler James Stringer at Flickr.com

Cromwell’s Castle and Bryher gap, Isles of Scilly taken year 2007 by traveler bobjob64 at Photobucket.com (sorry if the pictures look blurry coz I have to enlarge it a bit to make it the same size as the above)

Cromwell’s Castle is situated on the island of Tresco in the Isles of Scilly. It is actually a coastal Gun Tower built by Oliver Cromwell in 1651-1652. I found two reasons for this castle: it is a replacement for King Charles’s Castle and a structure built to guard the anchorage between Bryher and Tresco.

Now to continue my post on non stop flight from Bangkok to Finland -1/2…

After taking the 1150 flight from Bangkok, we landed Helsinki-Vantaa Airport at 1815 local time. It took us a flight time of 10 hours and 25 minutes. That’s according to our itinerary. I still have our e-ticket.

At Helsinki airport, we waited over 4 hours for our connecting flight to Pori. Four hours! But I couldn’t remember the kids getting bored. Maybe it was the excitement of moving to another place or too tired or possibly sleepy…or already asleep. I had a terrible headache that time from nights of packing.

Our local flight to Pori was at 2340. After a flight time of 40 minutes, we reached Pori Airport at 0020 on 11th August, exactly a year ago plus one day today. That’s why I am musing about it here.

We didn’t encounter any difficulty during check-in and at the immigration. The only problem we faced was with the timing of our flight to Pori coz the kids were really sleepy. We had to wake them up during departure and arrival at Pori. But now we’re here. Glad to have safely arrived after a long tiresome journey. And as I previously mentioned, a year has just past.

Snack at Finncomm Airlines, it might look strange but its a sandwich, stuffed with veggies

Pori at last…

A year ago, we left Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi Airport for Helsinki via Finnair. That was on 10th August. The travel agency that took care of our flight reservation recommended Finnair coz he can book a connecting flight for us from Bangkok to Helsinki until Pori City. Our connecting flight from Helsinki to Pori was via Finncomm (Finnish Commuter Airlines).

The problem though was the availability seats. There were not enough seats for the whole family on the date we wanted. So I suggested other major airlines.

But according to Mr. travel agent if we choose other major airlines, he can book us until Helsinki only so we have to book for our local connecting flight, and there is a big possibility of a stopover at another airport. I checked the timetable it will be long hours of waiting at another airport. With kids in mind, luggage to carry, unfinished packing and other concerns, I did not argue more with Mr. travel agent. We just hoped that we could get available seats. Few days before our flight, he gave us a call that all seats were confirmed.  So we were just happy for the news.

If you are planning to visit other cities in Finland from Bangkok, you can fly via Finnair and get a connecting flight thru Finncomm. This is a convenient option if you are traveling with children coz Finnair is a non stop flight from Bangkok to Helsinki. Another benefit is if you have lots of luggage to check-in coz in this way you can take advantage of luggage check-thru. In other words, you check-in your luggage at Bangkok and claim them at your last destination. You can check www.finnair.com and finncomm airlines for flight timetable, prices, and online reservation.

To be continued…

Finally, the photos… After uninstalling and removing some programs in my overcrowded hard disk, hubby eagerly installed the bundled utility software that came with our newly purchased digital camera. I happily downloaded the photos only to find out that the pictures taken at the Satakunta Museum (or Satakunnan Museo) were from the old camera. I felt bad. All the while I thought I need to address some technical matters before I can post some photos, ugh!

The photos I took were not a big deal. They were taken outside of the museum as we left coz we were not allowed to take snapshots inside the exhibition room. The building architecture is simple as you can see.

the Satakunta Museum in Pori, Finland

this logo symbolizes the Satakunta Museum

the Satakunta Museum from across the street

This post will be more on my travel photos at Jazz Street, selected ones, coz some photos have already been posted in my previous 43rd Pori Jazz Festival articles.

I previously mentioned that I visited Jazz Street three times. Although it was more on souvenir shopping but I did walk around Jazz Street and took some photos. The scenes were almost the same scene everyday except for a pouring of more visitors as the day got closer towards the end of Pori Jazz Festival (with the changes in musicians and bands, for sure). The most number of people I think was during Carlos Santana’s concert last 18th July, Friday and perhaps the weekend that followed.

Here are some of Jazz Street scenes at 43rd Pori Jazz Festival:

entrance to 43rd Pori Jazz Festival venue, less people the night before opening week

Jazz Street hours: opens daily, 11am to 12 pm

unwinding at a bar and coffee shop

bar and coffee shop overlooking Kokemaenjoki River

a pose with restaurant boat behind, great ambiance for dining

there were portable toilets distributed around the area
so no pee problem at all

The recently concluded 43rd Pori Jazz Festival organized during 12-20 July 2008 included 110 full concerts with 70 of them open to public for free. Pori Jazz is not an event for grown-ups only. Kids were encouraged to take part in this event. In fact, Pori Jazz Kids concerts and workshops were free. Pori Jazz 2008 sold a total of 66,000 tickets compared to last year’s 58,000 tickets. This might be due to the fact that among the many invited performers, the legendary Carlos Santana is present. His concert alone at Kirjurinluoto Arena held last Friday, 18th of July sold 34,000 tickets with all tickets sold out.

Here are some photos taken during this event and more coming up:

band performing at 43rd Pori Jazz Festival

people walking at Jazz Street lined with shops selling food, candies,
souvenirs, shoes, bags, and other items

Okay so here are a sample of dad and mom’s memorable snapshots in their last week tour of Europe. Which do you think would be their best snapshot???

at the Senate Square, one of the main tourist attractions of Helsinki with
the bronze monument of Emperor Alexander II of Russia located at the center of
the square and the Lutheran Cathedral of Helsinki behind the monument

a snapshot of dad and mom in Vienna with the Naturhistorisches Museum
or Museum of Natural History at the background, one of the important museums
of the world containing the earliest collections of artifacts of over 250 years old

at Brandenburg Gate, a former city gate separating West and East Berlin,
one of the main symbols of Berlin, Germany and considered as one of Europe’s
most famous landmarks

Photo credits: rainydazeee.com

My parents and cutie sis’ vacation in Finland is now over. We sent them off at the express bus station in Pori for their Helsinki-Vantaa airport trip last Tuesday for their flight back to Prague. It was almost a month’s stay in Finland but it seems quite short to think that I got sick for more than two weeks that started since I picked them up at Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Poor tourists arriving Finland without a tour guide. He..he.. But the tour guide was able to get back in shape before they finally left, such that a day’s tour in Helsinki was possible. Anyway, cookietravels would also like to say bye to our dear visitors with some photos taken in Helsinki:

at the Helsinki City Museum

at the Esplanadi Park in Helsinki