Arriving in Krabi

This morning we got up at 9am, packed up our stuff and trekked down to the pier to catch a ferry. The pier seems a lot further when you're carrying a huge rucksack on your back in 30° heat.

We got onto the half 10 boat to Krabi and off we went. I have really enjoyed Phi Phi. It's so beautiful. But we have so much to look forward to so I wasn't too sad.  The boat took around 2 hours and when we arrived we got a mini bus that dropped us right outside our hostel.

We checked in and made ourselves at home before going for a wander. There isn't actually much in Krabi but we are using it as a base to explore the surrounding areas and islands. We looked at some tours and researched some tour companies. None looked that great but that's for another day. We had a drink at a cafe and then went and checked out the night market.

The night market is only at the weekends and it was very busy. It wasn't very big bit there were quite a few food stalls that all looked very tempting. Unfortunately I had a stomach ache so didn't get any food.  Maybe next weekend... Lauren got some chicken and a corn on the cob and we sat on a kerb while she ate. I got pooed on by a bird while we were sitting which was nice. Maybe I'm in store for some good luck....

After nesting we returned to the hostel. We chilled in the room for about an hour by which point my stomach ache was gone so I went and got two free chicken skewers from the hostel bbq. Then I skyped with mum before going to bed.

Final day on Phi Phi

Today was our last day on Phi Phi Island, which is kind of sad because it's so beautiful. We spent the day at the pool (again) after getting up around half 10. It was quite sunny and we are both now sunburnt.

It clouded over around half 4 so we packed up and returned to our accommodation around 5 to shower and change for dinner. Then we went to an all you can eat BBQ place where I got tummy ache after a couple of bits of potato and some chicken and completely failed in eating my money's worth. It was probably the most expensive meal we have had in Thailand. What I did have was really nice though. There was mash potato, potato salad, chips, pasta salad, corn on the cob, other various salad items, and then a whole range of meats. You could have had a feast.

After dinner we returned to the hostel and packed our bags, for what seems like the first time in ages, and relaxed.

Bamboo Island Boat Trip

This morning we had a lay in, getting up around half 10 and getting ready for an afternoon boat trip. We went out for brunch and then went down to the pier. The boat trip we joined was an afternoon session of a full day trip, meaning we joined a boat full of people who had already been out for the morning. There was about 30 people on the trip on a double decker boat. We went an sat upstairs and off we went.

Our first stop was a Monkey Beach that was not as good as the other monkey beach. There was only about 4 monkeys, you couldn't feed them and they were quite aggressive. We kayaked from the boat to the beach and then decided we wanted our snorkel stuff so I swam back to the boat to get them.  We snorkelled for  about 5 minutes before we had to go back to the boat.

Our next stop was Bamboo Island (last picture), which was the main reason we decided to do the boat trip, as we hasn't had time on our last trip. We ended up spending the whole time snorkeling, seeing exotic rainbow coloured fish and corals as the island wasn't actually that interesting.

Our third and final stop was Shark Point, the same shark point as the previous post. We didn't see any sharks but we saw some amazing coral and fish. It was fab!

We got back to the mainland around 6:30pm and went for dinner then headed back to the hostel. At around 9pm we went out just to see what's what. We didn't really have any plans but we ended up in a bar playing beer pong (with water).  After playing a couple from Ireland/Thailand and winning,  we played each other and I won, and then we were joined by a girl from Surrey against some guys from Alaska/South America and beat them. We played a few of different games against different teams and won all but one. The around half 12 we called it a night and went back to the hostel to sleep.

Chilling by the Pool

Today, as you can guess from the title,  has been a very relaxed day. We found a pool near where we staying that belonged to another hotel and asked if we could use it. They said we could for 200 baht each, which is less than a fiver. We got there some time after ten and stayed all day. The pool had a view over the bay and we watched as the tide went out and the sun went down. People came and went through out the day. It was quite a small pool so it got quite full at one point but was fairly quiet in the morning.

At lunch time Lauren had some chips and I had some wontons from the hotel restaurant. Then around half 6, after the sun had disappointingly disappeared being a cloud, denying us a nice sunset, we went for dinner. We were both still quite full from the food before. We both got small plates of nachos and then headed back to the guesthouse we're staying in for the evening.

Visiting the Viewpoint

Today we had a lie-in, getting up around ten and then going for breakfast. We each had a toastie and then hung around at the bar for ages, too lazy to move. It was very hot and we had a nice view, lying on benches on an old wooden boat that had been turned into a little seating area at the bar, with the front end hanging over the sea.

Around half 1 (maybe) we decided to make a move to the viewpoint. The viewpoint is also the evacuation point in case of a tsunami. I got up and started edging out the boat, watching where I was going so as not to fall down any of the holes in the floorboards, and promptly smacked my head really hard on a wooden beam. It was really painful. After sitting down for another 5 minutes until it stopped hurting we set off up the hill past our guesthouse. It was one of two routes to the viewpoint, and we had assumed both would be the same kind of path. However the one we had chosen was like a dirt track ad we were scrambling over rocks as tree roots up a steep hill. It was very hot and we were sweating loads. It turned out not to be very far from the top which we were grateful for, and we also discovered this route avoided the steep and long set of stairs.

We paid 30 baht entrance fee, which is about 75p, and went up to the look out point. 

The view was incredible. You could see the thin stretch of land with a bay on each side connecting the two larger chunks of land. The one we could see consisted of limestone mounts covered in trees surrounded by blue sea. The tide was out on one side of the thin strip but you could still see the sea. It was beautiful. We stayed up there for a while, taking photos, cooling off and admiring the view.

Eventually we decided to head back down and we took the other route. It was paved all the way and brought us out in the centre of the town. We went back to the hostel where we put the airconditioning on turbo and laid on the bed to cool off.

At around half 6 we went out for dinner. We went to a restaurant called Garlic. Lauren had pizza which came with garlic bread and it did the restaurant name proud. I tried a Thai Green Curry which was really nice but quite spicy. Then we had ice cream (not freshly made) and headed back to the hostel to chill. 

Playtime on Phi Phi

Today has been so awesome! We got up early-ish and went down to the pier to meet 4 other girls, 2 of which we had shared a room with in Phuket,  and two of their friends. We had between the 6 of us hired a long tail boat to take us round the sights of Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Leh.

Our first stop, around 8:45   was at Maya Bay, the setting for the 1999 film 'The Beach'. It was absolutely stunning. The sea was turquoise green/blue and it was surrounded by rocky mounts, with a covering of trees.  We spent an hour here swimming and floating about in the sea, but I could have stayed all day. We went here first and early to avoid the crowds. When we left it had started filling up and there was so many people. 

After an hour we moved onto Loh Samah bay for some snorkeling.  The water was really clear and the fish were everywhere. They were mainly small-ish yellow and black striped ones but we saw the odd larger rainbowy/bluey one. The fish came so close to us they were probably within touching distance.

After this we went to Pileh lagoon for a short stop. This was again another beautiful place. We took it in turns jumping off the front of the boat into the water before heading off to Shark Point.

Shark Point is, as the name suggests, a good place to snorkel and see sharks. Not the dangerous attacking kind,  but docile black tipped sharks. Before we got in the boat driver told us 'sometimes you see loads and sometimes there's only a few'. Luck was not with us. I saw very very brief from a distance one swimming off but that was it, which was a shame.

Around 12:30 we arrived at what the driver told us was Monkey Beach, only it wasn't a beach, it was a cliff face with monkeys on it. We hopped out the boat into the water to get a closer look and managed to find some peanuts that other people or the monkeys had dropped so we were able to fed them. They were really cute, and compared to the next place we went, very calm and tame.

We pulled up at actual Monkey Beach round the corner after asking the driver if we could instead of mooring in the middle of the sea for more snorkeling. These monkeys were a lot more aggressive. They were walking along the beach,  and at some points swimming around. Ingot off the boat with a stack of pringles in my hand to feed to the monkeys. I was immediately approached by a large monkey so I retrieved a pringle from the stack and attempted to hide the other out of sight behind my back. The monkey was not fooled and started climbing up my leg. I panicked a bit and gave him the whole stack and he jumped off and ran away. I was basically mugged by a monkey.

Thankfully we had some pineapple on the boat. We fed the monkeys and managed to get them to climb up on us (without panicking) which was pretty cool! Lauren was hiding food in her bikini top to stop them stealing it all in one go but one money figured it out and climbed up her to help themselves which was funny.

After this we headed back to the pier for 2 as we has only hired the boat for 6 hours. We hadn't made it to all the places we had wanted to go but we had had an amazing day. As we got off the boat Lauren stood on something sharp and got a little cut on her foot. I asked her if she was alright and then promptly stood on the exact same sharp thing, also getting a small cut. It couldn't take the shine off the awesome trip though. We said goodbye to the other girls, headed back to the hostel, showered and collapsed on the bed.

Around 6pm we decided to make a move and started getting ready to go out for dinner. We went to a restaurant not far from the hostel where I had fried rice and Lauren had carbonara.  My food came out so fast it was unreal. After dinner we got freshly made ice cream, made in front of us. It was pretty cool. Then we headed to a beach bar to watch a fire show (men swinging around poles that were on fire) and have a drink. We headed back to the acommodation around half ten, absolutely knackered.

A Long Walk to Long Beach

This morning we got up around half 9 and went for breakfast at little cafe just along the road. Just before we left there ahd been a brief thunderstorm with the loudest thunder I have ever heard. It was still spitting a little as we left but it was not raining as heavily as it had been earlier. We wandered into town after breakfast to sort some things out for other days and just had a bit of a mooch about. Then we came back to the hostel to relax and cool down for a bit.

Around 2pm we set off for Long Beach which we were told was a 30 minute walk away. The beach directly in front of the village is not really that great as it's where the pier is. We walked throughe the village, across the beach, round the rocky outlying bits through the sea and kept on walking. We walked for way longer than half an hour and eventually just settled on a small beach called Viking Beach. By this time the sun had gone but it was still warm. We got straight in the sea and not floated about for a while before lying down on the sand.

Around half 5 we decided to head back. On the way we discovered a path that ran along the back of the beach all the way back to the village. It cut a considerable amount of time off our journey. If only we had found it earlier....

When we got back we showered and headed out for dinner. After dinner we got our nails painted and then came back to the hostel for the night.

Phuket to Phi Phi

Today we had a lie in, got up at 10, checked out at 11 and were picked up around 12 by a minibus. We drove for an hour to a harbour where we got on a huge boat to Phi Phi Don, one of the Phi Phi Islands, the only one inhabited. It took over 2 and a half hours to get there but the boat was fairly comfy.

When we arrived we were greeted by a man with the name of the guesthouse we are staying in on a wooden board. It was cheaper to have a private room in this guesthouse than a bunk bed in a dorm room so we have our own room for a week which is nice. The dude loaded our stuff onto a trailer and guided us to the guesthouse. He was walking so fast we had to almost jog to keep up! It was about a 10 - 15 minute walk through the village.

We checked in and lay on the bed for a bit doing some research into what to do while here and where to go after. Then around half 6 we went for dinner. We just stopped at the first place we came across. I had Pad Thai with beef which was really nice, and Lauren had a toastie and chips. We sat next to the ocean watching the light fade. It was pretty nice.

After dinner we wandered round the village for a couple of hours seeing what's what and looking at tours. Then we returned to the hostel to cool off with the aircon.

Privet Phuket Tour

We had a nice lay-in this morning to recover from two busy days, eventually getting up around half ten. We were being picked up at 2 so headed off to find some lunch around half 11. After we'd eaten we booked our transport for tomorrow and headed back to the hostel. I was pretty tired and very hot and apparently feel asleep but Lauren woke me up when it was time to go.

We were picked up by our driver called Emma in quite a fancy car and drove past some nice and quiet beaches to Karon view point where we could see three beaches on the south side of the Phuket Island. It was a beautiful view.

Next we drove to the Big Buddha, which is a big Buddha statue on the top of a hill which can be seen from quite far around. It's  45 metres tall. We walked around the Buddha statue and also got some nice views from there.

Next we went on a short drive to Chalong temple. It was a very beautiful temple. Whilst we were there some guy set off firecrackers in a little hut a few metres away from us, scaring us both to death.  Emma, our driver, said something about the temple which I thought was that it is the oldest in Thailand but I don't know if I heard her right.

Our fourth stop was quite brief. It was at a cashew nut factory and shop. We saw two woman deshelling the nuts and tried many different flavour cashew nuts but didn't buy anything. After this we continued on to Phuket Town where Emma drove us round on a very short tour. We drove down a street that consists of many different coloured old buildings and then onto our next stop.

Our penultimate stop was at the top of Rung Hill. From here we got a good view across the city and to the sea. We could also see the Big Buddha in the distance. We then drove back into Phuket town to visit the weekend night market. We arrived around 5:45 and wandered round. It was very big. There was food stalls, clothes stalls, shoe stalls, souvenir stalls and more. We both got sunglasses, stickers, and some cake from a stall that had the most amazing looking cakes. At half 7 we met back up with Emma who drove us back to our hostel.

We had a quick stop to drop off some stuff and then headed out to Bangla Road, the busiest street in Patong. We had a couple of cocktails and then headed back to the hostel exhausted and into bed.

Similan Islands

Today we went on a trip to the Similan Islands. We had been a bit apprehensive about booking it originally as it was a bit more money than other trips to other islands but we had heard good things so decided to go for it.

We were picked up at 6:15am. The sky was grey and it was raining. We had to run to the minibus. We drive for almost two hours under very grey looking clouds which threatened to ruin the day. We arrived at the SeaStar (the company) base at around 8:10 and were given a towel and snorkel equipment. There was breakfast laid out for us too. Lauren got chatting to one of the group of middle aged Asian men next to us. They were drinking beer and doing shots of what looked like whiskey and it wasn't even 9am. The one chatting to Lauren asked for a photo with her so she agreed. She then watched over his shoulder as he zoomed right in on her face and then sent the photo to a whole load of people. I thought it was funny but Lauren was not so amused.

We hopped onto a speedboat just after 9 with 33 other people. It had two benches along the side for people to sit on but we managed to get the best seats on the boat; a little seat facing forward right at the front. As we left it started chucking it down and everyone got a bit soaked as the rain came in under the tarpaulin shelter. But it cleared up really quickly to blue skies with a few white clouds as we got out to the islands. The boat went so fast and was jumping over the waves but it was kind of fun. There was one girl who obviously didn't agree; she looked terrified before we even left and was hanging on to her friends/boyfriend for dear life, but she obviously got used to it as she was passed out on her also passed out boyfriend's shoulder on the way back.

The Similan Islands are a group of islands out in the Adaman sea and it took an hour and 20 minutes to reach our first stop, where we anchored up between islands 3 and 4 for some snorkeling. The water was so clear and there were quite big fish and so many different coloured ones. It was absolutely fantastic.

Next we stopped on island 4 for a buffet lunch. We had rice and spaghetti and chicken, whilst sat on a mat on the ground. Then we walked to another part of the island to spend some time on the beach. We swam in the beautifully blue sea and took some pictures before returning to the boat.

We drove over to the edge of island 9 for some more snorkeling. Again the water was really clear however there was not as many larger fish. There was tonnes and tonnes of tiny ones those. It was also a bit deeper here so we weren't as close. We stayed here for about 40 minutes before getting back on the boat and heading to our final stop, Similan Island itself, number 8. It had a rock formation called Sail Rock which doubled a look out point. We climbed up and looked out over the bay and the sea. It was so beautiful. Our tour guide acted as a photographer, telling us where to stand and what poses to do as she snapped away. 

Then we went down to the beach for a quick splash about in the awesome blue water before getting back onto the boat at 3pm for the last time and heading back to the mainland.

We arrived back at base at 4:15pm where there was more food waiting for us. I had a small plate of noodles and some chicken and Lauren had an ice cream. Then we hopped on the bus back at to our hostel around ten past five. We weren't on it for long before we pulled into a garage to get a tyre changed. I'm not entirely sure what was wrong with it; it didn't look flat but oh well. We waited about half an bur before heading off again. We eventually made it back just before 8, before jumping in the shower and relaxing after an awesome but long day.

James Bond Island

This morning we got up at 8:45 and got ready for a day out. We were picked up around 10 and drove for almost 2 hours to Monkey Cave, also known as Suwan Kuha Temple. It was, as the two names suggest, a temple inside a cave with a few monkeys hanging about outside. A very few I might add. We had a quick look inside the temple and then got back on the minibus for a ten minute ride to the boat. It was a long tail boat holding a whole load of us. We had to collect a life jacket and clamber on, sitting on wooden beaches in rows of 4 or 5.

We then went on a short but scenic ride to a Muslim floating village where we stopped for lunch as it was about 1pm by this point. The mosque was clearly visible rising above the houses/shacks. Lunch was at a restaurant where we had chicken with cashew nuts, chicken drumsticks and rice. There was also some fish options which we didn't have. This restaurant was clearly where all the tour groups came for lunch. Boats were coming and going and there was loads of people.

After lunch we all got back on the boat and continued to the main sight seeing point of the tour, an island commonly known as James Bond Island. It was the setting for the villains evil lair in the film 'The Man With The Golden Gun' and has been inundated with tourists ever since. We were only there for about half an hour, just long enough to get the iconic photo and have a quick wander round. Then we all got back on the boat. There was a bit of a commotion as one English man was wanting to get back into a seat where he has been sitting previously, despite the fact every one else had just sat in random seats. It ended with a girl moving seats and the English dude becoming very angry and aggressive, culiminating in two other dudes who were sitting where the English dude wanted to sit being called a very nasty word for no good reason.

We were only in these seats for about 20 minutes as we quickly arrived at our final stop; sea canoeing. Or at least that's what it was called but it was more like kayaking. We got in rubber kayaks, two to a boat and sat with our legs over the side. A dude called Ali paddled us round through caves and small holes in the rock formation while singing us lines from random songs. It was quite short but a nice way to see the limestone rock formations. We then got back on the big boat and headed back to the buses.

We arrived back at the hostel before half 6 and power walked down to the beach in an attempt to watch the sunset as the sky seemed to be clearer that yesterday. However after we got there the clouds came over and we couldn't see a thing. So we gave up and went for dinner at a bar that had a live band belting out some classics such as the BeeGees, ABBA and Aerosmith. We stayed for a while before heading back to the hostel and attempting to get an early night as we have an early start tomorrow.

Patong Beach

Today was a fairly laid back day. We got up at half 9, after a night that involved being woken up by a singing drunk girl who was demanding the WiFi password at about half 3. We got dressed and went to find somewhere for breakfast. We ordered sausage bacon and beans. The sausages were weird and neither of us ate them but the rest was fine. We spent the rest of the morning organising our time here on Phuket Island and getting information on where we want to go next.

Around half 12/1pm we headed to the beach and spent the rest of the afternoon there. The sea was quite brown when you got near it but we had a swim anyway. The water was quite warm and the sun was boiling. We wanted to watch the sunset but it disappeared behind some clouds just before setting however the sky went a nice colour. Around 7pm we went for dinner. We went to a restaurant that we went past on the route to the hostel. I had a really nice Panang Curry and Lauren had chicken drumsticks. Then we headed back to the hostel.

Our room is currently baking hot, despite the air con apparently being on. It's too uncomfortable to sleep. Lauren has just gone down to reception to ask them what's going on as it wasn't like this yesterday. I'll let you know tomorrow how the night goes....

Plane to Phuket

This morning we didn't have to check out until 12 so had a lay in. I got up at 10am and packed all my stuff which had been spread out all round the room as we had been in the same place for so long. We got a tuktuk to Khao San Road where we had pizza for lunch and then got a tuktuk back to the hostel around 1:45. A taxi picked us up at 2:45pm as we were told it would take 2 hours to get to the airport. It took 45 minutes. We checked in and I had my dry shampoo confiscated as I had forgotten it was in my hand luggage, which was really annoying. Dry shampoo is expensive!

Our flight was at 17:45 to Phuket and it was only a short flight, about an hour and 10 minutes. We were seated in an exit row so there was only two seats in our row and plenty of leg room which was fab. Across the aisle was a seat for a flight attendant as well as the two seats and we watched as the young air steward appeared to nod off whilst seating during take off. 

Once we landed we collected out bags and got a minibus to Patong, the town we were staying in, that dropped us off outside our hostel. The drivers phone kept ringing the whole time we were driving and his ring tone was the sound of a girl screaming which was kind of weird and unnerving. I guess it would get your attention though. We chatted to two English people on the bus who was travelling round Thailand at the moment which was nice. They have us tips for when we go to North Thailand later on.

We checked into the hostel around 9:30pm and then went to the shop for water which was desperately needed before returning to bed.

Final Day in Bangkok

This morning we got up at 6am and got ready for a half day trip out of Bangkok. We were picked up from the hotel lobby and driven to the shop we booked the tour in where we joined some other people. For the next hour we drove around the block, down the same one way street about 4 times,  picking up different people each time. I have no idea why they couldn't all be picked up at the same time. At around 7:45 we finally set off with a full minibus. We drove an hour and a half until we reached Dumnoen Saduak floating market.

It was a lot better than the last floating market we went to, but it still wasn't what I expected. The market wasn't floating, the customers were.  We got a paddle boat for around half an hour round the stalls. If the stall owner though the boat was going past too fast or that someone on the boat was interested they just grabbed hold of the boat and pulled it back so they could make a sale. After we got off the boat we walked round the stalls in the building at the side of the river. I bought some things but Lauren didn't buy anything. We sat and had a ice cream as we had time to kill before we had to meet the minibus driver at 11.

At 11 we were loaded into a couple of long tail boats which went a lot faster than the paddle boats and rode for about 15 minutes to a random place where we got off. We were the first boat there and we had no idea what to do as there was no one and nothing there. It wasn't long however until the other boats arrived and the minibus pulled in having driven round. 

We got back on the bus and headed back to Bangkok, arriving around 1pm, getting dropped off at Khao San Road. We were hungry so we went in search of food. I got a Pad Thai with chicken from a little woman with a stall on the side of the road. She just whacked it all in a pan in front of my eyes and served it up on a little polystyrene tray. It only cost about £1.20 and was quite tasty. Lauren didn't want to try it so got McDonald's instead. Then we walked back to the hostel to relax for a bit.

At around half 5 we dressed up a little bit nicer than normal and got a taxi to a sky bar, one of many in Bangkok, called Zoom. It was quite a long taxi ride and there was a lot of traffic but we made it there eventually. We went up to the 38th floor  of the hotel the bar was in and sat looking out over the city. We just caught the last of the light to take some photos before darkness fell. We only had one alcoholic and one soft drink each, and I didn't even drink mine (it was not nice!). Bangkok is so huge and looked so cool all lit up after dark, but as usual the photos do not do it justice. We got a taxi back around half 8 after admiring the view. Again no one seems to know where the hostel is but the taxi driver managed to find it. We drove through Chinatown which actually had stuff going on. It turns out the map we had is useless and the road it told us was Chinatown central was just a little side road.

We got back to the hostel and both Lauren and I skyped home before going to bed.

The Grand Palace and A Huge Market

Today we got up around 9 and headed out to the Grand Palace. On the way we encountered a man telling us it was shut today as it was a special day. We thanked him for the information and carried on anyway. About 60 seconds later we came across another man who told us the palace opened at 11, which was just over an hour from then, and that instead we could go on a boat tour, which just happened to take an hour. We carried on to the palace anyway, and when we got there discovered it was open and rammed full with tourists. The two men had clearly got the wrong end of the stick...

We got a ticket after wandering around for a while attempting to find the ticket office which it turns out was actually inside the walls. I had to buy a large fabric sheet to go round me as apparently just over knee-length skirts are fine but three-quarter length leggings are not.

The first place we wandered round was the Temple of the Green Buddha. It was very fancy and elaborate abs absolutely heaving. There were people there taking part in some ceremony which looked like it may have been for the late king. It must have been quite off-putting having all the tourists walking past staring at them sitting on the floor behind a piece of rope. We weren't allowed to take any photos inside the actual temple buildng where the emerald Buddha was and the ones of the outside don't really do it justice but it was quite spectacular. It also had the bells I mentioned on my previous post and many different towers and turrets. 

The temple had access directly to the Grand Palace, which was pretty big and grand but we were only able observe it from a distance, presumably as the King lives there. I don't think he would appreciate 1000s of tourists wandering round his living room.

After this we returned to the hostel for about an hour to sit down and to change into different clothes. Then we headed to Chatuchack market by sky train, which is less exciting than the name implies. It's just like the underground but on overpasses and airconditioned. The market was huge and had all manner of products, both edible and not. I don't know if we even managed to go round all the stalls there was so many. But we were wandering around for a long while before getting the sky train back to the city.

Once we arrived back at the centre of the city we got a tuktuk to Chinatown to see what was going on there. The answer was nothing. It was dead. So we got in another tuktuk to Khao San Road which looked remarkably different to the last time we were there. It was lined with market stalls and there were many people just milling about.  There were food stalls, people selling scorpions on sticks and henna artists too. We stopped and had some food at a hostel cafe. I ordered fried rice with pork and peppers and garlic, which was nothing like the picture when it came, and was actually just boiled rice and crispy pork. It was still nice though.

We've learnt two things about tuktuks in Thailand since being in Bangkok. Firstly, they go a lot faster as they are completely different vehicles, and secondly,  the drivers don't actually have a clue what is where in the city. We were trying to get to the memorial bridge, which is a fairly substantial bridge across the river and even after pointing it out on a map the drivers were still unsure where it was. After about a ten minute discussion they worked out where we meant as off we went. We were heading to find a night market that was marked on the map, but when we got there, there was not a stall in sight. Instead we wandered round a little flower marker nearby and down a little arcade alongside the pier, called Yodpiman River Walk. We walked to the end and then along the river in attempt to see Wat Arun all light up, like I've seen in many pictures, however the lights didn't seem to be on tonight so we just walked back to the hostel to collapse on to our beds with aching feet and sore backs.

Touring Bangkok's Temples

Today we got up around 11am as I was still feeling ill. Neither of us had had a particularly great nights sleep due to the people we were sharing with so we were fairly tired.

We decided to visit some of the temples on one side of the city. We set off walking and it was very hot. The first temple we got to was Wat Rajaburana which had a big white and green tower type thing out the front. We weren't actually able to go inside the main building but we had a wander round the outside.

The second place was probably one of my favourites. The sign said "Khao Mo or a replica mountain of Prayurawongsawas Temple is located in the middle of a large pond. It is a rock garden surrounded by a number of miniature chedis and stupas, cathedrals, pavilions,  and rare plants. It has been a place of peace and tranquility in the monastery for more than 180 years". We sat on the side of the pond looking up at the mini mountain feeding turtles. It was quiet and green and peaceful. I could have sat there all day.

Wat Prayurawongswat was just next door. It had been restored in 2013. It had a large white stupa which you could go upstairs and in to. Inside was a little temple. And then we had to crawl through a small gap to get out. I'm not sure why.  I'm also not sure why we couldn't have just gone out the way we came in but oh well. In the ground there's was a whole load of stalls and lots of people were praying as today is the last day of Songkran.

Our next stop was Wat Phitchaya Yatikaram. It was a big temple with some fancy white turrets. We wandered round inside the temple and round the outside taking pictures. There must have been some watery event going on there earlier and the floor was soaked. I almost slipped over. There was lots of people praying.

Next we headed to Wat Kanlayanimit. It had a huge gold Buddha inside. We had a look round and then went round the grounds where there was lots of things going on. We saw a purple lion dance which we only briefly watched before heading on to the next and final place.

Wat Arun was probably one of the most elaborate temples we have seen. There was four decorated white towers round the outside with a big one in the middle, which unfortunately was covered in scaffolding. There were bells hanging off the towers, and the two square buidings at the sides, chiming in the wind. It was quite beautiful. We wandered round taking photos and then headed out the back where we sat and watched what one would assume was a traditional Thai song/dance/acting performance with about 6 characters; 2 people and 4 dragon type creatures. We watched for a while and then got a tuktuk home.

We had survived all day without getting a soaking but on the tuktuk ride home we encountered several people at the side of the road with big buckets. We were nt prepared or dressed for it and we got very wet. Wet leggings make for uncomfortable walking. Thankfully we had considered that it might happen this morning and all our stuff was wrapped in plastic bags.

We got back to the hostel around 6pm and just spent the evening chilling, as I am not exactly up for going out partying.