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Published: August 22nd 2012
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The train back to Bangkok was by far the most comfortable journey yet, and we got back having actually managed to get some sleep! This was made even better by the fact we had planned to stay with Kay, the family friend who we met for a drink the first time we were in Bangkok. We only planned to stay for 2 nights but after slumming it a bit through Laos, we were looking forward to a bit of home comfort! We arrived at Kay's all hot and sweaty sometime around 9am and she looked after us fantastically. We had a lovely room in her beautiful apartment and she made us feel really at home. We even got our washing done for us, very spoilt!
We spent the morining back at the weekend market, this time doing a lot better and picking up a few bargains and presents. We mnaged to explore a bit more of the market this time, and it is vast! we found an area where they were selling animals. Now i don't just mean a few birds or fish as well as loads of heartbreakingly small puppies (a couple of days old at most) climbing all
over each other in tanks. We saw your run of the mill fish, kittens, rabbits, mice, Peacocks, ducks, chickens (any bird you can think of! theres a challenge for you emma!) , pigs, snakes, iguanas, turtles, meercats and small rodents in hats and coats. It was thoroughly depressing!
We then headed for Khao San Road - the backpacker area - for some lunch and went in hunt of a pedicure me (Rach that is!). This turned out to be quite strange, involving a razor blade! At the same time James braved a Thai massage, a painful experience I don't think he wil repeat in a hurry! As we were walking back through Khao San Road, I popped a stall to buy a dress, and the guy who sold it to me offered James 500 Baht to buy his new liverpool shirt off his back. That is about 10 pounds and so a 7 pound mark up on what the whole kit cost him! However he declined! Kay took us for a fantastic dinner and we then headed out for a quiet drink in one of the local ex pat bars.
The next day was one of those hugely
frustrating days! We needed to sort out our onward travel plans to Koh Tao. So we tried on the internet but the information was frustratingly old, and was full of warnings about theft on tourist buses. We decided to head for the train station and try and book the train as far as the ferry stop this would be overnight getting in at about 4.30am, and then the ferry to Ko Tao. When we got to the station we were told by various people trying to sell us other methods of transport that the sleeper carriages were all full the next day. This was on the Sunday, and although we were aware that the weekend was a public holiday, we thought we would be able to get something! We were wrong, fan cooled second class SEATs only, no beds at all. We went away in a big stress and had some lunch and tried to work out what to do. We eventually decided that it would be better to stay one more night with Kay and then get the sleeper the next day, rather than sit up all night on an uncomfy train, or have our bags picked over on
a bus. We went back to the train station, again the tickets were priced up for us for 2 days time, we went to hand over the money and she reveals, no sleepers left. In the end we have to concede defeat and book the seats for the next day with nothing to gain by waiting.
That evening we headed out for the cinema to watch the Dark Night Rises (great film by the way!) which was a somewhat strange experience, given you have to stand whilst they play the Thai national anthem before the film.They show a real of clips of the King throughout his life, strangely ending on an image of him in a wheelchair.
We mostly frittered away the time we had left in Bangkok, walking around the shopping centre, watching a repeat of the olympic closing ceremony with Kay and generally chilling out. Before heading for the train station that evening. Needless to say, that train was not pleasant. It left 1 hour late, the seats were really uncomfortable and any chance of sleeping was halted by the men walking up and down selling drinks and food. We were just glad to board the ferry at chumphon!
We had a great stop off in Bangkok which really recharged us both! Thanks to Kay for looking after us!!
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