sat day 22

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So after not having a shower for 2-3 days i gritted my teeth and braved a cold water shower! It was as unpleasant as it sounds - but felt nice after being clean again. Packed up my rucksack after unpacking it and re packing for the last 3 days and headed out to the pier which was a massive 5 min walk away! Sat on the pier watching the fish until the speed boat was ready to take a boat load to Trat, a 50 minute - more comfortable journey than the last one ride past about 5-6 islands and we had made it. 10 of us all piled into a waiting taxi and we headed off to the centre which was about 40 minutes away. The driver was a tiny little lady who cant of been any younger than 80! - didnt speak a word of english and understood very little, so the journey consisted of stopping and restarting about 4 times to find translators between her and i! got to the hotel eventually and found a room - with a bathroom and more importantly a hot water shower!! the room also had a fan, a TV and was very clean and comfortable - you miss these small luxuries when you're without them! Headed off to have a look round Trat, its a very small, sleepy town with really not much going on - but not unpleasant all the same. In Thailand they have a market in every town and sometimes more than one, if they are under a roof they are generally open in the day and if they're open air then only open in the evenings - basically because its just so hot in the day to be wandering around a market. So just down the road from the hotel was a day market, where you will see 4 rows of fresh fish and 2 of meat next to stalls selling hairspray and nail varnish! The stall holders seem to be in a bit of competition with one another for the biggest and most colorful displays - making for fantastic looking markets. After wandering around here i made my way down to the canal and stopped off at a cafe to watch a bit of a Thai boxing match - its saturday pm and its what the locals were doing. Back at the hotel for a chill out and then a spot of dinner - there doesnt appear to anywhere in Thailand that serves a bad meal. Then off out to find the night market which id heard about - mainly from my Rough Guide book - couldnt really find it! Found a few stalls - prob about 20 serving hot dinners and deserts which all seemed really nice and full of locals, but not a market as such. Back to the hotel to watch a bit of TV - the options where 24hr BBC news channel, American Football or 30 plus channels of Thai and Chinese soaps!! so i fell asleep not long after.

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