The past two days had taken its toll and I had large foot blisters from all the walking. I decided to lie in for a bit as I didnt have to check out till noon. My flight today to Siem Reap Cambodia was at 7.20pm so I can take a slow day as I dont need to be at the airport till about 5pm and have covered most of the sights in the city. The hostel lets you leave luggage for 20B (.60 cents) and I was going to do that originally. Then I figured out a route where I could goto Jim Thompson house and take the airport train, so I wouldnt need to come back. I didnt want to do the extra walking coming back and wanted to go easy on my feet. The hostel told me to walk 10 minutes up the main intersection street till I reached a Tesco Lotus store. Walking along I came across a lost tourist with a map. We got chatting and discussing tuk tuk fares and I told her not to pay more than 100B as I had been quoted as high as 300B which is $10 and not what you should be paying in Bangkok! I wanted to eat as no breakfast is provided in this hostel. There wasnt much food as it was mostly auto repair shops on this road so I found a pineapple seller again to hold me over for a bit for 10B (.30 cents). Eventually made it to Jim Thompson House. Entry was 100B ($3) but no pics were allowed inside. Jim Thompson was a CIA agent stationed during and after WWII. He built a home by taking six houses from Ayutthaya and joining them together into a large house and two outhouses. I've been to other colonial homes before and thought it would be a nostalgic recreation of back home transporting you back to europe or america. But this was not the case. As his background was an architect he studied thai culture and built and furnished an authentic thai home with some western influences. Surprisingly as the tour began we heard the azaan prayer call from a nearby mosque. The guide explained that muslims lived on the other side of the river. They would weave silk and sell it to Mr Thompson. Now only two families continue the tradition of silk making. The house is raised on stilts so the rooms are mainly on the second floor. This is to protect from flooding and other animals entering. Also doorways would have a small plank you have to walk over to stop babies from crawling out. The home is centered around the living room and branches out to other rooms. The living room had a u-shaped seating layout facing the open doorways. He also reversed the panelling and put the outside windows into the inside living room so people could appreciate the detailed work. In other places he closed in the windows to make them display cases for artwork. His bedroom had an ensuite bathroom with shower, which was a western addition. Also the dining room was very european with a dining table, chinaware, glasses, and cutlery laid out. He also had a private study room. The outbuildings were the maids house and the kitchens. There was a grand stairwell leading to the main floor. This was decorated with lots of painted artwork that has decayed from the humidity. There was wood panelling and the main floor had chequered tiles imported form Italy. The guide explained he was born in the year of the horse and a fortune teller told him something would happen to him at age 61. In 1967 which was the year of the horse when he reached that age, he went missing in a jungle and has never been seen since. She also explained thailand was not colonized despite the massive numbers of french tourists I had been experiencing. They compromised by trading land to keep the europeans out. Also Siam was renamed Thailand to be more nationalistic, as Siam represents many people including the burmese, whereas Thailand is land of the Thai people. After I needed to get some food. There were some stalls along the street but I couldnt figure out how to tell them what I wanted without meat. Back on the main street was a sit down restaurant that had menus with english. So I ordered a spicy shrimp rice for 35B ($1.15) which was nice but not filling enough.