After 2 hectic days of activities (how did we ever work 5 days a week?) we decided that Friday was going to be a chill out day. We woke up late, I spent the morning updating our blog and Edd had a mid morning nap.

Edd's superglued sandals were coming apart again and he insisted another tube of superglue and maybe some duct tape would keep them going. I announced that we were going to the Central shopping centre in Chiang Mai, as I was not going out in public with anyone who had duct taped shoes. Edd had to be dragged out of bed, borderline kicking and screaming, as he did not want to buy new sandals.

We followed the Google maps on my phone that said we'd be walking for an hour. We decided a bit of exercise never hurt anyone and didn't have anywhere to be anyway. We walked along the old city walls that were now ruins and Edd realised we were on the wrong side: Google maps was taking us around 3 sides of a square. He checked the map and started guiding us there on his own.

After nearly an hour of walking, I decided we should get a taxi from where we were. Edd hailed a tuk tuk and we showed the driver the name of the shopping centre in Thai. He looked at us as though we were mad, we were walking in the wrong direction and the shopping centre was 1km back the way we came! We turned back on ourselves, got an ice cream from the 7/11 and started towards where the shopping centre apparently was.

We hadn't walked past it, thank goodness, but discovered my Google maps was taking us to the zoo, even though it was the address for the shopping centre. I decided we had to go to the central one instead of the airport one, as reviews said central had a wider variety of shops, a Sports World (which is where I assumed we'd find shoes) and 'many confusing levels where you could get lost for hours.' We walked inside and were underwhelmed. Whoever had written the reviews on this shopping centre obviously didn't get out much, or they'd never been to Westfield's in Stratford, London.

We walked around each level looking for a store that sold sandals where the toes were covered. I was wearing my pair and would show shop assistants what we were looking for, for Edd. They'd scrunch their nose and shake their heads; I had dubbed the shoes 'my ugly sandals' and the shop assistants clearly agreed.

We discovered a department store and found a new pair of shorts for Edd - to replace the pair he'd superglued to his upper, right thigh. We also found a new bikini for me - my blue and white one got ruined in the mountain mud at the elephant camp and now had patches of dark stains on the top. We were happy to learn that everything was 40% off and could claim tourist tax back at the store. Brilliant.

We asked around about outdoor wear and were directed to the Sports World. I immediately spotted 2 pairs of sandals for Edd and we asked for the necessary sizes. For those who don't know, Edd's feet are 2 different sizes. I don't mean like me for example where my one for is a 3 and the other is a 3.5; I mean Edd's left foot is a 10 and his right foot is about a 7.5. Shoe shopping for him on a good day is tricky, I was forcing him to replace his gummy sandals, against his will, in a country where the sizes ran off US. It turned out they didn't have the size he needed, they had the half size up or down. The half size down caught his left heel and we both knew it would cause serious blisters, with no issues on his right foot. The half size up was fine for his left foot, but his right foot basically swam in it. We found a few other sandals, but they didn't have the size he needed in any of them. Naturally. Why would this possibly be a pain free shopping expedition?

He found a pair of trainers that had mesh-type material on the top of them, they breathed like sandals and I pointed out that they wouldn't get little stones caught inside like sandals do. He selected an orange pair and they had his size (hallelujah); he tried them on and was satisfied they'd be a good replacement for his old pair.

He paid, but there was an issue with the receipt: it had absolutely nothing printed on it! No item, quantity, price, VAT, nothing! We then stood there for 10 minutes, holding up the queue, for them to phone someone to assist in printing a receipt with information on it. Only in Thailand, seriously.

We were done shopping and decided it was probably time to go home. There was a food market outside the entrance and I got a spring roll (my staple diet at the moment) and Edd got a strange sausage. It was stuffed with glass noodles and bits of pork; he said it was really good, I took his word for it - I was possibly looking at another 5 days of food poisoning and would rather starve thanks.

Edd hadn't had a Thai massage before and after learning how to do one a few days earlier, wanted to experience it for himself. It was a bit strange for us when we first arrived in Bangkok, but after 3 weeks we were used to seeing them everywhere: 2 inch mattresses with pillows and blankets in a neat line, against a wall on the pavement. They were set up at the bottom of the stairs and were only charging 150 Baht as opposed to 200 Baht everywhere else. I was given oversized pants to wear as I was wearing my play suit again and we laid down for an hour of what we thought would be bliss. My Thai woman was in about her late 40's, maybe early 50's and spent most of the hour sticking her elbows into various parts of my anatomy. It was good for tension relief, however it was not very relaxing. Edd was equally as unimpressed. It wasn't horrendous, but I'd had a Thai massage in Kanchanaburi that was heavenly - this was more like Thai massage meets sports massage, elbows only.

We thanked our ladies and made our way back to our guest house. We had no intention of using my phones navigation again and decided to just weave our way through the back streets as we figured we'd eventually end up where we needed to be. We walked past an Alsatian on an exercise machine, a cat in a bird cage that was strapped to a bicycle, a really cool cocktail bar (we pinned it on my Google maps), an array of Indian restaurants and billboards advertising face creams that bleach your skin with snail snot. We both really liked Chiang Mai, there was always something weird and wonderful around the next corner.

We had bought a bottle of gin from a local shop (you can buy 3 G&T's in a restaurant for the same price as an entire bottle of the local stuff) and some tonics the night before, but needed limes. There was a Thai woman selling fruit smoothies with a crate full of limes on her counter. Edd asked if we could buy 3 and she replied, a bit confused (probably thinking 'strange westerners') 'for you, for you.' I told Edd to give her 20 Baht for taking her stock and she tried to give us change. When Edd refused, she realised what was happening and gave us another 5 limes. Result! What a nice lady.

We went back to our accommodation and made G&T's in our room. We snuck out a little while later for a snack as we were peckish and then settled in for an earlyish night. All the nothing we did all day was exhausting.