Pancakes for breakfast, now this I could get used to. Edd and I were both annoyed with the 2 year old that was on the boat with us. She only seemed to communicate in scream and we were both pretty certain at this point that it wasn't normal.

We needed to do some washing as we weren't going to have much time in Chiang Mai the first few days and by the time we were going to get around to it, our situation would be dire. Edd communicated to one of the staff, in interpretive dance, that he needed a bucket. Using lake water and the washing powder we'd acquired in Kanchanburi, our clothes were washed. I felt like all we needed was one of those clothes graters to complete the look.

Our Lake House had made a full U-turn by this point and we were back where we'd started on the first day. A long boat collected us at 10am to take us to shore - today was a day of culture, we were going to see some temples. We hiked up to the first temple and passed a kindergarten school - 5 year olds were running rampant with not a single adult in sight. They had a climbing frame and the walks were decorated from ceiling to floor with letters of the western alphabet, animals and numbers. Their school field was a large expanse of gravel with a football net on the one side. The fence that was supposed to keep them in, had holes in it that were so big they climbed through to greet us with big toothless smiles. They had so little compared to what I was used to in England, but they were happy. We continued to hike to the temple that had 2 large dragons guarding the entrance. We took our shoes off, covered my shoulders with a shawl and went in.

Our tour guide was very well informed, but had a unique ability to say the same thing in about 16 different ways. It was a gift really. After the first 3 versions of the same thing, Edd and I got bored and wondered around. It wasn't very well kept, but looked like they were doing renovations and had started from the top, working their way down. There were Thai people knelt in front of a Buddha, lighting incense, praying, laying down their offering of flowers in a basket and then ringing a gong. It was the same sequence for each person and we wondered what it all meant; we didn't want to ask Tom, as we were afraid to get 16 versions of the same explanation. We'd Google it later.

We then went and sat at the entrance watching Thai Buddhists come and go. They'd arrive at the bottom, take their shoes off, select a small bunch of flowers and some incense from the vendor, pay their offering into a box and go inside. After they'd left, the vendor would go inside, collect the flowers, take them back to his stall, spray them with some water and then sit back in his chair waiting for the next Thai Buddhist to pay for the same bunch, for the hundredth time that day. Edd thought it was the best business model he'd ever seen and wanted to franchise.

We then had some free time to walk around the market. We'd forgotten to bring money with us, but realised that it was all the same Thai tat we'd seen in every other market. As a matter of fact, each stall in the market was basically selling the same thing the person next to him was selling. We were glad to be leaving and hiked back down to the lake, got in our long boats and thought we were going back to the Lake House.

We sped past the Lake House in our long tail boats and stopped on the opposite bank at a temple ruin that was sinking. It was stupidly hot outside again and I pulled a proper diva strop. I wasn't getting off the boat. I'd wait for everyone else to look around the ruins and then go back to the Lake House for a swim and a cool off. The 2 families with little children had the same idea I'd had and we managed to convince one of the long tail boat drivers to take us back. Just as well, after the temple ruins there was apparently another hike to a hidden temple in the forest and the 6 people that were left, only got back to the Lake House an hour and a half later.

We had some lunch after the 6 suckers-for-punishment got back and opted for an afternoon nap. Well, we tried. It turned out we were right in the middle of the long-tail boat highway and they came roaring past every 10 minutes making it impossible to get to sleep. We gave up after an hour and went for another swim. Edd pulled me along in the rubber tube and we circled the Lake House; we noticed 2 missing solar panels on the roof and surmised that the commotion in the staff area, where there were batteries and tools everywhere, had something to do with maintenance from the storm.

We had our standard order of Mai Tai's during happy hour, had some dinner and went to bed early. We were going to sleep on the fold out couch again, as it was far more comfortable than the squeaky bed, but walked into a bug infestation. Millions upon millions of tiny, black, flying bugs; they looked a bit like fruit flies. We discussed possible sleeping options and settle for moving the bug net (after de-bugging the outside) to over the couch, tucking the net under the mattress and cocooning ourselves inside for the night. We couldn't face sleeping with the windows closed, but I equally couldn't face being exposed to the infestation. We climbed in for the last night in our lovely Lake House boat.