So in 4 days we have travelled over 1000 kilometres, taken a boat, coach, taxi and one very slow moving train and finally reached the city of Phitsanulok in central Thailand. Arriving at? the station over 2 hours late and at 2 am in the morning probably didnt help but?the city was dead... and pretty scary. Nothing and no one was around... correction... one prostitute and her 3 pimps were around... but no one of any help to us. Lonely planet guide in hand we searched for the reputable hostels that were supposedly very close to the station but to no avail. In the end and after much huffing and puffing.... and a little tantrum from Ben over how dangerous the situation was... we came across a hotel with a big sign saying promotion! woohoo jack pot. we got an enormous room with a lovely clean shower for the equivalent of 6 pounds, we were in heaven after the last tiny crap holes (excuse my language) that we have stayed in, not to mention that we had a t.v. with an MTV channel (we havent watched telly for nearly a month so this is pretty special!).

The next morning we took a walk around the city and if i'm honest we were really disappointed. Firstly,?on the plus side, the city is a typical Thai city with?no english signs, no one spoke a word of english and no tuk tuk drivers or tour operators?bothered us. It was quite simply a normal town not geared towards tourism in the slightest. Even the staff in the two tourist offices?in the town couldnt speak a word of english and looked quite baffled when we asked how to get to the next town. For two young english people who do not speak more than 3 words of thai (yes this is?due to our own ignorance)?finding your way around in a?thai town with nothing written in english let alone words written using the alphabet as we know it is pretty hard! For the two days we were there we only saw 5 other english/white people so its not suprising that we were stared at everywhere we went- we felt like posh'n'becks! But I'm afraid to say that the fact that we were?two of only a?handful of?toursists around was quite intimidating rather enlightening. The next morning after running around bus and train stations and jumping on the wrong bus we managed to reach the neighbouring city of Sukhothai, the first ever Thai capital.

The Old city in the centre of town dates back thousands of years and is incredibly pretty, with various temple ruins?and Buddha statues surrounded?by a lush green park and lakes. It is quite a big site so we rented bikes to ride around on, which?was quite alot?of fun because i dont think i've ridden a?bike since i was a child and certainly not one that looked so old... it even had a bell and front basket!?We spent most of the afternoon in the Historical park and only saw a number of other people which made the experience even more special and peaceful. Oh and we even saw a snake eek!?Only msitake we made was getting the bus back to Phitsanulok during school time and having to watch a thai music channel for the entire 2 hour journey. I cannot describe how backward the thai pop music is- this is only mine and ben's opinions i guess, but think of Kylie minogue?in 1990 and make?her songs even cheesier and you'll have an idea of where their music style is!

We're quite happy to be leaving Phitsanulok after two days (one is more than enough) and I'm pretty excited to be heading to Chang Mai as i've heard so many great things about it. So fingers crossed.x

Oh and can i just say to all the people that laughed when i said?i was taking my hairdryer and straighteners with me when i go travelling,?both appliances?are being used regularly and not only by me but yes by ben who was adament that he would not touch them and snorted that i was silly for taking them! well there you go, not such a waste of space afterall!

and sorry for all the question marks in my blogs i dont know where they come from but the site always puts them in random places, it cant be helped.