We decided to go to the hospital after breakfast this morning because the swelling on my ankle hadn't gone down. I called our insurance and double checked everything beforehand and they were fine with it.
It's a nice clean looking hospital that's well organised. I had a new patient type check up first, and then was seen by an English speaking doctor. He checked it over and said he thinks it's just a bad reaction to the bite but didn't believe it was infected. He had somebody in only the other day with the same problem but his was infected as it was spreading up his leg. I was prescribed anti-histamine and anti-inflammatory tablets plus some steroid cream, and told to see how I am after the weeks course.
We were in and out within an hour! Good service and it only cost £20. And I can claim it all back on insurance without any excess. Good to know!

We got back to our hotel (it's a mini hotel by the way, not some big fancy place!) and relaxed around the pool. That's the first time we've sat out in the sun and it was really really warm. Nice change though.

After relaxing for a few hours, we went for tea at El Diablos Burritos. I know it's not exactly traditional Thai food, but we'd walked past it a few times and really fancied that type of food. The menu was very simple - burritos, nachos or quesadilla. That's it. And it was cheap too, plus you get a massive free basket of fresh tortilla chips and salsa dip. We both had chicken burritos. They didn't look much but they were so filling and we didn't even finish them. Nice place.

After filling our guts (we were struggling to walk for the next 2 hours), we went to have a look around the Sunday Walking Market which is supposed to be the best Market going. Well, it was ridiculous. They tried to have a Market and a parade on the same street which is not very wide at all! We couldn't move and there obviously wasn't half as many stalls as there usually is.
We didn't really see much and was quite disappointed because we've been waiting for this Market...not that we intend to buy much at all!

But then, right when we'd finished in the Market, we spotted some canvas paintings. They looked so cool, lots of colour using acrylic paint and really arty looking with paint splashed and smudged in. There were 3 paintings of musical instruments - guitar, saxophone and a bass. We really like them but it's the hassle of getting them home. Then I saw a smaller painting of a tuk-tuk. Then we saw a large one of an electric guitar that we really liked. We were umming and arring for ages - only buying one, then buying three...in the end, we bought all 5!!! We don't even have a house!!! The original cost for all 5 was 5,000 Baht, but we got him down to 4,000 (£80). And there were people after the same ones as us. One guy was disappointed when we picked up the tuk-tuk just before him, and while we were there, about 4 more were bought. Really popular. Glad we bought them and they're cheap too compared to the standard prints that you'd get from somewhere like Ikea. We got the guys business card as well for his proper shop...probably shouldn't go there though.
The large one was taken off the frame, but the rest are still on them. Now to find a way to send them home...

We'd done enough shopping for one day and could see all the sky lanterns being let off all around - looks really amazing! So, we dropped the paintings off at our hotel, then walked down to one of the bridges on the Ping River where most of the lanterns are released. The fireworks were going off everywhere. It's madness. And they let them of from their hands or stand them on the streets and not even in soil - very dangerous really. Saw a few getting fired off which ended up in crowds of people - Therese was a nervous wreck.

We made it up to the river without getting a rocket fired into our faces and there were even more rockets etc going off there.
The bridge and the whole area was absolutely heaving - so many people about.
Anyway, aside from that, there were lots and lots of sky lanterns in the air and lots more people getting theirs going. It looks spectacular! It's like seeing loads of very brights stars.

Then we walked a bit further up onto the bridge to see people putting the Krathongs in the river. They're like little flower nests with a candle in the middle, and they're released to float down the river (I'm sure it's in something like Karate Kid where they do all this type of thing).
It was lovely to see then all floating down the river.

We walked back off the bridge to buy our own lantern to release. Whilst we were getting ours lit and waiting for the heat to get going to help it rise, we got spotted out of thousands of people by Mel and Paul again!! Was perfect timing because Mel was able to get a video recording of us letting our lantern off and take a picture.

It was a fantastic experience being there and seeing all the lanterns. You could sit them for hours just watching it all. It's a bit chaotic with all the fireworks going off around you mind.

Me and Therese walked back towards our hotel and ended up buying a Chang Beer tinny from the shop and drinking it at Thapae Gate where lots of people congregate amongst all the colourful lanterns. Theres lots of benches around trees to sit down on and it's a perfect spot for people watching. And then, we had our own live band. 3 youngish lads (late teens) with a guitar, sat on a bench at the side of us singing away. You're never far from a Beatles song are you!? That's right, the Thai lads were singing quite a few Beatles songs whilst swigging their bottles of Chang Beer. It was lovely sat relaxing watching the festivities and people go by with a bit of background music.

So glad we came here for the festival!