The alarm woke us up at 06:15 and i dragged myself out of bed, still half asleep and packed together my bits and bobs as we have to check out at 11:00am. Daniel got up after me and i reminded him that hr should pack his bag but then he said he would pay the 150baht extra for another half day in the room, so i could have had a few extra minutes sleep! We sat outside our hotel at 07:00 to wait to get picked up for our day trip and soon enough a thai man came asking to see our ticket and he had another couple with him. I was far too sleepy to strike up conversation but i managed to say good morning to them. We walked to a mini bus where another group of chinese people joined us and we all piled onto the bus.

Unfortunately daniel wasn't sitting next to me so i had no shoulder to rest my head on and sleep. The drive was a lot longer than expected, around 40 minutes i would say and it took a little further out of the main city. When we arrived at the railway market the tour guide told us that the train would pass through at 09:40 and that we should meet back at the minibus at 09:50. The market seemed to be built around train tracks. We walked up the tracks which was covered by makeshift umbrellas and on either side were women selling all sorts of foods. We saw a lot of fish stalls selling baby crabs, shrimps, weird looking fish, frogs, clams and so much more! There were a lot of fruit stalls as well and i was on a mission to find a small, round purpley fruit called mangosteen that darryl had recommended.

After passing loads of mangoes and grapes for sale i finally saw the Mangosteen fruit so i bought two. The peel is quite hard, similar to that of a passion fruit but once i ripped the top off the white juicy segments were on show. It tastes similar to lychee but with the texture on a mango, some segments had seeds in and others didn't, it was a tasty fruit! I thought before that mangosteen was the small, round spiky fruit with lychee type flesh inside but i was wrong, i need to find out the name of that fruit because it was also delicious. We continued to walk on the railway line until we came to the end so we walked around and found a 7 eleven to buy a drink and cigarettes. I got a small cam of nescafe iced latte and we sat on the kerb.

Once we finished our drinks we passed a stall selling incense, they had lots of big bags bunched up but there was no way i would have fit them in my backpack so i got two smaller packets for my mum. We asked a local man for the time and we had 10 minutes until the train would pass through the market so we slowly walked back. We stood in a crevice of the market in between two stalls as we watched the women move their goods away from the tracks and pull back their umbrellas. Soon enough we heard the rattling of the train which was wider than i expected so had to quickly step back so i wouldn't get it. It was quite an odd hing to watch. Why would they set up a market around a live train track? I caught it passing through on video so i could show the crazy ways of the thai to the very proper and practical people of the west.

The train passed and the fish was laid out by the tracks and the umbrellas put back to shelter the tracks from sunlight and we headed back to the minibus to make our way to the floating market. The drive took us around twenty minutes and we parked up alongside a dozen other minibuses. The tour guide said we could pay 150TB to rent a boat to take us around but we chose not to pay the money and walk around instead. There was a canal running all the way down and a few other canals off of it, they were all filled with long tail boats ferrying tourists around who were all snapping photos. We walked beside the canal where there were many boats parked up by the side selling all sorts like noodle soup, fruit, spring rolls and many more!

As we walked beside the canal we passed through many souvenir shops. At the end before the bridge there was a man with two big snakes offering people to pay for a photo with it draped over their shoulders. We didn't grasp this opportunity but we did however stroke it. It felt very weird, i can't explain it. Scaly but not like that of a fish. We walked over the bridge and back down through many other shops. On the way back we passed a weird machine like a vibrating plate so we thought we would try it out. It cost 10TB for ten minutes and the idea was to put your feet on a vibrating plate either sitting or standing and the vibrations are somehow good for all the pressure points in the foot. I started off by sitting down and the vibrations were reasonably gentle and then soon enough it really fired up so i stood up as the thai couple behind me said to. It was crazy, everything i looked at was shaking and i was sweating like a pig. I had to sit down before i fainted and let daniel have a go. It was a lot of fun and felt good on the feet. Once it finished it blew hot air out onto the feet although i'm not sure why.

Feeling slightly spaced out but invigorated at the same time we began to slowly walk back, looking at different souvenir stalls we passed. As we walked beside the lake there was a woman parked up who was selling chicken satay skewers so we bought one to share and sat beside her on the steps. They were lovely, nicely marinated and tender pieces of meat on sticks and the sauce was beautiful. I', not sure what else was in it but you could definitely taste the peanut. It was served with a small salad of cucumber and onion in a sweet vinegar dressing. We sat here for a while watching the boats go passed as stalls would pull them in to look at the goods. It got to the time when we had to meet up with the rest of the group snd i was sitting watching the canal a british woman asked me where i got my ring from. I tood her it was from pandora and it's my birth stone and that it only cost £40! She loved it, and so do i!

Once the group had all returned, we proceeded onto a long boat which would take us around the floating village. When we got on and began to move i was surprised at how quick it could do, i'd never been in a boat that small with so much power before. It took us through the venice like villages where we passed beautiful flowers hanging outside houses and garages for their boats. It was a really nice ride although we didn't see anyone who lived here, i s'pose they were all out selling thing at the floating market. We got off the boat and proceeded back onto the hot, stuffy minibus for a long journey back. I managed to get some sleep but it was so bloody hot and the roads were bumpy so it wasn't a pleasant nap.

We arrived back at out hotel at 13:30 on the dot and we had until 16:00 to leave so we went in and had a much needed shower and chilled out enjoying the air con for a while before we got hungry so popped out to the duck stall for lunch. This would be the last time we would enjoy such a delicious meal so we savoured every bite. Next, we walked around to do some quick souvenir shopping. I was on the hunt for some coloured string so i could make some bracelets for friends back homes but after searching from high to low i found nothing. I popped into a wholesale silver shop and finally bought myself a plain ring for my thumb, just like mum's one and i was looking for some that alex and mum might like but there weren't many. There were celtic bands and ones with anchors and skulls on. There was a small one with a peace sign but i wasn't sure if my mum would like it so i paid the 320tb for my plain silver band (around £6) and continued to walk around. I had already bought two vintage shirts the night before so didn't need any more.

I wanted to get my hair braided again but thought i may have the opportunity on the islands. We headed back to the hotel to finish off packing and at 16:00 on the dot reception phoned us and asked us to check out. We left our big bags in a locked room at reception to collect later before we got our bus. Daniel exchanged his books for a new one, by Tom Clancy and we decided to get McDonalds to fill us up as we wouldn't be eating dinner really. I got a mcChicken sandwich set and dan went for a big mac set. There were two young thai children playing hide and seek while we were eating which was cute to watch, they were having so much fun it was unbelievable.

Once we finished eating we continued to walk up and down khao san road. I wad debating whether to get this white crotchet top i had my eye on but decided against it. We went back to the hotel after stocking up on water and fags from seven eleven to get our backpacks and head to the tourist information place where we would get our bus to Ko phi phi. We arrived at 18:00 and waited around until a man collected us and put stickers on everyone according to their destination. We followed him down the road to a junction where there were over a dozen other tourists waiting impatiently to board their coach. We waited here for quite a while as we watched groups of people load onto another coach that parked up. Finally our coach had come and the man directed us to the two seats second row from the front. It wasn't a sleeper bus which was disappointing but the seats were reclinable, not much though. We were stationary until 19:30 when we finally began to move, which prompted an applause from the chatty french group sat behind us.

There was a TV which showed the film Troy which was good to watch as i'd never seem it. There was far too much death in the film though. I was quite cold and the air con was still blowing cold air down onto me, even though i closed it. When Troy finished they played another film called Lone survivor but this didn't interest me so i decided to try and get some sleep. I was woken up by Daniel saying we had stopped so we got off the coach at a service station where i went to the toilet; i had forgotten how popular squat toilets are and still haven't perfected the technique yet. When i came out of the toilet daniel was sat down at a table with a plate of rice and chicken curry. He asked if i wanted so,e but i wasn't so hungry. I tried a bit and it was pretty hot, all around me i heard echoes of the word "spicy" fro, each table where tourists sat. Two boys next to us downed a pot of yoghurt afterwards which made me laugh. God help anyone who needs to use the toilet on the coach after that ad i suspect it could get quite messy. We got back on the coach after having one last cigarette and a new film was about to begin- "the hangover 3". I was so happy it was a comedy and watched most of it until i fell asleep.