Sleep in after a rather late night. Pouring with rain and the hostel is quiet. I speak with Sarah and her friend before heading to Johns. No point avoiding the rain. The WiFi here is pretty good and catch up on some notes, watching the soaked tourists pass by. A Dutch guy turns up to the room as well as an Irish girl. After saying hello I wander down to the night market, lots of stalls and bar/restaurants under a cover to keep out the rain. I meet Mo at Omalleys, an easy Irish bar to find, but seems out of place at this spot. We leave as soon as possible.
Find a nice little restaurant tucked at the corner of the market called Nats Bistro. I get some spring rolls and sweet and sour chicken, which was a favourite before. Mo goes for the Tom Yum soup. We go to the Bob Marley bar, near the market, unfortunately no live music today, but sitting outside the bar has some cool Bob Marley pictures drawn on the wall. We head to Basic bar where Mo knows the owners. Sit chatting with Bob and John for awile, they explain to me some of the corruption and bribery. All bars and restaurants must pay the police or illegal items may get found in the bar. The Army have been round asking if the police are running a racket and were told not to pay, but the army will not be around forever. He mentions the killing of the 2 brits in Kho phan yan where 2 burmese were blamed. It seems that it may have been 2 sons from a powerful mafia family on the island. An independent study was going to be carried out but the DNA has gone missing. The odd part of the conversation is with the Chinese tourists. Tours that now come to the country are given A4 sheets with rules on them. The Chinese have been squatting down by the canal or squatting on top of toilet seats in bars and restaurants, making quite the mess. Many of the locals dislike them. Its great to hear all the gossip from the expats. I walk Monica back to her hotel. See.me app proving invaluable in getting me home.
Some of the hostel lads are up again and I sit with them for awhile.