We hired push bikes this morning to cycle to the zoo. We didn't have a clue how long it would take before we set off but it only took just over half an hour- but it was pretty hard. The road had a slight incline without noticing it as it was at the bottom of the mountain road. It was hard for me anyway, not so much for Nath!

We had a full day at the zoo and walked around the full thing, every inch of it! There was a buggy that you could catch at stations or you could drive around, so we were one of the only ones walking as usual! It was good to see the animals as we love zoos but it was also pretty sad as the animals didn't seem very well looked after at all. Nearly all of the animals were in small confinements on their own. If they have one, why not have two of the same animals. It just seemed so cruel to have one poor animal on its own all it's life! It was heartbreaking really! We wanted to set them free! Or at least give them some friends! They kept some of the same species separate too which wasn't very nice at all. At many of the animals homes you could buy food to feed them, but it seemed like the animals weren't really fed at all so the visitors were paying the zoo extra money so they could feed their animals for them. Some of the animals seemed pretty desperate for the food as well. We didn't feel too good coming out of there and felt disappointed but we were still really glad we went and did enjoy the day! Just sad for the animals more than anything.

The zoo had all the normal zoo animals, lions, tigers, reptiles, zebra, deers (loads of different types of deer), it had sheep, an aquarium that we didn't go to as you had to pay extra, it had kangaroo, birds, jaguars and many more. We saw an animal show with birds in and other little animals but it was all in Thai so we didn't have a clue what they were saying. A parrot did ride a bicycle though. We also fed an elephant some carrots. There was a mummy and baby elephant but the baby one couldn't quite get the food to its mouth properly. We also paid extra to go and see two giant pandas, which were on loan from China. There aren't many left in the world and we had never seen one so it was good to see. They did sleep nearly all the time we were in there though and they were kept in separate areas. They had a baby a while ago that was suppose to be there but it was somewhere else, like quite a lot of the animals. There were quite a lot of areas in the zoo where the animals that were suppose to be there just weren't or there would be signs saying under construction. Pretty funny really! We only paid £3 each in and extra £2 to see pandas so it was great for the price really! Was still a really good day!

We cycled back after the zoo and went to buy tickets for Thai boxing at the stadium which was near the Tapae Gate. A lady boy showed us the ring and let us pick our seats for the night. It looked like some underground s***! A dingy warehouse looking area with seats and a ring in the middle! We couldn't wait!! The tickets only cost us £8 each and they were really good seats really close to the ring, about 4 rows away! When we got back to the accommodation we booked all our trips. She gave us £30 discount for booking so many- we paid £120 for 3 trips and one extra night stay, so we were staying 8 nights in total. We couldn't get enough of the place! We booked trekking, a visit to Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle and a trip to Doi Inthanon National Park. We had decided to stay an extra night to have a day to relax before going to Pai for 3 nights, then back here to catch the bus to Bangkok. We've got some really good trips to look forward to!! It will be a tiring 3 days as we are doing them all one after the other but it will be worth it!

We had a few beers in our room whilst getting ready for the boxing and then headed out to find a bar that was showing the Leeds game. We had no such luck. Everywhere was just showing later games. We eventually found an Irish bar showing sports and they had sky sports on stream so they put the game on for us. Nath was over the moon! We watched most of the game and had a few beers and then went to the boxing ring for 9pm.

The boxing was really good! It was so brutal though. There were 7 matches- 2 of them were female fights which I didn't really like to watch, particularly the first one as they were so young. Just little children! They had one special fight which was 7 boys in the ring all blindfolded just swinging punches and kicks everywhere. It was so bizzaire and funny! The last fight was the big one- Thailand vs New Zealand and it literally lasted a minute. New Zealand won as the Thai boxer went to kick him but it didn't go right and he nearly snapped his leg! Was still so good though!! All the bar staff were lady boys too! So glad we got to see it before leaving Thailand! Really loved it! After, we went to a busy bar not too far from our hostel. It seemed like the place to be as it was packed with mainly tourists! Everyone was spilling outside into the square. The beer had gone to my head and it was a bit too much for me so at about 1am we decided to go back home and call it a night! Light weight as always! I blame the strong Chang beer!!