Another day another bus journey - although this one will surely be remembered as the one from hell! Thanks to the ever helpful staff at the Chiang Rai bus station we boarded at 9.30am expecting a 6.5hr journey - what we actually got was a 10hr cross country tour of every bus station from Chiang Rai to Phitsanoluk!!!!! Needless to say we got off a little dazed and confused and without the use of our legs! Our trauma continued as we'd arrived at a different bus station than we were expecting, so were unable to walk to a guesthouse. A very long and pointless conversation with a tuk tuk driver finally found us at the Bon Bon guesthouse. We headed once more for the night market - what town is complete without one. Unfortunately in our dreary state we forgot our mozzie repellant and got savaged! A poor meal followed Hayley being "deposited on" by one of the many birds in town - and we trudged back to our room to make the most of the luxury free tv!

The next day we decided to enhance our cultural knowledge by visiting Wat Phra, one of three bronze buddhas in the country with a unique dragon halo. Apparently it's one of the biggest draws to the city - for the Thai people, not tourists. We switched from culture to education as we became the subject of a local school English project! After a lengthy q+a session we headed off for lunch. Our destination is known as "legs hanging noodles" - quite literally you sit on the floor with your legs hanging over the edge as you eat. Great food and suprisingly fun too. Back to the culture and off to the Folklore Museum. This was established by Sgt Mjr Thawe after he spent his life collecting artefacts of rural Thai history. Suprisingly interesting and set in very peaceful gardens. Once more doing our bit for charity! For dinner we made our way down to the river (better prepared for the mozzies this time!) and boarded a floating restaurant. A vast improvement on the night before.

And so our cultural exploit into the once capital of Thailand was over, and off we go, venturing yet further from the tourist trial....... this time to Nakhon Ratchisima, aka Khorat (a whole lot easier to pronounce!)