Our second day trip in Bangkok was a bit disappointing. After waking up early and being stood out on the road outside the hotel for 20 minutes, we decided to ring the company and find out why we hadn't been picked up at 6:20am as we were told. The woman casually told us that our pick-up was at 7:20, and that they had emailed to tell us. They definitely hadn't emailed, but although it was a frustrating start to the day it meant we could go back inside and quickly have our free hotel breakfast (a whole 2 slices of toast with butter and a cup of tea!)

When the minivan did pull up, it was very full and didn't look like we would fit in! But the guide hopped in the back so that Luke and I could ride up front with the driver. This meant we had some quite good views of Bangkok along the way and also that we could have seatbelts, unlike everyone else.

The ruins at Ayutthaya were not as impressive as we hoped and although the giant golden Buddha's we visited were interesting, I was beginning to feel a bit templed-out by this stage. It was also really hot and due to a dodgy tummy I survived on Coca-cola for most of the day. We were rushed on and off the minivan at various attractions, never stopping for more than 40 minutes - it wasn't what we had expected. The main reason for the rush was that the Royal family were visiting Ayutthaya that day and if they were there, we weren't allowed to take photos. So we stayed 10 minutes ahead of them when really we would have liked to have seen them, even if it meant no photos - but that wasn't an option.

On the way back to Bangkok, another 2 hour drive, we stopped to change minivans at a tour hub. It seemed that tour operators traded customers according to ease of dropping people off at their hotels. Obviously the stop was conveniently at a big shop as well, this time for jewellery. My eyes lit up at the diamonds and beautiful precious stones. Luke's eyes lit up at the fish in tanks, around which the jewellery stands were arranged. After a long day, my head for maths deserted me and I circulated the 'biggest jewellery store in the world' thinking how nice, but I'll never be able to afford anything. On checking with Luke about the price of some earrings, I realised I had been adding an extra 0 onto the end of all the prices. So I re-circulated the store thinking actually, maybe we can afford some of these!

It also became apparent that to Luke, all rings look the same, particularly when you look at several hundred of them. So if he ever does choose to propose, he has suggested not doing so with an actual ring. Maybe a Haribo ring would be best??

We had a lovely dinner at a new restaurant that had opened opposite our hotel the night before. The following day we also had breakfast and lunch there! We spent our last day in Bangkok exploring yet more temples and more exquisite architecture, before catching the overnight train down to Chumphon. This was surprisingly comfy, with proper beds made up and an individual wake-up call before your stop - though we were both worried this wouldn't happen and got up ages in advance just in case! Then it was a bus transfer over to the pier and a two hour ferry on the Lomprayah high-speed catamaran to Koh Tao. We couldn't wait to get there and relax, eat and go diving!