"Wat Pho is closed today until 1pm, so is the Grand Palace. You will have to wait 4 hours. Oh, I have an idea! Why don't you take this reckshaw (conviently is situated right on the nearby road) and for only 40 baht you can visit the Lucky Budda statue and a clothes making shop. The driver will wait for you outside the shop - for free! Good idea yes?"

Well, it was quite convincing! I did realise after a few moments that if they were in fact closed, there wouldn't be so many hot sweaty, burnt looking tourists roaming around. But quite a clever tactic really.

So, I'm now in Chiang Mai, thanks to the pretty fancy overnight train. The poor old trains in India made this one seem like first class luxury, although the fact that my bed was situated right next to the toilet compartment (which explains why it was the only one left), so not so different to our last train trip in India...

I spent a night in Ayuthaya, a smallish town 1 hour by train north of Bangkok. Was great to get out of the city, especially with its' famous 'chewable air.' Mmm mmm! I decided to rent an old school bicyle (old, but still about 2 decades younger than Mum's one) and cruise around the town to check out all the Wats. The town is a kinda square island so I figured that if I stuck to following the moat area I wouldn't get lost...

That was the theory. In reality I spent an hour boosting around quite enjoying the sights and narrowly avoiding several near crashes (well I don't know the road rules here do I!). I then attempted to head back to the centre to get a drink, this was in the middle of the day so I was pretty much melting. It took me another 2 hours, some impressive sunburn, a gash on my knee where I tried to prob the bike up while I consulted the map (for the millionth time) and the stupid bike crashed on top of me, to find my way back. Clearly my directional skills have not magically improved since previous travels... I think I admit defeat. Maybe someone would like to donate me a GPS to put on my backpack for Christmas?

So, Thai people are little. I'm not. This can be an advantage, such as on my first day in Bangkok there was a parade going through town and despite being quite far back in the crowd I could see everything perfectly well. However, I have rarely been as embarassed as when I managed to break the seat on my train trip to Ayuthaya. The poor girl sitting on the seat with me looked rather miserable at the thought of having to spend the rest of the hour long trip with someone that makes the sturdy looking benches collapse! However, to my greatest relief, an absolutely tiny Thai lady two seats down from me managed collapse hers too! On closer inspection, they are only propped up with one little leg thing, and after a few more people managed to collapse theirs, I no longer felt the need to deprive myself of yummy thai food for the next few weeks... with the delicious aromas wafting from every second building that would be pretty much impossible anyway!