We woke up at 11am missing breakfast completely :-/ Neither of our alarms went off grrr. We got up and organised and mum went for her customary dip in the pool which was surprisingly lovely :) On our way out we met our first fellow traveller. Matt a young English guy. Seems pretty easy to talk to. Good start :) We had lunch/breakfast in a nice backpacker restaurant complete with a pond waterfall and fish. Pad thai for breakfast a bit strange, but the taste made up for it and I even managed the whole lot with chop sticks :D Must have been hungry :-/ After lunch we walked to find Jim Thomsons House, a traditional house made of teak. A nice man along the road tried to help us cross the big roundabout. He had a tourist support shirt on and he told us how to get to the house, but that it wouldnt be open much longer so maybe best go tomorrow. He asked where else we had been and we told him most places because wed been before. He got a fone call and we walked on. Nearly taken in again! Of course the place is open till 5.30 Mums done her homework and convenient phone call as we were no longer interesting Official tourism help! I dont think so lol On we wandered past the democracy monument and on to the giant swing in the government square where they were clearing away a Fifa Eurocup party. We thouht wed take a taxi the rest of the way and haggled with a couple of drivers and a tuk tuk but a lovely man with a food cart pointed to a bus stop and walked us along. He then explained to a girl with better English where we wanted to go and we hopped on a local bus to the street right outside the house for a fraction of the cost while chatting to a Thai man who lived in Switzerland and who showed us pictures of himself in UN uniform having worked all round the world. Faith in humanity restored again :) The house was really interesting too and we finished up there with very little time to spare to get back for our Intrepid Tour meeting. We decided to jump on a water taxi along the canal to get most of the way back. Jump was the right word :-/ We almost had a foot on the first boat as it sped away. Too slow. The next one we were ready for. Grab the rope,stand on the side and leap. Once in the boat the two conductresses took the money and pulled on a couple of ropes which brought up the plastic sides to keep most of the water out then got ready to jump off at the next stop to tie ropes round a couple of posts nd hold the boat in to the si de They were also wearing crash helmets. Big step up from Bolivias health and safety.
A quick walk back to the hotel and we were just in time the meeting. We met our guide Limny and our fellow travellers. 8 in all 1 guy and no changes to be made along the way. So not quiteanwhat was sold to me but should b ok. Turns out everyone is lovely (so far) A couple of girls to watch but nothing too awful. Most around my age so pretty good for me. Hoping it will be ok for mum too. We all went for dinner and it was brilliant. It is lovely to be talking about travel again :D And the food was good and cheap too. An early night for everyone getting over the jet lag but a good one.