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Our mission for the day was to have a lie in, sort our money, look around a Wat and celebrate New Years Eve!!
We achieved the lie in, 12pm!! Mmm!! We headed out to pick up some money. We'd successfully managed to transfer it to ourselves before leaving Bottle Beach, so all we needed to do was find a western union! Easier said than done! We hadn't counted on the 31st being a bank holiday!! A tuk tuk driver told us that the banks in the shopping mall were open, so we had no choice but to believe him and head that way!!
The mall was amazing, like something from the states, packed full of designer shops! Whoever says the Thais have no money hasn't been here!! It was packed too!
We found a bank, and successfully picked up one lot of money!! We had to do two separate transfers, so we needed to find another bank. We thought it looked too dodgy to do both pick ups at the same bank!
There weren't anymore in that mall, so we went to the next! It was exactly the same. We had a naughty McDonald's, and managed to get the second lot of money!! Phew!! We were pleased it had worked and we could eat for the rest of our holiday!!
It was getting late, so we decided we needed to make our way to a Wat. We think its the one that's on the money, but can't be sure. We got on a sky train, and then a boat, and made it to the Wat in good time.
It was quite impressive, and the stairs were scarily steep!!
After the Wat, we walked along the river for a bit, to get to the next boat stop. We found another local market and bought yet more goodies!
We got back on the boat and headed back to Khaosan Road.
We had heard that Central World shopping centre was a good place to be for New Years Eve, so we had decided we would head for there. We got ready and headed down Khaosan Road for some food. It was already pretty busy and I think we were both pleased we weren't staying there for the night.
It was a bit tricky getting a tuk tuk, I don't think any of them wanted to go to central world! The traffic was pretty bad! We walked for a bit, and managed to find one.
It was a great atmosphere when we got there. Lots of people all heading in the same direction with little stalls selling all sorts. Paul decided to buy some 'illegal' fireworks (they would be illegal back home, but rules are pretty sparse in Bangkok).
We kept walking until we got to a big square, with a big tree, music and a countdown screen. We decided this was the place! Paul had to pop out to the shop to get some booze as there was no bar!!
It got busier and busier, but was just about bare able! Midnight was amazing! A big countdown from 300 seconds, loads of fireworks and lots of cheer! Everyone was in good spirits and it was a magical moment!!
After the celebrations, we walked for a bit to get away from the crowds and then jumped in a tuk tuk back to Khaosan Road. It had quietened down a bit and didn't seem too bad. We grabbed a couple of drinks and headed towards the river to let off the fireworks! For some unknown reason, they had closed off the river, so we had to do them on the sly!! It was all good fun though, and we had a great night! We ended up in bed at about 3am!
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