Up the canal without a paddle....

We wanted to have a bit of an adventure today so after doing some washing for Tamara, which was an ordeal but lets not talk about that, we headed off in the opposite direction to where we went yesterday and found some really nice red curry and rice for breakfast to start with and then discovered an underground carpark market type place and wandered through. We were right next to a canal and saw long wooden boats going past so decided to follow the path and see if one was worth catching. We found a little boat stop kind of thingy but had no idea how to read the schedule and I really needed to go to the toilet so we stopped in at a small corner store where the lady let me use the bathroom.....thank god. Have you ever used one of those water spray things on your butt, they are strange but good at the same time. Anyway, the lady there said she spoke a little English...she was soooo wrong, she spoke great English and gave us heaps of info about the boats and off we went to catch one. For the huge fare of 14B ($0.50) each we were aiming for the last stop so jumped on a very crowded boat and hooned off up or down, I'm not sure which, the canal. One passenger was nice enough to let us know that we needed to hop off and catch the next boat and then a nice lady told us when our trip was finished and there were no more stops so off we hopped to see what we could see. At the end of the pier was a few tuk tuks and a man came upto us and explained all the sights to see and told us that a driver would take us everywhere for 20B which is not even a dollar but of course we had to go to a gem shop so the driver could get his fuel coupon but we decided to go. First stop was the Big Buddha and then a temple that is only open one day of the year on Buddha Day which funnily enough happened to be today, it even has it on the calendar. It was great to see the Buddha inside which was 300 years old and then to the Black Buddha and a man there told us the history of the Buddha which made things more interesting. The temples are beautiful and if sight seeing is your thing then there is plenty to see here. The tourist info centre was next and we wanted to ask about train tickets to Kanchanaburi but the lady there was not very helpful so we moved on to the gem shop which you get followed around in as you look at the many shiny things and apparently we were not in there long enough for our driver to get his fuel voucher so off to the tailor shop we go so he can try again. We were swarmed on as soon as we walked in but assured the salesmen that we did not want to be fitted for a blouse or a suit or a skirt or a jacket as we have no room in our backpacks, they gave up and we just spent the next ten minutes in the gift shop section so our driver could get his fuel voucher....gruelling I know. Back to the pier we headed but not before doing a blocky around the kings house which takes up an entire block and comes complete with armed guards at various locations around the perimeter, oh and there is a moat. Lunch was found in a cart on the street before we boarded the boat to head back to Tamara's place, it was definitely an adventure.....so much so that I had to cancel my skype date with Ma due to being in the middle of who knows where. On arriving home Tamara was sleeping on the lounge so we donned our bathers and headed to the pool where I did a few laps to start strengthening my neck and upper body up just like my massage lady told me to. It is nice to be able to just lay by the pool and relax but I soon enough got bored so we headed back up to see if Tamara was awake. She was on a skype date with her parents and after saying hi we headed to the 7-11 for a couple of cheeky take away bevvies, you simply can not go past Bacardi Breezers for 53B (less than $2). We thought of trying to catch a ladyboy show somewhere and a couple of Tamara's friends want to join us but seeing as though we are so indecisive we have decided to do some more research and go next weekend so off we headed for dinner which we decided to be street food and sat at a very busy with Thai locals place on the footpath. The dish had red pork and duck with rice.....it was pretty good. The girls are tired so we walked back home and decided to have a night in. We are off to some island in the middle of Bangkok tomorrow with one of Tamara's friends so will be sure to enjoy another adventure tomorrow but goodnight for now. Tanya xxx.