I got up early to pack. After checking out, I met Charlotte, my tour leader. She looked puzzled, and asked why I’d checked out. Obviously we were going to stay at the Viengtai another night then. As I checked in again, to the general amusement of the reception staff and confusion of the porter, another member of our tour group arrived. Lorna, who was travelling alone, worked at a hotel in Edinburgh. The final two members of the group were apparently sleeping off their jet lag after arriving only this morning. I got a different room, with quieter plumbing, but a distinct smell of cigarette smoke. I put the aircon on and went back to the lobby in time for the first full group meet at 12:30. Sue and Steve, a couple from Swindon, completed the group.

The five of us piled into two tuktuks and went to the Royal Grand Palace, a place I had avoided thus far since I knew it was on the tour itinerary. Charlotte’s regular guide was not available, and the one we got spoke very strangely, enunciating every syllable of speech in a way that made it much harder to understand. The palace was beautiful though – every building seemed to be covered in hundreds of thousands of tiles of coloured glass that made the entire place shimmer in the sunlight. Glass and gold were everywhere, and the detail of the construction was astonishing.

After the grand palace we moved on to Wat Pho, which I’d already visited with Wee. Although the temple of the reclining buddha was the same, I saw areas that I hadn’t been to earlier in the week. A river taxi took us back up the river to the hotel, and left us with about three hours to spare before dinner. Lorna and I headed out to Khao San Road, where I looked at the henna tattoos while she got her hair braided. I didn’t like any of the henna designs, and the person running the stall wasn’t an artist, so she couldn’t improvise what I asked for. I went back to the hair braiding place to check on Lorna’s progress, which was very slow. In the end it took about two hours, but looked impressive.

At dinner Charlotte explained the Thai condiments that are normally found on the table. I don’t remember the exact names but all I need to know is that there was something with chilie, something else with chilie, and pure dried chilie. I’m not a spicy food eater so I’ll be leaving those well alone I think. Having said that the dishes that were brought out were spicy enough, and the fish soup was way too hot for my liking. I tried a bit of everything, and decided that I’d have to convince Charlotte to order less spicy food.

After the restaurant we had some drinks in a local bar, and then Charlotte left us to find our way back to the hotel.