Navigation and meditation

Moved to a cheaper guest house today and managed to get some tiny percentage of the amazing scuba pics up on the blog so you can see what I was banging on about . (can't take credit for them, we paid for an underwater photographer). Then spent a considerable amount of time trying to plan out what i am going to do with this Thai leg of the trip.

I was going to do this planning bit in Hanoi so that i could arrive with a plan but was so desperate to leave that i ran without said plan.

But now i have one. I shall see the grand palace tomorrow, and a couple of temples, and then the next day i shall book my overnight train ticket to Chiang Mai for next Friday. I will then get a train to Kanchanburi which is where there are floating villages and markets and where the famous Bridge over the River Kwai was built.

There is also a Tiger temple, where orphaned Tigers are cared for by Monks, and you can go and get up close and personal with them (the tigers, not the monks)

You can also take an elephant trek to the Erwin waterfall and swim with the Elephants, which sounds worth splashing out on as it were !

I shall then get the train back in time to transfer to a different station to catch the train up north.

So, once my plan was set, which had involved a sweaty walk to the main station, which also helped orientate me around this big city, I got the fabulously clean and blessedly airconditioned underground train along to peaceful Lumphini Park,

which I enjoyed a contemplative walk around. I sat on the banks of the lake next to some old men playing a frenetic game of chequers, (or mah jong ... couldn't quite work it out!) and watched the little birds playing in the grass and the skyscrapers beyond.

I then took the sky-train back to see what that was like as just the name Sky Train sounds really cool... but there wasn't as much to see as I'd hoped.

I then headed down to explore the fabled Koah San road and surrounding area a little further, grabbing some dinner and I am now sitting in a very cool little veggie cafe called Ethos, drinking a banana Lassi and enjoying their free wifi to catch up with things.

They also have free guided meditation experiences, so I decided to give this a go...

I thought this might be a group thing, with lots of white people with dreadlocks and baggy Thai trousers sitting in a half lotus, and ohhhhmming as he talked us through it, but basically you lie in a low lit room on your own and listen to a meditation thing on this guys Ipod;(more like mediatation)... actually perfect for me, as I tend to get the giggles in groups where you are supposed to be taking things of this type very seriously )

He said to concentrate on the story, relax, but not to fall asleep and I would be taken on a journey to a place with no time.....

When he came back an hour later I was snoring loudly. (it was very dark and comfy) - he asked me if i had reached the door in the story. Nope. Apparently I'd got less than 15 mins in.

Still, I feel very positive and refreshed, so something must have worked!

I think it might be time to get back across town.

Night all!