Friday,

not an early start today,

so a leisurely breakfast,

we were going to visit the Royal Palace, but we hit a slight problem, we arrived at just after 10.30 and it was closed until 2.00 in the afternoon,

so a quick coffee in the Brew House,

 and on to plan B, 'always have a plan B Dave', 

as Phonce is always saying in Rare Birds, a great film for us by the way,

Plan B entailed us walking to the Riverside, 

so we could take a few pictures on the way,

alongside the open space that leads to the riverside,

looking back towards the main complex,

in panorama mode,

I have childhood memories of feeding the pigeons in Trafalgar Square in London,

the scenes here reminiscent of those times,

with vendors selling corn to feed the birds,

Diana just loved it,

we made our way to the front and caught, 

or I should say clipped with my shin bone again,

a tuk-tuk,

and made our way along the small streets,

that lead ultimately,

to the Central market,

we still had some shopping to do,

so past the flower bouquet makers,

and the flowers themselves and into the market,

along the walkway to it,

and in we went,

a quick look at some dress shops,

so many to choose from,

but Diana also wanted a few things to take with her at Christmas to the Philippines,

and one thing that had not seen in Pattaya a embroidery set for cross stitching I believe it is called,

another stall with so many bits and pieces on it,

back to the central section,

where some bugs were on sale, we have seen these many times before in Thailand, 

but I do not believe we have seen these before tarantulas, the Asian ones differ slightly from the New World ones,

just my size, what a coincidence!

back past the flower stalls,

our shopping finished,

we passed through the seafood market,

considering we are so far from the sea,

I was amazed at how much seafood was here,

this looks neat, you order your food,

and it is prepared on these bar-b-qs,

past more stock for sale,

more shrimps,

and tiger prawns,

next to the produce section are the restaurants,

where food is cooked,

or bar-b-qued,

the squid here absolutely huge,

we said goodbye to the market,

and made our way to a department store,

for you guessed it,

a Swensens milkshake each,

a nice way to finish shopping,

next stop riverside,

we looked for a small cafe where we could sit and watch the world go by,

we normally ride tuk-tuks everywhere but if you are totally insane or have a death wish you can hire pedal cycles,

and speaking of insane I must have been when I tried to cross the road to take a few pictures of this marching band,

but I made it safely across the road,

and decided to video their performance, if you listen closely at the end of the clip they break into a rendition of When the Saints Go Marching In,

and I made it back across the road, much to Diana's relief,

the bar we chose was the Anjali,

next back to the hotel for a shower and change,

storm clouds rolling in,

Mark called by to say farewell,

then we were out for our last meal here,

at the Titanic,

a pity the picture does not give a real impression of how nice it is here,

our table for the evening,

a glass of wine and then our starters,

'Cheers!',

prawn tempura for Diana,

a selection of salmon for myself with capers, sliced ginger, wastuasb paste and soy sauce served on a bed of chinese turnip and carrots,

Diana looking as lovely as ever,

as we decided on our main course,

a cruise ship passed by,

near to us then another one on the other side of the river,

a second starter for myself,

a lobster bisque soup,

then time for a break,

and another look around the restaurant,

our main course was served,

the waiter took our photograph, well a few of them then said we should look at each other for one more, we did then both burst out laughing,

on to the main courses, for Diana Mekong lobster,

with all of the trimmings,

and for myself a buffalo steak,

which is supposed to be far more healthy than a normal steak,

for dessert a special treat,

well we are on holiday,

flambe bananas,

which were delicious,

unfortunately the restaurants cat arrived a little late for the meal,

then,

cocktail time!

as another cruiser passed us by, all in all a lovely meal and holiday in fact, we will be back! and with that another scraped shin and we were home to the hotel and off to bed.