I checked out of the hotel and deposited my rucksack at the train station. And then headed off to find 'Sgt. Maj. Thawee's Folk Museum'. The cost was surprisingly high (50 baht) to get in, but this museum wasn't government funded. And I got a brochure for the place complete with cute characters. The place was made up of four small buildings and a souvenir shop. The first building explained the history of Phitsanulok, from its building, its continual defeat to various regional powers, to its big fire in the 50s. The second building contained numerous collections, from coins to baskets, as well as equipment and explanations on traditional Thai rice planting, different fishing implements and methods for catching different fish and different implements and methods for catching animals. Ray Mears would have loved it. Upstairs was a selection of childrens toys, musical instruments and weapons, it was funny to see the lengths the explanations went to for things like a stick and hoop and fighting tops. The third building was a replica of a 'Song' (Black Trousered people) house and had information on this peoples traditions and culture. The fourth house turned out to be a covered seating area so I headed to the souvenir shop. The characters in the brochure were crude but had a lot of charm so I brought some original pen drawings as well as a T-Shirt.

Happy, I headed off toward the river. Before getting there I passed an IT mall, so I headed in, most of the stuff were phones, but then I spied some handhelds... I asked how much they were and the cheapest, which was the one I had my eye on was 3500 baht (less than fifty quid). I already regretted not bringing my PocketPC and if it was going to cost me about 140 baht a week at second had book stores this would help me cut cost (I pursuaded myself) so I bought it!

I headed off to the river Tan. It was muddy brown and sluggish flowing with a few anchored floating 'shacks' on the far side. This side of the river was well maintained, with a path at the front and grassy areas well shaded by trees and bushes. I sat down and watched the world go by whilst having a drink.

After more wandering I headed to the train station to get my ticket. 10pm train, fully booked, 10:30 train, fully booked, 11pm train, fully booked, 2:30 train, fully booked, 5:30 train, theres a sleeper available, so I booked it...

Did think to get a frigging bus!!!

So... got over 10 hours to kill in a place that has less night life than the moon and everything is in the Thai language. I was not going to enjoy this!

I headed to where a night market was supposed to be, and I saw a very strange sight. From a little amphitheatre near the river a whole congregation of people stretched all the way to the road side were doing aerobics. I didn't join in, I got enough stares already being the only white guy in town. The night market was small and full of the usual trinkets and fakes.

I decided to kill an hour or two on the internet. Unfortunately using the internet isn't something that people in Phitsanulok do, unless it is online gaming. I eventually found a place that would let me on, whilst all around me slayed monsters and killed each other.

So, ensconced in my own leatherette armchair I sorted my mail, looked for hotels in Bangkok, trawled the lonely planet forums adding a few things, and read the whole of the BBC news website. At 10pm a group of boys turned up and were all playing a contemporary first person shooter (in a jungle and then a desert village?). I was sat next to one who was very good and very vocal, he'd shout 'DIE MY!' when he killed someone and everyone would chirp in if he was gunned down. I think he was cheating, a few key presses and he would help himself to a couple of flak jackets. Seems dodgy to me!

I left at 11pm and nipped across the road to a bar with an English name (King's Inn) I ordered a beer and settled down to find out when I'd get chucked out. There was a Thai bloke with his guitar performing English language singalong tracks (he struggled with the BeeGees) whilst nobody really listened, it only got going when he did Thai songs. A bloke at the bar got up and sang a tremendously bad version of 'Zombie' and a couple of Thais who'd probably seen me mouthing the words to the English stuff asked if I'd sing one. NO! NO! NO! No! No! No. The bar shut at 1pm (although the online gaming place was still going) and I headed to the station.

As soon as I got to the station I was worried. The cloakroom was shut! My Bag! I went over to the ticket office to ask when it opened and he just turned around and shouted something into the back and his mate came out and got me my bag. Now I just had to wait for four and a half hours. And it doesn't half drag. Especially when you find that the paper you had your bank details on has gone missing! I remembered some PINs and codes but some still eluded me. I'll have to phone home. I put on my MP3 player and wait for the train.

The Sky is lightening and the train is late. When it arrives at gone 6am I jump into my bunk and try to sleep, which isn't helped with the driver blowing his horn every few minutes. At 10 I'm told to get up so they can reform the seats and so I'm sat by the open window of the train for the last couple of hours. I don't know what it was, the irregular movement of the train, the stuffy air, the stuff the Thai guy was eating opposite me, but I started to feel ill. My nose and then my cheeks start to tingle and I decide to go to the toilet and do something about it. I retched but just the water I'd been drinking that morning came up. I felt better for it so I went back to my seat. We arrived in Bangkok at 12:30