I definitely made the right decision by coming back early last night judging by some of the faces this morning. I managed to sleep well other than the air-con leaking on to the floor which was quite annoying as I was trying to fall asleep, but I couldn’t turn it off as then I would melt. Me and Julia slept straight through our alarms so woke up an hour late, although thankfully, the tour guides were running late so we still managed to have time for breakfast. We had taken our rucksacks down with us to breakfast to save us time and we also checked out whilst we waited for our food to come. Loads of people couldn’t believe how difficult it was to find stuff in their backpack and repack it so that it all fits in; it reminded me of when I first started out and struggling to find the best way to organise myself. We managed to finish our breakfast just as several minibuses arrived to take us to the coach station. The interior of them was designed like a party bus with leather seats, mirrors, speakers, disco ball and lights; not that we had any of these on as it was too early, but the ride was very comfortable. We reached the coach station around an hour early, so after being given our ticket, we all sat and waited for it to arrive. Once it did arrive, it looked just like a normal coach; we placed our bags underneath and this is where the surprise begun. As we got into the bus, we could see on every seat there was a blanket and neck cushion, which is always a comfort; we then noticed the seats can recline so testing them out, I realised that they basically go all the way down so you are lying! There was another lever next to the seat one, so I pulled on that and a footrest popped out from under the seat as well! Is this what it feels like to be in business class on a plane? Once we were on the move, we were given water, a box of pastries and around 2.00, we also got given chicken and rice. Due to the luxurious seats, I managed to sleep for virtually all of the journey, so it went quick even though it was just over a 7 hours' drive.

We all thought we were going to Kanchanaburi, as that is what it said on the itinerary, so we were all very confused when we pulled up at the Surin coach station and saw some mahouts walking their elephants. We all hopped on the back of this truck to take us to our hotel which was around a 10 minutes' drive from the station and the hotel is so nice! I would consider this more of a hotel than hostel; I have stayed in similar places when I have gone on package holidays abroad. We had enough time to dump our stuff down and then rush back downstairs for a meeting to explain what was going on over the next few days. Tomorrow we will be going into the heart of the elephant village and staying with the mahouts, helping them take care of the elephants so we need to pack for 3 days/2 nights in a small backpack so we can go stay with them. It is so difficult trying to know exactly what to take when you thought everything you had in your big rucksack was your essentials. We also had to pre-book breakfast tonight so that in the morning it would be ready for us when we check out at 8.30.

I asked the question as to why we are here compared to Kanchanaburi and we were told that apparently, they rearranged the itinerary 3 months ago so are not sure why all of us still have the old version, which is a bit annoying as I knew I would have a few days at Kanchanaburi to catch up on my washing.

Me, Claire, Katherine, Lucy, Hope, Elle, Georgia and Daisy all met up to go get some dinner from the night market, however, when we got there, the stalls were all closing up, so we had KFC as this town isn't overly full of tourists so a lot of the restaurants were already closed by 8.00, although for a massive box from KFC, it only cost £3. On our walk back to the hotel, there were so many stray dogs and if we walked on the pavement when they were there, then they would come barking at us quite aggressively.

When I eventually got the room key from Julia and got in the room, I decided to quickly do some hand washing although it feels like such a gamble considering we have to check out by 9.00, but I am hoping with the humidity outside, then my clothes should get the chance to dry on the balcony.

Anyway, that is the mildly boring day in a life of Laura for today, so I am going to catch a reasonably early night ready to go and play with some elephants and locals tomorrow.