We saw Rod Stewart today! Not really, but I bet when you read that you were as excited as I was when Polly lied to me. As it turns out the lookalikey was far more interesting and we followed him for about five minutes, marveling at his blonde hair and white kaftan-style outfit. Here's a clip of the man in action.



Such luck is only bestowed on people that catch not one but TWO lucky bracelets from the mad monk at the weekend market. Polly says they're lucky, but I'm not so sure. In fact, I think the monk was pretty unhappy when people caught them and as far as I could tell from the ferocity and disguise of his throws he was just trying to catch unsuspecting tourists in the eye.

Nonetheless Polly felt the calling had come so we followed the religious trail through chinatown to the wat mangkon kamalawat. There we found thousands, possibly millions, of Chinese going to prayer, each having purchased a bundle of smoking incense, flower and some elaborate game of fortune that involved getting a load of numbered sticks and shaking them about until one fell out.

We tried to work out what they were doing while our eyes were being burned out by incense smoke. We guessed at it being some way of telling the future before the fumes got too much and I had to rip off my shirt and carry Polly out under one arm and a bundle of puppies under the other. On the way out Polly noticed a weird oversized kidney been that the wat-goers liked smashing on the floor but she was too overcome to take a guess at what this was supposed to do.

Today's conclusion: religion is too confusing, expensive and smokey.