The morning does arrive early! We are up, at breakfast by 6am and on the bus at 7. We have a long day ahead of us with many things to see – not the least of which is the Bridge over the River Kwae – one of the main reasons we are on this tour. Of course we have many stops in between – but hey, Odum is in charge! We’ll follow him anywhere – and when I say anywhere, I sort of mean it as you will soon see.

An hour into our ride, Odum stops at a salt field on the side of the road. We’ve been driving through farm country and rice fields, but now that has changed to salt fields. We get a lesson on how the salt is cultivated as well as shopping at one of the many, many salt stalls along this part of the road. There is so much salt here! And we so much want to take some home, but those bags are all just far too big for us to haul around for the next month and a half, so we have to squelch the urge and just walk away. Sigh.

Another hour later, we stop at a Coconut factory, where once again we get a lesson on how the coconuts grow, how they are harvested and then cut and processed. Odum gets into the act and climbs all the way up the ladder to the top of the coconut tree to show us how the sap is collected and flowers cut off the trees. He used to do this as a boy, and he is still just as agile. Here is where we follow him – up the ladder! Well, not as far as he goes, but still! We wander around looking at the processing and all the stuff we can buy, which we aren’t going to buy, wander past a monkey in a cage where – horrors! – the cage fencing is broken and I don’t notice it and am way too close and the stupid monkey almost grabs the phone out of my hand when I’m taking a picture. Eek! That was freaky scary! Stupid monkey!

Back on the bus, this time a quick half hour ride and we are at the Leksilom pier, awaiting our Longtail boats for a Khlong ride to the Damneonsaduak Floating Market. Everyone is milling around, asking questions about seasickness, trying to organize Rodney’s seating arrangements (he has a bum hip/knee/leg and absolutely needs special seating) with Odum circulating reminding people of his warning that they will probably get wet (who will be the first to complain?). We’re not deterred. We are right up front, waiting for the first Longtail and we’re on the first boat – right at the front. Success!

And off we go – ruining the photographer’s photo (for a price) of us when we take our selfie – for an exhilarating ride through the Khlongs, where our driver becomes speed racer and flies down the straightaways. We thoroughly enjoy our ride, through the mangroves, past houses and Wats and even a whole little village along the way.

It takes about half an hour to get to the Floating Market, where we disembark and then hang around for a while waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. Finally all corralled, Odum walks us to the main part of the market and gives us 45 minutes to shop before we need to meet again to continue our journey. He promises treats for us on the bus once we return. So nice! And with that we are off, wandering through the stalls, but really just window shopping, going to the big bridge over the actually floating part of the market. It is a typical touristy market, and we quickly tire of watching the boats, heading out in search of cappuccino, which we find at a very cute little place on the other side of the street.

Making our way back to our meeting point, we stop to check out the elephant pants, figuring we can find some different styles. There is a huge selection here, but we quickly find that this is tourist-central!!! We can buy these things anywhere in Chiang Mai for 100 baht. Here? They open at 400 baht, then negotiate to 300 and won’t go below 200. Um. I don’t think so! There is nothing here so different and fabulous that would be worth double. Everything we look out is far more expensive than Chiang Mai or even the markets we saw in Bangkok. Oh well, what’s a Farang to do? Succumb to an overpriced fan that is really cute, “all linen” and has elephants all over it. Could have probably gotten it cheaper but it was only 50 baht, which isn’t even 2 USD.

Back on the bus, Odum has a feast waiting for us! Ladyfinger bananas, tangerines and Coconut pancakes (plus banana chips for the lady who is allergic to Coconut – sigh – in Thailand…). Everything is super yummy and gets us through the late morning munchies. Plus, we also stop at a rest area with a convenience store, so we can buy some additional snacks that will make do for lunch (we have no official lunch stop today).

Then we sit back and relax, munching happily away, while Odum talks about the area, the history and our next stop: The Hellfire Pass Railway.