Hauling in a giant catfish...

Our first stop this morning was the Wat Chantaram in Uthaithani, distinguished by mirrored panels.

We encountered some school children on a field trip to talk to English-speaking tourists. They had questionnaires, and requested that each person to whom they spoke sign his or her name and indicate where they were from.

There was a rice mill in a small town we passed which welcomed us to look around. Rice husks from the first milling process are burned to fire a boiler, which in turn powers a small steam engine that drives most of the machinery through a system of belts and pulleys. That first process results in what we call "brown" rice, for which there is no market in Southeast Asia.

The steps of rice milling...