Back at the Golden Pine Resort—easily the best accommodation on the whole tour—we enjoyed Christmas dinner together, and listened to carols sung by a boys' and girls' choir. Angela and George Moore enjoyed it all in their Christmas finery.

Some of us rose early one morning to take advantage of a Thai massage by blind masseurs; the government offers training to help make the blind self-sufficient. The session lasted for nearly two hours, and some of our tired old bodies were rejuvenated.

The next stop was a silver factory, where silver blanks about the size of a small plate are hammered thin, shaped into bowls and other forms, then intricately decorated by hand tooling.

At a furniture factory, we saw teak and rosewood being fashioned into gorgeous furniture, after which various transparent finishes or hand-rubbed oils were applied to enhance the natural grain of the wood.