Another night of non-sleep last night, not just due to the jet-lag and having to get up at 5am for the trip to the floating markets, but also because the air-con unit started dripping water on to my bed in the middle of the night. I had to rearrange the furniture to drag the bed away from the wall. The receptionist tells me it's fixed now, but I think all they've done is to drain all the water out of it, because it only seems to work as a fan now.

Our guide was a young lady called Phu'i. She took us down to the river front and an older lady emerged from the darkness driving a little wooden boat with an outboard motor. Most of the small-boat related jobs are done by women on this river. We puttered downriver for about an hour to reach the first floating market. Sorry to report that the Mekong is not a terribly pretty river. People regard it as a convenient rubbish disposal system, chucking out all their domestic waste, catering waste, polystyrene noodle cartons etc into the water. The rafts of water hyacinth along the banks are choked with plastic, and the sea must be full of it. The propellors of the boats keep getting tangled up in plastic bags, but they just cut it off and throw it back in the water to ensnare the next boat that comes along. They don't seem able to recognise there is a problem. I know I make this complaint about every country I visit, Britain included, but it seems to me the rivers and seas of the entire world are being rapidly destroyed by plastic.

The floating market was a gathering of boats belonging to local farmers, selling their fruit and vegetables. To be honest it wasn't as big or bustling as I'd expected it to be. Phu'i told us that it's "not a good day for selling" today, but I get the feeling that floating markets are on their way out now and farmers sell to wholesalers who come round in trucks. We ate a pineapple that Phu'i carved into a spiral lolly shape with a big knife for us, and she wove us bracelets out of reeds, and gave us a reed woven grasshopper and a swallow that another of the boat women had made (I think she's still learning).

We cruised down a side channel next and visited a rice paper and noodle factory. This was interesting. A small family business, they make up a paste of rice powder and flour, spread it out flat and steam it quickly over a fire of rice husks. Then they lay out the rice papers to dry inbetween woven reed mats. At last, we heard many birds twittering in the trees around the little village, and we saw several pied fantails. They have characteristic white throat lines that make them look like vicars wearing a dog collar. Also a fleeting glimpse of a pair of sunbirds, but they were gone too quick to separate them to a species.

Further down the river we stopped at another floating market, but this one was only a handful of boats. It got a lot nicer after that because we came back mainly by way of the backwater creeks. Muddy mangrove river banks with mud skippers skipping about over them, through palm groves and paddy fields. We got out the boat and walked along the bankside path for half a mile while the boat lady went ahead to meet us. We had to negotiate a "monkey bridge" - a rickety narrow plank bridge with just a bamboo hand-rail to steady yourself. Still no birds but we did see some wonderful butterflies. A huge black and iridescent blue one, and pretty black and white speckled ones that were obilging enough to settle for a photograph. We walked through a swarm of dragonflies in one place.

There was a restaurant at the end of the walk where all the boat tourists were stopping for breakfast, so we had some stir-fry and rice. The only male boat guide was clowning about singing karaoke with a floor-brush guitar.

Phu'i put the sun shade up on the return leg because it was very hot by then, and I managed to doze off for about 20 minutes sitting bolt upright on a hard wooden seat. Why can't I do that in bed at night? We returned to the hotel at about 1pm, and both of us passed out for a couple of hours. Woke up feeling terrible. We wandered down to the river again and discovered a market along the riverside road, that was far more colourful than the floating market had been. When we could stand the crowds and scooters no longer we took sanctuary in the compound of a large church. Some youths were playing volleyball on a court in there, and a wedding party was arriving for a marriage, the bride in a gorgeous pink sparkly trouser and tunic affair. There was a modern concrete open bell-tower holding some old-looking bells that somebody occasionally tolled. We sat on some outdoor pews in front of a leafy shrine to the Virgin and relaxed for a long while.

Then we wandered back up into tourist territory. Had a beer on a pier outside the Sao Hom then dinner at the Cappuccino Italian across the road. Cheaper than the Sao Hom but my chicken curry lacked heat. Robbie enjoyed her egg-plant and sweet potato curry.