... "As in pathology?"

"Yes" - and she wanted to specialise in "Cytology"

So I took a stab at "Cells?" - correctly - she said that people normally thought she meant Scientology, which has apparently produced some highly original - though not widely accepted - research into cell composition.

They were going to the Damonoen Saduak floating market. I'd heard of the one in Bangkok (though I never got around to seeing it), but apparently this one was more authentic. Floating markets are best early in the day, and as it was over an hour's ride from Bangkok they hopped out on the way so as to reduce travelling time.

Having skipped the markets in Thailand, it wasn't until Vietnam that I saw a couple in the lower Mekong Delta. My expectation was that they were accessible by foot; the Thai ones, being a bit tourist-oriented, are. These ones, however, were only reachable by boat. Cabinned boats are anchored on the river, each with a long pole on which are tied a sample of available fruits and vegetables: pineapples, pumpkins, tapioca, melons, carrots, etc. Its customers are locals in small river craft, who leave laden with produce for resale back on land.

At this point of the lower Delta, the Mekong has split into distributaries flowing out to the South China Sea, and crisscrossing channels split island from island. There are longtail boats, but also unmotorised ones which are rowed with long crossed oars while standing. Convoys of barges, both motorised and tug-pushed, transport hillocks of soil. Many boats sail red-faced with black-and-white eyes painted on their prows to ensure safe journeys. The islands of the delta are home to cottage industries, some of which we visited over the course of the two day tour - a rice-noodle "factory", a honey farm, a coconut candy factory, and a fruit farm providing samples of their products.

Earlier this month - date unknown - I made the eight hour journey from Siem Riep to Battambattang, pronounced "Battambong", across the northern part of the lake Tonle Sap. It's wet season, so the flooding Mekong has pushed a water and fish up the Tonle Sap river into the lake and surrounding rivers. Even being wet season, it still took 8 hours for our pilot to scrape our overcrowded vessel upstream - if you're lucky it's supposed to take half the time. The region is home to a floating village, a moveable tourist attraction, as well other collections of houseboats that line banks along the way. I only stayed the night in Battambatang - a snap decision that having spent a week in Siem Reap, I was templed out. I was on the Phnom Penh bus the next morning.