The mighty Mekong to Luang Prabang
Dawn broke and we took a 90 minute drive down towards the Thai-Laos border at Chiang Kong. Paperwork, taxes, and some more taxes later we were officially in Laos, Land of a Thousand Elephants. A further short bus ride after customs, along with the to be expected extortionate tourist tax and visa, and we were […]
Our Bamboo nest with the hill-tribes in the mountains of Chiang Rai, and our ‘death walk’
The next stop after a brief night layover in Manila was a 4am flight to Chiang Rai via Bangkok. This was a defining moment: we had asked for wake up calls for both rooms in our Remington airport hotel. The two of us still getting dressed, at 3am walk in, hiking boots and backpacks in […]
Paradise found in El Nido
Next stage beckoned: after our relatively monastic life at camp, we were family reunited once again and ready to travel north to see the marvels of El Nido. Poor Alberto was so jet lagged he could hardly keep his eyes open, but our typically insane driver made sure he was as uncomfortable as possible, careering […]
Angkor – still a heaven on earth
Alberto and I had last been in Angkor 12 years previous, and fell in love with every corner. It was a magical place of smiling people, deserted temples that apart from Angkor Wat itself, were not hugely visited by the hordes. We spent hours sitting alone staring, in my case, or drawing, in his, at […]
Leaving camp: the verdict
If there was just one aim of our volunteering program, it was for the girls to experience not just a completely different reality and to feel duly grateful for all they have, which is all rather obvious, but rather, for them to understand that the children they were teaching and their families were ‘real’: not […]
Volunteering at kindergarten: Week 2
Days at school are similar, and we get to know names and character traits as we go. Naughty but clever Willem, and his double act Erwin; pretty Nicole, wily Grace, little Jaecob with his twisted hand… they arrive on Mondays clean and presentable, by Wednesday they are a dirty, mucky mess. The girls are applied, […]