Author: rtoce

The day kicked off with a colossal buffet of Nutella and waffles for the healthier students (Maddie and I) before a full day of manual labour. Our group got on a bus at 8:30am heading towards a local primary school, which had been shut down a few years ago and was recently reopened. The school now has about 200 students in four classrooms. As we walked into the gates, every child was lined up in a “guard of honour” and clapped as we walked by.

Once everyone had a drink of water, we were put to hard work; manually mixing cement, carrying the bags of cement to and fro, laying tiles and paving. Cement mixing was made fun given all of the water fights, prompts made by Mr Davis that “we would never dare throwing water at him”. And of course we did.

After about 3 hours we retired for lunch as it began to pour down with rain, only to finish when we were ready to work again.

The children were very helpful with clearing away rubbish for us and starting sword fights with polystyrene wrapping from the tiles. While some of us took few/many breaks between work, the students were always around us and waving, saying hello and smiling at us.

At the end of the day, when we finished for good, we were given some time to give gifts for the students. We then presented the almost finished tiling (it will be finished by local tradesmen) and a generous donation to the principal. We then had time to play with the kids before leaving. Many of us played ball games such as volleyball and soccer (and we seemed to remember our volleyball skills being significantly better prior to the trip).

We then ended the day on a high note with well-earned showers, swimming and a cake for Courtney’s birthday. Dinner was out at the night market before a night of extravagant and serious shopping.

By Harmoni Mose and Maddie Marquardt.

Last night we relaxed after dinner in some comfortable hammocks in front of the picturesque Mekong River. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to sleep in the hammocks and had to go back to our rooms.

We awoke early the next morning to confront the difficult task of crossing from Thailand to Laos, this process took over two hours because of the long queues. But it was well worth the wait as we found ourselves on a really comfortable boat that was taking us on a six hour journey down the Mekong River, for this we split into two groups and we travelled on separate boats. On the boats we engaged in various activities such as listening to music, drawing, reading and eating some delicious food. As we have travelled through Thailand and into Laos we have noticed that the food has changed. The food in Laos is less curry focused and nowhere near as spicy but is just as delicious. The food on this trip has been a highlight.

After the long boat trip we arrived at a little town called Pak Beng. There is not much to say about Pak Beng, there is just one Main Street and a great view of the Mekong River. The boys and girls separated into two groups and stayed in separate Guesthouses. We both enjoyed dinner at different restaurants. As we are writing this the boys are just chilling out at our guesthouse and the girls are doing whatever girls do.

Today’s boat trip was a well earned break from all the hard work and long bus rides that we had experienced in the past few days. The big experience has been unreal so far and we can’t wait to experience what’s in stall for us next.

By Harrison and Hudson

This morning, we were woken from our sleep by the ridiculously loud roosters living underneath our sleeping area. Dazed and confused, we stumbled outside to a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs, jam and toast, fried bananas, pineapple, and hot chocolate. Straight after breakfast, we began to finish off the houses. We started by continuing to shovel sand, stones, cement and water to make concrete for the floors. Other people formed lines to pass the buckets of concrete to the houses, so they could add the finishing touches to the floor. After we had all packed up and washed ourselves, we sorted out our donations and placed them on a table for the village elder to give to the families. Then Izzy and Dario spoke to the villagers about how happy we all were to have built the houses for the community, and how grateful we were for their hospitality and kindness. Then we gave them the extra $1500 that we had raised so that they could construct extra water tanks and more water pipes and filters, so that they could store more water in preparedness for the dry season. Then the villagers expressed their gratitude for what we had done for them, and we bought some gifts that they had laid out for us. Afterwards, we said our goodbyes, and boarded the bus, for a five-hour long bus ride to Chiang Rai. During the trip, we sang many songs, such as the school hymn, Waltzing Matilda, Bicycle Race, the National Anthem and Yellow Submarine. Upon our arrival to the hotel, we all had showers, and then left for a fantastic night market, in which we bought many gifts that ranged from watches to shirts and wooden ornaments. Overall, the early morning work was tough, but extremely rewarding, as we were able to see the difference it made. The bus trip and night markets were both great, and so far the Big Experience has been fantastic.

Lawrence and Dario

Today everybody was woken up at 5.30 looking refreshed after finally getting some sleep and settling in. We took buses to our first destination… Thai boxing! We met our boxing teachers and got suited up with bandages and gloves ready to fight. We learnt the basic kick, punches, knees and elbow hits. Everyone was tuckered out and sweaty after 2 hours of almost non-stop exercise. We then headed back to the hotel for a big breakfast of waffles, cereal and croissants and an optional fried rice. After a filling breakfast we got ready to head off to our next destination…. White water rafting! We got ourselves ready to raft. We slipped and slid all over the place and later arrived at some place. At the place we got fed curry, omelette and rice and a surprise cake for our birthday boy ED!!!! After our lunch we headed back to the hotel. We had a couple of hours to relax and get packed for tomorrow before we were off to the next event… Night markets! At the night market we got informed not to buy weapons or other naughty stuff, then we were free! We separated into groups and explored some of the market. There were shops from hats, to suits, to restaurants, to electronics, and much more. After everyone was happy at what they had bought, we headed off back to the hotel for a rest after a long day.

By Noah Baldwin and Justin Torreele

A note – we are about to head up to the village to build two houses, so we will be off line for two or three days. We will catch up then.