Almost time to leave!

It's been an amazing last few days here in Siem Reap. The internet has been terrible, so sorry there haven't been any photos. It was an absolute privilege to be here visiting the temples of Angkor and many have sighted it a a highlight. We've ridden on elephants and tuk tuks, visited the land mine museum - Cambodia has 4 to 6 million unexplored landmines - and made he most of the night markets.

We can't wait to see you all and tell you our stories when we see you tomorrow!

We finished today with a round of mini golf!

Sunrise...... Made it to Angkor

Mekong Times

We spent the last two days building a house for a poor family on the Mekong. This proved to be a challenging, but rewarding experience. The foundation had already been laid before we arrived, which made our job easier. First we had to transport all the bricks into the house while the guys learnt to mix the cement. Once we did this we were ready for brick laying. At first it was quite difficult, but we all got the hang of it after a while. Some older ladies also showed us how to weave leaves for the roof.

It was incredibly hot building the house and everyone was dripping with sweat. It was hard not to give up and I think that we were all very persistent and resilient.
On the second day of house building the walls were each getting quite high and we had to start using scaffolding to continue building the house.

At the end of the second day we were all very tired. The house was not quite finished, but the builders said they would continue to finish it. Everyone felt really a sense of accomplishment. The family that the house was going to were very greatful for our help and thanked us for the work we had done.



To finish the day we went for a bike ride. This was probably the funniest bike ride I had ever been on.  Rachel and I fell behind at one stage and got lost. We had to make a sign on the road  to notify the group where we had gone so that they could find us.We almost ran over a green snake and I broke my bike because I was frightened by a pig on the side of the track. I fell over and the frame of the wheel bent. Whoops. We found the others and realised that we had gone past the place where we were supposed to have stopped.

The other night we were given our surprise letters from home. It was so exciting to open them as we had not expected them. We were very greatful to receive the letters and appreciated the thought that had gone into it. I think that it made us realise how much we actually love and appreciate our families. Thank you!

From Amy

House day 2

A little scaffolding work

The house considering it was just a slab 2 days ago now with a paved porch, kitchen out the back and some pretty high walls!!!!!

Amelia with her crew that uv shirt gave her wings!!!

HOUSE BUILDING

SoOoOoooooo. The past two days have been super hot but who doesn't love a bit of sweat? Yesterday was pretty chill because we were travelling for the most of it. We woke up early to pack up and we headed off. We went to the War remnence which was awesome but I must admit it was pretty confronting. From there we went to the post office and it was the best thing ever seeing people talking to their parents on the phone. (Some people couldn't get through so don't be offended if you didn't receive a call). We sent off allllll our postcards and went on to the markets. They were actually bonkers. I think everyone got a couple of good buys but we didn't spend very long there. We stopped for lunch a couple hours later which waS SO YUM. We had the best smoothies; heaven in a drink. The trip from lunch to the Mekong was long but we were kept occupied by 'Captain America' which was being played in the TV. We finally arrived and were surprised how brown the water was (really brown), and hopped on a cute little boat which drove us to our beautiful home stay. The leaves on the trees here are so green and everywhere you look there are massive fruits (aka. Banana's as big as our heads). We unpacked and then rode on push bikes along the sweet little river sides to check out where we would build the house = lots if excitement. We rode home, had a fabulous dinner which consisted of rice, whole prawns (which got thrown at people and put in our hair), some soup stuff that no one ate, sweet potato chips and bean and pork dish. yumyumyumyum. After dinner, us kiddies had a sweet as Q&A sesh on the veranda. There were a couple of juicy questions which will never been repeated.... dun dun dunnnnnn. Everyone has fallen in love with the dogs and their ombré tails. The beds were comfy as and sleeping under mosquito nets makes us feel like princesses. 

Today was SMOKIN' HOT. We had an early start and a freakin" amazin' brekky = Vietnamese iced coffee, egg omelet, baguettes, weird rice things and jam. Delicioussssss. We got on a little boat and headed to our work site. The day started off with mixing cement and laying bricks. We had to carry a bazillion bricks. (Ugh). I think we mixed about 30,000 bags of cement. We had a break, carried on, then the rain came so we got an early lunch. Lunch was so so so so good. We had chicken and corn soup, steamed rice, pork and quail eggs, deep fried eggplant and prawns, noddle salad stuff, watermelon and mango steen. OMNOMNOM. we chilled out for an hour then headed back. By the afternoon everyone was kinda dead. We were sweating like crazy but we got fresh coconuts. We all got a turn at weaving leaves for the kitchen roof and did the same stuff as before. We finished at 5 which was nice because it was heaps shady and nice and cool. There was a really cute kitten which was the size of our hands and we were all so tempted to sneak it away with us. We came back and have all had th

e best showers EVER. we are about to help cook dinner which should be so yum. WOHOO. 

Syrenna and Millie xx

First day of building - making great progress!

Day one of building and the walls are at the height of our heads! We've truly stood up to the challenge despite the heat, rain and difficulty of the task - you would be proud of all of us.

More to come!

Just arrived in the Mekong

Hey everyone! This is the Blue Group updating fair the past couple of days.

Yesterday we arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and went to our hotels. After we went to a really good noodle place in the city. A few of us have been feeling unwell so they stayed back while the rest of the group went to the War Memorial museum. It was very confronting but also very fascinating. We then visited the beautiful cathedral of Notre Dame, or at least the Vietnamese version of it that the French built in 1700's. The architecture was amazing and it was really beautifully designed. We came back to the hotel for a few hours and then had dinner at the KOTO restaurant which was super delicious. Sadly we didn't see any of the friends we made in Hanoi but it was good to see what all the hard work was going to. We explored the night markets for a little and then made our way back for our early start today. We visited the Agent Orange orphanage and helped to feed and play with the kids. Although we were only there for a short time it was worth it to see the smile on their faces. We then travelled towards the Mekong where we visited the Cu Chi tunnels. Just like the War museum it was quite intense (especially when they were crawling through the tunnels and she told us they would of been almost half the size they are now). We had some lunch on a riverside cafe and are now travelling towards our home stay further along the river.

Just as a side note I'd like to mention how unbelievably privileged we have been on this trip. Even in the past few days we have travelled thousands of miles, met lovely new people and have had a few eye openers which has taught us just how lucky we are. I think I speak for everyone when I say this has been one of the most inspiring and fantastic trips ever.

Hopefully we can update soon but until then stay awesome!

Love the Blue Group