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Oh dear, today was our last day and it was both great and sad. At lunch, whenever someone leaves they get a goodbye so today we were beckoned to the front and had to say a few words then the kids all stood up and copied Pheap as he said goodbye on their part. Thankyou for your time and good luck but said in a kind of hilarious way. Then we got lots of hugs and some of the kids came up to give goodbye hugs. Hard not to cry, it's been such a short time but we've become pretty attached to some of the kids. At the beginning I remember wondering how on earth I'd remember all their names and now it seems fine. At one we went 'skiing'. Which translates into rollerblading at a ... read more

Time passes far too quickly here. Can't believe it's already Thursday. Monday morning, stayed down on the beach till sunrise, the most beautiful thing. A grey sky, but an amazing contrast of light, the air was cool, very few people were up and colourful boats were bobbing in the bay. Slept out on the balcony and woke marginally sunburnt. Then a few of us spent the afternoon at the pool by Utopia eating pesto pasta. Amongst other things. Spent last night in an aircon room next door, with Jo and Katie with rather great pizza, watching Vicky Christina Barcelona. Like a tiny CCPP slumber party. Am Regent School Goer on the roster this week. Regent school being a nearby English school which one volunteer goes to each afternoon. Quite daunting when you first walk in and ... read more

Cambodia. We've already been here 10 days. So so so.. It's quite a different thing, not being on the move, waking up in the same place each morning and knowing the people around you. It's actually pretty nice. We're volunteering at a place called CCPP -Cambodian Children's Painting Project. It's something I had quite a lot of trouble describing before we got here. It's an NGo organisation set up to keep kids off the beach and in a safe place. The beach here is filled with hawkers, lots of them kids. Sihanoukville's certainly a strange place.. it's a mix of extreme affluence and poverty. The place is overrun with tourists so there are a lot of bars and clubs and also everything is quoted in US dollars. It's expensive. There are huge problems here with paedophilia ... read more

Ho Chi Minh's amazing! The city that is. HAve had two days here and it has such an awesome feel to it. Really bustling and lively. Definately the capitalist hub of Vietnam, full of boulevards lined with Versace and boutiques. Before leaving Mui Ne we finally tracked down 'Joe's Cafe' which we were told was great and had a cat called Moses. SAid it was the art cafe of Mui Ne and it was filled with couches and plants and great food. Found Moses napping in the bathroom corner, moment of panic when she refused to stir but turned out all was well. Ah yes and very nearly missed our bus on account of a grilled vegetable sandwich. Stayed the first night in a hotel three floors up tucked in an alley. Thought we'd found ourselves ... read more

It must be pointed out that at 10.24pm, a fair amount sleep deprived and a lot amount sunned on, really quite tired. Thus can't remember events very much at all. We got a train from Hue to Hoi An a fair few days a go now and did a combination of consuming sesame snacks and watching the coast, very lovely. Hoi An, it turns out, is very 'picturesque' although a place in which I took very few photos I later realised. Our initial distraction was the number of tailors scattered through the streets and more so the shoe makers. Choose the material, shape, colour, everything then put your feet on a piece of paper to have them drawn. Pulled ourselves away from such shops after a while and headed to a cafe with fairylights for dinner. ... read more