We are really up against it to get the house finished today. Sinn has to build the stairs and we have a lot of walls to finish and out in place. James is helping the father to put palm leaves onto the gable ends whilst Thali, Izzi and I get to work on finishing off the biggest wall. Izzi stands on a nail in the first 5 minutes so goes to get some treatment whilst Thali and I carry on with fitting the palm leaves. Sinn is working on the stairs and James is giving him grief as usual for not working fast enough.

We all make pretty good progress though and we get all but 3 wall sections finished. Georgia is keen to get them in place so they aren't left on the ground over the weekend where termites can get at them. So we lift them into place and nail them to the frame. I'm really pleased that we managed to get them into place as it is all looking much more like a house now.

We ask the family to pose for a photo in their new house and the duly oblige. A couple of the older children are off playing with friends but we get Mum and Dad with the 2 babies.

We didn't quite finish, but what is left to do is manageable and there is a French girl coming next week to volunteer so it should get done pretty quickly. I think Sinn will be polishing up his French over the weekend. The only phrase that he knows currently is 'ménage a trios'. It may not be appropriate, but it is similar to his English phrases such as 'I love you long time' and 'I keep you in my heart' and 'she not my wife, she my sister'.

The father looked very happy and grateful for all the work we had done. I just hope it all hangs together for them. It was really hard work in the heat but there is a great sense of achievement in what we have done. I think the girls did particularly well with a couple of them never having picked up a hammer or a drill before. It is a great idea for something to do on a gap year and they have learned a lot of practical skills. They are now off to Vietnam and then on to South America to climb the Andes. They said this was their favourite part of the trip so far. Spending 3 weeks on site in itself is very impressive. James, Anna and Gill also did a fantastic job getting stuck into the work. James never complained once in 4 days and I think he is a bit gutted not to finish the job.

After we left the house we went to pick up Gill and Anna and Sinn then took us to the temple where the monk gave us a water blessing to wish us a long life. He was quite giggly and seemed to be having great fun throwing the water over us. It was incredibly refreshing for us too. When we got back to the hotel we had to use the side entrance to avoid dripping water and dirt all through reception.

In the evening all the volunteers met up at the Jungle Junction family restaurant for a celebration and a farewell dinner. Everyone came and we had a great laugh with Sinn, his long suffering wife, and the girls.

We are off to see the Angkor Wat temples tomorrow which are the main attraction around here and are a world heritage site. Sinn has organised the tour for us through his tour company Smart Tour Travel. He has looked after us really well whilst we have been here and has really made the trip great fun as well as incredibly rewarding.