I have been in Thailand for five weeks now. I have just finished a week of volunteering at the orphanage and I am knackered!

I have spent the last 5 days making a level surface outside - to be an eating area. To create this we needed to make lots and lots of concrete. The concrete was created with bucket and spade - no cement mixer here!. To make the task even harder, the sun was out and temperatures are around 40 degrees. We averaged about 8 bags of cement a day which was hard work. However, we finished the task today, so I feel proud of a concrete floor now.

Tomorrow, I am going to the hill tribes (AKHA?) in Chang Rai. To get there I will be taking the overnight bus from Bangkok. I was due to go in a weeks time but there is a small group going tomorrow so I have adjusted my plans and decided to go with them. When I have finished the two weeks in Chang Rai I will be returning to Sing Buri to work on a Community project rebuilding homes for very poor people. Can't wait!