On Monday, with the O'Ds back at school/uni, we went to Rotorua museum (very cultural!). We somehow ended up in a twenty minute French simulation film and couldn't leave once it had started - only us. We saw the old baths (it took us 40 minutes to realise we were in an old bath house) and went underground to see the old mud pools. Jess got the shock of her life when there was a model of a man in one of the baths haha. That night, continuing with the cultural day...

On our flight from Sydney to Auckland, we filled out a very thotough visa form, answering 'no' to all the questions including 'have you been in any forests/rainforests?' because we were scared they wouldn't let us into their country otherwise. At the bag search desk we were asked if we had any hiking boots, which Lucy did, and where we had worn them to which Lucy replies, 'not in any forests or anything, I've just worn them around the hotel' - very unconvincing b...

We left rainy Sangkhlaburi and headed for the party island of Koh Phagnan, wahooooooo. The Mexicans, in true Mexican style, bought rum and whiskey for us all to transform our boring coach journey into a party bus. The party consisted of plenty of alcohol before noon, dancing in the aisles of the coach to Thai radio (actually suprisingly good!), playing guitars and ukeleles and Jess ending up in the overhead storage! After the 3 hour party, we arrived back in Kan...

On Sunday, we visited Dream House orphanage that is funded by our tour company. We were welcomed by a lovely Filipino woman called Vic who singled-handedly runs the orphanage for Burmese children whose parents can't afford to keep them. Jess was crying at her welcome speech before we even went inside. We were greeted by about 30 children aged 2-17. Vic explained how some had trekked from Burma for 5 days to reach the orphanage. The younger ones played with the to...

On Sunday night we went out for one of the girls birthdays and we thought this was an appropriate occassion, having got to know everyone by this time, to unleash the moustaches which we bought before we came. They went down a treat, although they weren't very sticky after we all became so sweaty from our crazy dance moves! We started our volunteering on Monday, a little hungover from the previous night - Lucy doing the childcare option and Jess doing the buildin...