Kuraburi to Ban Talae Nok - soap and kayaks
It was a slightly later start to the day today; a pick up at 9am and an introduction at the Andaman Discoveries office to understand the briefings they give all volunteers before they start. From Kuraburi we went to Ban Talae Nok - a Muslim community about an hour north of Kuraburi. There are 220 people living here in 60 homes - some built with their own land (as they had land in the old village) and some in the tsunami village (specially built to provide homes for those who didn't have land at the beginning). As it was the start of Ramadan, the families were fasting during daylight hours and the whole village had a sleepy feel to it. We started with a drive to the beach to see the jellyfish treatment plants where they harvest the jellyfish and salt dry them to sell to international customers especially the Chinese and Taiwanese. The two local guides explained to us the coastal erosion that's ongoing and will probably destroy the strip of land between the mangroves and the beach within months. They also showed us the site of the old village which had been destroyed by the tsunami - a sombre thought; our guide had been fishing at sea at the time, so had ridden the wave, then came home to a scene of devastation.

From here we headed into the village and met our host family; after a quick chat we went to make soap at one of the cottage industries. We started by cutting blocks of soap and putting them on strings which we could then take home with us. The group make gorgeous looking soaps and even have won a contract with Banyan Tree in Phuket to supply them. The ingredients are natural and scents are locally found including clove, cinnamon, citronella and sesame seed. We then made up the mix to make soap - Olivia donned gloves and apron to measure out the caustic soda, whilst I busied my hand at weighing the various oil mixes. Michael mixed the whole lot together with saffron for at least 10 minutes then it was poured into a mould to set. It will now take about 3 weeks to harden correctly in a cool location before it can be cut.

We headed back to the house for lunch where we were greeted with delicious steamed crabs - yum!

After lunch we put on our swim wear and covered up again to go kayaking. The heat of the day started to wane as the gentle rain came down but Mel and I cooled off considerably when our kayak tipped us over and into the river! Wet through we floated down the river so peacefully without engine noise. At the end we reached the beach and headed into the warm sea to wash the mud off.

With a couple of hours to rest before dinner we took some time out and relaxed at our homestays before dinner. Then we were decked out in Muslim dress - sarongs and headdresses before heading to the community centre to spend some time with the youth group. It's 22 strong in the village, and they participate in activities such as cleaning the rubbish from the roadside, recycling materials for money, saving for the future and running a green house competition. The children are aged 8-20 years and are inspirational - caring so much about where they live and how they can improve it. They performed a puppet show for us, demonstrating the importance of participation - it was truly excellent. We then had a chat with them talking about youth community participation in our home countries and their travel dreams!

From there it was back to the homestays for bed.