Ban Talae Nok to Yaowawit - palm weaving and hot springs

Breakfast at the homestay was fried rice and 3-in-1 coffee - simple but effective! As the family are fasting it was difficult to eat in their presence as I felt so self-conscious about contravening their rules. They were quite relaxed about it however - maybe bringing in foreign guests makes it easier for them?

After breakfast we went a short distance up the road to the women's weaving group. They harvest a particular type of palm and weave the leaves into roof "tiles" - long slats which can be fitted over one another to form a waterproof roof. On average they last 2-3 years but as we all dived in and had a go, I couldn't help but wonder if my efforts would last less than that. The ladies seemed happy with our work and said that they could mix our work with their own when selling it, so as to hide it from prospective customers! The ladies can make 70-100 per day and sell these for THB 5 each.

We left Ban Talae Nok shortly afterwards and headed to Kuraburi where Tui and Nat left us as our translators, instead replaced by Bodhi and Karen. We then trundled south heading to Yaowawit School near Khao Lak. This boarding school is for children aged 5-18 years and the school ask that they stay for this full period so that there is continuity in their education. It's a fabulous location with bright, airy, colourful classrooms and some of the politest children I've met for a while. Some of the pupils are orphans and many are from disadvantaged families; the principle of the school is to run alongside a hotel, where the children participate in the housekeeping and guest welfare/hospitality. When they leave the school the pupils often have superior skills to their peers when looking for jobs in the tourism industry and can enter roles such as management, accounts etc (with their associated increases in salary), whilst others are resigned to chambermaids etc.

It was on arrival at Yaowawit that Louise had to leave us to head home - as she was off on holiday on Sunday and needed to get back to the UK for her flights. Such a shame that she missed out on the last section and we missed her presence a lot.

After a delicious lunch we boarded the school bus with a good number of the kids and headed to the local hot springs. The water here is boiling hot - enough to cook an egg in and heats the surrounding river water to just the right temperature. There's a pool which is not fed by the river in which you can swim, but I got to the stage where it was simply too hot for me, and I had to pop myself into the cool river waters to readjust my core temperature. The kids loved it, splashing and jumping around with abandon.

We headed back from the springs and took some time out to shower and sort ourselves out before dinner. A Thai barbecue was scheduled, but what greeted us was not what any of us had anticipated! Into the tables small holes were revealed with slabs of granite in the base. On top of that, a wok-shaped dish filled with hot coals was placed, and on top of that a shallow conical dish with a gulley at the bottom of the cone; it was this that was to be cooking part of the barbecue. In the gulley stock was poured from a kettle - just perfect for cooking your noodles and vegetables in! On top of the shallow cone we could place any of the meats and fish that was provided to us - plenty of prawns, squid, snapper, pork and chicken. All in all it was delicious! During dinner two groups of children performed two traditional dances for us; a fan dance and a coconut dance. They were well choreographed and looked beautiful.

After dinner we headed down to the lounge at the bottom of the complex - well away from the children's dorms for a few beers and a catch up on the trip overall. A lovely end to the day.