Ella Taylor

Arrived at 6am in Banaue. After having breakfast in a tourist office we decided to sack off the tourist bus because it's a fortune (1500 each, each way?! F that) and got a tricycle instead. Was a bit scary because at one point the driver asked my to sit on the back of his bike instead because "I come here the other day and because is landslide, I press brake but just sliding" which really inspired confidence as we were going down the side of a mountain lol. When we got to the start of Batad we had to a little trek across this rubble and down to the bottom of a valley for about 35 mins then arrived at our guest house. They had these really cute cats which apparently they don't like because they kill the chickens.

Aaaand we're in the Philippines! After a pretty painless flight with an hour stopover in Singapore we're in Manila. It was overnight so we were so tired but luckily we met a Dutch girl who we shared an Uber from the airport with and when went to her hostel and asked if we could sleep there and they let us for a few hours. These jeepneys are so cool! Ben has been calling the jeelapinis. Think he's a bit tired. We also went to the cinema and happened to see Trump Tower being built. Tonight we're getting a night bus to Banaue where there are amazing rice terraces.

We arrived in BKK after a pretty long bus ride. Was supposed to be 11 hours but turned out to be 14! Great.the border crossing was pretty smooth so don't know quite why it took so long. I also FaceTimed my friends from home which was so good. Today we tried to visit an abandoned hotel but the security guard wouldn't let us in 🙁not so successful. It was cool to walk through Chinatown though. On the way back we saw another water monitor.

Today we went to a water park called Arcadia which was on the river and had lots of toys you could use to throw yourself into the water. We went with a girl called Sam who we met at the Red Road. It all looked super dangerous so we just swam instead and had a little boat tour from one of the guys she knew. Ben felt ill so just sat in the bar. We saw a snake in the water when we first arrived. It moves so quickly! Think that also scares Ben hahaha 🐍 We leave for Bangkok tomorrow for our flight to the Philippines! So excited and nervous.

We visited Sothy's pepper plantation which was interesting. It's all organic and they only use natural fertilisers and pesticides. It's also pretty eco friendly. They have a solar cooker! The staff are all cambodia and there's accommodation on site for them and even a school for their children!

So we're back in Kampot! We go to pick up our bag from Ellie's and end up not picking it up just having a drink there instead. They we head to Alex's bookshop which he's turned into a cafe. We go back to our hotel for a bit and he comes and picks us up on his tuk tuk!

We're leaving today 😭 It's been an amazing experience. So glad we came back and didn't got to Laos. Laos will just have to be another trip. It's been the highlight of our travels and we've made great memories to take home with us. Will miss this family greatly 💙❤ Our last morning was spent watering maringa and riding back to Kampot. I'm excited to get back to civilisation and although it's been great to detox from the internet I wanna talk to my family and friends now haha

Last couple of nights spent sitting with the family and the other volunteers before they leave tomorrow. Also a great picture of Bong Pierre..

Going into the village for a couple of beers and volleyball. Caitlin fell over on the farm and split her eyebrow hahahaah she's fine though. Chiang Mai looking pretty ❤🇰🇭

Last couple of days spent filing down glass bottles to make drinking glasses and vases. The school came to watch for a bit as well. The teacher arrived every morning with her whole class on her scooter with her!

Ben messing around with local children on Snapchat. They loved it! So cute ❤

On Tuesday we got invited to a wedding! Well they called it a wedding but I think it was more of a wedding reception? We didn't even see the bride and groom. In the afternoon we got our make up done for it and I looked like an absolute clown. They shaved my eyebrows! A hilarious night. They kept making us do this weird dance with floaty hands.

The boys wanted to go into the village to play volleyball with the locals. The locals are really good at volleyball!

So we decided to come back to Kampot. Ben had wanted to do a meditation course in Thailand and I didn't fancy that so said that I'd come back to Kampot as Alex and my friend Amber are here and Alex had mentioned a volunteering thing to me. Then Ben decided that he'd rather do volunteering as well so we sacked off Laos and came back here! We'll have to go to Laos on another trip as I'm sure it is amazing. We're at the Red Road Foundation with a few other volunteers. They've got a newborn calf and a puppy! We've just been exploring the local village and getting to know the two children of the family we're staying with called Sari and Chiang Mai

In the school where we're staying they hold Khmer classes in the week and English classes at the weekends which are very well attended. We helped out with pronunciation and checking. Generally I was very surprised at the high standard of English spoken by the children in this remote village!

We've been harvesting maringa by picking off the bunches of green leaves then sitting down and separating them from the steps. Then they're dried at ground into a powder for sale. A calf was born the day before we came out! So white. We were also introduced to a friend of the father of the family we're staying with (Bong Da) called Bong Pierre who decided to give Ben a "kung fu lesson". He seems a little mad.

So we've decided to come back to Kampot instead of going to Laos. Ben decided he quite fancied a meditation course in a monastery and I thought I'd rather go back to somewhere with people I know if I'm alone and Alex has mentioned something about volunteering. Then Ben decided that he'd actually rather do volunteering! So here we are at the Red Road Foundation skimming rocks into a pond and exploring the local village after a bumpy motorbike ride over