Dear Alan and Jim

Thank you very much for buying us 'Work' for our wedding gift. Although 'Work' doesn't sound so great, this has actually been a really cool week, not only a good break from travelling but an amazing experience as well.

Let me begin by explaining what we have been doing…

Asalanta is a small sustainable Eco lodge in the middle of the tropical jungle on the island of Koh Lanta in the south of Thailand. It was founded six years ago by an inspirational, Dutch/Thai couple called Anke and Aoi.

They built their first house out of mud bricks and bamboo, teaching themselves with only a bit of guidance from a local farmer and lots of trial and error. Since then it has grown to include two more houses, an outdoors jungle kitchen, communal living areas, three compost toilets and sustainable farming areas.

While we were staying there they were putting the finishing touches on an amazing new bamboo structure, which will provide accommodation for five more volunteers and spaces for teaching and workshops.

In exchange for our accommodation and two meals a day for a week we offered our 'volunteering' services.

By volunteer, we don't really mean hard work. We have built some gardening structures and we have painted some walls with 'organic' paint we made ourselves out of mud and water. We have also had the opportunity to witness Asalanta in action.

A group of teenagers visited on Tuesday to learn about how to survive a natural disaster. This was a little bit like Scouts in that they had to build a shelter out of bamboo and large leaves, start a fire by rubbing two sticks together and (allegedly) cook a squirrel. They also learnt how to make a loud noise to attract attention in the jungle. I never knew this was such an art form.

Our job was to observe the activities, take photos for their fundraising and campaigning and then be interviewed by the participants about our thoughts on the day.

This has not been the toughest job in the world. We tend to start work about 9.30 after a long breakfast, finish about 12.30 so we have enough time to go down the beach in the afternoon. The ethos seems to be that you can never have too many breaks to chat to the other volunteers, pop to the shop to get everyone cans of sugary drinks, have a sit down or play with Anke and Aoi's baby Asa.

If only all work could be like this, then we would never need to take 7-month career breaks.

Don't get me wrong it has been a very tough week, but not because of the work.

Did I mention that the Eco lodge was right in the middle of the tropical jungle? Yup, right in the middle. And a jungle can be a very scary place.

Donna and I were given our own romantic little house away from everyone else, deep in the wilderness. It was very pretty in the daytime, a bit like Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru's homestay on Tattooine crossed with an Ewok Village. We had a pretty outdoor shower with views over the river, a balcony with a hammock and a separate little hut with a very clean, long-drop, compost toilet.

At nighttime, however, it was a whole different kettle of fish. In the jungle there are lots of things, both real and imagined, that come out at night that have a tendency to bite you, sting you, eat you alive or do some sort of grievous bodily harm to two very scared, townie honeymooners AND it is very dark which means that you cannot see any of them.

The route home every night was in the pitch black. It was bad enough trying to avoid the giant frogs, the kamikaze bats, the monitor lizards and vicious mosquitos. But in addition we had to:

Go past the Scary Car - a burnt out old car that is clearly a hangout for mass murderers.

Avoid the Haunted House - a disused workshop that didn't survive the last monsoon, which clearly houses lots of ghosts and ghouls at night.

Walk down Spider Tunnel - an overgrown path over which a giant black and yellow spider, about the size of Shelob, decided to build her web.

Then we just had to bolt down the front door, hide under our mosquito net, ignore the mice in the rafters gnawing at the wood and the odd bat that would fly in through the window, until morning when the sun would come up and everything would seem ok again.

Morning was also a beautiful sight if you particularly needed the toilet because there was no way we were going to use the long drop in the night. You never knew what was going to bite you on the bottom.

But you know what? They say these things are character building and they are. After a while you do actually almost get used to it all.

'What? There is a big black spider in the toilet? Cool, I'm sure it is just being friendly'.

'Hey look at that giant centipede coming to bite my head off. Isn't it cute!'

'There is a snake in the kitchen? No worries, we will just block the door with the vacuum cleaner and get on with our game of Yahtzee'.

'Come and see the big Spider in Spider Tunnel eating a dragonfly, its really cool'.

We have used the rest of your wedding present to treat ourselves to a lovely, plush boutique hotel in Phuket. It is our last night in Thailand before we go to Bali tomorrow and we thought we deserved it after our week in the jungle.

But when we got here, it wasn't quite as good as I imagined. I kind of miss the armies of ants that would devour anything if you put it down for more than five seconds, the ice cold shower water and Sticky the Stick Insect who lived in the corner of our room for most of the week (we only discovered he was a stick insect and not, as previously thought, a stick on Day Four).

We will take many good memories away with us and have learnt some important things about ourselves. Not least the fact that Donna now knows how to play Rummy (very well) and Yahtzee.

And so onto our next adventure…

All our love

Jim and Donna