Hello!!! Well after the plane was cancelled i finally arrived in bangkok on sunday and literally stayed their 1 hour while waiting for a plane up to chiang rai which is where the project is. We joined the site on monday and what can i say - its really rather rural so now im rejoicing in the fact im finally in civilisation and have internet access!! Well the project is going well but it's bloody hard work - im now an amazing cement maker so if any of u need a wall building or anything like that u now know where to come! So im living with a hill tribe family which is ok - the ground is quick uncomfortable but after the days lugging buckets up hills the size of the brecons (well maybe not that big - but pretty steep nonetheless) the comfort thing isnt so important! The family is cool but the food is a lil bizarre but edible. Ive eaten enough rice to feed the whole of china and fish is becomin a regular BREAKFAST food - no i did not just mistype breakfast instead of dinner - i actually get served up full headed fish at 7.30am - nice i hear u all cry but it isnt that bad! So we've build the bases for the bridge and have started building the base for the water tank - seeing what little the tribe have the wrok is extremely appreciated by everyone as they've been waiting for this bridge for like 5 yrs and its a mass project. The kids are really sweet and follow u around like everywhere. So far there have a few funny incidences including beth finding a crab at the bottom of her wellie after puttin her foot in it and finding that it didnt fit - also we went to another Akha tribe village "swinging festival" now before any of u get some filthy images in ur mind - the swings are some spiritual thing that they can only use once a yr but it rained so didnt see any of that but the women were all dressed up in their traditioanl clothes which were cool but me and beth (roomie) were staying with this family who started having a mass barmy in their hut he was drunk and was pushing her around etc so we just legged it and got moved to another nicer hut but it was quite amusing. The women were quite scary thyough as they blacken their teeth and chew stuff which makes their lips red so they look pretty much a site worthy of hallowe'en but i guess its their tradition and would find some of our customs a lik weird!! We did see some of thier dancing which ive got pictures of but cant download them yet as forgot the lead - i was so excited about finidng an internet cafe i got carried away and forgot most things - doh! So now we are in chiang rai for the weekend thank god and have running water, showers, proper toilets - this hostel is an absoluite haven compared to the rural conditions we ahve been living in - sayin that my family does not have proper beds, a fridge, bathroom, cooker but its does have a TV and DVD player - oh the greats of technology today - gotta love it. Every evening the kids watch this bizarre programmed called Cyber Angel and it is shockingly bad acting and even though i cant understand what the hell is going on u can tell it is something that would be on channel 5 at home! Going back to these kids in my family they have given me two thai massages whcih were amazing esp after the hard day work (yes i have been working really hard before some of you think i havent been) - the older kid is a natual and really good. So anyway i cant understand a word of what they say and being a linguist (well i like to pretend i am) it is a lil frustrating but im slowly learnin a couple of akha words as they dont speak thai but their tribal language. The mossies not too bad but my ankle did swell up the size of mount everest after gettin 3 bites in one place - i think sara will remember a similar incident happenin in canada but with my leg and dumbo ear instead!! This entry is a lil in bits but i forgot to write a journal this week as left it in the locker at the foundation place so mite rewrite it again when i remember exactly what i actually wanted to put in! Anyhoo after a week of rice and very hot spicy food (em u know what im like - ive been really good at eatin it but some of this stuff would actually blow ur head off - no joke!!) we are off to anjoy some pizza and beer - yums!!! love u all and miss you all too!! thanks to those that have left messages for me - keep it up!! this is me over and out for another week! xxx