Andaman Trip - Our last day (and a bit)

Slept better on the second night.....this had nothing to do with the fact that the 2nd village was quieter (It wasn't) but had more to do with the fact that I found my ear plugs!! (This is what I get for letting Chris pack my stuff.....I couldn't find a bloody thing and had no signal on my phone so couldn't even ask him where they were!!). I slept better until 4.30am when the two cockerels that were living behind our house decided to have a fight - fighting cockerels are incredibly loud!! (I think someone must have separated them cause we heard some talking and then the fighting stopped.....bliss!!)

We didn't have a shower in this house - you would not believe how much nerve you need to take a bucket of freezing cold water and throw it over yourself......it's the second one that's hard, the first you can kind of kid yourself that it's not going to be that bad, there is no such luxury with the second one.....you know exactly how cold it's going to be!!! Anyway, the entire group got together for breakfast and, once again, it was roti. This time it was slightly different - we didn't go through the rolling into turd shape bit so these were a lot thinner, a bit like a crepe really, with the banana inside it rather than on the top (Didn't lose any of the taste though!!!).

After breakfast we met up with the villagers who run the Tsunami Soap Co-operative and learned all about how you actually make soap. They had all the ingredients laid out for us to see and most of the smells are mixed by hand - they had cinnamon, cardamom, saffron, lemongrass and loads of others that I can't remember. It was fascinating - first you have to melt palm oil pellets in a large pot - this takes a surprisingly long time and you end up with something that looks a little like very lumpy porridge, then once it's the right consistency you add the 'flavour' and stir it through to make sure it is all absorbed into the palm oil mixture, it's then poured into large trays and left to dry for up to four weeks. Once it's dry all the way through it's shaped, using what can only be described as cookie cutters, and then sold. We all got to have a go at making the actual soap (the stirring is really hard work) and then we all got to make two lots of soap on a rope - it was really good fun but boy did we make a mess!! (We were told that the leftovers will be re melted and used)

After lunch it was time for four of our party to head home - they had only been able to come for three days which was actually a real shame as they missed out on the tour of the mangroves and planting the mangrove trees which, for me, was one of the highlights of the trip. After saying good buy the seven of us that were left headed down to the village pier and got ourselves organised into two little boats for our tour. It was amazing - the mangrove trees themselves are just phenomenal.....their root system is like nothing I have ever seen before in my life!! (Lots of photos were taken and I think they may make an appearance in the odd drawing or two!!). It was really interesting talking to our guide (one of the villagers) as he told us that the Mangroves not only protect the coast from erosion but their massive root system is really efficient at dissipating wave energy so the villages that had not cut back a lot of the Mangrove forests in their area were not as badly hit by the tsunami as others. (The scary thing is that despite numerous re-planting programs over half the world's mangroves have already been lost). Anyway, the boat moored at a mud bank, we all clambered out, got our gloves on and got planting - between the seven of us we managed to plant 80 mangrove trees.....not bad for an afternoon's work eh!! We then got back into the boats and were taken to the site of the old lower village where 46 women and children lost their lives.......here.......words fail me.

When we got back to the village we learned that, since it is cashew nut season here, we were going to get the opportunity to see the villagers harvest some of them. Now I don't know about you but I have never really given much thought to cashew nuts and where they are grown or how they are picked (I just know that I absolutely love them.....oh, and according to Tracey, they make you perky!!) - They grow on trees and here is a picture of a freshly picked cashew nut still attached to its fruit. The fruit (yes I tried it) was....erm.....well, it was incredibly juicy but managed to completely dry your mouth out at the same time - a very odd sensation!! (For those of you who live here or have visited - it tasted a little bit like Jack Fruit......but even that's not really a good comparison!!). Anyway, then you have to separate the cashew from the fruit and leave it to dry (during the drying we had dinner) and it gets roasted. This involved some sticks, two bricks and a large square (iron maybe?) container. The fire was lit and once it got going the cashews were put into the container which balanced on top of the bricks.....I never knew roasting cashews could be so dangerous!! When the oil in the nut is released the fire grows huge and the pressure inside the nuts makes some of them go pinging out so you have to watch out for low flying, bloody hot, cashew nuts!! (Now there is a phrase you don't hear every day!!) A piece of wood was then brought out and we got down to the business of cracking the black shell off the nut, peeling the poisonous film off it and then eating it. OMG OMG OMG they were sooooo good!!!

The following morning we had a light breakfast (was slightly disappointed that we didn't get any roti) and then visited the final village where we had lunch and watched pared being re-cycled to make cards. Then it was time for home.

It was an amazing experience!! Those people live very hard lives but they have something very special that I think we've lost......every house door was wide open all day, neighbours popped in and out to borrow things, they all worked together to make the most of what they had and to help each other - it was very humbling. I went with, and I'm ashamed to admit this, the idea that I might be able to help them and, in actuality, it was them that helped me!!

Andaman Trip - Day 2

Whoever talked about the peace and quiet of the countryside has obviously never tried to go to sleep on an Island off the Andaman Coast of Thailand. I have never experienced noise like it!! There were creatures that hummed, buzzed, flapped, croaked, rustled, hooted, clucked, squawked, bleated and there was even something that sounded like two really pissed off ducks, one at either end of the house, having an argument!! (They weren't ducks they were gecko's - how can something that small make a noise that big??). Oh, and that was just the noise outside.....Mum talked in her sleep and Dad snored like a drain!!. Honestly, when the cockerel started crowing at five in the morning I was ready to go out and shoot the bloody thing (I did mutter 'roast potatoes' at it when I passed it later that morning but, don't worry, that was as aggressive as I got).

The chicken thing. So there was a very odd noise outside our window that didn't sound like your bog standard animal noises......after listening for a few minutes I had to ask what the noise was. I never in a million years expected the answer 'That is the chickens getting ready to go to sleep in the trees'. Now I don't know about you lot but I have always believed that Chickens can't fly (has anyone else seen Chicken Run?) well, apparently they can....and they sleep in trees!!! My gast was well and truly flabbered - well done Dad you got it spot on!!. (This explanation had just been given when we heard a very loud thud - I can only guess that it was one of said chickens falling out it's tree......does anyone else find the image of chickens sleeping in trees a funny one or is it just me?)

Aherm.....moving swiftly on - We were in the only house on the Island with a shower, a freezing cold shower but a shower none the less, so we all took turns under the icy blast (I tell you a cold shower doesn't half wake you up in the morning!!) and then went downstairs to help with breakfast. OMG......hot roti with chopped banana and condensed milk......a dieter’s nightmare but boy does it taste good!! So not only did we get to learn how to make the roti dough we were then taught how to make an actual roti!! The dough was retrieved (I'm sure Noi had attacked it once we had gone to bed - there were a hell of a lot more rounds there in the morning than there had been the night before!!) and then a large stainless steel saucepan was put upside down on the floor and smeared with oil. You put your roti ball in the middle of the saucepan and spread it out into a thin square shape with your fingers, then you pick it up, flick it over your shoulder and flip it back down onto the saucepan where you then scoop it up, twist it and then make, what can only be described, as a turd shape with it. It is then taken over to the stove where it is flattened and fried in butter. I was crap at the whole tossing it over your shoulder thing (as you can see) but it still tasted divine!!

After breakfast we helped feed the goats and, once the other group came and joined us, we set about the task of constructing pots out of bamboo to house the baby orchids we were to plant. Blimey those things are not easy to make!! Round green bamboo and small nails are not a good combination - there was much muttering under breath being done as bits of bamboo were sent spinning into the air, nails were bent and fingers were bashed!! Still, every one of us managed it and it was with great pride that we planted our orchids inside and painted our names on our pots!! A quick freshen up and it was time to go on our jungle hike. The hike was fab.....now who would have thought I would have used the word fab when referring to physical exercise!! We saw an eagles nest, were shown a plant which leaves are famous for curing headaches, were shown a tree who's sap is used to waterproof the fisherman's boats and we got to see the Dragon Egg Plant's flowers - aren't they beautiful. (This plant is only found on the Island and it only flowers once a year so we were really lucky to see them). It took just over an hour to do the whole hike but it was well worth it!! We had lunch and then packed up our stuff and headed back to the mainland to go to our next home stay in the village of Ban Talae Nok. (I was quite sad to be leaving the Island - we had got on so well with our host family I would have loved to have stayed another night!!)

When we got back to the mainland Kelly left our group and we were joined by Tui who was taking her place as our translator. Ban Talae Nok was very different to what we had just experienced at Tung Nang Dam - it was a proper village (The Island just had houses dotted about). Before the tsunami, the village was divided into two, an upper and lower part. The lower village, located by the beach, provided easy access for the fishermen to go out to sea - the tsunami destroyed all 20 houses in the lower village. Ban Talae Nok lost 46 villagers in the tsunami, 16 of whom were children.

The first place we were taken was the local community centre which was right in the heart of the village - The BWG had paid for it to be built and I have to say that it is used to it's full potential!! Can you guess what this is a photo of? They are bamboo piggy banks!! Every child in the village is given one to decorate, they are encouraged to save up any spare change that they have and then once every three months the banks are broken, the change counted and the child that has saved the most gets a prize (The money then gets put into a bank account). I thought they were a brilliant idea!!

After dropping off our stuff we walked up to the new section of the village (Built just past the old upper part of the village) to learn how to make Batik with the Batik Co-operative. I had so much fun - it was completely and utterly my sort of thing!! I think our little group were the last to arrive cause when we got there they only had two cushion cover sized pieces of fabric left and one sarong size which was HUGE!! (Guess who was given the large piece!!). So, first you draw out your pattern using a pencil, then, when you’re happy with it, you go over your lines using hot wax and then you colour it in using fabric paints. We had so much fun - the villagers from the area all came out to say hi and to have a look at our creations - I ended up with four or five people all helping me finish the background of mine (If they hadn't I think I might still have been there!!) . There was such a lovely feeling of community.....I really felt honoured to be a part of it!!

After Batik we walked down to the beach to watch the sunset. OMG it was absolutely stunning!! (I made a wee friend on the walk down - a little girl called Noot latched herself to me......it turned out that her Mum had told her that people with Tattoo’s were sinners.....I think 'Mum' had thought it would keep her away from me but it had the complete opposite effect - she thought I was wonderful and spent the rest of the time I was there following me around and holding my hand!!). We were lucky enough to see the fishermen bringing in their nets and I think we all managed to get some stunning photos. After the sunset we had dinner and then we dressed up in Muslim dress. It was an absolute hoot - I will let the photo's do the talking......