Jolt 2024 Trip Diary – check back here for regular updates from the trip.
21 JULY – DAY 1
We started our journey at Terminal 2 of Heathrow Airport at 05:30 in the morning, where spirits were already high.
After saying goodbyes to family and friends, the JoLters checked in their bags, with lots of help from Chiara and Grace, who were busy showing the airport workers how it’s done (running the trolleys back to their stations at some dangerous speeds)!
After the gruelling process of security, the JoLters were bound for Changi Airport in Singapore where they would experience a few hours’ worth of a layover before catching a connecting flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Everyone coped with the long-haul in their own way; Nathaniel and Aiden played a particularly tense game of Connect 4, Clara listened to the Singapore Airlines selection of music (namely Sade) and Jahmarley managed to sleep through the entire flight. 13 hours and two catered meals later we had arrived in Changi, Singapore.
22 JULY – DAY 2
In order to pass by the boredom of the layover, the JoLters took to creating their own games. Chiara, Ella and Grace played a game of piggy in the middle on the travellator (not to be attempted at home) and we made great use of the plastic cups, constructing a throne for the stuffed dinosaur plushie (and JoLt mascot) Orla.
Later that day, we arrived in Siem Reap in Cambodia! Our accommodation at the Twizt hotel proved effective, with cold showers and breezy air conditioning throughout; we completed a workshop after putting our bags down with Phare circus, who taught us skills such as acrobatics and co-ordination.
We were amazed by some stunning rolls onto the crash mat by Daniel and Mo and the dive by Andy over the other leaders! There was some impressive new juggling skills by Lizzie and Lily too!
Later that night, we watched the brilliant circus after securing some traditional Khmer food (and burgers) with our tokens. Though incredibly tired from nearly 24 hours worth of transport, the circus was warmly received by JoLters and their skills were very much appreciated!
Ella and Morgan
23rd July- DAY 3
We woke up at 6:00 am for a 7am breakfast at our hostel. All ready for an 8am departure to Angkor Wat. After a short coach journey, we arrived and started our tour around the temple.
The Vishnu was one of the first God’s we saw, and we discovered that many students go and ask him for help before their exams. We walked up the 37 steps to heaven, using all different methods to get everyone up the 70⁰ angle steps.
We did receive a round of applause which was lovely too. Jaqill and Jahmarley both wanted a picture with the French people at the top, but we don’t think they quite understood! After our temple visit, we headed to our first home stay of the trip where we were warmly welcomed by the community.
We set up our rooms and had our dinner. We had rice, a stir fry vegetable mix, some eggs and sweet potato fries, along with some mangosteen for pudding. After recovering from being a little unwell due to exhaustion and heat, Ria played football with the local children along with Grace and Jaqill. Jaqill, despite his best attempts to stay on two feet, ended up in the mud and nearly fell back when he lost his balance trying to get up. We then had an early night and slept at 9:30 as we had an early start the next day.
24th July DAY 4
Daniel & Evie
We woke up at 5.30am and had breakfast with Morgan kindly making some of us some porridge. We were ready for a long day of helping the community. We split ourselves into 3 groups and all took turns doing jobs such as composting, gardening and roadbuilding as part of an initiative to help the local community.
All the teams got very competitive especially in roadbuilding, however ‘The Macaques’ (Daniel , Evie , jaqill , Dan , Chiara, Aiden) managed to do the best job by making the journey 3 times to fill in the roads despite the fact Marcelle ripped her trousers trying to get back onto the trailer. Some of ‘The Gibbons’ ( Grace, Mo, Lily, Morgan) managed to get a group shower from our tour guide Ray as well as splashing the driver. By the end the majority were covered from head to toe in mud and dust.
When we did the composting activity, we were able to hear stories from the locals and try plants such as the sugar cane plant. All of us put in a great effort but Jaqill took his gardening skills to another level making sure the raking was to perfection. We all got moved around on the trailers with Emma getting an opportunity to drive one of them.
After the activities some of us chilled and played card games, however some of us had the intention of getting even more dirtier playing limball. It was a very eventful game with Andy’s competitiveness showing with him briefly knocking over Ella into a large puddle. Other incidents also occurred with Morgan nearly slipping into a puddle, Daniel falling over twice including his wheel getting stolen by Alan and Jaqill falling into a load of nettles.
Ella won these glasses for her fall in limball – modelled here by one of our hosts
Afterwards the majority had well needed showers and Jahmarley, Jaqill and Ella helping the locals make dinner for us.
Giving Lily’s chair a much needed clean after all our adventures
Game of volleyball with our new Cambodian friends
Nathaniel and Aiden presented our gifts to the locals such as reading books, sports clothes and T shirts as a way of giving back for their kindness. The Karaoke was very eventful with Mo being the star of the show singing fight song at the top of his voice. The locals joined us as well as their dogs and chickens as everyone sang ‘Shape of you’. We all got back to our rooms at about 9.30 with both the boys and the girls rooms being welcomed by a swarm of bugs plus a large gecko. We all fell fast asleep at 10.30 ready for the next day.
25th July DAY 5
Grace
We started the day in our homestay in Peaksneng with an early rise at about 6am. Once we had eaten an early breakfast and packed all our bags to leave, we worked as a team to clean our rooms and transport all the bags to the coach. Logan C was particularly helpful with the bags and was able to carry quite a few and help out some of the less able bodied JoLters as we got on the coach for our long journey to Phnom Penh.
Whilst on the coach we all talked with the leaders about our aspirations for the trip that we set up on the preparatory weekend and whether or not we had achieved them so far in the trip. If a JoLter had achieved their goal we would set an even more challenging goal that may take them the whole trip to achieve. For the first 4 hours of the coach journey various JoLters joined Mo in performing some Karaoke for the whole coaches entertainment. Logan M supplied his playlist through his speaker for everyone to listen to. After about 2-3hrs on the coach we stopped off for a short break at a toilet station and mini mart. Many of the girls found the bidets and crouching toilets to be an entertaining experience. We all had a giggle about it afterwards. We then all went into the mini mart to grab some Cambodian sweets and delicacies for our long journey. Many of the JoLters were very pleased with the cheap prices in Cambodia where you could get a bottle of Pepsi for about 80p.
Once back on the coach many people in the group were anxiously awaiting our lunch stop and a little refresh from sitting for so long. Once at our lunch destination, many of the JoLters squished 3 to a sofa to eat a shared lunch where there were 3 dishes on each table to ensure that everyone was getting to try a variaety of Cambodian dishes. During our lunch break, a few of the JoLters including Clara, Logan C, Mo and Jaquil played a couple games of thumb wars where Mo became the reigning JoLt champion. Lizzy was super helpful and caring as always and secured our wheelchair users top spots at the lunch table.
After an even longer stretch of bus journey we arrived at a pottery village in rural Cambodia. The kind women there showed Mo how to make a pot out of clay and quite a few JoLters bought some pots and elephants off of the women before their final stretch to Phnom Penh.
Once at the hotel, the very tired JoLters were very welcoming to a comfy bed and shower after sleeping in a homestay for two nights. Once in the rooms, one of the JoLters, Evie, hadn’t seen a television in so long that she stood staring at it for at least 10 minutes before having to quickly head up for dinner where many of the group members were able to enjoy some food from home that was made perfectly by the hotel staff.
Once we had been briefed on the next day’s schedule the JoLters went to pack and relax in their hotel rooms. Whilst on their journey up, Grace, who was wearing the hotel flip flops, tripped twice and body slammed the marble hotel stairs which was quite hilarious to Clara, whose laugh echoed through the entire hotel. They made it to the top floor before waiting for the elevator, which caused both of them quite a fright when another guest came out of the lift and Clara almost fell in shock. Once they had retrieved her, the rest of the JoLters got some well needed wash and rest in their own rooms.
26th July DAY 6
Ria
The JoLters woke up today feeling refreshed after an air conditioned night at the Pooltop Hotel in Phnom Penh, which honestly felt like a luxury after the hard work at Peaksneng the past 2 days. We had one last check of our bags for the next 2 days and went up to the 4th floor for an epic breakfast. Mo and Logan M both enjoyed a huge stack of pancakes while Dan chose a lighter meal with a selection of fruits. During this a wasp became very interested in the food (a vicious attack on us) and began flying around until Jaquil pulled some karate style move to eliminate the threat.
After breakfast we got in the coach and set off on a 5 hour coach ride to the Chi Phat Community, an amazing local village in the Cardamom Mountains. It was during this that Grace earned the award for the Biggest Spectacle, by stacking it in an epic trip over the coach step into a chair. Morgan spent the journey almost finishing a whole book while Logan M sung pretty much the whole way.
Arriving at Chi Phat we had to cross a very fast flowing river that was super high up due to the full day of torrential rain. The JoLters huddled together in the middle of a community ferry to make sure no one fell in which thankfully they didn’t.
Once there the locals were immediately amazed by Daniel and Lily’s wheelchairs and the movement they could achieve. This led to a great moment of bonding between our hosts and the JoLters despite the language barrier.
We were also greated by an epic lunch of rice, fried veg and broths in an open air, wooden restaurant full of plants and geckos. Aiden and Nathaniel excelled at a fun game around the table before we all went to our accommodation- a homestay with quite basic facilities. Unpacking was fast due to our small supplies before we returned to the restaurant for another delicious meal protected from the heavy rain.
At the end of the night we walked back in complete darkness, working together to navigate the many holes and gaps in the dirt road to the homestay.
27th July – DAY 7
Lizzie and Mo
Most of us had a pretty good sleep last night at the homestay. We were packed up and ready to go to breakfast at a restaurant near by at 7:30. We had a delicious breakfast consisting of rice, egg waffles and pancakes, we were then ready to set off on our 6.46 kilometers hike.
We were split into 3 groups, the tree frogs, the scorpions and the vipers, so everyone had someone to help. Everyone did amazingly well considering it was chucking it down with rain. Lily and Dan did particularly well making sure they didn’t slip or slide in their wheelchairs into any of the massive potholes that got their way!
After about 5 kilometres, we hopped onto the back of the Tractor and trailer to take us nearly to the end of the trek. To get to our accommodation we had to hike up a big muddy hill, we all helped each other up it. Mo decided he would give it a go unassisted but use his cane. He made it up as faster than some of us!
We trekked the last couple kilometers in the unbelievably warm sun towards were we would be staying for the night.
When we got there we enjoyed some lunch provide by the people that lived there and helped them set up our beds for the night, hammocks! We all helped set up a shelter made of bamboo and a sheet of plastic which we ate in and make a fire.
Some of us went to fill our bottles up in the local stream ready for tomorrow. Morgan and Ria toppled in accidentally, to waist hight, and came back to the fire to dry off. We had a lovely time around the fire chatting and singing. Everyone were very warm and tired get into bed last night.
28th July – DAY 8
Dan D, Ella and Nathaniel
After the peaceful rest hanging amongst the trees in the hammocks the group awoke 6 am sharp for a stroll down to absorb the beauty of the waterfall (and it did not disappoint). There was a lethargy in the group with an undertone of hope and eagerness as to who would be having the first hot shower when we got back to the hotel. As we sat in stillness we took time to take in the breath taking views of the mist rolling across the hills and the tress swaying in the reliving cool wind. As the last few jolters rolled out of there hammocks we got our walking boots and and stood in anticipation ready to get to the waterfall edge and observe the tranquility. We walked in the amazing and strong team we were down to the waterfall edge making sure no one was left behind. We were met with a steep slopy decline that was some what intimidating us ! But then we remembered WE ARE THE JOLTERSS!!!!.
We went back to the hammocks, we had sweet potato chips and fig jammy dodgers for breakfast. Not many of us had a big appetite, but Morgan loved the fig dodgers and snuck some in her hand when we left.
Then we had a quick and easy trek back over Lily’s hill to meet the trail trucks. The trail truck took us on a bumpy ride to two more waterfalls which were both amazing.
We then went back to the home stay to say thank you and have lunch. We had a two hour boat ride down the river then jumped on the coach back to phnom penh for more adventures.
29th July DAY 9
Ria
The JoLters had a well deserved lie in this morning, waking up at 6:30 ready for an epic hotel breakfast at 7:30. After finishing and feeling refreshed and full, everyone boarded the coach for our ride to the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre, to visit the Free The Bears sanctuary. We began with an introduction presentation by one of the working staff, revealing the origins of the charity and the importance of protecting Sun Bears and Moon Bears in Cambodia and surrounding countries.
We then met a few of the Sun Bears living in the centre,learning about their personalities and their epic physical traits. One Moon Bear we met weighed around 150kg! We also took time to understand how they were rescued and why they were brought there. The Bears lived in isolation or in a group depending on their needs, but every one enjoyed a huge enclosure with many plants, climbing frames and a (very) strong hammock to lie in the sun.
After this, we had a lot of fun preparing the Bears enrichment toys and snacks, stuffing dog toys and bamboo tubes with chopped fruit, jam and grass. We had many stations going on, some jolters cutting up fruit, some weighing it in buckets and some making the toys. Nathaniel worked hardest of all making the enrichment toys, him and Ria getting covered in jam in the process. Aiden and Grace did an epic job preparing over 30 buckets of fruit for each enclosure. Once that was done we all enjoyed an amazing lunch they prepared. Many of the JoLters were thrilled by the vegan tofu noodles and fried chicken that provided a welcome alternative to the rice with each meal so far. During lunch, Dan impressed with his yoga skills and everyone left feeling full.
We spent the afternoon hiding chopped fruit around the Bears enclosure while they were inside as quickly as we could before the macaques we had been seeing everywhere stole the food. After, we spent time on a tour around the centre, visiting lions, tigers, otters and even elephants! The lions were particularly interested in Daniel and Lily so we were thankful they were behind a strong fence. The elephant was interested in anyone who had food, so everyone took turns feeding him banana with our hands. The elephant was very happy when Evie got a banana to him! The JoLters also enjoyed learning about Chhouk, Cambodia’s only elephant with a prosthetic leg! He lost his original leg due to a snare, but was rescued, fitted with a working replacement and lives happily in the centre.
Once we were done, the coach took us back to Phnom penh city,where the JoLters enjoyed a rare moment of chill time in the hotel. Morgan put Jaqill to shame at Pool while Logan M became a darts master. After a good meal and an even better JoLt time, awarding Mo the Helping Hand award, everyone enjoyed free time, some staying and playing games while some opted for an early night. Overall, today was an amazing day for everyone and one that no one will forget any time soon.
30th July – DAY 10
Lizzie and Logan M
Woke up at 6am ready for breakfast at 7am. We drove to S21 prison, and our tour guide, Sony, showed us round and told us about the horrible things that happened there. Also, we met one of the 7 survivors of this horrific time. Everyone was given his book to read as a gift from Jolt. After, we drove to the killing fields, Sony showed us to some of the mass graves and explained the tragedy that unfolded, without the prisoners even knowing about it.
In the afternoon, we had lunch and made our way to the British Embassy. We had a long conversation with the ambassador, Dominic, about Cambodia, what his job is and he introduced us to some of his team. Everyone inputted something into the conversation.
They had arranged for us to for us to go and watch the Cambodian wheelchair basketball team play and do some drills with them. Everyone joined in and had a go at passing and catching the ball. We introduced the players to limb ball and I think they really enjoyed it. By the end everyone was very hot and sweaty from all the running around.
We found tea at a local restaurant. It was much nicer than the other ones we had been to previously.
In the evening we went the Phnom Penh Night Market so the JoLters could use up their Cambodian money. There was lots to choose from, from clothes and jewellery to food and scarfs.
It was our last day in Cambodia and it has offered us so much. We are travelling into Vietnam tomorrow on a 6 hour bus journey. Thank you Cambodia for what you have given us to take back to the UK. Vietnam we will see you tomorrow.
31st July DAY 11
Morgan, Aiden and Ella
We had another 6am start this morning so that we were all downstairs ready for our bus at 7. When our coach turned up, I think we were shocked at how luxurious it was; our seats reclined to the point where we were almost laying down, our footrests came out far, the space, the seats – it was brilliant to comfort us for our long journey across the border.
We had breakfast baguettes from our previous hostel in little tubs for our breakfast, along with a banana, pastry and a bottle of water. We stopped off for lunch at a duty free styled station, and then went through both passport control and bag check in order to cross the border into Vietnam.
After we crossed, we continued the second half of our journey to our hostel. A couple of hours later, we arrived, sorted rooms and partners. Then we all headed up to the top floor to cool off in the pool and jacuzzi for half an hour after such a tough day! It started to drizzle but the view of the city Ho Chi Min made up for it.
We played with a ball in the pool until someone threw the ball and Ria when she wasn’t looking and out of ‘instinct’ to prevent being hit in the face, she punched it off the 9th floor all the way down until we couldn’t see it anymore. After the chaos we went back to our rooms and got ready quickly to go to dinner.
We had a variety of foods, from fried tofu, to pork noodles, to spaghetti bolognaise (Logan M). However some jumped head first into more unusual cultural dishes. Dan D and Nathanial tried fried frog, Clara had seafood served in a pineapple, Jahmarley was served a whole crab. After dinner, we headed back to our rooms where some of us were lucky enough to have a bath, but we all managed to have a shower and freshen up for the days to come.
1st August – Day 12
Jahmarley and Jaqill
The plan for this morning was to do our usual 6:00,7:00,8:00 routine (up at 6 breakfast at 7 leave at 8). We have gotten better with the timing and was off for 8 after a big buffet breakfast.
The coach ride was long and tiring, however we all got to see some of the beautiful provinces in Vietnam as we passed through. The buildings and architecture some old some more modern some with greenery. And we saw how many mopeds and motorbikes in comparison to cars there are.
When we finally arrived at our destination to get on the boat. A short toilet stop nearly ended with a tour of the silk worm factory! Piling on to our wooden boat and donning bright orange life vests the JoLt group travelled along the mighty Mekong river with lush greenery on each river bank packed to the edge with trees and shrubs.
We enjoyed exploring the way the people use the river. First we saw an ancient brick making works using sand dredged from the river bed. After a while, we were given fresh coconuts by the captain and our own personalised bamboo straws with out names on them.
Soon after, we stopped at coconut craft village where we tried some coconut and nut treats made by the locals and everybody seemed to enjoy. Scouting the crafts everybody saw something appealing to buy and spend their money on; whether it was chopsticks, fans, key chains, sweets or a drink.
Taking a seat at our roundtables we had been given a selection of fruits to eat all were enjoyable however some people had different tastes so not all was eaten and enjoyed.
We then went on tuk-tuk bike carriages to a restaurant where we ate elephant fish, king prawns, spring rolls, veggie egg pancakes, soup, chicken and deep fried banana in a batter- a feast!
After saying thank you and leaving our meal we went back on the bikes in the middle of a tropical downpour to get to small wooden boats where we got on 3 to a boat with a Jolt leader. The boat ride was around 7 minutes through palm lined narrow inkeys, like entering a jungle, to the bikes again where then we took to the coach back to the hotel.
Before heading back to the hotel we were split into threes where we went into the night market to get some foods and snacks. There was so much choice from every nationality. A great way to end the day!
2nd August DAY 13
Logan C
The morning of the day was kinda slow but I learned a lot about Vietnamese traps, and the tactics the Vietnamese used against the Americans, and the tunnels were very small but regardless it was a fun time.
For a majority of the tunnel Logan C was on his knees and he still scraped against the ceiling, he crab walked and shuffled for when he wasn’t on his knees and it was hilarious.
Later on we got back on the bus and went to the Ho Chi Minh city market, most people got they’re silly shirts for the silly shirts game, and we made it to the train station to get on our night train, and it was a big hit or miss for some people, some people slept like baby’s, but Logan C stayed up all night watching the window.
3rd August – DAY 14
Mo and Daniel
We arrived into Nha Trang at 5am, all waking up on the train with varying opinions on their nights sleep. Clara and Ria made sure they slept well by shushing and telling off some screaming kids running up and down. We had a gorgeous walk along the beach at 6, and we were all stunned by the amount of people that were up doing exercising, swimming in the sea, going for a walk etc, all at the crack of dawn.
After a good sunrise, we headed to the hotel and had a buffet breakfast. Our rooms were lovely with sea views. We headed to a church, and then to a complex of temples called Thap Ba that was built from the 8th to the 13th century. We went into the main temple to see the statue of Yan Po Nagar, who legend states founded the Cham people of Vietnam. It was surrounded in gold and offerings. We all climbed to the top, and then headed back to the beach for lunch from a local bakery. After a little photo shoot, we travelled down the road to our cookery class where we learnt how to cook our own spring rolls, crispy breaded shrimps/prawns, crispy breaded ladyfingers (okra), clay pot chicken, clay pot mushroom stew and spicy basil rice. We all received a certificate after trying all our courses, and can’t wait to bring the recipes back to the UK.
After a very sleepy bus ride we got back to the hotel, freshened up and made our way down to the open top pool. The energy was very high as Grace led a game of shark causing the JoLters to scare off other pool users with our noise. Chiara and Clara had many handstand competitions and Logan M spent the time swimming up and down. Once we were all tired out and finished with a quick brief about tomorrow’s early start, everyone made their way back to the rooms for a long shower and an early night. Especially for Morgan and Lizzie, who crashed at 8 and didn’t wake up to Lucy’s banging on the door for 20 minutes to check they were in their room.
4th August – DAY 15
The JoLters were once again suffering after an early wake up at 5.30 this morning. Everyone got to breakfast around 6, ate a nice meal and got on the coaches for 7. Half of the group had a worse ride than the rest due to a questionable driver.
We waited for a little bit at Nha Trang Tourist Harbour for our boat and instructors, and then set sail for about an hour to the first diving point. We all got snorkels on and some chose to wear flippers too. The JoLters found the scenery off shore to be very beautiful, with epic mountains seemingly appearing out of nowhere in the clear and calm sea. Once there we all jumped in, thankful for the tropical water that almost felt warm to swim in!
It all started amazingly, with everyone swimming with amazing fish, colorful coral reefs and huge purple starfish. Daniel’s favourite were the hundreds of tiny blue fish that stuck out of the reef while he swam past. However, many of the JoLters were shocked to discover the quantity of quite aggressive jellyfish in the water. Most of all Ria and Helen, who seemed to appeal to every single jellyfish in the South China Sea. Everyone had a lot of fun jumping off the sun deck of the boat, with Chiara and Evie repeating this many times. The JoLters were very impressed by Daniel and Lily who put everyone else to shame with their epic jumps.
Once we were all tired out, the crew served an amazing lunch that filled everyone up nicely, ready for the afternoons activities.
We arrived after a while back in the harbour where we got off and drove back to the hotel to get ready for a beach trip. Everyone packed some games and activities to sit on the sand or cool off in the water, which felt a lot warmer than the water in the UK. Nathaniel especially had a lot of fun in the sea, photobombing at least 5 photos by the locals. Many JoLters however chose to stay in the shade due to a variety of sun burns from laying in the sun on the boat, the most unfortunate being Grace and Dan. After a trip to a local shop to get ice creams, everyone walked back to the hotel to get ready for our rooftop yoga session.
We spent an hour practicing simple poses, focusing on our breathing and chanting positive phrases about ourselves. Although some found it difficult to concentrate and spent a lot of time laughing, most of the JoLters felt very calm and relaxed after. Of course that peace was interrupted during our beach dinner that everyone wore their formal outfits for. We sat down for an amazing meal on the sand but was taken over by the noise of a party and a local band simultaneously, which made it very difficult to relax with the loud noise. Despite this, we had a big meal and made our way to the hotel for a very early night, packing our bags for our 4am start tomorrow morning.
5th August – DAY 16
Ali Y – aged 42
Have you ever tried waking 18 tired out teenagers at 4am? Today started by dragging mucky bags into the heat to depart for the airport. The team clung together to quietly navigate transfers, security, and breakfast en route. Some of us were invited into private rooms by uniform clad guards to remove batteries from our bags… all good in the end!
To board the plane Lily, Alan, Daniel and I experienced a ‘cherry picker airplane access truck’. A new experience for all involved. Doc Lucy managed to charm a passenger after we managed to leak a water bottle all over his carry on luggage! A challenge she is more than capable of. A personal highlight today was receiving a much needed coffee, sitting with Andy, whilst many JoLters slept.
Once we descended upon Hanoi, we took in the significant mausoleum of ‘Uncle Ho’, government buildings and the beautiful lakes.
Next up was an entertaining yet bizarre water puppet show! A historic Vietnamese tradition telling traditional tales of animals and farming … only a photo will do it justice.
Eventually, a massive JoLt sleep ready to take on our final North Vietnam challenges.
6th August – DAY 17
Ria
The JoLters woke up this morning after a relaxing night in the Skylark hotel. The mood was high at breakfast as everyone enjoyed a buffet meal, with both standard foods like toast and jam, and Vietnamese foods such as sweet and sour noodles and a range of exotic fruit. The view of Ha Noi from the rooftop was incredible, and hearing the sound of an already wide awake city at 7am was an amazing experience.
Everyone then squashed into our tour bus and set off on a 4 hour journey to our next accommodation- a homestay in the Hòa Binh province just outside of Ha Noi in the Mai Hich village. The bus took us extremely high in the mountains along some very dangerous looking roads right on the edge. We stopped about 20 minutes away at a viewpoint where we saw the most amazing valley from above. The green rice fields stretched out for miles between huge mountains covered completely in dense trees.
After many photos everyone got back on the bus and arrived at the homestay – a traditional Vietnamese stilt house where all 18 jolters would be sharing a room.
After an hour to get ourselves sorted, everyone gathered for a “JoLt time”, where the group reflected on the events of the trip and what we aimed to get out of the last 5 days.
Once finished, many chose to dip their feet in the pool, relax in the communal area or have a quick rest in the room. Nathaniel joined a few of the leaders in a group nap time on a large table in the middle of the area. Clara, Grace and Jaqill instead cooled off by the pool. Later on, we all joined into a cooking lesson, where our hosts taught traditional methods for cooking rice in bamboo tubes and banana leaf parcels that we then enjoyed later on with dinner.
Chiara and Lily worked very hard getting the shells off peanuts, smashing them up and salting them for dinner too. Once the cooks were satisfied with our work we relaxed a bit more, Morgan leading Spanish games of cards which got a lot more heated than the game of Uno that was going on next to us. As the day went on, Clara, Chiara, Nathaniel, Evie, Logan M, Lizzie, Aiden and Grace played a tense game of Jungle cards that probably disturbed the entire continent with all the shouting.
Once it got dark, we were all filled up with an amazing dinner. Chiara was awarded a crown for being an amazing all round JoLter throughout the trip.
Many people were almost falling asleep…. until Ria, Ella, Daniel and Dan led the charge on a JoLt invasion of a Dutch group of travellers with a Karaoke microphone. They blessed everyone’s ears with “What makes you beautiful” by One Direction and definitely put the other group to shame.
After that everyone agreed we should probably stop making noise and go to sleep, so the whole group headed upstairs for what was a nice sleep after a huge hour long thunderstorm stopped keeping everyone awake.
7th August – DAY 18
Aiden
We all had a much needed lie in the this morning, waking up at 6:30am we packed our bags and had a delicious buffet style breakfast with a lot of fruit and some pancakes.
After coffee, some JoLTers started a conga line around the tables cheering everyone up for the day ahead. We then headed to our coach for a 2 hour journey to the start of our trek to the waterfall. During the journey, Nathaniel sang some Karaoke while others read books, napped, and chatted to one another.
We arrived at our destination and started on a gruelling hot trek to our next point to be picked up again by the coach. All of us powered through the heat and hilly land.
We ended up at a really rickety bridge that could only hold 2 people at a time.
We all worked as a team and carefully made our way across, with a reward at the end, of an air conditioned bus for 5 minutes before the next part of our trek.
We got off again with filled, chilled water bottles. Some of us struggled up but with the help of everyone we all managed to achieve our goal of a beautiful waterfall.
After a rest and some pictures we moved over to a restaurant for a selection of shared dishes for lunch. We then made our way down with Alan and Dan running ahead and back up again in the blistering heat.
Finally we got on our coach again for a 30 minute drive to the resort driving down a really small bumpy road on the edge of a cliff and around some sharp bends!
To the relief of us all we arrived at the resort, found our beds and got ready for a relaxing massage with either a neck and shoulders massage (which also included the back, hands and head) or a foot massage (which also included legs), which we all thoroughly enjoyed. Then finally some chill time to do whatever. Whether that be having a dip in the hangout in some netting or a chat on the balcony.
For dinner at 7 we were provided with some more shared dishes which were delicious. Some people were then given awards. Spectacle of the day being for Dan for his running in the boiling heat and star JoLTer being awarded to Lizzie.
An hour of chill time commenced afterwards for some soft drinks at the bar and cards games before bedtime and a promised big lie in for the morning. In about 10 minutes after we all went to bed most of the JoLters were already in a deep sleep, ready for some yoga and a dip in the pool for tomorrow morning.
8th August – DAY 19
Today we were treated to our first lie-in of the journey, although most of us either took advantage of Lucy’s yoga class or a dip in the infinity pool overlooking a valley of padi fields with a mountainous back drop.
After a late breakfast we said goodbye to the retreat and headed back to Hanoi with our packed lunch for the journey. The bus journey was a mix of reading, sleeping, and listening to music with a final crescendo of Disney classics from the back row entertainment crew featuring Dan D, Ria, Morgan and Ella.
On our return to Hanoi we headed out to a traditional Vietnamese restaurant demonstrating to the locals how a JoLt team can boss road crossings! An early night was in order to pack our bags ready for our cruise around Ha Long Bay the next day.
9th August – DAY 20
Lizzie and Nathaniel
Everyone woke up and wished Nathaniel a Happy 19th birthday as he came into the breakfast room, some of the other guests joined in too.
We then hopped on the coach and made our way to the port to catch the boat. The journey took about 2 hours. On random occasions someone would start singing happy birthday to Nathaniel and we would all have to start singing!
Got to the port in time to get the catch our taxi boat to take us to the Golden cruise ship. The beautiful views of Halong Bay surround us as we went. Lunch was waiting for us when we got on board. There was only one other group on the ship so we basically had it to ourselves.
In the afternoon we headed to the sung sot caves. We all thought we were used to the Vietnam heat, but those caves pushed everyone to their limits. They were beautiful though. There were lots of stalagmites and stalagtites everywhere.
We headed back to the boat after the caves to get cool down. Some people went to there rooms, whilst others went up on the top deck and played card games and sunbathed. Some jolters watched a cooking class and got involved making spring rolls.
As the sun set around us, we sat down for a filling dinner of different Vietnamese dishes. We sang happy birthday to Nathaniel and Aiden ( it’s their birthday tomorrow) and ate cake.
10th August – DAY 21
We all awoke peacefully floating amongst some of the 2000 islands of Ha Long bay. Except Aiden. Who awoke to our JoLt cazoo band’s rendition of happy birthday. We all arrived on top deck for sunrise Tai chi then made our way to breakfast.
We had a mini excursion onto bamboo boats around some more inaccessible nook and crannies around the islands. Here we saw monkeys going about their morning routine on the rocks, they looked pretty zen so they probably also partook in sunrise Tai chi.
We left the Golden cruise and made our way back to Hanoi for our final night. Aiden was not allowed to forget that they were today’s birthday person throughout the journey. We arrived at a luxurious hotel for our final night and chilled out with a swim and sauna session in the basement before setting up for the end of trip festivities.
We dressed up for dinner and had a good old giggle, predominantly at the leaders’ expense. The JoLters showed off their flare for drama.
We went to bed with mixed emotions about the trip ending, but excited to start the journey towards seeing familiar faces.
11th August – DAY 22
A slight lie-in found the JoLters waking up at 7:30 ready for breakfast at 8:30. We had a delicious breakfast and packed our bags.
We went to the market and bought each other silly shirts and spent our last Dong. We had a hysterical lunch presenting each other with their surprise shirts. Chiara bought Jahmarley the winning shirt in my opinion.
We jumped on the bus, had a sing song and arrived at the airport ready for our flight to Singapore. The bags were unloaded with military efficiency. After security many JoLters made a break for Burger King to mark the end of a month of three daily rice based meals. We boarded the flight with no delays and have landed safely in Singapore. We have made it to the transfer gate making this our final diary entry! See ya a la arrivals at Heathrow!
