Day Fifty-One - 10/1/26

Another bed shuffle last night. This time I ended up on the ground, Kia on the lower bunk, Emmett on the other lower bunk and Maddie up top. I actually slept a bit better, but far out, it was cold. Proper cold. I had a blanket, socks on, track pants, a jumper with the hood up and I was still freezing. I woke up pretty early and Kia was awake too. I asked if I could borrow her blanket for a bit because I’d been tossing and turning most of the night. None of us have really slept that well since we got here. Kia’s the same and the kids’ sleep hasn’t been great either. Only a couple of nights left now, so we’re pushing through.

In the morning Kia was on cleaning and I was back on Ha’s task. We had to finish what we hadn’t managed to get done the day before. Digging through part of a bank, laying the pipe, backfilling it, testing it, then graveling the outlet. It felt really good to finish it properly and see that it all worked as it should. There’s something very satisfying about completing a physical job and knowing it’s done right.

Once that wrapped up, everyone got ready and we headed down for breakfast together at the local place. I absolutely inhaled banh mi. Two meat and egg banh mi, then another double egg banh mi for good measure. Kia and the kids all had double egg banh mi as well, two each. A serious amount of bread and eggs all round. After that we wandered to the coffee shop. I had a salted coffee, which was excellent. Kia ordered a hot coffee, which was pretty average, very thick and bitter. She ended up ordering a salted coffee as well and we tipped the hot coffee into it, which somehow fixed it. Still not sure what they do differently with coffee here, but on its own it’s not great. Salted coffee, though, that’s the winner.

There wasn’t much time between breakfast and lunch. Mostly sitting around, chatting, relaxing and just enjoying not being rushed. By the time lunch came around, none of us were very hungry after that massive breakfast. There was heaps of food, but I definitely ate less than usual. I think my body has had enough rice for a while. Kia and the kids are feeling the same, a bit over rice with vegetables every meal. We cruised through lunch, more conversations, more getting to know people.

At two o’clock we met up for what turned out to be the hardest task of the day. We were chopping down old banana trees to feed the animals. What we didn’t realise was that first we had to haul this big, awkward trailer down the road to the banana trees. It had huge wheels, a long drawbar and a small platform with sticks on the side to hold the load in. Noam and Lena pulled it most of the way, and I swapped in with Lena for the last seven or eight hundred metres. It wasn’t heavy, just awkward, and we dragged it probably close to two kilometres down the road.

The banana trees were at a local woman’s house. They were old trees that weren’t producing fruit anymore and needed to be removed so new ones could grow. We chopped down five or six in total. Banana trees are mostly water, so they can be very heavy, but these ones weren’t too bad. We cut them into sections, trimmed the tops and loaded the big trunk pieces onto the trailer.

The kids got right into it. Emmett cut down an entire banana tree on his own with a machete. They’re surprisingly easy to cut through. Maddie chopped branches and helped with the smaller bits. Other kids had turns too, everyone having a go. It felt like proper hands-on learning.

On the way back, Noam and I pulled from the front while Lena and Kia pushed from behind. The trailer is well balanced, so you’re mostly pulling rather than lifting. We got plenty of funny looks from cars driving past, four Westerners hauling a cart full of banana trees up the main road. It was pretty funny. Once we got back, we unloaded everything and that was the work done for the day.

The afternoon slipped into full relax mode. Hammocks, conversations, just sitting and being. Around four I thought about going for a run, and a few others were keen too, so we headed out together. We did a shorter version of the loop I ran the day before, straight up over the dirt track hill, down past houses where we were basically running through people’s front yards, then out into the rice fields. Kids waved and called out as we ran past. It was such a good run and even better doing it with others.

One of the girls running with us has a big fear of dogs, and it felt like every dog in the area knew it. They growled and barked as we went past, and she had to stop a couple of times to make sure they didn’t chase her. Still, lots of laughs and a really enjoyable run.

Back at the farm, everyone jumped into showers. I ended up being last, so dinner was a bit later for me, but that was fine. Dinner was another big shared feast. Maddie helped with the cooking, which she was very excited about, although the cook can be a bit grumpy. Maddie kept getting told “no, no, no” when she didn’t cut things exactly right. She found it fun but also a bit stressful.

After dinner we talked through tasks for the next day and had to put in our banh mi orders for the morning. The local kids were coming to hang out at the farm, along with a few others, so there wouldn’t be time to head down for breakfast. Everyone put their orders in and got organised.

After that we gave the kids a bit of tablet time to wind down and chill out. We all got into bed reasonably early compared to the last few nights, which was nice. I was properly tired after digging, hauling banana carts, cutting down trees, carrying them, and then going for a run. A big day of activity, the good kind, the kind that wears you down in a satisfying way and leaves you feeling like you’ve really put some effort in.

We kept the same sleeping arrangement again so everyone knew their place, and we added extra blankets in case it got freezing overnight.