Back to bamboo business

Early this week the workers finished the entire concrete frame structure and started to take down the formwork. More importantly still we got back to working with the bamboos! When I left in August the bamboos were tucked in under the tarpaulins and left there so I was quite nervous when we removed the tarpaulins after three months of heavy rains.

Luckily most of the bamboos seem to be in quite a good shape. We found only one pole that had been split and crushed probably already while making the beam it was part of and one that had termites in it. The one with termites was missing the hole that we thought we punched through each pole. Here we see how important the proper treatment of the poles is. One mistake and termites come swarming in.

Of course when piled for storage the already measured and cut pieces got mixed up and some time during these three months the list of the pieces was lost so the first thing we faced was sorting out all the pieces and measuring the missing ones. Next week we can start putting together the missing elements and finally installing them into the actual building!

The only down side of changing contractors was that also our workers changed. Thus all the knowledge we, together with the old workers, learned from Kevin last spring went out the door with them. But thanks to Kevin's great teaching and the bamboo guide we made last spring it's actually quite fun to teach the new workers on bamboo. This week we went through the treatment, selection, measuring and cutting and next we will continue with making the elements. I hope I don't embarrass myself with the ratchet straps. The logic just beats me…

Our tiny helpers haven't gone anywhere!

Ps. Last week was Anchestors' day holiday so Phnom Penh was deserted all week when most people went back to their home provinces to respect the dead. Unfortunately the kingfather Norodom Sihanouk passed away during the holiday so people rushed back to the city to pay their respects. Sihanouk was seen as the father of Cambodia's independence from the French and his people loved and respected him until the end. See an amazing video about thousands of buddhist monks paying their respects to the king: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i5EDObIrnk