Work has continued! Construction in Indonesia is a very manual affair. Not much machinery is on display….people-power is king.
So, first the building layout is marked. This is done building small wooden structures, hammer a nail in the top, then tie string between the nails. This gives us the wall and floor plan.
Next it’s digging time. This is simply accomplished with a pickaxe, sometimes two, some shovels and strong wiry men. The trenches will be for the foundations. Work progresses fairly quickly, but we do have a small problem..it’s monsoon! This means that there is rather a lot of rain. However, it’s not all bad, as the rain softens up the earth, making it easier to dig….it’s just that when it’s raining, there is no digging going on…
A small shelter has bee constructed, as well as a vanity wall, to block the work off from the hotel. The small shelter is where more work has started, the tying the rebar (reinforcing bars) to make the forms which will make the structure of the Dive Centre. The rebar starts life as long thin steel bar that is then cut into varying lengths by one man and his hacksaw. These lengths are then taken and bent into the required shape, by bending them by hand around a big nail that’s been hammered into a piece of wood. These bits are then tied together using thin bits of wire..time-consuming work…
So slowly slowly , or pelan-pelan, as they would say in Indonesia.
The next update will be in a few weeks. Hopefully there will be a noticeable difference by then.
(you can click on any of the photos to see them bigger)
