cuts

big grass

these poles are average about 7" diameter

a bamboo clump

this is the species our bamboo flooring is made from ; Petung

volcano fall

cute kids

mountain kids

hardscaping taken to a new level

ridiculous amount of terracing

Arief on the right

big meeting

walking the line

big talk

we sat down for a village meeting to talk about bamboo and it turned out to be a very long meeting of endless food, coffee and cigarrettes (except me of course-second hand is worth about a pack a day in Indonesia)

candid shot

tried to be cool for the camera in an attempt to be "candid" on the way to the river

best friends in Bali

great friends on our way to a dip in a crystal clear river in the valley of rice terracing. Absolutely huge expanse of terracing. thousands and thousands of walls boggling the mind with the amount of years and generations it took to engineer and build...just for rice.

highlanders

this group is a mix of coastal community organizers, highland villagers (who built a bamboo bench and table to honor our visit), and Ben and I. We basically brought out all villagers upon our arrival, got fed every ten minutes with cakes, deep fried treats, coffee. Really strange being the center of attention.

more on the road

on the way to a south sulawesi volcano...

on the road on the island of sulawesi

unlike Bali where rice terracing is primarily formed with mud/clay, south sulawesi rice terracing is formed with rocks and clay.

good eats

red rice, chopped and candied tempe, greens with coconut and shallots, beans with sesame, chicken and carmelized onions fried with sweet soy.

and as with all dishes, on the side is sambal (chili paste that will light your ass on fire)

big fatty, take two

63 kilograms can't stick to a ceiling

looks like a baby dino

One Big Fatty

no, that's not travis in the background

It's Raining Geckos

Early this morning I was wakened by the sensation of a soft (but not furry) little animal on my face. I thought for sure it was a spider because they are all over the place and I'm used to creatures like that constantly on me being so near the forest. Anyway, I reached up and swiped it to the floor. It turned out to be heavy and made a thud on the ground which was odd but it being 6 am I could have still been dreaming.

I got up and brushed my teeth, came back and flipped up the comforter to make my bed and there on the sheet right next to where I was laying was a baby gecko. A baby Tockay gecko. As adults they are nasty, fearless creatures about 10 inches long (the world record is 63 kilograms, (no shit-google it--"Chinese Man Purchases Malaysian Gecko for $20 million"---not a joke. he kept it alive, just google it, i aint crazy).

So the thing on my face was his brother or sister.

Jump ahead 14 hours. Bed time. Laying here in bed and.... "splat"

I look down and there's another one. fell from the ridge beam in the ceiling.

Eggs must be hatching and the little guys are dropping about 14 feet to the ironwood floor, ouch! I looked down and he looked a bit stunned then scampered off.

For the last few months I have watched their parents routinely eat giant tropical dragonflies and moths in the window with their big snapper heads. They croak every night to each other in a way only Tokays can.

I also know the kitchen's cat eats them for breakfast, along with poisonous snakes like cobras. Talk about fearless. Travis is a burly little rice paddie feline covered with scars and healing scabs all the time. He's the only cat that dares rub up against me just for affection. All the rest of the cats are totally ferrel. (spelling?)

pool shot 4

i found out this crew had a concrete blow-out awhile back which explains why the bracing in this project is a little on the cautious side!

i spy

one large tree frog walking by a coffee table popped out after a double take. he barely moved over two minutes. cool creature.

view from the rice barn

pool shot 3

workers are making progress with form work. bamboo bracing is next. then jets and drains.

Indobamboo's java house

a little pad for crashing after a day in the trenches at the factory making bamboo flooring.

my work camp in Malang, Java

These kids live in an abandoned military housing complex. The units are mostly empty still but some are rented by families and Indobamboo, Bali office workers visiting the factory (myself included) for two week stints. We rent one of them for the year for $500.

These guys all posed for me and then I gave em some candy. indonesians love, love, love sugar.

pool shot number two

Fortune is smiling wider for us these days and we are one excited family. No swan or sailor dives for the girls!

Indobamboo's first piece of furniture

our flooring planks are getting added value! this will be the first of five going into a big gallery