A very special Balinese experience
Our builder, Wayan, is a leader in his local village and twice a year hosts a Balinese ceremony. (Photo: Wayan to my left, his partners, and the site foreman – in a striped shirt) Wayan invited Shelly and I to…
The start of the very first brick wall
It seems almost precious, like a fledgling bird sprouting a new set of feathers. For a building is not a building without walls. With a concrete column and beam structure the walls are not for support. They are used to…
Week #19. Getting ready for the second floor
Work continues without the interruption of rain, and I’m thankful for that. A few more workers have joined the team and you can see the expansion of camping arrangements in the movie below. The creation of a stable pouring surface…
Apartment-style Living in Pererenan
If you use your imagination you can see the following features of an apartment-style unit. There will be a total of four of them: The mezzanine level support column is almost in the middle of the photo. To the left…
Week #18
Perhaps this will not sound too exciting, but this week the workers removed the bamboo supports in the basement: It may not look like much but to me it is a thing of beauty. Why? Because I lived through everything…
Week #17
So far the rainy season has not begun, which means that steady progress on the structure happily continues. Lately we’ve been bringing the workers some rare treats: one time chocolate wafer crackers and cold chocolate milk; another time a tropical…
A Pererenan map with Photo Highlights
If there is one constant here in Bali, it’s that of dynamic change. Trying to capture a particular “neighborhood” is at best a blurry snapshot, as cafes pop up, villas and shops appear, and the landscape is suddenly, almost magically…
Week #16
This was a huge week, as the concrete floor was poured for the first floor of the residential side of the building and two mezzanine floors were poured on the guest side. At it’s peak there was approximately thirty workers…
When you don’t have a fancy concrete pump truck
Let’s say you want to pour a concrete floor. The best solution is to use a cement mixing truck and then pump the resulting concrete with a pump truck like this one: In the above photo you can see a…
Week #15
The structure is now 40% complete. To be clear, that gets you a building with exposed brick walls and openings for doors and windows. Plus, a roof, electric wires and plumbing lines in place. But no “finishes”: construction-speak for bathrooms,…
Tips for a vacation with maximum rejuvenation
What is a vacation if we cannot feel refreshed, to perhaps see things with a new sparkle or walk with an unexpected spring in our step? Now there’s new research that can help those who can afford to get away,…
Week #14
This week we were able to get most of the forms and beams in place to pour the first floor of the residential side of the building. In addition, all of the columns for the first floor of the guest…