Ghana Community Project 01 Part 02 Aquaponics ICB Tank 🐠

And so it goes on. Tank, fish and gravel delivered to the school.

Wonderful occasion.

Seems a good time was had by all.  Children very excited and the idea of a solar system only added to the whole thing.  There was some confusion on how a syphon worked but by now we hope all OK.

Will be back on Monday to check on progress.

Ghana 20 New Year Drone Pics

We're in the dusty season.  Called Harmattan where the sand dust from the desert seems to suspend itself here for months.  Horrible and for me with a susceptible chest this is not so good.

Even my drone picks up the dust when flying.  I took a few shots today and you can see the haze.

View out over our Condo complex.  See the dust everywhere.

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If interested.......Extract from Wikepedia (Abridged version)

The Harmattan is a season in the West African subcontinent, which occurs between the end of November and the middle of March. It is characterized by dry and dusty northeasterly trade wind, of the same name, which blows from the Sahara Desert over West Africa into the Gulf of Guinea.

Effects

Harmattan haze over Ho, Ghana

The air is particularly dry and desiccating when the Harmattan blows over the region. The Harmattan brings desert-like weather conditions: it lowers the humidity, dissipates cloud cover, prevents rainfall formation and sometimes creates big clouds of dust which can result in dust storms or sandstorms.

The heavy amount of dust in the air can severely limit visibility and block the sun for several days,^[8]comparable to a heavy fog. 

Humidity drops to as low as 15%, which can result in spontaneous nosebleeds for some people.^[7] Other health effects on humans may include conditions of the skin (whiteness and dryness of the skin), eyes, and respiratory system, including aggravation of asthma.

Ghana 19 New Drone

Just got a new Drone.  Last few disappeared into Condo buildings or just simply fell apart.

But this time I've got a good one.  Parrot Bebop 2 Power... Sounds good right.

Now all I need to do is learn to fly it.  Unfortunately I also have to read the Manual.  I know RTFM  is a must.  This one is a way more expensive drone which translates in better reading of said manual before saying "Yes,  I know,  I'll be fine"  followed by BANG !!!!!!

So first tentative flight today.  Fish-eye lens but can do video and normal photos as well.  (Read that in the manual !!!!!!)

I plan to use it for work and general round and about stuff.  It has a  Return to Home mode which I can see myself using a lot. Unfortunately.......

Ghana 15 More Polo and a break from Accra

.......THIS ON MY DOOR STEP......

Been a quiet month. 

Finally got a tower crane to get erected on site. Small step for mankind, major one for the contractor..... Say no more.

But before that, sitting on our deck at our Apartment.  What a sight. Polo just outside the room. Wonderful backdrop. Free entertainment. I've never been keen on horses. Bony creatures.... But this is exceptional.

Last week I had to go out and look at some erosion on a friends beach front property. But looking at the photos it does not look a bad place to have a swim.  Erosion and future coastal protection ideas will follow in due course.

We've now reached the end of our contract. So off to Thailand at the weekend.  Via Istanbul. A few days in Turkey. Been before but well worth a second trip. Wanna's first time so I get to be the guide. Well sort of. Just guide her past the shops!!!

       

Garden Irrigation System

Starting to set up a new irrigation system. Have got a 2000 litre tank and spare pump. So plan is to fill the tank from our bore hole then using a controller and solenoids have a 5 station irrigation system. The solenoids and controller were bought about 10 years ago and never used. So off we go. Hope I can get it all to work.

Yesterday we set up the soleniods and main plumbing.

Soi Siam Country Club Road

Quick birds eye view of Owen and I driving down Soi Siam Country Club Road. Nothing terribly exciting and the video is unedited. Just a quick 'snap shot' along the way, but interesting never the less it shows a typical street scene. Hope you all have a good weekend.

Ban Muang progress

Well I last posted about site clearance for our house. But cannot start till 9th November 'lucky day'. So while waiting we build a landing stage in front of our existing house. Its 18 meters long. Started off as 6 meters then we decided to do 12 as all the main steel came in 6 meter lengths it seemed easy to extend. However having decided on 12 we then moved up to 18 meters. The deck is 4 meters wide so 18 x 4 meters is 72 square meters.  Our 2 bedroomed condo in Bangkok is also 72 square meters.  Crazy I know!

Anyway its built. Took 7 days and was a lot of fun. I've since installed a bright light on the under front side of the decking which is great for attracting fish. Lovely to sit out in the evening with the sky full of stars and the light below. Watching the cat fish eating  as we feed them. Helps them grow bigger ready for the Bar B Q.
Hope you enjoy the video/slide show.

Festival weekend in Gladstone. The Gladstone Harbour Festival is the biggest annual event to hit Gladstone. It had a yacht race from Brisbane to Gladstone with over 90 participants, various fates, music and talent shows and a street parade. Add in fire work displays and it is a fun and action packed week.

All this is available to me looking out from my Condo balcony. Makes me very lazy. But come Saturday I will get down to the music stage and listen into all the sounds!!!!!

Gladstone...........

Just Leaving UAE

Hi, I finished in Ruwais this morning. Now getting ready to go to Australia. The start of another journey. So now I'm in Dubai Airport just about to get on the plane... Back to Thailand. I've just done this quick video on my apple macbook pro, using the onboard web cam. Felt a bit self concious, so am pleased at how it has come out. And clearly no editing!!! Pretty simply really. I had tried with Final Cut to make a few videos but could not get it together.

Chinese New year? When where How. Well I missed it!

Chinese New year? When where How. Well I missed it!

All the Koreans from our Construction Companies had a day off and the site slowed down. I think they went off to Abu Dhabi to play golf and have a few glasses of rice wine and Korean food.

We, that's Deepak and he's one of our engineers.

We went off to the Al Ain Air Show.

MOVIE TO BE ADDED

As shows go it was OK. About 8,000 spectators turned up and it seemed the united nations were there and every nation you could mention had a presence. Very impressive. It also added to the atmosphere of the whole thing. There were some beautiful looking ladies mingling with the 'guiness bottles', you know the Arab ladies wearing the all covering long black cloth. That's how I describe them anyway! But everybody mixed in and the feeling of general harmony and sense of we're here to enjoy was palatable and indeed quite exceptional.

View Al Ain Air Show in a larger map

But all that said and done. and to be absolutely honest: one aeroplane looks very much like any other to me. I know some are jets and some are run using other stuff but you get my drift...So what to do reporting of such an event. I took some footage and this afternoon looked over it. So much blue sky and smoke! So I decided to attach one clip without to much editing. Its got the running commentary from the show. The pilot is without doubt a very very capable guy.

There were side attractions including simulated formula 1 racing cars, microlites, go karting, and believe it or not there was a Starbucks. Imagine an event with such a stall. Seems a bit strange, not having some local merchant doing the selling.

Fortunately it was a warm day , bit windy which I suspect helped to keep us from baking in the sun. Mind you it did not help those buying ice cream,

getting stuck in the que to return to the stadium. Tends to melt all over you!

Then you look at the security. The were Lady police. They to must have been hot. Strange sight to start with. All of them without exception tended to on the 'bulky' almost like it was part of the entry requirements. They also did not look the type of person to be messing with!!

We gave up at about 4.30pm. Well I did and went into Abu Dhabi for a quick look round. Quite busy with plenty of crazy driving. But that's a topic for another time.

Seoul Weekend

View Seoul in a larger map

One thing for sure Seoul is a cold place. I see UK is cold but I had forgotten what it was like. Here is a very clear reminder!! Saturday and Sunday we went out having decided we would have a good look round. Well we did. We walked about 10 -15 kilometres over the weekend. Top loop on the map was BunChon Village which is a collection of old style houses. Some are old but a lot seem to have been restored and are now a major tourist attraction. Great fun just walking round it all. This was followed by again looking at street vendors and sampling numerous kebabs and sea foods all cooked on gas or charcoal. Spotted a Harley which Wanna took a shine to. Must say makes the thought of working for a few months in Abu Dhabi easier knowing I might buy one afterwards!!!! There is a big Harley shop in Seoul which I am going to track down next weekend. One thing we did see was vagrants who seem allowed to sleep in the subways. It seems as long as they do not annoy anyone they are left alone. Very civilized solution. I was taken aback however when I gave one old chap a few coins and he answered me in English saying thank you. The coins are quite attractive. No idea who the guy on the face is!!!! Bit old for sure.

Another thing that surprises me in the flower arrangements scattered about the town. Beautiful colours. Look closely and you will see they are cabbages. Yes cabbage seems to be the staple diet here. All a bit strange. Add in hearing Carol singing in Korea this early before Christmas all seemed surreal…We also had a look in a music store. It has guitars, pianos, wind instruments and every type of amp and speakers you could imaging. Amazing place.

We spend Sunday going round Namsam Mountain, well a hill really, which has the N Seoul tower on the top. Good walk followed by a very good lunch. The walk had a lot to do with making the meal seem so good. Peter from work has acted as guide and a good guide he was too. We had a chance to see some beautiful views and learn All followed by a subway trip home and an early night. I’ve added in a load of photos and short video which give a lot better idea than me writing much more…

Pook And Her Magic Cups

Our friend Pook has started another aspect to her business. Making prints on cups, T shirts etc. Complements the Internet Cafe very well.

Typical Thai Roadside Restaurant

Stopped at a road side restaurant the other day. Nothing special but in its own way quite interesting. Not only was it a restaurant it was also the house, kindergarten, open storage area and general living area complete with a sleeping dog!
I shot a short video while there. Essentially to try and capture the essence of the place. I’ve left it basically unedited but it does give a very clear idea of a typical roadside restaurant. Well there is no ‘A’ typical restaurant in Thailand. Each one is so distinctive in its own way. But this will give you some idea of at least one!!!!

House Construction The End...

That's right... my last video on house construction, that is until we start another one...

Its been a hectic time and taken a lot of effort. Most of which was carried out by Wanna not me I should add!!!!

Stats:-

House is 11 metres x 9 metres. Near enough 100 sq meters.
Total cost of approximately 630,000Baht. That makes it 6,300 Baht per square meter. Just under 200 USD.

Not bad going when I think our Condo in Bangkok is selling at 80,000 per square meter!!!

House Construction Part VI

Progress is going well. Should have everything completed by next week. Opening ceremony on 21st so two more vids to follow!!!!

Fishing Ban Muang Style

'Jip' who is Wanna Nephew decided to help us get some supper. Simple just throw a net and catch a fish. In fact we caught three good ones which went onto the Bar B Q!!!

Lego Mindstorm

Well I’ve finally got time to play with my new toy. Fantastic is not the word. I will be having a lot of fun with this for sure. I tried a few very simple moves and it is not so hard. Clearly I’m no expert but time will be on my side with this one.
Will be much more challenging when we get the humanoid up and running. And now I’m not working for a few months who know’s what wonderful toys I’ll be making. Well cannot sit around here typing when I’ve got Lego to do!!!!

House Construction Part V

Progress is being made. We've got to the stage where the roof is on, walls being plastered about 50% done, and its all beginning to take a real shape. In fact it looks very good. Remaining is the rest of the plastering, electrics (surface mounted) which makes it very easy, and final plumbing. And tiling etc. I suppose I could go on and on about what needs to be done. Painting will be the last item of course. When will we complete? Very good question. I reckon in about 3 weeks with a few bits and pieces left to do.
We have already decided to extend the front and add on a big covered area for sitting around. So keep watching this space. (Ken and Nwet, if you are reading this again note I'm unable to respond to you. No email address).
Whats it all cost? I'll post all that info once completed. But realistically about 4,500 to 5,000 Baht per square meter...

Prawns Large and Small

Some time back we put some small prawns in our pond. Those that survived the cat fish did well. Law of Natural Selection seems to be doing its stuff in our pond. We caught a few the other day and one of the kids seemed very interested in it all.

However to catch the small ones is it seems quite simple. First buy your trap from the local market. People use bait and a net trap. The bait attracts the prawns into the trap. Once in, there is no way out for the little fellers, unless 'helped'. But help I mean of the human kind which means they are on their way to becoming part of a meal!

So here is a quick video of us catching some prawns and 'helping' them from the trap to the plate.