Greetings from Thailand,
As mentioned yesterday, our day started off with a visit from Wilasa to our site. Wilasa is an engineer for SCG, a construction materials company, in Thailand. We have been in contact with her throughout the year and she has been a huge help in making our project more sustainable, practical, and successful. She is the one who suggested that we use pre-cast concrete slabs for the countertop. It was nice finally meeting someone who has been such a significant aid to us, and we were able to thank her with a little gift from Austin. We showed her the progress that had been made in the kitchen so far. Overall, she was impressed with it and thought that everything looked great. However, she suggested that we do not paint the countertop supports like we had been planning on. The rainy season in Thailand started last week, which means there will be a constant high moisture environment for the next few months. Since cement absorbs water, Wilasa explained how paint on the supports could crack and chip off during the dry months as moisture escapes from the cement. As an alternative, we discussed and agreed upon mixing colored pigments with finishing and then smoothing that on to the supports. This will allow us to color the CMU supports and make them look aesthetically pleasing while ensuring long-term quality. Overall, the team learned the importance of understanding the effects local environmental conditions can have on construction materials in projects such as this. We cannot just go into a country and assume that materials and practices that are standard in the states will be suitable for another country.
After updating the contractors on this new design decision, our team headed back to the church to get ready for our sightseeing for the day. Since our project was progressing so smoothly and was ahead of schedule, we decided to visit the Bridge over the River Kwai per recommendation of our NGO. The bridge was about an hour south from the church in the Kanchanaburi province. This bridge, previously unbeknownst to me, was the site of tragedy during World War 2. We learned when we arrived that the Japanese were attempting to build a railroad between Thailand and Burma in order to deliver war supplies. In order to achieve this, they forced their prisoners of war to overwork and hundreds of thousands of soldiers died as a result. We visited a memorial dedicated to these soldiers and then visited and walked across the bridge itself. In true Thailand fashion, it sporadically down-poured and we all got soaked. It was worth it though because we got fire pics for our instagrams and the view was great. The bridge, being a tourist attraction, was also populated with souvenir shops where several of our team members were able to buy some trinkets.
After spending the afternoon here, we went to dinner at Tesco which we refer to as the "Thai walmart" even though it is not Thai. Our team was craving eating some good ol American greasy food as the Thai food we had been eating, although delicious, has been healthy and not processed. To our delight, there was a KFC and a pizza place which both hit the spot.
Tomorrow, we plan on visiting some water falls so we are excited for that!
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