Here is a pic of the lake at low tide. It's slightly out of sequence but clearly shows the two stabs at getting the base about right. The soil line, accross the middle, will be where the pillars will go, to support the bridge. The single tree is a token gesture, as there are more to come later.



Time passes. This means that there is a history break, usually depicted in the movies, by displaying a calender with the date pages peeling off and flying away. As I don't have access to that kind of stuff, members are asked to engage their imagination.

Later, the ground is still recovering and the lake has started to fill again. It still looks a little on the bleak side. Rescue came with the sight of this rare water mammal, I found floating one morning. It looks like half man, half plant,



......but turns out to be Khun Mow, the odd-job man, towing some Bua Dang (Lilly red) accross the surface. He digs a small hole in the mud and then plants them with his feet, like he's been doing it for years.



The plants have been 'cleared' from a nearby pond and cost nothing, so we have as many as we can. Mow spreads them around, unfolds the leaves and they are left to settle and blend in. Later, they will open in the sun and cheer the place up a bit.

Time passes.

They have started building and there is someone here 24/7. We also have water, which means that any plant watering will be a doddle (compared with getting water from the lake, in a bucket ). The Buiders kindly knocked up this little enclosure for the baby Saak trees to play in, untill it is safe to put them into the ground. We bought 100 at 19 Bht a pop.



Mow started planting them down the long fence run, securing each one with a stick, just out of reach from the Cows next door.



Each tree has a little moat around it to catch the water and stop it running away, the water, that is, not the tree.



They will grow straight up, without branching, carrying large leaves and will be worth somthing in about 10-20 years, if I can bear to part with them.

These were the last to go in, up by the house. In the end, we only lost two plants. Probably due to the soil guys taking too long over the kitchen garden. The survivors will get water every day untill the rain starts and a weekly supliment of Buffalo droppings.