Bamboo Bicycles

by Neil Woodburn on

I’ve rented my share of bicycles in third-world Asian countries. They’ve always been beaten up, rusted, falling apart, and hardly able to peddle. But, they’ve gotten me around.

Now there may be a new alternative to these two-wheeled lemons: the bamboo bicycle.

Designed by Craig Calfee (who normally designs carbon fiber frames for professional racers), the bamboo bike is being touted as a cheap and sustainable transportation alternative in developing countries. The design is still being improved upon with the end goal being the ability to build such a bike without the use of power tools.

The idea is so intriguing that the Earth Institute of Columbia University is sponsoring Calfee on an upcoming trip to Ghana to explore the possiblities of bamboo bike making in this impovershed nation with the idea that cheap transport will allow more people the opportunity to find employment and get to their jobs.

In the meantime, Calfee’s bamboo bikes are creating a buzz among road racers for their strength, endurance, and ability to better cushion the shocks and jolts of a long ride. At $2,400 a pop, however, this carbon fiber supplemented model certainly won’t be the version manufactured in Ghana.

How to Take a Bath in Half a Bucket of Water

by Jamie Rhein on

When I went on a nine day trek in Ladakh , India a few years back there were adolecent girls on the trip. Somehow, no matter how remote a location we were in when we camped for the night, they managed to wash their hair. All I know is, they would head off somewhere into the distance and come back with towels wrapped around their heads. It was amazing.

When I was in the Peace Corps, though, I could take two or three decent baths with one regular size bucket of water. One of the assistant Peace Corps directors did show us some tips while we were in training by doning a bathing suit, filling a bucket and grabbing a large plastic cup with a handle. Since I lived in a village for two years with no running water–I hauled water from a well with a vegetable oil can bucket and a long rope, I became pretty savvy with water use.

Here are some bucket bath tips:

You will need.

  • One regular size bucket (not so big that you can’t carry it) filled with water
  • One large plastic cup or a small plastic pitcher that has a handle

The technique:

1. Stand close to the bucket, and dip your cup in the water. Stretch out your other arm (the one not holding the cup) so that your hand and fingertips are over the bucket of water. Pour the water over your head so that the water runs off the opposite side of your head over your shoulder, down your arm and back into the bucket. Keep repeating this proceedure lowering your arm little by little each time until one side of your body totally wet. To wet your back, stand with your rear almost over the bucket and pour the water carefully onto your upper back allowing it to roll over the rest of you. Some of the water will find its way back into the bucket.

2. Once one side of your body is wet, repeat the process but switch arms. When your body is totally wet, wet the soap by pouring water over it. Do not put the soap in the bucket. The idea is to keep the water soap-free.

3. Soap up. For the body rinse cycle, repeat the process in step 1, but don’t put your hand over the bucket. Let the water fall to the ground. Again, keep the soap out of the bucket. For best results and low water use, start rinsing at the shoulders and angle your arms and hands so that the water will roll off to another part of your body. Keep repeating the process until all the soap is gone.

4. To wash your hair–lean you head over the bucket and wet your hair by pouring water over it, but making sure the extra water goes back in the bucket. Shampoo and then rinse with your hair over the ground instead of the bucket.

If you follow this method you may have a half a bucket of water left–more than enough to wash the dishes or take another bath. The photo is thanks to Zac Shepherd on Flickr. If you click on his photostream you’ll see some shots of The Gambia and Senegal with captions. The bed in the photo is the kind I had as well which drew me to this picture. The caption mentions how bucket baths helped Shepherd survive the Gambian dry season. Yes, those were the days.

For an overview of people’s experience bathing in Ghana, check out World Wise Schools Water in Africa page. World Wise Schools is a Peace Corps program designed for use by educators.

Hand Laundry Around the World

by Jamie Rhein on

When searching for an image for my post on travel washing machines, I saw several shots of people doing laundry the old fashioned way–by hand. Here is one of them.

This shot, posted on Flickr, was taken by abrinksy in Udaipur, India. There is something about laundry that makes people get an urge to whip out their cameras. Here are other photos that caught my eye…

Taken in Vietnam by Agnguyen2682. I love the images of clothes paired with the plants and the girl in yellow.

This one is in Dominica. The photographer, herzchen points out the woman is even hanging up a teddy bear.

Here’s making another use of a hot tub in Iceland. fuzzypika

In Ghana, West Africa. I wonder what Stig Nygaard stood on to take this picture.

By sainthelenfire in Feng Huang China. This shot is at a canal.

Taken by Dey in Nepal. I’m always struck by how plastic bowls can look so bright in certain environments.

Taken at at Amani Baby Cottage in Uganda by Danny Summerlin. The criss crossed white lines appealed to me.

Hanging laundry in Croatia. I like the way taf captured the angles, the light and the shadows.

Mega, as in the Biggest Ever, African Adventure Trip

by Jamie Rhein on

Suppose you have time-lots of it. Let’s say you have 44 weeks. Perhaps you’d like to go overland from Morocco to South Africa by way of Egypt. Here’s a travel adventure that will take you through 10 game parks, various cultural and historical landmarks, and enough thrills like rafting and tandem sky diving that you’ll have stories to tell for years. Countries not typical as tourist hot spots are included in the mix. Angola, for example, has only allowed tourists in since 2004.

In Angola you’ll see Portuguese influenced architecture and gorgeous beaches besides the 3rd largest statue of Jesus in the world. The other countries in this multi-stop, pack-in-variety approach are: Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, DRCongo Zaire, Angola, Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Egypt.

The highlights of this tour calledTrans Africa. Europe–CapeTown-Nairobi-Istanbul read like a cross between an outdoor wilderness experience, a cultural bonanza and a journey through an African history book. Read the itinerary and you might find yourself chomping to take this trip on. I sure am. R&R opportunities and the chance to luxuriate are built in. Africa Travel Center also offers shorter version African adventures where only parts of this trip are included.

* photo taken in Benguela, Angola by zokete.

Word for the Travel Wise (01/23/07)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Normally when I went out to search for Twi words I’d look to my African friends to provide me with some to pass onto you. Knowing how popular Ghana is among the many folks I know and its good reputation I figured there had to be some decent places online to obtain Twi vocabulary words and I have finally found one. Check out this Twi geocities page. There is a character that usually follows most words that I am not very familiar with and it follows the word below, but in regards to reading you should be able to recognize this one if not pronounce it absolutely correct.

Today’s word is a Twi word used in Ghana:

nante – walk, go on foot, travel

Pronounced ‘chwee,’ the language is spoken by some 7 million people concentrated in southern Ghana and is a dialect of the Akan language which belongs to the Kwa language family. Wikipedia is a good place to start for the background info. Unfortunately there aren’t many Twi resources on the web so I encourage you all to make some friends from Ghana, take a trip or exercise some of these useful books and CD’s found on Amazon. You could also try My Language Exchange, but the chances of there being a fully Twi speaking person wanting to swap your language knowledge for yours doesn’t seem too bright. Sorry, but worry not. I still have my list and more words to follow.

Past Twi words: akwantuo, akwaaba