Thursday, January 14, 2010

Arrived Palawan

Zest Airways flight from Manila to Puerto Princesa arrived without incident though I'll have to admit I did not read the 'How to' document provided with directions on operating the emergency exit which I was in charge of on this scantily filled flight. My bad!

And there's a rumor I did have an electronic device running during the flight that provided accurate positional information along with speed and direction information (which I find entertaining). It also alerted me to various islands that we passed over as we traversed the South China Sea.

Once again we are spending the night in the Duchess Pension, ate dinner at Bruno's and picked up some foodstuffs for the ten day experience. Tomorrow we'll make a few stops one of which is to pick up 5 BioSand filters before heading for Brooke's Point about a 4 1/2 hour ride south.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Palawan again and other thoughts

Sorry it has been so long since I've posted but time and noteworthy events and just 'who cares anyway' type of excuses make it easy to say I'll do it later.

The most eminent noteworthy event is that I (Bill) leave for Palawan an a few hours. I leave with Craig Sutherland to help again with the Palawan Drinking Water Project. I traveled there the first time the end of Sept 2009 to help install some BioSand Filters (BSF) and that led to me traveling to Calgary for a Nov 2009 CAWST workshop (very productive) to learn more and also have the privelege to have dinner with the inventor of the filter. Dr. Manz's website provides oodles of first rate information upon which I refer to often

There is also another idea in the pipeline (pun intended) in which I hope to lend technical expertise - Hydraulic Ram Pump. Lots of info on this mature technology on the web so click on that link if you want to learn more. Basically it is a water pump that allows lifting water from its source to over 100 meters higher yet uses no source of power other than that from the source water itself. The hope at this stage is to determine the suitability of using a ram pump to move water up the mountain for farming. This would be a great boost to crop production for these mountain people. And into the future I also have a three week trip to Palawan with Craig in March and April. Dea may go with us on that trip as it is her Easter Holiday break.

I will try to post when I can from the internet cafe in Brookes Point Palawan as I get time.

Hope it will not be so long this time. Stay tuned.