Bamboo Scaffolders in HongKong

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While accending the Mid-Levels Escalator after visiting the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Museum I was extremely lucky to come upon the following phenomena ... men without safety belts erecting bamboo scaffolding.

One side of the apartment building is being covered so that maintenance can be carried out. One tenant was out on his balcony watching the process thru his small jardin.



The bamboo rods are tied together with black plastic lengths. These hang from the waists of the men giving the appearance of huge horse tails.

There are two views, one side view from the footbridge and then further along after a sharp turn on the footbridge a view straight on.

Also took six minutes of video but apparently travelblog.org is not supporting videos at themoment. Will publish as soon as possible.

It was a bit scary to watch. The more one looks at the bamboo the more one can discern the pattern used to make the whole mass stable. The man on the extreme left of the picture is hooked onto the bamboo rod after only tying three connecting points. In the video he sways a lot.

It is a sight I have not seen since Nairobi and the scaffolders there using straight sticks, not bamboo.

A young man with whom I spoke said that HongKongers do not pay attention totthis work and consider it low grade.

The scaffolders are an important element here and anywhere where construction takes place. All of the construction sites use the bamboo scaffolding method. Without these men, who employ a reusable material, construction would come to a standstill.

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