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Comment by jpatokal | Hacker News Reader

Bamboo isn't going to replace lumber for most permanent uses, but it sure is handy when you need to put something together in a pinch.

I was once trekking in northern Thailand with some Akha hill tribe guides. When it was time for dinner, they cut down a large bamboo and within minutes fashioned essentially a complete dinner service out of it:

* A framework for their overnight hut/lean-to

* A pot for boiling rice

* A frame to hold the pot over an open fire

* Bowls for serving and eating

Crappy pics:

http://www.patokallio.name/photo/travel/Thailand/ChiangDao/C...

http://www.patokallio.name/photo/travel/Thailand/ChiangDao/F...

(...and obviously the darker pieces of bamboo were reused from previous camps.)

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Wow, those bowls are great, yet so simple. It's amusing to think they'd probably be about £25 each from John Lewis.

Maybe they'd need some kind of treatment to last?

I'd buy them, but it would have to be a set for £25, and on sale during one of the 100 sales they have each year.

Side Note: I don't know why they haven't made their way stateside, they are one of my favorite department stores. Always clean, friendly staff, toilets are impeccable (though that might just be a British thing).

John Lewis? It's insanely expensive and the variety of products is risible.

I remember looking at the pans and the fans this summer. There were more options above £100 than below. There was hardly anything basic and certainly not at a basic price.

When my vacuum cleaner died last year, I went to look for another one and they didn't have any except Dyson and its luxury competitors.

It's often cheaper than Amazon for the market segment it serves.

I don't think 'JL has more pans above £100 than below' is any more valid a complaint than 'Target has more pans below $100 than above'.

(I've been to a Target once, sorry if that's not accurate, but I'm sure you see what I mean and can substitute something that is!)

I don't know about the luxury market segment, didn't try to compare there. I'm trying to illustrate that they are not competing on the low to medium range.

Going there a few times only to find nothing and have to buy on Amazon. Ain't going again.

IMO they're ignoring a big market segment and they are missing out on customers. Maybe it works out in the city and canary wharf but I doubt it would fare well in the less affluent countryside.

Same thing in the Philippines. I lived there for a bit, and the locals made all sorts of stuff out of bamboo and random leaves, both for themselves and for tourists. My favorites were:

- banana leaves as table cloths and food wraps - bamboo for temporary structures, tools, and toys - palm fronds (or something similar) as rope/packaging

It's also really fast to regrow, so it's super renewable.

Here in the US, it's mostly used as a wood alternative (desks, flooring, etc), but it's so much more versatile than that.

Those pics made my day.

And it's helpful to be reminded that, as techies - our skills just aren't that special or useful.

It depends. When I was around there, they had some trouble with solar panels. Talking to them, they had no clue at all about electricity (just like many first-world dwellers I guess - and probably not enough money to get somebody who has to come fix things). If a techie teamed up with them, they could make so much stuff, like powering a generator with a water wheel in the river - easier to understand, and all the problematic parts are what they are good at.

Those bamboo "bowls" - the long half-pipes - look cool. There seems to be a banana leaf plate in the photo too, like I said in another comment here.

http://www.patokallio.name/photo/travel/Thailand/ChiangDao/C...

Hey very cool. Not exactly related, but if you are interested, I have an adventure journalling side-project I am working on. I would love to have more techie travel/adventure loving folks on board... https://outsideways.com/

looks cool, signing up now :)

Cool!

Is there a pic of the pot? I can't understand how you hold a wooden pot over fire without it burning, and how it can conduct the heat into the water, or how the water was even held in it without leaking.

The "pot" was just a segment ("cell"?) of bamboo with the top lopped off. I was surprised to see this as well, but I presume the water within kept the bamboo from catching fire.

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