After a restful Sunday for myself (Day 5), I went to meet with Mr. Buckner and Mr. Rees on Monday to discuss where things were and arrange our plans for the week. We met and decided we would go ahead and arrange to visit the orphanage again on Tuesday and then on Wednesday. So, we arranged for a truck and car to take us and equipment up. We planned on laying the pipe and tank on Tuesday, and then finishing up the system with the drip line (hopefully) on Wednesday. We also called Mr. Can, our irrigation expert, to see if he would be available to meet; with our new measurements of the land on Saturday, we hoped to ask what kind of tank we might need to power our system. We found he would be available in the afternoon, so we decided to visit him at around 2:30.
The Director of the orphanage told us that we needed to buy the pipe before he would start digging the trench. When we called him, we told him we would purchase the pipe, so he could go ahead with the trenches. Mr. Rees had a meeting for school, so Mr. Buckner and I biked out to Lac Long Quan, a street near the school, to see if we could find a pipe supplier. After a little searching, we found a small shop that was able to provide the 200 meters of PVC pipe and 5 meters of metal pipe. Mr. Buckner also found all the fittings we needed. After leaving a deposit, we arranged to pick up the equipment at 7:30 the following morning and said goodbye and then looked around nearby and found a tank provider. We struggled to communicate with the shopkeepers, but arranged to pick up the tank at 7:30 as well (we think). We then reported back to Mr Rees our progress and split for a few hours until around 2:00, when we would meet at UNIS to see Mr. Can.
After a nice lunch, I headed back to UNIS on the bicycle I was borrowing. We were able to arrange to have Bach, a Vietnamese student at UNIS and a good friend of mine, come with us to help translate (particularly important since Mr. Rees, our Vietnamese speaking man, couldn't make it). So Mr. Buckner, Bach and I climbed into a taxi and drove down to the other side of Hanoi to Mr. Can. We proceeded to outline the information we had learned, and soon determined we would not need a tank to use the drip system at all. After speaking in circles for some time- I had been hoping to see if he could tell us what kind of pump we might need- we also learned that we most likely would not need a second pump to bring the water all the way up to the tea garden. However, we might need a pressure regulator. After leaving and saying thank you, we headed back to UNIS, and arrived just as dark stormclouds overhead began to open up. By the time I had returned back to the Harrisons on the bicycle, I was drenched!
In the evening, Mrs. Harrison helped me call the pipe place to confirm our order and to add 100 meters of pipe to our order, as the director had contacted a UNIS representative to let us know we were going to lay pipe all the way from the pond (not attaching o the current system as we had hoped. She also helped me by calling the tank shop and canceling our tank order. Now, I hoped, everything was in order for our trip tomorrow!
The Director of the orphanage told us that we needed to buy the pipe before he would start digging the trench. When we called him, we told him we would purchase the pipe, so he could go ahead with the trenches. Mr. Rees had a meeting for school, so Mr. Buckner and I biked out to Lac Long Quan, a street near the school, to see if we could find a pipe supplier. After a little searching, we found a small shop that was able to provide the 200 meters of PVC pipe and 5 meters of metal pipe. Mr. Buckner also found all the fittings we needed. After leaving a deposit, we arranged to pick up the equipment at 7:30 the following morning and said goodbye and then looked around nearby and found a tank provider. We struggled to communicate with the shopkeepers, but arranged to pick up the tank at 7:30 as well (we think). We then reported back to Mr Rees our progress and split for a few hours until around 2:00, when we would meet at UNIS to see Mr. Can.
After a nice lunch, I headed back to UNIS on the bicycle I was borrowing. We were able to arrange to have Bach, a Vietnamese student at UNIS and a good friend of mine, come with us to help translate (particularly important since Mr. Rees, our Vietnamese speaking man, couldn't make it). So Mr. Buckner, Bach and I climbed into a taxi and drove down to the other side of Hanoi to Mr. Can. We proceeded to outline the information we had learned, and soon determined we would not need a tank to use the drip system at all. After speaking in circles for some time- I had been hoping to see if he could tell us what kind of pump we might need- we also learned that we most likely would not need a second pump to bring the water all the way up to the tea garden. However, we might need a pressure regulator. After leaving and saying thank you, we headed back to UNIS, and arrived just as dark stormclouds overhead began to open up. By the time I had returned back to the Harrisons on the bicycle, I was drenched!
In the evening, Mrs. Harrison helped me call the pipe place to confirm our order and to add 100 meters of pipe to our order, as the director had contacted a UNIS representative to let us know we were going to lay pipe all the way from the pond (not attaching o the current system as we had hoped. She also helped me by calling the tank shop and canceling our tank order. Now, I hoped, everything was in order for our trip tomorrow!