So there it is! Tired, lethargic, resisting from constipation looks which really makes us looking forward to our wonder toilets but yet successfully overcoming 3 days of build in Belum rainforest, near Gerik, Thailand border. 5 days actually but with 2 days of logistics and setting ups, 7 hours bus ride from KL, and 5 hours boat ride into the orang Asli village. Yes, i have been away from blogging quite a while, took annual leaves and threw myself into this build, in which I knew EpicHomes quite some time, but never really had the time since I was in USM Penang busy with all the studio work. Meanwhile, I have always been hearing from Arkitrek, Architecture for Humanity for quite some time but ah, guess just never had the time. Even I was nearly decided to quit since I thought I got some work priority to catch up to… but well there I was.
I think I am amazed that the fact that I wouldn’t remember anything about mobile phones or work or any 3g coverage once we left the jetty, kinda only realize about that when we reach back the jetty after the 5 days. Too much good stuff, good stories, good people to mingle around with for the 5 days, and oh yea good food too. Didn’t I mention that food is plenty? If you are looking at this pic on the 21/12, most likely you think that we were escaping from some the 2012 apocalypse. (Yes actually indeed we could with the amount of excess food we had! hah!)
Though as much as one of my friend told me that it’s not really ‘sustainable’ to have this huge amount of logistics, but well neither that we want to deplete their fishery food supply too. But yes again, it is always wonderful to be back to nature, to feed the mosquitoes, to just roll in your tents and knowing that you are sleeping along the patches of grass in the very heart of a protected rain forest and waking up in the next morning with this sight.
I think one thing that really changed me after the trip is the urge to get back to nature more frequent.. well somehow just being away from everything including coverage for weeks. And perhaps time to really use the tent and parang and tons of other survival equipment I have in my room where I haven’t really use it. Well, the fact about this Epic experience I really enjoyed pretty much is again about People. People that can come together for 3 days of never ending build, rain or shine. People from a wide range of age group and all kind of professions and personality, that could enjoy being together without much judging from what we wear and what we have. 
And yes I didn’t know much about screws until I came to this build.
Here’s how the process is:
And yes i mentioned about Good Food, apparently anything simple can be really tasty,well thinking about being in the wild with burgers, or even pretty many creative dishes, thanks to the 3 cooks 😉 
And here’s the complete build. 2 Houses, each with 3 rooms, a kitchen and a living room. Simple, I believe the design is optimized for construction speed, the steel frames are already prefabs, couldn’t imagine if we need to weld everything on the day itself, will take 5 days to complete then. Even the site is clear off before we reach, and same goes to the logistic of materials, thanks to the ahead planning from Epic Home.
And here’s the 40 of us =) At first when I sign up for Epic home I was expecting some emphasize on ‘sustainable’ design etc etc, but I am glad that I did not, maybe I was thinking too much from my career perspective, but I was glad that ultimately it shows what this social enterprise aims for, it is about the people and empowerment. 
For more, feel free to visit my facebook album HERE. And yes looking forward to the next build!
