Raising a Bamboo Stilt House by the River

Villagers build a stilt house of bamboo on the bank of a bright turquoise river. Its frame rises in two storeys of poles and ladders, and workers on the upper deck lift bundles of golden thatch onto a roof that is only half covered. Below, a woman in a red sarong steadies a post, a man in a conical hat climbs a ladder from the water, and another worker ties a bundle of thatch on the lower platform. In the foreground a bamboo raft floats loaded with a saw, an adze, a hammer, a sawhorse, coiled rope and woven baskets. Finished thatched houses on stilts stand among palms and shade trees on both sides, with pink flowering shrubs along the grass. Sparkles dance on the water under a clear blue sky. The open grid of bamboo poles splits the house into neat squares, each holding one worker and one task.