The extra mile

Begin with the end in mind – our Yunnan temple project nears completion

In the home stretch, this week our Yunnn temple project began installing lighting after nearly a month of wiring the entire temple for electric for the first time in its history. Every room has multiple power points, lighting fixtures and switches, as well as GFI outlets for the kitchen with a dedicated 330v line for our bread oven. After clearing away cactus and brushy overgrowth, we discovered that the slope over which we would place our view deck was dangerously unstable. This would require some serious geo-engineering to prevent future landslips, so we began the labor-intensive and time-consuming task of building a steel-reinforced stepped retaining wall, the materials for which would all have to be ported in manually through a narrow opening between the slope and main hall back wall. To prepare proper drainage and grading for the Jade Emperor, our Yunnan temple project had to excavate through centuries of accumulated soil and remove tons of it by hand. Once that was done, we then needed another ton of rocks and sand to mix concrete on site for the deck, which was done with the assistance of four donkeys. All of this above and beyond work ensures that for the next hundred years, the temple will be free of any major repairs.