“Bamboo is another sure source of drinking water in the jungle”…well, that’s what people say anyway. So, we decided to give it a go to see how true it is during a recent walk in the jungle. We found an area along a river that is literally littered with [...]]]>

There's 'em water in the bamboo grass

“Bamboo is another sure source of drinking water in the jungle”…well, that’s what people say anyway. So, we decided to give it a go to see how true it is during a recent walk in the jungle.

We found an area along a river that is literally littered with bamboo. Some of these bamboos are huge. They create sort of a dense vertical maze of overgrown chopsticks. But this is no playground really. Scorpions and some poisonous snakes call this home.

To locate water in the bamboo, I used my parang to tap on the different sections. Sections with content (hopefully water) normally gives out a denser sound.

Tapping the bamboo sections to listen to it's content

With my billy in hand and Meun holding the camera, I started chopping into the bamboo. As soon my parang blade went through the thick walls of the bamboo, sure enough water started spewing out. I managed to collect a generous portion using my billy.

Collecting water from bamboo using my billy

Water from the inside of bamboo

One thing we learnt during this ‘experiment’ is that we ought to have removed (using the parang) the dark brown sleeve covering the bamboo. It is covered with needle like ‘hairs’. The local Malays called it ‘miang’ and it causes irritation to the skin and eyes if come into contact. We had some in the water we collected this time. So, the next time around, must remember to remove the ‘miang’ covering first.

Bamboo covered in them 'miang' needle like hairs

Well, it is clear that we can definitely get water from the inside of bamboo. However, Pak Abu…(my sifu) warned me that not all water from the inside of the bamboo is drinkable. Some of them are actually rather contaminated by either foreign insects or by other contaminants that may have entered the bamboo sections via holes/ cracks on the bamboo. So, ultimately, it is a really good idea to purify the collected water before drinking.