4-19-16

the azalea blossoms are brilliant white and bursting exuberantly from the green bushes like popcorn kernels caught in stasis- all of their dynamic energy present and alive yet still as a photograph. or maybe like a waterfall. i lay in the hammock under the back porch holding davy as we gaze out at nothing in particular while various birds chatter from various directions at various distances. the moon in the chestnut tree not yet in leaf is partially obscured by the brown smoke of a distant forest fire. the other children's footsteps thud thud overhead and their laughter and chatter filters down softly like dappled sunlight falling on a forest floor. a jet plane crosses high above showing silver as it catches the last of the day's light. it flies east to west, beyond the brown smoke, across the face of the moon. and i allow myself a brief thought that i've not thought in years. what would it be like to be in inner asia again. living. working. exploring. maybe it was the dry hot dust i walked in all day. maybe the faint smell of smoke ever present in the air. maybe the passing plane. but before the thought takes root, davy says- inside. and so we go.

The new silk road

Kashgar to become Chinese trade hub to central asia: http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/808734.shtml#.Uitaq2R4Z3k
Part of the new silk road: http://www.ecns.cn/business/2013/09-03/79633.shtml
glad we got to see it before the development.

jun 13, 2004

 zhiduo. getting ready to set out for clinic inspections and meetings with health workers on the grasslands.

June

i wash dishes. looking out the sunroom window, the bamboo starts to dip and bob. rain. i walk to the front door and the street is flowing. little man leaves his milk and peers out with me. we take an umbrella across the street to the girls and come back to finish washing up.

now it's night and the rain is over. the crickets chirp and trill their songs in the humid blackness. the kids are in bed. shinay is tidying up downstairs. i finish a half empty cup of cold coffee, abandoned hours ago in the morning jumble.

june, for some reason unknown, always makes me think of tibet. the grassland turning from brown to green. the afternoon storms that leave the hills around zhiduo dusted with snow. the gentle evening light after the storms pass.

june

it's a sunny june morning. a soft breeze drifts through the windows overlooking the back garden. birds chuckle and chirp, tweet and sing in the bamboo grove. a dove calls from the middle distance and a v of canada geese honk high overhead. i told liza ann that the lightning bugs would be here in june and sure enough, last night- the first of june- their yellow green glow drifted here and there across the front lawn.

San Fran 7

and we'll wrap up where we started a week ago- atop telegraph hill.

San Fran 6

out of town

San Fran 5

above town.

San Fran 4

japantown.

San Fran 3

chinatown.

San Fran 2

golden gate. enrique rented a car and we drove out into marin county. he used to live in sanfran and with the few spare minutes we had, he cheerfully shared some of the must sees and some of the quirkier places.

San Fran 1

back in may i went to a conference in sanfran. the conference was in japan town and at night i went for long walks. through run down neighborhoods. through upscale shopping areas. through chinatown. up hills. down hills. past laundromats, buddha heads, strip clubs, coffee shops. here are a couple of pics from telegraph hill. alcatraz. fisherman's wharf. more to follow.

bug pickin'

one of my favorite jobs was working in the stream ecology lab at virginia tech. there i picked bugs out of rotting leaf packs. there's a lot more to the story, but for now, i'll leave it to National Geographic to explain a little. they recently wrote two articles on some of the work we are funding in peru, where researchers are using leaf packs and bug picking to measure impacts of new roads through the amazon rainforest.

i hope to join roger and the team next time i head down and do a little bug pickin' myself...

July: http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/07/17/leaf-packs-help-measure-water-quality/

May: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/05/120518-leaf-packs-transoceanic-highway-amazon-water-quality/

Caterpillar fungus

You may or may not remember me writing about the Tibetan communities of Yushu digging caterpillar fungus in June each year. It's an annual harvest that accounts for the majority of the cash income of many families, and has been growing increasingly profitable over the past few years. When I was in Bhutan, I heard rumors of yak herders there paying cash for Toyota Land Cruisers, all earned from caterpillar fungus sales. It will be interesting to see if the high demand persists and local communities and governments are able to manage the harvests well enough to keep up production. Even better if they can manage the profits.

National Geographic even had a short piece on the trade: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/08/tibetan-mushroom/finkel-text

Passing time

More from Yushu, July 2004. We were taking a break from translating and subtitling video footage, playing something roughly equivalent to hacky sack.

Portraits of Tibet

Kids playing in the door yard at Vincent's home in Jaegu.

Portraits of Tibet

My good friend Vincent Van Gogh. Yes, he was trained as an artist. Late June/early July 2004.

Pentax K1000se

Bhutan: gho ii

Four years ago Bhutan came to us via the Smithsonian Folklife festival. The gho was not so well suited to 90+ degree heat and humidity. Nor was Benny so well suited to the gho. A funny twist: in Bhutan last month, one of our key contacts happened to have been an organizer of the DC event, and was one of the women helping to tie on the gho!

 

Bhutan: windows and doors | orange & grey

For Rob,who calls these "Ben's Doors"

Bhutan: windows and doors

Lingmethang. June 16th. The days were mercifully overcast; very warm and very muggy- but not the 40+ (104 F) weather of the weeks prior.