Evening prayers, Yangon

So until I save up for a new camera, I'm taking pics with my iPhone. Here's one from Schwedagong Temple, Myanmar.

New Year's

"Fa-TAL!" Exclaimed the conservation manager with much animation as we cruised slowly down the highway in the falling night.  He was commenting on the pot of coffee I had brewed in the office that morning and my keen intuition hinted that my methods may not have agreed with him.  In broken Spanish I elicited the bone of contention: he uses fully one fourth the amount of beans per cup compared to my morning eye-opener.  Either way, contrary to his gentle indications otherwise, it's good stuff.


Oil palm plantations and dry-land rice fields slide by in the humid night.  A little farther on we pass an organic chocolate farm.  It's the start of summer and what can be called the comparatively dry season, though it's rained nearly every other day since my arrival three weeks ago.  I'm finally getting used to seeing trees again, and Spanish is gradually overtaking my inclination to respond to everything in Chinese.  I feel cold when the temperature drops below 70.


2010 was a stormy and tumultuous year, like nothing we could have imagined, and nothing that I care to recall here.  In something somewhat like a movie scene, the raging winds and crashing waves of a midnight storm have dissolved, and I find myself that castaway pulling his senses together on some sunny tropical shore edged with coconut palms and little blue waves licking at its sands.  It really does seem a disconcerting dream, but here I am in Costa Rica in my 5th week of work with a new company doing conservation and development in the region.  Soon, we'll be settling down into an apartment in Virginia- our 11th place in our 5th city in five and a half years- and maybe things will sink in more fully then, maybe there will be a "normal" again.  But for now I'm happy to have passed into a new year and the new promises it holds, whether my senses have fully arrived or not.

Over the last bone-jarring, tattered steel bridge, we roll into town on a dusty lane paralleling the only paved street in Puerto Jimenez.  Pulling up outside a low building surrounded by a high metal fence, I wish the conservation manager a happy new year and step out, my mind adrift in some far off place as it attempts to navigate the path from the rubble of Tibet to the jungle of Costa Rica.  It could be a long time before it finds its way fully to here and now.

As the gate shuts with a clang, I hear howler monkeys in the distance.

Repkong

The real ice road truckers

Here's a pic from early April. We were servicing camera traps and were lucky enough to still be able to make use of the frozen rivers as highways. Going is much tougher after the spring thaw, and the trip would have to be done on foot or horseback next time.

Monday Afternoon

For a while, there was only sideways streaking white outside the windows and the muffled sound of traffic coming from KunLun Fast Road. But now it's 5 o'clock and the snow is letting up enough to see the faint outlines of pagodas and power lines on South Mountain, just above the flat rooftop horizon of neighboring apartment buildings. Baby has woken from her afternoon nap and is playing in one of the cupboards and soon we'll be needing to get dinner on, but for now we're content listening to Alison Krauss and letting the world beyond the radiators reappear on its own terms. 


It's been a long time since April. After the earthquake there were no more days, no more weeks, just endless work that dissolved gradually from earthquake relief into project catch-up. Sometime in July we found out that our landlord's home had been destroyed in the earthquake, so we had to move to a new apartment, and thus now have this view of south mountain - obscured only by snow and not by mega-construction projects.


There's not a lot to tell about the intervening months. Life happens and doesn't stop happening until it really stops, and at that point we won't be around blogging about it anymore. There were trips to the field, driving through rubble, seeing neighborhoods replaced by barren earth with little teepees of salvaged timbers here and there. There were bear fences to put up, community meetings to organize, frustrations to hear with sympathy, aspirations to hear with validation. There were moments of triumph setting camera traps high above the world on rocky crags 16,000 feet closer to heaven than to the sea. There were moments of despair wondering how anyone could go on trying to meet so many needs. There was lots of life crammed into a tiny amount of time.


In September we took a break to visit friends in Korea. In October we returned to fall weather and the familiar sounds and smells of China. Rehab work has been approved to begin in Yushu. Eco-tourism meetings and workshops are scheduled for early November. A doctor training is also to be completed before year's end. Life keeps on going. 

Cashmere

Don't worry- the goats don't die. They just get combed and sheared and then jump around enjoying their new summer coats. The little ones are the best, rascalling around the edges of the tent, sometimes getting scooped up into the arms of one of the women or children of the tent to be cuddled and fed a treat.

234

Happy Birthday America! Same as last year- nothing makes a person love America more than stepping away for a while and seeing the beauty from a distance. Despite some flaws and the griping of persistent naysayers, the freedom, justice, and opportunity of America shine as a bright contrast to much of the world.

Waiting in the dark

Both of these photos were shot as single-exposures. Between projects in 2007, I had a little time on my hands when I couldn't sleep, so I had fun playing with some ideas.

Evening

Weather

Second one looks a lot better on black background.

 Clear skies.

 Stormy skies.

Red Lanterns

Sim's Cozy. Chengdu 2010

Interesting New York Times article about the region

Read it here. Regarding last four paragraphs of the article, there are some reforms in the works for evidence obtained in this manner, read more from the Wall Street Journal here.

In other news, our Snow Leopard photos made it into the national news! However, the article claimed they were the work of an amateur photographer from Qinghai, one Ma Shangtang!! Hahaha, quite amusing.

Chengdu Stonework 2

Swiss Stonework

In honor of their surprising win over Spain.
Church in Bettmeralp summer 2005
Water fountain, probably near Meirengen, 2005

Chengdu stonework

Outside Chengdu

Working late on another funding proposal.

On our trip to Chengdu a few weeks back, we visited a beautiful tea plantation a couple of hours outside of town. The van we were traveling in was stuck in a particularly muddy section of the farm road, providing a chance to linger and a welcome respite from the long hours in the vehicle punctuated by 5 minute photo-ops in a rapid succession of visits to various local scenic spots. I enjoyed taking the time to explore the tea fields and out-buildings of the farm, and to meet these two lovely oranges.

Dasheng 2007

This is another panorama from Zhiduo County, taken in September 2007. This area is just south of Zhiduo town and is nearby one of the spots where we visited a clinic and did water testing in April. Today, another team will return from having set up some bear-fencing at that clinic and several other homes in this area.

Still going

Another truck of relief supplies going down tomorrow. Now trying to catch up on regular projects that got pushed back during relief work.

The photo is of one of the valleys where a snow leopard camera trap is located (in the small cave at the base of the dome-rock to the far right). This was from the week before the earthquake.

5 weeks later

The water systems were received and sent down to Yushu a couple of weeks ago. After that we worked on getting permissions to continue relief work in other forms, assessed applicability/availability of additional water purification systems for the medium-to-long term, and started applying for grants. During this time, the authorities were assessing the quake site and determining where to rebuild Yushu. It seems that they will rebuild on the site of the old town, and that the reconstruction of housing will take up to three years. Yushu stretches from west to east along a river valley, with another tributary joining from the south, creating a three-cornered town that follows the waterways. During the three year reconstruction period, residents of Yushu will be living in tent encampments at the three corners of town. In order to help make the stay more livable, we were asked to help provide some supplies such as beds for the elderly, warm thermal underwear, wool socks, pressure cookers, cooking utensils, solar powered lighting, and some durable tents for those who hadn't received any yet. We sent down a truck load yesterday with enough supplies for 50 families (the tents alone are very large, being big enough for a family to make home in and being constructed of re-enforced nylon and insulating material). The guys who took the truck down will find out what additional supplies are needed and we're hoping to send down several more trucks in the coming days. For now, my family has retreated to Sichuan for a few days off, and even if we do nothing but sleep- it will be a worthwhile trip!

Belated Update

It's been mercifully slow over the past couple of days (I guess that means "normal" working days). All of the Yushu Health Bureau medical camps (including our own) were closed on Sunday as care was transferred over to the national-level provider. We were able to see over 1100 patients during our immediate response in Yushu, and are now planning our mid-to-long term recovery assistance. Thanks to everyone who donated and sent encouraging words- it was an incredible team effort and we needed you guys back home, too. This week has mostly been filled with debriefing and counseling for those returning from Yushu, assessment of the first phase response, and planning for the future. One item of note is that we're soon sending down 30 high-capacity water purification systems (each one serves ~2500 people) to be set up in the displaced persons camps and remaining neighborhoods of Yushu.

Some pics from Yushu!

Please see today's update at: http://yushuearthquakerelief.com/?cat=9

Correction

Although there are many big name organizations waiting in Xining without permission to operate, the 70 teams that our contact was referring to were domestic medical teams that are prepared to cycle through Yushu during the coming weeks.
---
One week ago, we began operating under a verbal invitation from the prefecture government immediately following the quake and continued to move in medical teams under verbal agreements. I'm happy to report today that we're now on the government's list of official medical camps. That's big. It doesn't guarantee anything, but it's huge compared to going on a verbal invitation.

Tuesday Update

This will be on the Yushu Quake site a little later....

Our supply truck arrived mid-morning today with fresh food and
medicines. The tents were soon set up, the generators were humming,
and water was being filtered and treated for drinking. Medical
personnel continued to see patients throughout the day despite a short
storm of hail, snow, and rain. Beyond the routine trips, one medical
transport driver reported being able to take two little girls to the
airport for evacuation to the city where their parents are
hospitalized.

Some doctors from team 2 needed to depart for Xining this morning to
catch return flights home. They traveled over icy roads through
driving snow for much of the 500 mile journey, but arrived safely in
Xining before 9 PM local time. Additional medical personnel are now in
Xining and are expected to travel to Yushu over the next few days.

This will not be on the site... our local partners told us that there were 70 international organizations waiting in Xining trying to get into the quake site but not allowed. Big names. Some called to ask how we were working there, but we were busy trying to get things done. It's interesting that some people are raising huge amounts of money for earthquake relief and they're nowhere near the place and have no permission to move.... oh well. We're going to continue the way we started- working in partnership with communities at the pace that they want to move, working on the things they think are important, and doing everything above board in full cooperation with the local government. Other big names can come and go and sweep up lots of money with them, but we're still going to be going at the pace of the community that we love and be with them for the long haul- and the money that's needed will come when it's ready.

Good night guys.

Good morning!

Team 5 on the road. Doctors coming over in 1/2 hour to meet and plan Team 6 departure- hopefully tomorrow.

good night

Just finished a number of administrative tasks. Team 4 with the supply truck had a brief hold up at a checkpoint, but thankfully were moved through after some phone calls from Yushu. They should be down by noon Tuesday. I'm going to bed now- need to be at the office in 5.5 hours for pre-briefing Team 5 (small medical group to help transition as Team 2 departs). See ya'll in the mawnin!

Truck's on the road

Now organizing med team for tomorrow morning. Prebriefing's at 6:30 AM, that's about 9.5 hours from now... Luckily I'm in the office with a FANTASTIC group of guys getting stuff done, so it's not too bad. Shinay and baby are here helping, too.

Water purifiers here

On the truck now. Hoping to add meds soon.

Monday Morning

Team 3 is now joined up to the main group at our medical camp. We're working on getting the supplies purchased to ship down this afternoon.

Team 3 is there

Team 3 made it to Yushu at about 1030 PM. They're camping at a property about a mile or so from our medical base camp, hoping to rendezvous early Monday morning.

...Maybe not

So the hope of sleep was a little premature. After getting the team off at 7 this morning (started from 430AM), I worked on coordinating with some of the Sichuan earthquake (last year) folks to get two 10,000 gallon per day (GPD) water purifiers. They'll be arriving at the airport in the morning with two guys to accompany, setup, and maintain the equipment. We'll meet them with a truck, load the purifiers, add three 25 square meter winter tents, 20 18-liter jugs of water for immediate use, a week's worth of medical supplies, and a week's worth of foodstuffs. Contacted a friend in town to receive more leftover supplies from the Sichuan relief effort, so should have loads of water purification systems, tents, supplies, etc. I took a short nap from 7 to 8 PM, and am now at a friend's kitchen table with my Environmental Health Engineering textbook (thanks Dr Nance) trying to look into options for latrines and water distribution, but really catching up on loads of emails and phone calls. Hoping to get to bed by midnight if possible, as we still need to do the shopping for the above mentioned supplies tomorrow morning.

Team 3 is off!

Another medical team is now on the road. I'm going to sleep.

Friday

Got another convoy of doctors and logistics folks off today (13 folks). They are evacuating many injured to our city. Getting things set for another team of medical folks to head out Sunday.

For our Japanese readers...

A friend has set up these two sites for Japanese readers following the earthquake relief:

http://twitter.com/YushuQuakeInfoj

http://yushuquakeinfoj.blog2.fc2.com/

April is the cruelest month

Even as we're over here working on the Yushu earthquake relief, our hearts and thoughts are also with our fellow Hokies in Blacksburg and around the world as we remember the tragic loss of 32 students, friends, and colleagues three years ago. We love you guys and we're thinking of you. Ut Prosim.

Another long day

Got a few hours of sleep last night. Expat friends from the quake area came in today. Visibly shaken. We talked for a long time, looked through photos and videos. It was really a miracle that this particular family made it out. Stories broke our hearts, as did photos of the devastation. Found out that two more of our close local friends are ok, too.

Currently organizing teams for purchasing of medical supplies and dispatching of two-to-five more medical teams in the next 48 hours. Efforts may seem small and slow in the face of such a disaster, but we are guests in this country and are working within the bounds of what is officially requested of us. There are government structures in place for organizing and providing aid, and they have in fact responded extremely quickly. We are part of their team, and are both eager and prepared to provide all that is asked of us.

http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/latestshow.html (part 1 includes interview with my boss).
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1982170,00.html

Yushu Earthquake

On March 14th 2010 several earthquakes struck the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai province, the largest of which was magnitude 6.9. Initial eyewitness reports from the prefecture government seat Jiegu (Jyekundo) speak of extensive damage to houses and many wounded and dead. Official figures at time of writing are 300 dead and 8000 wounded. As more information becomes available I'll be posting it at YushuEarthQuakeRelief.com.

Initial requests from the prefectural government to our organization (Plateau Perspectives) include medical supplies, tents, and blankets. We will be sending an advance medical team down in a few hours to assess the situation and set up to receive additional supplies and medical personnel.

Yushu Prefecture is where all of our work for the past 10+ years has taken place, and Jaegu (Yushu Town) is home to many of our local friends. We're very sad to have lost at least one friend and are waiting to hear news about several others. All of our fellow expats who were in the area at the time of the quake have made it out safely.


Links
Enter the following Chinese links with latest news and pictures into translate.google.com to read the pages in English.

Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China Website
http://www.gov.cn/jrzg/2010-04/14/content_1580853.htm

Qinghai Province People’s Government Website
http://www.qh.gov.cn/html/31/133180.html

Qinghai Earthquake Portal
http://www.eqqh.gov.cn/zwgk/zwxx/201004/2298.shtml

USGS Latest Earthquakes in the World - Past 7 days
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.html

Magnitude 6.9 - SOUTHERN QINGHAI, CHINA 2010 - April 13 23:49:37 UTC
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2010vacp.php

Earthquake

Earthquake hit this morning. We are fine, but many are not.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2010vbaf.php#details

Heading up

One of my favorite pics from Summer 04. Tomorrow at 5 AM I'll be
heading that way again. It'll take a few days to get there, and the
ground will be frozen solid several feet deep, but it should be a good
trip. Going out to do some water (ice?) testing and talk to folks
about installing bear-proofing on their homes.

Get 'em while they're hot

The following is an article about the Tibetan Mastiff craze in China. These dogs are like small grizzly bears, shaggy and massive. They're nice enough when napping in the sun, but are fearsome, vicious protectors of the tents and livestock. Long vital to life on the plateau, they are a symbol of Tibet. Not sure how they'll enjoy their lives in Beijing and Shanghai, but I hope that some of that money will trickle back down to the nomads.
http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1104ap_as_china_tibetan_mastiff.html

Attached is a photo from October 2007. This pack of mutts (not nearly as big or good looking as the full-blood mastiffs) and I would fight for bathroom rights at the outhouse- me to relieve myself, they to feed. Here they're eying a fresh sheep carcass being dressed. They usually won the outhouse battle, but I got to eat the innards of the sheep!

Dumplings, sand storms, and project ramp-up

It's been two weeks of meetings, project planning, avoiding dust storms in the afternoons, and eating noodles and dumplings. I noticed that the cranes turn their massive booms out of the wind in the late afternoon when things really start flying, and some days I lose sight of the buildings two blocks away. The best part of the week has been taking my little girl out to breakfast. She watches the world with silent and intent interest, including her father slurping down black rice porridge and steamed buns. One day we also visited the flower market, where she fell asleep in my arms just as I was buying a bundle of fresh flowers for her mother.

The (un-related) photo is from a trip to Yushu in summer 2004, taken with my old Pentax K1000 (film). I had a picture of one of the dust storms, but just hold up an onion skin in front of the last photo posted and you'll get the idea of what it looked like. Actually, a quarter teaspoon of sand in the mouth would really give you a feel for the storms....

The New View South

We're back home and settled in. I'm working on a grant proposal for some mapping software, Shinay is running the house, and we're reconnecting daily with old friends. The spring is progressing normally- dusty winds in the afternoons, temperatures between -5 and +50, Tibet is closed for March as usual, and construction is resuming its light-speed pace after the Lunar New Year lull.

In an email sent to a friend shortly after returning, I wrote "When we moved into our apartment, it was on the edge of town surrounded on three sides by small vegetable plots. When we left there were thirty odd cranes, all but one painted yellow, pulling the bones of new buildings up from the earth. Now we're surrounded by more than 25 grey concrete shells of buildings rising 30 plus stories into the grey sky. It's actually quite a pleasant view, and this morning it was the more lovely as a handful of snowflakes meandered without hurry between heaven and earth."

Tuesday morning

Having gone through the first volley of emails for the day, I'm now sitting at my desk eating a big bowl of fish stew. It's been nearly five months since we left our home in Asia to work for a while at our home in America, and- besides our many friends and colleagues- I'm starting to miss hand-pulled noodles, boiled yak meat, and raw cloves of garlic. I'm also, surprisingly, missing the holidays in our little grey city. Coming in from the dark and frigid streets to our warm apartment to find Shinay cooking something hot and delicious, snuggling under warm down comforters while ice crystals formed on the windows, trimming our little tree, singing carols at the home for the unwanted- those memories will now forever be a part of the collage of images and emotions that form Christmas.

Near the Karakoram Highway

We went out early one morning and made the mountains at first light. The sun was high by the time we were hiking behind Karakul Lake and we did not make the glacier that afternoon.

Old man, blue door

Recovered the files from my hard drive. Here's a shot from Kashgar.

Happy 233rd America!

It was a great day here. This is the third one I've spent in the East-
the 223rd in Beijing with a bunch of Marines on embassy duty, the
228th on the high plateau in the midst of bear country with a bunch of
nomads, and now the 233rd grilling burgers and shooting off fireworks
in a concrete courtyard while Tibetan kids played basketball and older
folks danced beside the incense shrine. From a distance and in the
middle of a completely different reality- the things that we sing
about America, the lines from famous declarations and speeches, the
words that we don't nearly so often ponder as we recite- they ring out
the more true, and the promises of equality, liberty, and justice
shine out more brightly.

Back from the land of snow and tsampa

It was yet another snowy day in the valley as I wrestled over whether to head down to the city or stay another week, but found it more necessary to take care of matters in town. After retreating in the face of a near white-out along two swiftly diminishing brown mud tracks, the snows that we had fled in the project area were now filling the valley. I purchased a ticket on an overnight bus from the small, muddy town back to the big city. It was a surreal journey through high snowy mountains and Tibetan towns tucked in at their feet beside icy streams. The bus - as usual- was filthy, smelly, smoky, and stopped 3 times in 20 hours. It was wonderful. I finished "From Heaven Lake" by Vikram Seth around 4 in the afternoon, had a huge bowl of noodles and yak meat in Madoi at 9:30 pm, saw that we had finally left the snows around 4:30 am, and was spewed abruptly at 6:45 am onto a street full of color and warmth and noise in the city. How strange to see green trees instead of snow covered grassland, tall buildings instead of tall mountains, tangles of traffic instead of herds of yak. But how wonderful to see my Shinay.

Snow

Had to turn back because of bad weather. We made it as far as the research station 8 hours west of town, but the roads to the snow leopard area were impassable. For most of the drive all we could see were two brown mud tracks and all the rest was white. At the research station they said that more snow was coming and folks there were leaving for town. We spent the night there and in the morning filled up with gas pumped out of barrels into a watering can and gave a lift to a departing monk. On the drive home we stopped for tea and yoghurt at a monastery and found out that the eminent biologist George Schaller had come through a month before also researching snow leopard. We made one more stop to repair some fences for the grazing study, and then it was a straight shot home. Back in the office, it's 45 degrees inside and for the first time there's accumulation in the valley. We'll wait here today and head down to Yushu tomorrow.

If you've seen the movie Kekexili: Mountain Patrol, this is the jeep that belonged to the man that the movie's hero was based on. This is at the research station, where he also built one of the first buildings. Below is an earlier building: a gun tower from the period following Liberation.

Clouds and ice

The manager arrived yesterday, but is unable to accompany us onwards, so we'll be heading out in the morning. We visited another valley today in search of caterpillar fungus. The weather was beautiful and the grassland is beginning to have the sour-sweet smell of late spring when millions of tiny pink and white blossoms open up. The sounds were also familiar- peeping pika, chirping birds, and bleating sheep- but the dominant sound is always the wind. In the narrow v-notch valleys, gushing water can be heard, but is still hidden below shrinking ice packs.

Weather, and snapshots of town

The weather finally broke yesterday mid-afternoon. The sunshine quickly warmed the office and brought me- along with dogs, people, and flocks of goats- out of hiding and onto the street. Actually, the goats didn't really hide during the weather- but they looked a lot happier after it passed. The late afternoon was warm and golden, and after nightfall the stars were so numerous and thick and close that they seemed like cotton batting overhead- a quilt of comfort rather than an infinite void. I slept long and deep- as is usually the case when I come to altitude. They say that many people have quite a bit of trouble sleeping and suffer from disturbing dreams when at high elevations, but over the past 5 years I think I've slept the best here on the high plateau, and my dreams are the usual time spent with family and friends.

Another weather system must have come through during the night, for in the morning there was a fresh covering of snow on the hills. The day, however,was bright and clear and warm and I studied Snow Leopard research methods from a folding chair in the yard, occasionally breaking to shoe goats out of the compound. Early afternoon brought a curtain of rain down the valley from the southwest, and with it some hail as well. The warmth of the morning quickly dissipated, and now it's cool and damp again and the hills are hidden behind thick fog.

We've been worried that the heavier-than-usual rains and snows may be creating difficult conditions in the Snow Leopard area, but since we're stuck at the current location anyway waiting for another person, the weather has not yet been a problem. The caterpillar survey was successful, some others carried out an investigation into some local environmental health problems, and I've gotten to study up a little more on the Snow Leopard work and local water resources. Hopefully tomorrow our last party-member will arrive and we'll set out then or the next day, though the weather report that just came in calls for more rain over the next four days that will likely be snow up and to the west where we're heading.
---------------
The rain has picked up again, and when I went outside to fill the water buckets for cooking dinner, I saw that a furry Tibetan mastiff puppy had taken refuge under our solar panels. Luckily I got a good fire going, so for the first time in days the office is a comfortable temperature despite the lack of sunshine and I am taking my own refuge beside the stove.
--------------

Caterpillar Fungus

It's another snowy day. 52 degrees and smoky inside- not sure what the outdoor temperature is. The rain and snow have kept our dung pile damp, so getting fires going is a bit of a challenge, and getting a good fire going has not been achievable.

The day before yesterday, we traveled south of town to survey a caterpillar fungus area. We had to pass a police checkpoint to continue along the dirt valley road as fungus digging is restricted to residents of the area. We were a group of three outsiders and two locals (all Tibetan but me), and the police were happy enough to let us through upon learning that we were researching the fungus and its harvest and sales process for economic development of the region. We joined a group of about 28 people scouring one of the hills for the little, dry grass-like protrusions that indicate a goldmine below. The fungus, also called Cordyceps, is valuable for its use in Chinese medicine and is- I hear- formed when a fungus invades the cocoon of a moth just below the soil surface. It's supposed to do just about everything (you may see an ad for it in your junk-mail box one day) and fetches prices of roughly $3 to $15 per fungus- this in an area where many households subsist on less than $150 per person each year. The search party consisted of men, women, and children from about 8 years old to 60s. I had spent some days searching for the fungus with another family in the valley in 2004 and was this time content instead to watch the pickers and look for other plantlife and animals. It was a rewarding afternoon for all involved- the primary researcher managed to procure a handful of samples and interviewed many of the harvesters, the harvesters sold most of their afternoon's pickings to the researcher, and I got to survey some good Snow Leopard habitat and spy two flocks of Blue Sheep through the spotting scope.

Below is a picture of one of the family's tents, and the backside of one of the hills where we were picking can be seen through the valley notch.

At the office

Well, the internet's been a bit spotty at our upper-office location so
I better send this out while the wire's hot. For those who don't know-
our office is at 4,200 meters above sea level (just shy of 14,000
feet) in a small town of about 4,000 residents living in adobe and
cinder-block homes heated with yak-dung stoves. There's electricity
(most of the time) and internet (I'd like to say most of the time) but
no running water. The town has a wild-west feel with one long main
street bustling with Tibetan cowboys riding motorcycles decked out
with elaborate saddelry and loudspeakers. Women in from the grassland
and dressed in long robes duck in and out of the small shops and knots
of men form and disperse around caterpillar fungus deals.

We arrived here a couple of days ago and are waiting for one of the
nature reserve managers to join us before heading out for the Snow
Leopard survey and camera trap setup- which will take place in an area
about a day's drive to the west traveling along gravel roads and
riverbeds. It's rained, hailed, snowed, and thundered almost every
afternoon here- as is typical from now through the end of July.
There's rarely any accumulation in the valley, but when the clouds
lift the view of the surrounding hills rising white above the green
pastures is beautiful, and when the sun shines it's glorious.

Been a while...

This morning this was in my inbox:

"I might be the only person that reads your blog, and as such, my
suggestions may be trivial. Nonetheless, please update your blog."

Well, my trusty computer of 5.3 years died on me last month and I've
been scrounging around town for old castaways to try to get something
working. Last night at the kitchen table, Shinay got one of these
frankenputers reformatted and it seems to be working pretty well- so
hopefully you'll be hearing more from me. However, I am actually
leaving town in a few minutes for 10-14 days to do some Snow Leopard
research work- walking transects, assessing habitat, and hopefully
setting up 12 motion-sensing camera traps. So... maybe it'll be a
while longer before anything of substance comes through.

Rockin it old school

I was at the used furniture market the other day and couldn't resist getting a shot of the boomboxes. Apparently the guy selling them does a pretty swift business in dual-cassette decks and sewing machines. I like the 52W PMPO F7300

Spring Snow

I slept in until eight this morning. I woke peacefully to what sounded like the wild chatter of little birds in the trees outside, but eventually the chatter gained rhythm and sounded more like a sputtering old tractor. Lying in bed I ran through last night's dreams in my mind. Saying good bye to Gabe. Sitting at the Brickhouse kitchen table saying good bye to Pavit. Saying good bye to Grandma and Grandad. Being stuck in my truck rolling backwards down a mountain. I had just been trying to re-park so someone else could pull in and was still in the middle of my goodbyes. Climbing back up the mountain passing by farms at daybreak when the mist is just rising off the pastures. Alone at first and then with Dooley- passing the time talking about baseball and bluegrass music. Who knows what the mind tries to make sense of when we sleep? Or the heart. This kind of thinking doesn't make for a productive day.

So I get up. It's two hours till class and this is my studying time. I pull on warmups and a Tech sweatshirt and fix a cup of coffee. Outside the noise is back to small-bird chatter and the sound of a train passing by to the north side of the river. A nighttime storm has left West Mountain covered with snow and wearing a crown of fog. I open the window to sniff the delicious smell of spring snow and see where the birds are playing. The neighboring yard is starting to show a little green. Eventually the fog clears off the mountain top, but remains as a low ceiling over the city. It was good to see my family last night- and I'm glad that Grandad was so happy about our news.