So here I am on January 15, 2005, standing out in a field next to a pagoda in Shimbweyeng, Myanmar (see Pressing Palms), holding a leaf of Calamus palustris and talking to a reporter from MRTV-3 about "the rattan situation" in Kachin State. While the cameras roll. You couldn't make this stuff up. The interviewer, whose name I forget, was the daughter of the Burmese diplomat to the U.S. and grew up in Washington. Her English was very good. As were her questions, e.g. "how many species of rattan are endemic to the Hukaung Valley"?
[NOTE: The camera crew was actually in Shimbweyeng to film the Naga festival (see Naga Festival), but apparently Andrew and I were just too quirky a story to pass up: Scientists from New York Study Spiny Palms in Hukaung Tiger Reserve].