Bao Quoc Pagoda

Detail of the original bell at the Bao Quoc Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam.  The pagoda was founded in 1670 by Giac Phong, a Buddhist monk from China.

Harvesting Licuala

 

I bumped into these young ladies as they were coming out of the forest outside of A. Luoi in Central Vietnam. Their beautiful rattan baskets are full of Licuala palm leaves that are used to weave those traditional Vietnamese conical hats. The hats are known locally as non la; so is this palm. [NOTE: They said, i.e. they told Dr. Ban, that they had walked about an hour into the forest to collect the leaves].

Scenes from the Old Quarter

I got stuck in rush hour traffic in the Old Quarter of Hanoi this afternoon. So vibrant and we were moving so slowly. The driver was continually honking the horn. I was continually smiling and filming. Look closely. The girl with the ladder, the lady in the dress shop, the vegetable sellers, the kids running down the sidewalk, the variety of different helmets and face masks. There are a million stories here. [NOTE: Music by Esbjörn Svensson Trio].

Going to Dinner in Hanoi

I arrived in Hanoi yesterday afternoon and was thrashed after 16 hours of flying.  I fell asleep immediately after arriving to the hotel, but was awakened by a phone call from Dr. Ninh Khac Ban with an invitation for dinner. I struggled out of bed, splashed some water on my face, and stumbled down to the lobby.  Dr. Ban was there waiting for me with a motorcycle helmet.  I was fully awake in about 30 seconds. [NOTE: Dinner was delicious; Dr Ban, from the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology, is the local coordinator of the rattan project that I am conducting here].

Village Sawmill in PNG

This is the log landing at a village sawmill in the Kikori River delta of Papua New Guinea (see Living on a Log Raft and Palms of Kikori, PNG).  The logs with the reddish heartwood are mangrove cedar (Xylocarpus granatum). The portable Lucas Mill is set up in the palm thatch buildings to the left.  That's me in the baseball cap in front of the mill with a video camera. [NOTE: No idea who took this picture; it was scanned from a print]. 

Pine Nuts

The pine nuts in your pesto come from one of several species of pinyon pine. The Mexican pinyon pine (piñonero) is Pinus cembroides Zucc., a species that forms dense stands in the dry, high plateaus of Mexico together with several species of oak, juniper, and agave. These stands are heavily exploited by local collectors for pine nuts that are later exported to the U.S. I took a group of graduate students from Columbia University to the pinyon pine forest shown above for several years as part of a tropical ecology class that I taught (thx, Patricia).  The forest is located outside of Tepeyahualco in the Valley of Perote, Veracruz. One of the few forests that I have worked in that requires sunscreen. [NOTE: This is a wonderful habitat for inventory transects].

Before the Rain

Ricefield in Kayin State, Myanmar (see Bayin Ni Monastery and Caves). [NOTE: It started pouring as soon as I got back in the car after taking this picture].

Tea Bricks

An assortment of different tea bricks displayed in the window of a tea shop in Kunming, China. The round ones are made from pu-erh tea; the square embossed one on the bottom is made from powered black tea.  The window display got me to go into the shop, but I spent most of my time inside tasting different delicious oolong teas. I was quite awake when I finally left. [NOTE: The student that took me to this shop purchased a large quantity of tea that she said was for stuffing in your pillow to give you sweet dreams. Nice idea.]  

Misplaced Hotei

This somewhat battered, styrofoam Hotei Buddha was seen sitting out in the middle of an agricultural field while driving to Felipe Carrillo Puerto in Quintana Roo, Mexico.  I later got the story that villagers from a nearby community had carved it for their carnival day the year before, and then Hurricane Dean (see Selva Maya Interrupted) blew it into the field.  And there it sat. Smiling. May all beings be happy. 

Sweeper

Sweeping up the courtyard at the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources in Hanoi, Vietnam. Some of the work on rattan in Vietnam (see Weaving a Trivet and An Unusual Rattan) was done in collaboration with IEBR.