Chant Counting

A monk sits in a shady corner of Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon counting his chants with a mala. Over and over and over. A bottle of water to sip from, as needed. [NOTE: Was a real scorcher the day I took this picture].

Kuthodaw

The Kuthodaw Inscription Shrine in Mandalay contains 729 intricately positioned white shrines. Two are shown above. Each shrine containes a stone tablet which has been inscribed with a page from the Tripitaka. If the tablets were stacked on top of each other, it is said that they would be 20 stories high and would represent the world's largest book. Made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013. Amazing place.

Shwe-in-pin Monastery

Senior monks do afternoon chants in the beautiful Shwe-in-pin monastery in Mandalay. The monastery, which contains exquisite wooden carvings, is over 100 years old. [NOTE: The name "shwe-in-pin" means "golden dipterocarp tree"].

Foresters Measure Tree Height

Just what it says. Kate Armstrong and I gave a day-long training workshop at the Htamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary after we finished the fieldwork. Basic concepts, inventory, growth measurement, and botanical collecting methodologies, and the results from the work we just finished. Image above shows participants (enthusiastically) using a clinometer to measure the commercial height of a teak tree (Tectona grandis L.f.) planted on the grounds. They then fitted a growth band around the tree. Love their hats.

Nam Sa Bi Field Crew

Inventory work in the Htamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary was facilitated by a great group of field assistants from the village of Nam Sa Bi. The crew is resting under one of the buildings of our basecamp near the forest. Took about 45 minutes of walking to get to nice forest; most of this in a stream without about 6 inches of water in it. Slosh, slosh. New boots held up well.

To Htamanthi

Starting the trip north to the Htamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary in Sagaing Region. Am currently sitting in the transit area of the Mandalay airport waiting for my flight to Homalin. We'll overnight in Homalin and then take a boat to Htamanthi. WCS office made some lovely laminated tags for our bags showing the collaboration between MOECAF (Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry), WCS, and NYBG. As you can see, my trusty yellow North Face duffel is still traveling with me (see Duffel Bag). [NOTE: Nice to have WIFI in the transit lounge].

Forest Herbarium

A shot of the beautiful old wooden cabinets at the Forest Research Institute herbarium in Yezin. Established in 1925, the herbarium currently contains about 25,000 specimens. Although this may sound like a lot, for a country with forests as extensive and species-rich as Myanmar this is really not very many specimens. There is still a lot of botanical exploration and collecting that needs to be done here.

DIrector General

First door on the left down this hall in the Myanmar Department of Forestry building in Nay Pyi Taw is the office of the Director General, Dr. Nyi Nyi Kyaw. Had a lovely meeting with him yesterday morning (thx, Saw Htun) in which we talked about rattan, and community forestry, and botanical exploration. And smiled a lot. A really nice man in what, I would imagine, is an extremely difficult job. The meeting was certainly the high point of my trip so far.

Uppatasanti Pagoda

In Nay Pyi Taw there is, not surprisingly, a replica of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon known as the Uppatasanti or "Peace" Pagoda. The main stupa is 12 inches shorter than the one in Yangon. There are also several white elephants on display in front of the temple complex. The truck shown in the foreground of the image above contains the forage for one of the numerous daily feedings that these animals require. This is quite a place.

More Shwedagon

Another image from Sunday's visit to Shwedagon Pagoda. The gold stupas had already started to glow in the evening sun. I am currently in Nay Pyi Taw, the capital city, for meetings with the Forestry Department.