Naga Festival

The elephants hadn't arrived yet so we were forced to stay in Shimbweyang another day.  Fortuitous, actually.  There was a Naga festival that morning with gongs, and spears, and feathers, and dancing, and chanting, and flowers, and layers and layers of bracelets and necklaces.  All performed with the foothills of the Indian Himalayas in the backgorund.

Mescal

Agave cupreata Trel & Burger

Fermenting Agave mash ("tepache") in oak barrels

Master mescaleros from Acateyahualco, Guerrero 

Mescal is made by fermenting the leaf bases of several species of Agave that grow in Mexico.  Agaves are monocarpic, and the leaf bases of the plant are highly enriched with sugar prior to flowering.  The incipient flower stalk is cut the moment it starts to emerge, and the mass of sugary tissue at its base, i.e. the "piña", is harvested and fermented.  Clearly, if all the adults in the population are harvested, there will be no seeds to produce the next generation of plants and the local supply of mescal will soon disappear.

Communities in Guerrero, Mexico have developed sophisticated systems for maintaining a local source of mescal (Agave cupreata).  A select number of adult plants are left unharvested, and the seeds are collected, dried, and broadcast throughout the harvest area.  By managing wild populations of agave in tropical dry forest, the mescaleros in Guerrero are conserving a biodiversity-rich habitat, improving community livelihoods, and preserving an important cultural tradition.

Jizo Bodhisattva

Jizo (Kamakura period,1185-1333)

I went to the Met yesterday to see the painted palm-leaf folios of the Prajnaparamita Sutra.  They were exquisite, but they wouldn't let me take pictures.  I was, however, able to photograph several of my favorite pieces from the permanent collection, e.g. the larger than life-sized, wooden Jiso Boddhisattva with his pilgrim's staff and bright jewel of Dharma truth. 

Mandalay Express

After finishing the rattan survey in the Hukaung Valley (see Hukaung Valley Rattan Survey), we arrived at Myitkyina to learn that our flight to Yangon had been canceled and that no planes would be available in the near future. Our flight from Bangkok to New York was in four days. For lack of any better options, we decided to traverse the 919 miles from Myitkyina to Yangon by train.  We bought our tickets, got blessed by a Buddhist monk, and then wobbled and lurched and squirmed for almost 48 hours.

[NOTE: Music (local pop) was playing the entire trip - all night and all day.  They never turned the lights out in the cars for security reasons. The springs kept popping out of the cushion of my seat.]

To drift like clouds, flow like water

Yangon, Myanmar 2003

Jinghong, China 2005

[NOTE: The Japanese term for a novice monk is "unsui", which translates literally as cloud water, i.e. moving freely without the constraints and limitations of attachments.]