Movies from Myanmar III

Today's post is entitled That Truck. This noble vehicle has been hauling gasoline up and down the Ledo Road for over 50 years. [NOTE: Music by Radiohead].

Movies from Myanmar II

This clip, Shopping For Supplies, gives a taste of the main market in Tanai where we bought supplies before heading up the Ledo Road for six weeks of collecting rattan specimens and running inventory transects. What a magical place to shop.

Movies from Myanmar I

To commemorate the last few days of 2011, I will post some of the most popular video clips from my work in Myanmar. The first, Mandalay Express, documents a 48 hour train ride from Myitkyina to Yangon. Wish you were there. [NOTE: I am assessing popularity based on the total number of views on YouTube].

Agarwood II

More shots from the agarwood factory outside of Pak Kading in Laos (see Agarwood). Truly a wondrous and incredibly photogenic place. To illustrate the basic workflow in the factory, the raw material (shown above in the background) is first choppped into small pieces (mid-frame) and allowed to dry in the sun for several days. Under the watchful eyes of several (plastic) bodhisattvas in the colorful altar.

A slurry is made from the wood pieces and this is allowed to brew for several more days. This slurry is then distilled using a wood fire (logs are slowly fed into the firebox) in a large brick furnace. 

The final distillate is collected in an intriguing piece of glassware (burette?) straight out of a Victorian chemistry lab. [NOTE: The color of the sky and the wispy clouds shown in the first image give some idea of the amazing weather experienced during this trip to Laos. Counting rattans in a light sweater. No bugs. This is about as good as it gets].

Monks On A Bus

Self explanatory.  A group of Theravadan monks in the back of a collective taxi during rush hour in downtown Vientiane, Laos. They look quite calm. The traffic was total chaos. 

Christmas 2011

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:11
English Standard Version

Merry Christmas, everyone.

[NOTE: Image is from one of the many nativity scenes that we have spread around the house (thx, Amy). This one from Africa, made out of corn husks].

Agarwood

Agarwood, or gaharu, is the name of the blackened, fungal-infected heartwood of several species of Aquilaria trees in Southeast Asia. The resinous wood is an extremely valuble forest product used for incense and perfumes. Once an infected Aquilaria tree is located in the forest, the tree is felled and the heartwood chopped into small pieces (shown above). This material is then fermented in a solvent for several days and then distilled to extract the essential oil. The image below is from the agarwood plant in Pak Kading, the largest facility of its type in Laos.

The inability to tell whether an Aquilaria tree has been infected  by the fungus or not has led collectors to fell any gaharu tree that they find, and wild populations of this species are, as a result, severely threatened by over-harvesting. The species is currently included in Appendix II of  the CITES list.  [NOTE: Most of the agarwood processed in Laos comes from inoculated material grown in plantations].  

Si Saket Still Life

Incense and flower offerings at the base of a stupa in the main courtyard at Wat Si Saket (see Wat Si Saket) in Vientiane, Laos. 

Santa in Vientiane

Happened on this scene walking down a side street in central Vientiane, Laos. The horse had plastic reindeer antlers tied on his head and Santa was sweating profusely. Merry Christmas, everyone. [NOTE: Wonder what the mother is spraying into the air at 1:00?]

Sediments

All of the seedlings that we counted in the inventory at Ban Sobphuan (see Thin Red Line) were covered with a thin film of fine sediment. Apparently, earlier in the year the nearby Nam Theun 2 hydroelectric dam released a large amount of excess water and flooded most of the forests at Ban Sobphuan. Sediment load in the water suggests that the flooding caused quite a bit of erosion. [NOTES: The World Bank-funded Nam Theun 2 dam, with an estimated constructed cost of US $1.3 billion, is the largest foreign investment in Laos to date. Rattan seedling is Calamus solitarius T. Evans & al.].