Silver Pagoda

N11°33.326'
E104°55.481'

Just arrived to Phnom Penh and had the afternoon off before a full day of meetings tomorrow. Walked down from my hotel to the Silver Pagoda, or Wat Preah Keo, which is so named in honor of the 5000 silver tiles that cover the floor, or, if you use the Khmer name, the emerald Buddha made of Baccarat crystal which dominates the main hall. Photography was not allowed in the Silver Pagoda so I just looked around and did some bows, but you could take pictures in several of the smaller temples. For example, in the Pavilion for Housing Buddha's Footprint, or Keong Preah Bath, shown above.  The golden slab shown in the center of the image contains four enormous footprints which represent the Buddha's first steps. 

Perhaps even more impressive to me, however, was the golden Buddha with the saffron sash sitting peacefully at the back of the hall watching over the footprints. A close-up of this exquisite sculpture is shown below.

[NOTE: I will post more images from my afternoon stroll around Phnom Penh as time - and internet access - allows].

Donsard

N18°09.598'
E104°55.241' 

After the training workshop (see Training in Lak Sao), we traveled down a bumpy road for about 45 minutes to the village of Donsard where we practiced running rattan inventory transects in a nearby tract of forest. The steep karst pinnacles surrounding the village were breathtaking. [NOTE: Fortunately, there was good forest about a kilometer from the village and we didn't have to do any steep climbing].

Training in Lak Sao

N18°11.664'
E104°58.346' 

Spent the first day in Lak Sao (see Management Planning II) giving a training workshop in the District Forestry office on the theory and application of sustainable rattan harvesting. Actually, I just provided "technical backstopping", and most of the lecturing was done in Lao by my WWF colleagues. The district forestry office, or DAFO, is an interesting venue.  As shown in the image above, most of the cavernous space is occupied by two regulation badminton courts; the conference room is confined to a little strip along the north wall. Also note the projection screen with the flip charts taped to it (we couldn't get the projector to work) and the beer advertisements adorning the walls.

Bows of gratitude to Mr. Bansa, shown below, for doing most of the lecturing during the workshop. Key data to note on the chart are the red 26.22 and 30.98 at the lower right.  This is the number of commericial rattan canes/hectare that can be harvested each year from the 5 meter and the 6+ meter size classes, respectively.

Most of the flip charts and the spreadsheet manipulations were done by Mr. Bounchanh, shown below discussing the relationship between stock and yield. He was definitely the numbers guy during this whole thing, and his contribution was invaluable (thx, Bounchanh). 

[NOTE: I have decided to start georeferencing the images in these posts when I have the coordinates. Don't know why anyone would ever be interested in these, but, if nothing else, it shows that I had a GPS with me at the time - and turned it on].  

All Buddhas Throughout Space and Time

Off to Vientiane, Phnom Penh, and points beyond. Management planning, inventory training (see Cambodia and Laos), yield predictions, and lots of Theravadan Buddhist art (I hope) such as that shown above from Laos. 

All Buddhas throughout Space and Time,
All Bodhisattvas, Mahasattvas,
Wisdom beyond Wisdom, Maha Prajna Paramita 

[NOTE: Maha Prajna Paramita (Sanskrit) means "the perfection of great wisdom". Just so you know].

Cambodia and Laos

The rattan shown above is Calamus solitarius T.Evans, K. Sengdala, O. Viengkam, B. Thammvong & J. Dransf., an important commercial cane in Laos and Cambodia. I leave this weekend for Laos and Cambodia to give several training workshops on the sustainable management of C. solitarius in community forests. [NOTE: In spite of its commerical importance, this rattan was unnamed until 2000 (see Field Herbarium). Go here for original species description].

Image below shows a size-specific growth curve for C. solitarius based on 4 years of data collected from wild populations near Ban Sobphuan in Laos (see Thin Red Line and Lunch at Ban Sobphuan). The coefficient of determination could be better, but given the total lack of reliable growth data from wild rattan, the basic importance of these data for defining a sustainable harvest level, and the fact that these data were collected by local staff in Laos, this is a priceless scatterplot (and regression equation). [NOTE: Data are, as yet, unpublished, so please don't touch. Thx]. 

Nuestra Madre de Guadalupe

Another lovely picture of the Virgen de Guadalupe from Mexico (see Virgen de Guadalupe). The image on this postcard, however, is very special (see below), and I've had it with me for over 25 years. Keeps me safe (thx, Elysa).

Western Borneo

I did some extensive forest inventories in Western Borneo during the early 1990's (see Field Crews). Spent a lot of time camping out in the forest with field crews of local Dayaks. Big trees, big parangs, and great headgear. [NOTE: I was probably supposed to be doing something when I took this picture. Looks like everyone is waiting for me]. 

Farl

Sunday afternoon seems to be turning into my bread baking time. Made a delicious, buttery Farl yesterday (shown above) and half of the loaf is already gone. Recipe for this traditional English round bread is here. [NOTE: Farl (from the Scots, fardel) generally refers to a round loaf or a round loaf cut into four triangles, frequently one made using baking soda (see Irish Soda Bread)].

Visit Angel Falls

Click here for an incredible 360º interactive panorama of the world's highest waterfall, Angel Falls in Venezuela. If you have the bandwidth for it, the "High Resolution" version is the one to click. Be sure to read what the photographer, Dima Moiseenko, had to go through to get the footage. There are numerous other aerial panoramas to view on the AirPano site, e.g. Nazca Lines in Peru, Hong Kong, New York, Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe,  waterfalls of Iceland. Incredible stuff.

[NOTE: Angel Falls is so tall that the water never actually reaches the bottom because it all turns into a dense mist about half way through its half mile descent]. 

Musanga

Have always been amazed at how the plant shown above, Musanga cecropioides R. Br. & Tedlie, from Cameroon, looks exactly like Cecropia peltata L. from Central and South America. Exactly. And both plants are early successional species that grow very fast and recruit from dormant seed in disturbed enviornments. Lovely example of convergent evolution. [NOTE: Just so you know, Cecropia peltata is on the the list of World's 100 worst invasive species].