Pictures of Pictures

And, finally, this advertising shoot over by Hoan Kiem Lake (see Lake Hoan Kiem). The photographer had no idea I was behind him. The models saw me and were clearly amused at the taking pictures of taking pictures. All in all, a wonderful morning stroll in Hanoi.

The Egg Man

And I also came across this man loading several hundred eggs on the back of his scooter to be delivered all over town. He gave me a thumbs up and an enthusiastic "OK!" after I took his picture. I certainly hope everything goes OK as he navigates the Old Quarter traffic in Hanoi (see Scenes from the Old Quarter).

Morning Flowers

I am staying in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, and I went out walking this morning after breakfast and got a nice image of this lady getting her flowers ready to sell.  This is such a vibrant section of the city. Especially on Monday morning.

Gate 47

Spent most of the afternoon sitting on the floor at Gate 47 in the Hong Kong International airport drinking tea and waiting for my flight to Hanoi.  I was drinking the tea to stay awake after flying 16 hours from New York. [NOTE: The tea, a tall (small), English Breakfast from Starbuck's, was delicious.  My flight to Hanoi left on time].

Kachin Postcard

Went out walking early one morning at the Tiger Reserve Headquarters in Tanai (see Tanai). Everything was shrouded in a heavy fog and dripping wet.  And then the sun came up. That's Livistonia jenkinsiana thatch on the house (see Tawhtan).  

For all beneficient kharma every manifested through me, I am grateful...

Happy Thanksgiving to all.  Next posts will be from Vietnam.

Sao La Rattan

Am off to Vietnam after Thanksgiving to visit the Song Thanh, Phong Dien, and Sao La Nature Reserves and present the results from the rattan inventories to the park staff at each locale (see Where are Those Rattan Transects? and Field Books). A rattan density contour plot for Sao La is shown above. The circles represent the inventory transects; the larger the circle, the higher the density of rattan in the transect. The darkest green areas contain over 500 rattan canes/transect (2,500 canes/hectare), while the palest yellow regions contain about 35 canes/ transect (175 canes/hectare). There were no transects that didn't have rattan in them. [NOTE: Nineteen different species of rattan were recorded at Sao La. The white area in the lower left of the image is Laos].  

Myozan

Spent a lot of time this weekend taking photos at the Empty Hand Zen Center to document the dharma transmission of Dennis Shofu Myozan Keegan.  Dennis is shown above giving his first dharma talk as a newly-transmitted teacher. Deep bows of gratitude to this fine teacher and delightful human being. [NOTE: Dennis received dharma transmission in the Soto Lineage of Suzuki Roshi from Susan Ji-on Postal]

Throwing Parottas

Parottas are delicious flatbreads from Southern India. In some markets, the rolling out and the frying of the parotta happen in two different places. Which requires a bit of ingenuity and dexterity on the part of the breadmaker and the cook. [NOTE: You clearly have to pay attention when you walk through this market in Tamil Nadu].

The Source

If the mescal that you are drinking was produced in Guerrero, especially if it was produced by mescaleros in the Chilapa region of Guerrero, there is a very strong chance that the sugars fermented to make this traditional beverage were first produced by a little Agave cupreata seedling such as is shown above. [NOTE: Early life is very hard for an agave seedling, and only a very small percentage of them actually survive long enough to flower and fruit - and subsequently get harvested to make mescal. But that's another story...].

Off to Work

Field crew at Acatayahualco, Guerrero heading off to the forest to count Agave cupreata plants (see Mescal and Counting Agaves). This was a great place for fieldwork. Cool, dry, not a lot of biting insects. Nice wildflowers.