Packing Up In Shimbweyeng

Was rummaging through some of the video cassettes from the 2005 rattan survey in northern Myanmar (see Hukaung Valley Rattan Survey) and found a bunch of really nice footage. This clip shows a foggy morning in Shimbweyeng as we pack up the truck for our long drive back to Tanai (see Tolagyi Tour of Tanai). A lot of the bags being loaded on the truck are full of rattan specimens in plastic bags soaked in FAA (formalin-acetic acid-alcohol). All of the people and all of the bags were transported in this truck. We stood up in the back on top of our bags for about 7 hours. [NOTE: I'll post more videos as I slowly work through this material. I am ready to go back]. 

Another Sunset

I keep finding new images from the Hukaung Valley expedition. This one is a beautiful sunset over the Tanai River after finishing up the fieldwork. Goes nicely with this and this. Oh, and this, too. See Myanmar 2005 for more details about the trip. [NOTE: Photo by the incomparable Tun Shuang (thx)].

Investigate Mountains Thoroughly

Walking out from Namyun (see Checkpoint on the Road to Namyun and Porter II) on the Ledo Road.  In the drizzling rain. Looking for rattans to collect. 

"Therefore, investigate mountains thoroughly. When you investigate mountains thoroughly, this is the work of the mountains. Such mountains and rivers themselves become sages and teachers".

-Eihei Dōgen
Mountains and Rivers Sutra (Sansui kyo)
Koshoji, 1240

[NOTE: Off to Indiana tomorrow to see my oldest son graduate from college. Time flies].
 

Group Photo

The first time U Tun Shuang tried to take a group photo (see Tea Break and Hukaung Valley Rattan Survey) using the remote control on his camera, the camera went off immediately and took a picture mostly of his head.

The third try it worked quite well, and U Tun Shuang made it to the far left in the back row before the shutter clicked. Five scientists, eight field assistants, two elephants, and two elephant handlers. Unforgettable six week expedition down the Ledo Road.

Tea Break

Taking a break in a tea shop in Shimbweyeng (I think) during the 2005 rattan survey of the Hukaung Valley in northern Myanmar (see Hukaung Valley Rattan Survey). L to R: U Tun Shaung, media assistant in WCS Myanmar Program; me; U Kyaw Lwin, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Botany, Mandalay University; U Tin Maung Ohn, Associate Professor, Department of Botany, University of Yangon; U Myint Maung, Warden, Hukaung Tiger Reserve; U Saw Lwin, orchidologist, Department of Botany, University of Yangon; Zon Nay Tun, head, WCS field crew. Great group of people. [NOTE: I assume Andrew (see A Palm, Two Botanists With Cameras) took the photo].

Mandalay Express (From the Archive)

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.]

Where Are Those Transects?

Have started pulling data out of the field books (see Field Books) from the Truong Son Mountain rattan survey (see Which Rattan Is That). One of the first operations was to compile a table of the coordinates of each transect, i.e. "geo-reference" them, and then to plot them on a map so that I could see how the transects were arranged throughout each Nature Reserve.  I was a little worried that perhaps the crews had done all the transects right off the road.

As is shown in the image above, a screen grab from a Google Earth plot of the transects recorded in the Song Thanh Nature Reserve, this was decidedly not the case.  Look at the group of transects in the upper left of the image. The field crews hiked way out into the forest before starting to count rattans. Each purple symbol represents a 2,000 m² sample.   

Picnic at Transect 3

We always took time out during the rattan inventory work (see Hukaung Valley Rattan Survey and Myanmar 2005) to have a nice lunch.  We ate a lot of spicy (really spicy) tofu and white rice. [NOTE: Transect 3 was particularly steep and loaded with rattans and everybody was happy to stop and eat the day that this was filmed (thx, Tun Shuang)]