Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 12:11PM 
One of the few remaining Dayak longhouse in the Sanggau District of West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The kids sitting out front spent a large part of their day helping me collect illipe nuts (see Illipe Nut and Dayak Kids II). [NOTE: Image was scanned from an old slide and looks a lot like an Instagram picture from an iPhone. In this case, however, the "vintage" effect is not an effect].
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 at 9:52AM "Any way that you could climb up there and get a couple of branches with flowers?"
Villagers that have grown up in the forest can be creative and fearless tree climbers. And this is free-climbing, i.e. with no ropes, belts, or back-ups. A quick scan of the Dipterocarpus tree revealed that it was covered with flowers. And this species is a mast fruiter that only flowers and fruits every couple of years. So I posed the question to my local assistant. The image below shows him sizing up the tree and making a quick decision about the costs (to him) and the benefits (to me) of climbing it.
He decided to try it. The image below shows him about 15 m up the tree, carefully climbing the lianas and dangling a long collecting pole that he has tied around his waist. Goes without saying, but these guys are fearless. [NOTE: The climb was a complete success and we got some beautiful specimens of Dipterocarpus oblongifolius Blume. The climber is a Dayak; the tree is one of several conspecifics growing in lowland forest in the Sanggau district of West Kalimantan].
Full disclosure: The actual question, posed in my halting Bahasa, was undoubtedly simply "bisa?" (Can you do it?).
West Kalimantan, herbarium specimens in Science | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 10:49AM 
This group of Dayak kids was out on the porch in front of their longhouse in Sanggau waiting to catch a glimpse of the funny foreigner, and I convinced them to let me take a photograph. Can't remember the name of the village, but I know that I was there to look for illipe nuts (see Illipe Nut and Illipe Nut II).
Saturday, April 24, 2010 at 11:17AM 
This is what it looks like when you are 2.5 hours walk from a village in a mixed dipterocarp forest of Western Borneo and the transect runs through a recently cleared field, or ladang. The Dayak fellow with the basket on his back in the center of the photo (see Field Assistant) is about 20 m from where we started the plot, i.e. where the two Dayaks are waiting in the foreground - in the shade, and he is getting ready to set a plot stake. I stepped back to take the photo knowing that this plot wouldn't take very long. Nothing to count or measure here. Just so you know.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 9:06AM 
"Diversify your farming by planting coffee between your rubber trees". Love this poster. I wasn't able to convince the Department of Agriculture official in Pontianak to take it off the wall and give it to me, but he did let me take this photo. [NOTE: The only place I ever saw someone planting coffee between rubber plants was in Dayak tembawang (see Tembawang), and I'm pretty sure that this was not being done at the request of the Department of Agriculture]
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 10:12AM 
Bicycle with a basket of tampoi (Baccaurea macrocarpa (Miq.) Muell. Arg.) fruit on its way to market in Singkawang. The owner had just propped his bike against the wall of the store and run in for a "kopi susu" (strong coffee with sweetened condensed milk) when I took this photo.
Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 11:28AM 
Severed flower stalk of Arenga pinnata (Wurmb) Merr. positioned to drip into a clay collecting pot. The sugar-rich exudate is fermented to make palm wine or "toddy". Despite reports that the raw juice is "caustic", the fresh, unfermented sap is actually a sweet, and quite refreshing drink. [NOTE: Photo from a Dayak village in the Sanggau district of West Kalimantan].
Arenga pinnata, West Kalimantan, palm wine in Science | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article Monday, February 1, 2010 at 9:34AM 
Woodcarver working in his shop in Pontianak, West Kalimantan. Noteworthy, because the piece he is working on is the cradle for our first child (see Many Years Ago in Pontianak).
Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 11:19AM "Any way that you could climb up there and get a couple of branches with flowers?"
Villagers that have grown up in the forest can be creative and fearless tree climbers. And this is free-climbing, i.e. with no ropes, belts, or back-ups. A quick scan of the Dipterocarpus tree revealed that it was covered with flowers. And this species is a mast fruiter that only flowers and fruits every couple of years. So I posed the question to my local assistant. The image below shows him sizing up the tree and making a quick decision about the costs (to him) and the benefits (to me) of climbing it.
He decided to try it. The image below shows him about 15 m up the tree, carefully climbing the lianas and dangling a long collecting pole that he has tied around his waist. Goes without saying, but these guys are fearless. [NOTE: The climb was a complete success and we got some beautiful specimens of Dipterocarpus oblongifolius Blume. The climber is a Dayak; the tree is one of several conspecifics growing in lowland forest in the Sanggau district of West Kalimantan].
Full disclosure: The actual question, posed in my halting Bahasa, was undoubtedly simply "bisa?" (Can you do it?).
West Kalimantan, herbarium specimens in Science | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 9:38AM 
You drive by this wonderful little house on the way to Sungai Kakap, a coastal Banjarese village south of Pontianak in West Kalimantan. I was usually driving by this house on my way to: 1) help with fieldwork on peat swamp agroforestry systems (see String of Pearls and Peat Farmer), or 2) eat delicious seafood on Sunday at the restaurant in Sungai Kakap. [NOTE: Elysa was doing the research in the peat swamps; I usually paid for the meal].