My Electric Postcard

I love the forested parts of Tibet. Here we are so high, the forest looks like it is on fire with all the clouds clinging to the mountains like smoke. Yesterday we landed next to a beautiful alpine lake. The lake is fed by glacial waters and as a result is completely turquoise in color. On the lake is a small island on which sits a buddhist temple. Prior to our arrival, Jun referred to this area as a hidden treasure. Well hidden it is no longer. They (the Chinese government) has expanded and paved the roads, built a parking lot for cars and tour buses, and are building a large visitors center in order to charge tourist who come into the area. From what I can tell, admission to the area is pretty much limited to visiting the temple on the island, yet from what I understand, newly built footbridges too the island. Anyway, we are staying at a ‘resort’ of sorts. I share a little cottage with Jun, Jackie and Sue. There is a nice front porch where we can hang out on and watch all th...

Yesterday I was in Bayi, which I guess is the second largest city in Xizang. Our group was walking to lunch and I noticed an elderly Tibetan woman walking in the same direction, spinning her prayer wheel and glancing at me. Many of the places we’ve been have not been opened up to tourists other than Chinese, so me and my western colleagues have been the recipients of many a curious stare. This made me uneasy until I learned that all I had to do was smile and give a nod or a wave. Such a simple gesture seemed to break through the awkward barriers of uneasiness and insecurity as the locals responded eagerly in kind. From perplexed to enchanted, almost every Tibetan returned a big ol’ grin and waved back. I was told Tibetans were friendly, but experiencing it is something else. I can only imagine that they must have been told the same thing about westerners. Anyway, I did the same trick with the woman on the street, but her response was quite new to me. She stuck her tongue out at ...

One of the luxuries I’ve been able to enjoy on the trip is the fact that I’ve been given my own room at every location we’ve been. A few months ago I would not have gotten this treatment, and to be honest, didn’t quite expect it now. My understanding is that it comes with the addition of a few extra letters to my name, and the fact that with these letters you are essentially promoted to another class of citizen here in China. Anyway, I wanted to introduce the team: Jun Wen - Smithsonian Curator, botanist, and organizer of the trip. Rick Ree described her as a “Force of Nature”. That almost sums her up. Sue Lutz - Jun’s assistant from the Smithsonian. Jackie Van De Viere - U of Ill. at Chicago/Field Museum graduate student. Working on systematics of Primula. Nie Ze-Long - Associate Professor, Kunming Institute of Botany. One of the co-organizers of the trip. Xie Lie - Postdoc in botany and KIB. Also did a 1 year postdoc with Jun at the Smithsonian and was one of the people to pic...

Sorry it’s been a while since my last report. After our stop in Markam we were in Bomi. There the fungal collections picked up quite a bit. I’ve also somewhat intensified my attempt at video documenting. I’m fortunate that my new Macbook Pro has the capacity to handle all the photos and video that I’ve been collecting. It’s becoming a challenge to try and keep up with the management of my files, collect and describe fungi, and video document this trip. Sadly my attempts to keep a traditional scrapbook/journal of my trip has fallen by the wayside. I’ve even failed to collect one beer label to put in the book, though that’s not to say that I haven’t been drinking beer. At least I got a Tibetan sticker for the front of my journal. In retrospect, I guess I should be somewhat glad that collecting fungi hasn’t been all that intense. Otherwise I would not have been able to document the trip as much as I have. But that seems to have changed as of yesterday. Right now I’m in Linzhi X...

Not without mishap, we made our way into Tibet (AKA Xizang). My god what a country! Most of my time has been spent in a car or watching my fellow scientists collecting plants along the side of the road. My disappointment of having collected only 6 specimens in the last 5 days has been sufficiently buffeted by the sheer awe of the landscape. I don’t believe I’ve seen or experienced a more naturally beautiful part of the world, and being from California where my youth was spent traveling in the Sierras and Yosemite, I have a decent basis for comparison. Traveling along these bumpy roads I’m constantly finding myself scrambling for my camera so I can take another shot of a beautiful mountaintop, a stupa with prayer flags silhouetted against a mountain range, or a beautifully decorated Tibetan home in a lush alpine valley. I hope that my pictures convey at least a fraction of what I’ve experienced in my travels. If you ever have the opportunity to visit Tibet, see what you can do to...

Yet another hitch in the trip. We are stuck at the boarder of Tibet waiting for the tourist visas we have to apply for in order to pass this particular boarder crossing. We have scientific permits, however we are crossing at a checkpoint intended for tourists. As a result the boarder guard wants us to get tourist permits. “Welcome to China.” As a result, we are sending someone back, with our passports, to get the tourist permits in one of region offices in some nearby city. You will notice that it doesn’t matter that your scientific permits are from a higher authority than where you get your tourist permits, you still have to pay your dues to the local powers that be. On top of this we’ve had our fair share of car (and driver) issues. We started off with four vehicles, but one broke down in Shangrila, so now were down to 3 vehicles and one of these is having starting problems. This problem started in Shangrila, and was apparently fixed, but has since re-surfaced here at the bord...