My Electric Postcard

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...

If only allowed one word to describe my trip thus far I would have to use exhilarating. In part due to the breathtaking beauty of a country in which I’ve only experienced a fraction of. It is also the white knuckle kind of exhilarating when you are traveling a few thousand vertical meters high, skirting along the side of a mountain on narrow two-lane roads that you share with massive construction vehicles and trucks. I find myself torn between the wonder of the beautiful countryside and the edge of the precipice from which our car is only traveling a few feet from. Now I’m going to cheat and choose another word. Frustrating. I keep having to remind myself that I’m fortunate to have been invited on such and expedition, unfortunately, much of the trip has been an exercise in patience. I’m trying to avoid the feeling that I’m wasting my time here. Yes its great to be in Tibet to study fungi, and yes its nice to make acquaintances with other scientists, and to be experiencing one of ...

So after a nearly 26 hour trip from Chicago to Kunming China (5hrs to LA, 2.5 hrs in LA, 13hrs to Beijing, 3hrs in Beijing, 3hrs to Kunming), I was tired and stinky, but grateful to have finally arrived at my destination. I was met by Feng and Lei who picked me up at the airport. Feng is another mycologist who is a student of Zhu Yang. He will be the other mycologist joining on this trip. Lei is a botanist and a postdoc at the Kunming Institute which is hosting this expedition. He’s also a former postdoc of Jun Wen, the de-facto leader of our expedition from the Smithsonian. Considered a ‘force of nature’ by Rick Ree. Along with our driver, we navigated through the streets of Kunming to find a bank where I could exchange some US currency for Chinese yuan. Kunming is a crowded city. Lots of chaotic traffic (that I’ll save a separate blog for) and lots of construction too. Apartment buildings from what I can gather. New building construction was lashed together by what looks like...

Between June 11th and July 17th I was in China to join a botanical expedition as a mycologist. The project was funded by the MacArthur Foundation, not just to collect plants, but also to foster the education, exchange and discovery of the eastern Himalayan flora, specifically, Tibet. I had intended to publish my adventures and experiences during the trip. Unfortunately, I was introduced to China’s restriction on free speech and was unable to access this blog during my entire stay there. However, there is always a work-around. Instead of publishing directly, I maintained a journal of parts of my trip on my computer, with the idea that I would publish them upon my return. Anyway, I’m home now... Have been for several weeks. Of course on top of moving into a new apartment in a new city, getting up to date with the progress of the summer intern, taking off again for another conference, and many other distractions, it’s hard to find the time to settle down and get this blog published. ...