Tibet 1.5 - Finally some real fungi... - June 27th


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 Xian (xian = county) and we are staying in the village of Lulang. Yesterday we went to a mixed terrestrial alpine forest, very much like what you’d find in N. America, and I was able to make close to 20 collections. I was able to get some spore prints from the few Laccaria specimens I collected, which made me happy. So the trip has picked up a bit for me on the scientific end. I’ll only have a few more days of being in this kind of habitat so we’ll have to see how many more collections I can make. In the meantime, I’m going to try to document the trip as well as I can.

Before arriving here in Linzhi we were in the town of Bomi for several days (June 21-23). An interesting town surrounded by tall, snow capped mountains. I’m amused by the inquisitive stares by all the locals. Westerners don’t come to this part of China. Most Tibetans have never seen the likes of people like me. I love their reactions whenever I stare back and suddenly smile and wave with a jolly “Hello!” Their first response is a somewhat startled surprise, but it is quickly followed by enthusiastic smiles and responses of “Hello” in kind. It’s always a revelation for me how much weight and power a simple gesture of friendship and respect can carry. I guess it also helps that the Tibetan people are unabashedly curious and friendly to begin with.

Today we visited a subtropical forest. There we were met by the other extreme of moisture that prevents mushrooms from fruiting. The coolest part about the trip was the old bridge that we had to cross. Apparently the path we used was an old road that would take you all the way to India. Besides the lack of fungi, the moisture provided optimal conditions for leeches. Sue got initiated finally. She’s seems sufficiently creeped out by the whole experience.

I realize that I haven’t introduced my colleagues on the trip. I’ll have to do that for the next installment.

Cheers,
andy...

Comments

Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
December 18, 2009 at 8:36 PM
macmc said…
Where ln the heck are all the birds? Mac
August 4, 2011 at 3:55 PM
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