A NEWSLETTER TO INFORM AND ACKNOWLEDGE CERS’ FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS since 1986 EXPLORERS China Exploration and Research Society VOLUME 16 NO. 2 SUMMER 2014

3 A Virtual Discovery Tour in 34 CERS in the Field 6 Tibet, North to South 35 News/CERS in the Media 12 Meditation Abode of The Gods 36 Thank You 15 Why are Gongbin Villagers Obsessed with Their Houses? 17 Conserving Hong Shui Village for The Li People of Hainan Island 20 Escape from Super Typhoon Rammasun 23 Soldiers, Naturalists, Egoists & Visionaries: The Explorers of Burma (Part II) CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: 26 Gem of Southern Myanmar Colorful children of the Mergui Islands. Li women of Hainan. 28 Exploring the Chindwin Upper Reaches Potala Palace in . Nun 32 Hokkaido Sequel in northern Tibet.

CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 1 Founder / President A NEWSLETTER TO INFORM AND ACKNOWLEDGE CERS' FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS WONG HOW MAN Directors: CHINA BARRY LAM, CERS Chairman Chairman, Quanta Computer, Taiwan JAMES CHEN EXPLORERS Managing Director, Legacy Advisors Ltd. HUANG ZHENG YU China Exploration and Research Society Entrepreneur VOLUME 16 NO.2 SUMMER 2014 CHRISTABEL LEE Managing Director, Toppan Vite Limited DAVID MONG President’s Message Chairman, Shun Hing Education and Charity Fund aniel Ng, long time CERS Chairman, left DERRICK QUEK CEO, ARK Investment Advisors Pte Ltd. us in August 2013. But in some ways, he WELLINGTON YEE hasn’t left. His three children, Kenneth, BILLY YUNG Laura and Kelly, have decided to continue Group Chairman, Shell Electric Holdings Ltd. their father’s legacy in philanthropy, and Advisory Council: continueD to be a CERS patron as Daniel Ng’s Family. This CYNTHIA D’ANJOU BROWN Philanthropy Adviser is very soothing, not only to me, but also for many of our ERIC S. CHEN long-time colleagues and board members who knew Daniel Vice Chairman, SAMPO Corporation well. JUDITH-ANN CORRENTE Philanthropist DANCHEN Another similar case is Lady McNeice of Singapore, an old friend and supporter who Former Vice-Party Secretary of Tibet Vice-President, China Writer’s Federation passed away two years ago at 94. Her children decided to continue support of CERS DR WILLIAM FUNG through their family foundation. I mourn the passing of old friends, including Father Executive Chairman, Li & Fung Group Savioz of the Saint Bernard Mission of Switzerland, at the very senior age of 94 last HANS MICHAEL JEBSEN A VIRTUAL Chairman of Jebsen & Co. Ltd. year. It reminds me, however, to value my time with those who are still alive. KWEK LENG JOO Managing Director, City Developments Limited This issue has many articles, some contributed by our associates, others from staff. One DISCOVERY DR MICHAEL J. MOSER International Attorney article in particular is by our friend Adrian Fu, who wisely or otherwise, bid at a CERS TUDENG NIMA annual dinner to go on expedition with us to Tibet. He came for the driving thrill and TOUR IN TIBET Tibetan Scholar adventure, as he confided to me. But for a veteran race driver to take our Land Rover by Adrian Fu CERS Field Staff: through such terrain brought even the vehicle on its knees, protesting by popping up WILLIAM BLEISCH, PhD, Science Director CAO ZHONGYU, Logistics Support with multiple warning signs on the dash board. TSERING DROLMA, Education Officer here are many different preferences when it comes to taking LI NA, Kunming Admin. Officer holidays. Some people can go from cruise to cruise and leave After exploring China and its border regions for forty years, there are still some good LIU HONG, Speleologist their itinerary planning to the cruise operators and their suitcases QIJU QILIN, Zhongdian Centre Director years left even for me at the age of 65, before people can introduce me as an ex-explorer. to the cabin crew. There are those who like to travel in groups for MARTIN RUZEK, Earth System Scientist The articles in this newsletter on our recent expedition to northern Tibet testify to that. WANG JIAN, Kunming Director security and company. Then there are those who look for new ZHANG FAN, China Director challenges like biking in Bhutan and climbing Mt. Everest. My wife and I like ZHOU CHEN SU, Speleologist T There are also many new horizons as CERS expand beyond China’s frontiers, into to combine both. We really enjoy taking 10 days off to a new destination to Headquarters Staff: neighboring countries where both sides of the frontiers share a lot of common natural find out how much we can tolerate each other. If, at the end of the holiday, BRENDA KAN, Office Manager and cultural heritage. Soon we hope to bring you new discoveries and research results we eagerly look forward to the next one, then we know either our choice is JOE , Web/IT Manager TRACY MAN, Financial Controller from Lao, , Myanmar and some rather secretive enclaves of China’s faraway right or our tolerance level is raised or both. This year we came up with a new BERRY SIN, Logistics Director corners. idea. We would do a driving tour of Europe staying in comfortable hotels in

Associate Filmmakers: small cities new to us. Before the trip we would compile information on the net CHRIS DICKINSON and book hotels and some popular restaurants along the route. It was a success XAVIER LEE thanks mainly to my wife’s thorough research and our free wheeling approach Co-Editors: to travelling. Arguments were few and tender moments were plenty, so we must CATHY HILBORN FENG have mellowed in our old age. That leads me to my latest solo trip with C.E.R.S. WILLIAM BLEISCH, PhD Design and Printer: Wong How Man and I met three years ago in CERS’s annual dinner party; TOPPAN VITE LIMITED (852) 2973 8600 prior to that I knew next to nothing about How Man’s work. The party was Wong How Man very informative and I decided to find out more by bidding for one of the trips HOW TO REACH CERS: Hong Kong on offer. Due to various complications it took two years for this trip to happen. Unit 7 & 8, 27/F, Tower B, SouthMark, July 2014 11 Yip Hing Street, Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong phone (852) 2555 7776 fax (852) 2555 2661 Day one - I arrived in Lhasa late evening from Hong Kong without a hitch. With TOP: Potala Palace in Lhasa. e-mail: [email protected] With respect to the entire contents of this newsletter, including its photographs: All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2014. @ China Exploration and Research Society. all those years of heli-skiing under my belt, high altitude thankfully is not an BOTTOM: Terraced fields of Eastern Website: www.cers.org.hk s issue. The hotel House of Shambala was a delightful work of restoration, and Tibet above the Mekong. CERS TAI TAM RESEARCH CENTER Please contact CERS for reprint permission. (852) 2809 2557

PAGE 2 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 3 CLOCKWISE FROM LOWER LEFT: separated by the aisle with females on one side and Off-the-road trucks.Traditional males on the other. An unique experience for a land suspension bridge to village. Horse dominated by a religious leader. caravan.Switch-back “highway” of Tibet.Preparing campsite by river. After our usual gourmet breakfast we headed south Kid’s off-road bike. towards the Yunnan border. It is hard to imagine after a good night’s rest we were that in the heart of Tibet there exists a catholic ready to hit the road. church built by self-sacrificing French priests some hundred years ago. By sheer co-incidence our Having participated in a few World convoy arrived on a Sunday morning when the local Rally Championship rounds I was diocese gathered for mass. Having just gone through not a stranger to off-road vehicle a major renovation the church was in excellent preparation. But what How Man condition inside and out. The local “priest” (his and his crew did to the Land official title is committee member) was delivering a Rovers was truly professional; I sermon to village catholic families who were neatly knew we were in for some serious separated by the aisle with females on one side off road motoring. and males on the other. An unique experience of Catholicism in Land. The drive from Lhasa to our first camp site up north was Soon after we entered Yuanan, we stopped at a quite uneventful, done mainly CERS project site where mastiff dogs used to be on paved roads with very strict bred. It had lodgings that could easily be converted speed control and numerous into a summer hostel for backpackers and students police check-points. En route we alike. Our interest, however, was diverted to a 3 stopped for a delicious supper in foot tall predatory owl in captivity, which devoured a high street restaurant. The first chickens at a frightening pace. camp site was on a plain running along side a stream not far from the main road. on the hillside to sort things out. Upon showing to do quite a bit of sightseeing and treated ourselves to a substantial dinner in The team set to work quickly and efficiently. Within 20 minutes all tents were CERS’s credentials we were quickly invited into the a small town before bedding down next to an underground spring. There was Six hours later, after crossing borders into Sichuan set up and we retired to bed early. It must have been a few decades ago when I temple to join the local clergy for a bowl of yak tea, something very special about washing up with pure cool spring water before and then back into Yunnan, we arrived at CERS’ last slept in a sleeping bag and, suffering from a mild headache, it was not the which to me tasted like chicken soup made with sea retiring to my tent. summer palace in Shangri-La. most restful night. water. Realizing that some of the structures in the were in poor repair, CERS quickly made The next morning we woke up to a rain storm and a flat tyre. After rushing The trip was an education for me from beginning Day 3 - we hit the road after breakfast and followed the route east towards a small donation towards renovations. To show his through breakfast and a tyre change, the clouds lifted and we were off. The to end; a virtual discovery tour. There is so much Nagchu. As we were entering a politically sensitive region, security was gratitude towards CERS, the senior lama offered to roads were gradually improving with less pot holes and more tarmac. Our hope work to be done in this vast region to preserve its extremely tight, causing many unscheduled stops to have our IDs checked and taxi four of us to the lost lake a few kilometers away of arriving at the wildlife camp site at dusk was dashed when the highways natural resources and wildlife, which must begin re-checked. The good news was that the terrain was becoming more interesting on the peak. authority decided to close down a section of our road for re-surfacing. For the with education of the future generations of the local and the Land Rovers were taking up the stride, soaking up the gravel roads with first time in our journey we had to forego our tents for the comfort of a roadside population. big pot holes, some of which were inundated. Soon we arrived at the Cordyceps With no more protection than a pair of sunglasses truck stop. The accommodation was perfectly adequate apart from the lack of growing region of Tibet, and the affluence became evident from the big houses we rode pinion on four motorbikes and off we went electricity and hot water, not to mention the hole-in-the-ground toilet facility. and posh cars. After a steady climb to 4,500 m, we found our ideal camp site at for a climb of 1,000 metres over rocks, streams, We also enjoyed a very good hot pot meal across the road, illuminated by self- the junction of two running rapids secluded in absolute privacy. While the crew grass and gravel. The walking trail we used was no provided torches. was busy preparing supper I rushed down to the glacier water and gave myself a more than 1 meter in width with a sheer drop of 500 much needed scrub down. All of us were quite relieved after a hard day’s drive metres on one side and prickly shrubs on the other. The following day’s journey took us through a vast country park with mostly over some very treacherous stretches, but it had been masterfully handled by the On the way up we had to off load several times paved roads and well-trimmed forest. It is also a favourite spot for cyclists and team’s drivers. That night I found my niche in my sleeping bag and slept like a when the gradient got too steep for our 150cc bikes. hikers from neighbouring provinces as the scenery and road conditions were log to the serenade of the running rapids. The fun started on the descent when our riders both conducive. We were now coming to CERS’ home turf, winding down switched off the engines to coast, controlling our the mountain into a river basin. At dusk we camped alongside a local resident After a hearty breakfast, we hit the road in search of the next glacier lake. After destiny with the drum brakes and the occasional leg whose herd of cows, pigs, and poultry provided plenty of imagination for menu 3 hours of rough gravel roads we saw what we had come for, a lake with floating extension for balance. The uphill bit took about 7 planning. We spent our last night out in howling wind and in high expectations mini icebergs. It was a relief to be able to get out and walk for the first time to to 10 minutes depending on the load. The downhill for a comfortable drive homeward bound. stretch the leg muscles. A piece of natural ice carving picked up from the lake run felt like eternity, with our lives (literally) on got everyone quite excited, so a snapping session ensued. More excitement was balance. But we found our lake, despite a few heart- It is hard to imagine that in the heart of Tibet there exists a catholic church built in store. The next point of interest was Bianba, a little travelled spot in eastern stopping moments. by self-sacrificing French priests some hundred years ago. By sheer co-incidence Tibet that is predominantly Tibetan Buddhist Territory. Our plan was to set up our convoy arrived on a Sunday morning when the local diocese gathered for camp in the early afternoon and find our way to the lost lake half way up the By Day 6, we had covered only roughly half the mass. Having just gone through a major renovation the church was in excellent mountain. Out of nowhere a young lama on motor bike appeared and told us to distance, so there was a rush to pile on the mileage. condition inside and out. The local “priest” (his official title is committee get off the land. How Man decided to pay a visit to the senior lama in the temple Despite the rain and half flooded roads we managed member) was delivering a sermon to village catholic families who were neatly

PAGE 4 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 5 TIBET, NORTH TO SOUTH by Wong How Man Lhasa, Tibet

MAIN: High lake of Nima. INSET: Campsite by high lake.

PAGE 6 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 7 The drive north from Lhasa was exasperating, as far as scenery goes. We had so many fish that some were salted and dried on our Paved road stretched out into the high horizon, then finally gave way car roof as provisions for the days ahead. to dirt and rougher road. Now and then, one road would break out into half a dozen, though all would go in the same direction over the scant We had exceptionally nice weather over the two weeks in the pasture of the plateau. Spring was only just approaching and vegetation field. Even the usual summer snowstorm at high elevation was sparse. Soon herds of domestic yak and sheep also gave way to was nowhere in sight. Clouds hung low and water on the lake small herds of wildlife like Tibetan Gazelle, Tibetan Antelope, and was almost still. Wind usually picked up by mid-afternoon Wild Ass. Unlike previous years, such animals were now finally well but generally subsided by evening, returning the lake again enough protected for us to drive by without them nervously scattering into its pristine state. I could see from the reflection that about in stampede. At times, we passed to within 50 or 100 meters of my beard was blossoming. But why bother to shave, as I the animals. At one location we came close to a herd of over fifty Blue was meeting no one except similarly scrubby-looking team Sheep as we crossed a high pass. Their camouflaged color blended members. A small herd of female Tibetan Antelope made a well with the surrounding hills. Even a Tibetan fox was caught in my foray into the lake’s water a short distance from our camp. camera at close quarters. What a wonderful relief about the state of They must have been stopping over on their migration route CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ailash is considered the home of Lord Shiva by Hindi and the situation for the wildlife! to the calving ground in the north. After all, calving season Silin Qo and adjacent lake in northern Tibet. Tibetan most sacred of all mountains by Tibetans, both considering it was just around the corner, before the end of June. gazelle grazing peacefully. Tibetan Antelope cooling the navel of the universe. 2014 is the Year of the Horse and At the south end of Sining Co (pronounced Cho), the second largest off in a lake. Lake fish being dried on car. Cleaning Kailash’s special pilgrimage year, happening once every lake of Tibet, we spent three lovely days, where the salt lake came to Unlike previous years, we could make a few side trip catch at camp. Tibetan nun at a temple. A Nyingma temple in remote Nima County. twelve years as the Tibetan Zodiac rotates. I was fortunate to within a few hundred meters from a neighboring freshwater lake, Co excursions, now that the government prohibited anyone from Kmake the 2002 pilgrimage, and had been preparing for this year’s return visit. Or. Appropriately we pitched tents on the freshwater side and team buying extra gasoline or diesel and putting it into jerry cans, members were able to fish from the lake. Within one afternoon, we a cautionary measure ever since self-immolation had become Disappointment came in stages and varied dosages, like a slow poison killing caught 23 fish totaling about 15 kilograms. The fish were mating, with popular in Tibet. Hopefully the situation would improve in one’s spirit. First, eight of my foreign friends planning for this trip were denied the females laying eggs while the male fish rushed to spray sperm over the future. But for now, we felt our range of activities had s permission. Next our Taiwan friends were told not to bother. Lastly myself the mass. It became almost routine as Zhou Laohu and Wang Jian, our been curtailed. and my China team, were given the “no go” indication in the guise of a long two fishing addicts, cast lines and continuously pulled the catch in. delaying procedure that made any more waiting senseless.

As the government tightened up and refused permission to practically everyone who tried to make the pilgrimage, I wondered if the gods of Kailash were on my side after all. It would have been a most trying pilgrimage if I, at 65 years of age, were to make the 53-kilometer circumambulation of the mountain at extreme elevation, at times climbing over 5600 meters above sea level. Fate at the end saved me from such a punishing journey.

With an injured arm and two eyes recently operated upon, the final decision came somewhat as a relief rather than a disappointment. But we still had to make the best use of the time I had put aside for Tibet. So off we went to northern Tibet, part of the Changtang Plateau which used to be no man’s land. That is, until 1976, when the government decided to move two thousand nomads and their livestock into the huge wilderness, or emptiness, which had been considered by naturalists the last paradise, and refuge for Tibetan wildlife.

PAGE 8 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 9 would further enrich our already substantial collection kept at our Zhongdian Center.

By now we had been camping for over ten days and had been without a shower for as long a period. From Nyima in northern Tibet we turned south trying to get to where a bed and bath were waiting. There in Gyantse, CERS had supported restoration of an ancient building, converting it into a boutique hotel for the future. The structure, adjacent to the famous Palcho Monastery first built during the Ming Dynasty in the 1400s, was a former monastic distillery where the monks made barley wine for pilgrim offerings. Today the restoration is complete and it would soon be ready for business. Such investment into a responsible social enterprise would ensure the architecture would be maintained into the future.

Gyantse, historically a most strategic Dzong or Prefecture of Tibet, was the access point from through Sikkim to Lhasa. This was the site of the major battle when the British invaded Tibet I hardly visited it. Somehow that previous urge for snacks had disappeared. I in 1904. The Younghusband Expedition carried out a massacre quietly applauded myself for having consumed only one bottle of Coke during here when, with their latest issue Maxim guns, they mauled down two weeks. Instead I had downed several bottles of my favorite C+ beverage, Tibetan soldiers running away from the battlefield. It was through also a product of our friendly Coca-Cola supporter. this battle that the door to Lhasa was finally opened, the Tibetan government submitting to demands of the British in opening the At a remote location, we stopped by one Nyingma (Red ) monastery. region to British trade and other political interests. Around ten monks and three nuns took refuge in this distant locale with a commanding view of the surrounding lakes. Faraway as this was, there was a While there were hundreds of Tibetan Buddhists visiting the civilian police guard stationed there, ready to take down registration of our visit. famous Palcho Monastery and its many-tiered , once the largest chorten in Tibet, at the old fort we were the only visitors Our highest camp was a salt lake at 5000 meters elevation. But that turned paying Rmb30 each as entrance fee. The doorman said on a good The ultra-violet light seemed more acute than ever, out too extreme for our lungs and we soon descended again to take up more day during high season, there might be a hundred or so visitors. as my recently operated eyes took the toll far worse comfortable lakefront sites with other waterfowls. At one lake we saw many The architecture was very unique and built along the hill that it sat than expected. The usual sunglasses did not stop the birds nesting, some within a few meters from each other. Bar-headed Geese upon. It has been designated a national monument for protection irritation of penetrating bright light. Any light, wind as well as Ruddy Shelduck had hatched their young, and chicks were seen since 1961. or sand brought tears to my eyes, resulting in a blur. following the parents around. Black-necked Cranes were pairing for their CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Perhaps this was punishment for not having cried mating season and it was another relief to see them at times so relaxed about Both attempts to reach the Bhutan and Sikkim borders were since my mother passed away five years ago. I had our close-up presence. Xavier, our filmmaker, was able to catch one pair on film Palcho Monastery and disrupted by police roadblocks set up to inspect border permits surrounding village at always felt her presence despite her passing. Now which we did not have. What had been somewhat accessible from less than fifty meters away. Gyantse. Great Crested was payback time for missing tears. Grebe nests at lake front. fifteen years ago has now become a closed border to those of us Team member Drolma, speaking fluent besides and Amdo Close-up of Great Crested from Hong Kong. I prayed that the situation would improve in Despite cooking inside our large tent, my chefs dialect, was able to approach nomads and collected some more yak products. Grebe in nest. Bar-headed days ahead as we turned and headed back to Lhasa. We should brought up multiple delicacies. Leftovers usually At one location we bought many woven artifacts that they had to be put on Geese with chicks. arrive just in time for the biggest religious observation of the year, Tibetan Fox relaxing. would become condiments for the next morning’s the roof of the cars. Prices had gone up tremendously from a decade ago, but the full moon on the Fourth Moon of the . Maybe Blue Sheep over skyline. breakfast congee. For some reason, perhaps due to we always felt we must collect now before such handicrafts became rarer and Tibetan boy silhouette. after that, my luck would turn, and my eyes would begin to heal. age, my junk food cache was not moving much, as harder to acquire, and eventually unavailable. These newly collected items Nun of northern Tibet.

PAGE 10 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 11 While we waited, casually sipping butter tea, I could not help casting my eyes on our guest team member, Adrian Fu. This was his first ever cup of butter tea, more an acquired taste than the English breakfast tea he was accustomed to. But, true to his roots as someone who loved even durian, he gracefully drank it down like a gentleman, and a monk rose to refill his bowl.

It turned out Dongpu Tsengteng Monastery was originally a Nyingma (Red Sect) monastery started by the 13th of the larger Bienba Monastery in 1926. Later Bienba Monastery was turned into a Gelup (Yellow Sect) monastery, while Dongpu became Kargyu (White Sect). All this complex history was a bit too complicated for me to comprehend, but soon my computer arrived and I turned it on.

Soon my computer arrived and I turned it on. Hidden on Desktop2 were two folders I did not want casual onlookers to browse to. One was named just ‘DL,’ and the other ‘.’ I first opened the file on Karmapa, the highest Rinpoche (Living Buddha) of the Karma Kargyu sect within Tibetan . It showed pictures of me attending the Karmapa’s enthronement at Tsuphu MEDITATION CLOCKWISE FROM LOWER LEFT: Monastery outside of Lhasa in 1992. As an honored guest, I was Glacier lake of Bienba. Glacier lake and seated with the Karmapa’s family, including his father, mother river of Bienba. Adrian Fu with head monk. and siblings. Once I turned my computer toward the monks, ABODE OF Monks of Dongpu Tsengteng Monastery. their somewhat frozen faces began to thaw. I could see looks of Window of ancient monastery. Assembly disbelief and anxiety, as if a special button was pushed. hall from the outside. THE GODS Next I opened my file on DL and a series of pictures came on by Wong How Man screen of my private audience with the at his home Bienba, Tibet in Dharamsala. Now those same frozen faces melted completely; and I could see solemn yet widely opened eyes in front of me. I a population of 3,000 people in Bienba, 1154 were , a After some meandering and switch-backs on a rough dirt road, glanced over to the last monk on the bench, our young angry monk, staggering 38.36%. we arrived at the doorstep of the monastery. Three middle-aged now without the mask. His eyes suddenly looked so innocent and monks were standing by the door looking down at the meadow kind. “Can we have some of those pictures,” Sonam asked in a It was literally just minutes before that our three Land Rovers below. They must have been monitoring us from afar. Perhaps the somewhat meek voice. “No, it will bring you trouble, maybe for pulled up to the meadow on the edge of a fast running river, run- novice monk was sent by them to drive us off their pasture. After me too,” I answered in the negative. At the same time, the entire off from some massive glaciers. Hidden inside this valley were all, we looked too foreign, with our brightly colored Land Rovers, room seemed suddenly to become warmer. Even the tea served snow mountain ranges of the Himalayas, cutting a swath across to be one of their flock of devoted Tibetan Buddhists. I now had seemed to become hotter. Maybe Shangri-la was indeed at hand! the midsection of the Tibetan plateau. We had just passed the to look serious, though I was tempted to take some snapshots of last Tibetan village and were ready to choose a most beautiful the grand scenery below me. “We can show you the monastery, everything. The police in spot to set camp for the night. What more could we ask for, residence are away for two days,” said Sonam. “But we must snow mountain to view and a glacier fed river to wash both our Walking up to the monks, I introduced myself as someone on set up camp first,” I answered. “No problem, no problem. I have bodies and dishes before retiring into our comfortable tents and pilgrimage to Kailash, though already turned away by a hostile summoned the village chief and he will be here momentarily, to sleeping bags! And here was this humbug of a monk. Weren’t constabulary, which was deflecting everyone from reaching the help you choose the very best site,” Sonam hurriedly replied. The monks all suddenly became my attendants for details. Meanwhile,

they supposed to be peace-loving and hospitable? Certainly not sacred mountain during this most auspicious year. To my surprise, s Sonam led the way and took us on a tour of the assembly hall, What are you doing here? You cannot stay! You this young jerk with a face mask, I answered myself. one of the three monks looked rather friendly and asked us in must leave,” snapped the red-robed monk with a firm for tea. Once we sat down inside a side voice. He had just arrived on a motorcycle. From his In my usual style of defiance, I played tough and insisted on going room on the balcony, I asked the name eyes, showing behind his face mask, he looked upset to see his superior. This place looked too heavenly to be managed of the monastery and its denomination. and irritated, obviously by our presence. “But we are by a novice monk! And their monastery was within sight, half “Dongpu Tsengteng Monastery, of the “not doing any harm, just appreciating the beautiful scenery,” I way up a hill beyond the last village. From our vantage point, I Karma Kargyu sect,” answered Sonam protested. “No, you need a permit to stay here, and you must could imagine how magnificent the view must be from up there. Tsering, who was the head monk of leave immediately if you are without one.” His Mandarin Chinese So an excuse to make a visit could be a rather rewarding scenic the monastery. I knew the opportunity was surprisingly crisp. All this time, a quiet, young Tibetan quest, even if it came to nothing more. The monk obliged us, and should not be lost, and quickly urged stood behind him, having come on the backseat of the monk’s soon all three cars were following the dust of the monk on his Xiao Cao my driver to go to the car and motorcycle. It was obvious who was in charge. Census conducted motorcycle. I felt like a 21st century Tin Tin in pursuit of some bring me my computer right away. I had in 1957 here revealed some interesting demographic. Among flying red robe ready to discover the next Shangri-la. a magic card up my sleeve.

PAGE 12 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 13 TOP TO BOTTOM: Monk reviewing old sutra. Hand-scripted sutra. Novice monk. Meditation house of Rinpoche.

soldiers stationed in the area and the murder of many Han and Tibetan cadres. Soon the PLA moved in to suppress the conflict, including meting out revenge to aggrieve their comrades’ deaths. In the end, the mindless killing was classified by the government as an “uprising,” as if it was related with events that occurred throughout the Tibetan region from 1958 to 1959.

My small contribution prompted Sonam to show me more of their premises. While some buildings looked old and weathered, they had a rather new paint job, which made them look nonetheless clean and spotless. Everything seemed ancient, even the large . Unlike modern designs, which have adopted using metal, the wheel here, a large drum filled with sutras, was instead made of leather.

Next we took a short walk, perhaps two hundred meters away on a small footpath, and arrived at a rather dilapidated house, a small house with a tiny courtyard. Sonam wanted to show me this architecture for a specific reason. This was the meditation retreat where the first three of the monastery had spent time in seclusion, some for up to several years. Today it was in acute disrepair, and they were hoping which had some exquisite murals. Soon to restore it such that the fourth and current Rinpoche could use it in the future for the Chief arrived on motorcycle and led meditation. Sonam hoped we might help a little. my team off to look for a prime site for the night. I choose to stay behind and have a I sized up the house with three tiny rooms. The building style was fully traditional. more detailed look around. Even the roof used mud over weed branches. There was absolutely nothing from modern days to speak of, no cement was used at all. It would be a wonderful small In an antechamber of the assembly hall, the project to maintain the very traditional architectural style of remote Tibet. monks took out some rare sutras to show me. Many were stained and had watermark WHY ARE GONGBIN Without much formality and fancy words, a deal was struck for CERS to be involved in on them. “We hid these in a cave under funding the restoration. This project was small enough that it would not eat up much of some heavy stones during the Cultural my yearly 10% discretionary fund allowed by my Board. And certainly it fit well with VILLAGERS OBSESSED Revolution, and thus they were damaged, the goals and mission of CERS despite being at such a remote location. We quickly though saved from being burned,” said agreed on a few guidelines, such as no cement, and walls should continue being made Sonam. “Now we are in desperate need to WITH THEIR HOUSES? of mud with adobe-like finish. Some of the old drawings and motifs on the wall should preserve these, as some were very special by Prof. Yu Shuenn-Der stay pristine as much as possible. We agreed upon using two dry seasons to accomplish to our own sect and history,” he added. I this work. Without delay, I handed over the money in cash, and a secular Tibetan, most took a quick inventory and found that most likely the monastery’s Chief Financial Officer, was called up to count the money again met Wandeng when I first visited Gongbin in 2004. He was sixteen at the time were printed from woodblocks, but a few and stash it away. and proudly told me that he was the eldest child in the family and, based on the very special ones were actually handwritten. local custom, he would inherit the family property. He also expressed a strong There was a set that even had many colorful Like many of our other projects, this all happened strictly by chance. I have often said desire to rebuild the family’s house when he became head of household, a status images painted on select pages. I decided on that, in order to do good, you still need some luck and opportunity. And with this good he would assume when he had his first child. In the meantime, he said he would the spot to leave some money behind such deed, we even got a prime camp site with a full view of the glacier as a bonus. As I recommend that his father have their Tibetan style water-jar cabinet replaced with one that they could send these rare sutra to Lhasa I walked back to the monastery, I pointed down the hill to some spinning wheels driven done by Jianchuan carpenters, who are famous for their delicate carving work. for digitization, an act of support for their automatically by running water. “Those are our prayer wheels for rain. It has been too important heritage. dry and the farmers wanted more rain,” answered Sonam. “That’s great. Just make sure Wandeng’s desire to rebuild is nothing special in Gongbin and is actually quite common that it does not come tonight at our camp,” I replied. in every corner of Tibetan Yunnan. Since the early 1980s, Gongbin has experienced at left a special mark on least three cycles of rebuilding; most families have reconstructed their houses at least Bienba, the county where we were. It was twice in the last thirty years. If family resources are not sufficient to build a new house, barely recorded and is little known these many households renovate in various ways, e.g., adding a new wing or remodeling the days. In 1969, when the frenzy of the Red interior. The most bizarre case, at least to me, was when one family replaced all the Guards was largely over in Lhasa and other s round beams in their house with squared ones. To enjoy this new fashion, family major cities, Bienba rose in riots. Conflict between two warring factions, both claiming TOP: A fashionable new house in Gongbin, sporting a new to be the most authentic revolutionaries, interior design and all new materials. escalated to become a crazed uprising, BOTTOM: The old water-jar cabinet made by a Tibetan and the mayhem included killings of PLA carpenter in Wandeng’s house.

PAGE 14 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 15 CONSERVING HONG SHUI VILLAGE FOR THE LI PEOPLE CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Wandeng, on the right, in his house with two friends. A common scene in Gongbin, piles of OF HAINAN ISLAND lumber prepared for building a new house. Another by Wang Jian common view in Gongbin: making entire sections of the village look like a construction site. Timber cut down by villagers in the forest behind Gongbin. New square beams. The old-style round beams.

members endured living without a roof for two months and spent 50,000 RMB Villagers do not seem to have a clear reason for their on carpenters, never mind their own labor harvesting and preparing timber obsession. When asked, one says that it’s “simply from the forest. For those who have participated in all three cycles, every ten what we Tibetans prefer doing.” Although he is years they have collected the timber and the cash to tear down and reconstruct joking, it does reflect the fact that accumulating their houses. They are virtually continuously rebuilding. Gongbin villagers’ material wealth is an important aspect of Tibetan obsession with their houses has been a puzzle to me since I first set foot in the culture, and a house is the most significant and village. After studying Gongbin for ten years, I have to admit I have not found visible symbol of wealth, just like cars are for people a satisfactory answer. in many parts of the so-called modern world. But what pushes households to live under the constant I ask my Tibetan interpreter, Dingba, for the number of households in Gongbin instability and disruption of demolition and building today. He smiles at me and says he has to re-count. The number was 64 in 2004 new houses? It is said that declining numbers of big but this new round of building, started in 2006, has been so crazy that we see not trees in the forest have spurred many to rebuild, only new divisions of households, a typical scenario by which village household since they worry that it will only get harder to numbers increase, but also new conditions rarely seen in the past, like exchanges do in the future. But this does not explain why a of land, the sale of houses, and attempts to rent houses to outside businesses. ten-year-old house had to be rebuilt, and anyway, No wonder Dingba, a Gongbin native who knows every villager by name, many villagers are now purchasing large timber cannot answer my question directly. This new cycle has also turned almost the from Xiaozhongdian nonetheless. “Competition” is entire village into a construction site, since there are houses constantly under probably the most persuasive answer. But why is construction or remodeling. In addition to the Tibetan carpenters, Han and Bai there such intense competition amongst neighbors craftsmen who can do delicate carving and interior work are in great demand. and relatives who clearly know who each other are, There is a long waiting list for these finishing carpenters, and we see many new and why it is done in such an intensive, obvious, and houses with their shells done but sitting vacant, without a completed interior. grandiose manner? I do know that this seemingly Some families wait for as long as two years for their completed homes. irrational behavior has been closely linked to Gongbin’s engagement with the market economy since the early 1980s. Villagers’ entrepreneurship and economic success certainly fuel this mania. The comparative economic and social equality of n the summer of 2007, our party of four of thatch-roofed houses amid the coconut palms, we were left completely today also intensifies internal rivalry, since now set out from Kunming. After four days and speechless by the beauty and tranquility of the isolated scene from outside the every villager is a potential competitor, unlike three nights of hard, tough journey, some bustling modern world. in the past when competition was aimed mainly across remote territories, we eventually toward members of the same class. Even so, these arrived and for the first time set foot in Hong We had to contact the village party head about the reception arrangements, contextual explanations do not really solve this Shui Village, Wang Xia County, in Changjiang including renting some village houses for the coming visit of the research team. puzzle, though I readily admit we, the so-called I Prefecture of Hainan Province. Standing on the When we parked the cars, the curious villagers looked at us with bewildered modern rational actors, probably do not have clear heights above the entrance, we had a panoramic eyes, wondering why we came all the way from faraway Yunnan to this remote reasons for our own obsessions, either. view of the village. When we saw the cluster mountain village. However, we could feel the Li people’s simple hospitality; their quiet and peaceful lifestyle in the village was miles apart from the Wandeng invites me to his new house. He is a maddening crowds! Looking at the simple villagers and the spectacular clusters local official now, no longer the young boy I met of thatch-roofed houses, I was saddened by the thought that this village would ten years ago. His house is located just by the soon be flooded with the tsunami of modern civilization and economic impact recently finished highway, with the village’s sacred from the outside world. This beautiful little village and the culture of the original mountain at its back. And I have to confess, it’s a MAIN: Hongshui Village with last remaining inhabitants of Li people would eventually vanish. I had a strong urge to protect s luxurious and very pretty house. thatch-roofed houses. and preserve their culture and traditions.

PAGE 16 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 17 From 2008 to 2010, CERS spent a great amount of money and manpower to transform and maintain 19 thatch-roofed houses in the village. We built catchment channels to divert fresh spring water from the hills for bathroom and shower facilities. A number of experts, scholars and students joined the team to carry out research and to rescue Li traditional artifacts for conservation. We built a dining room, kitchen, cafe, auditorium, offices, dormitories, experts quarters and museum. In the museum, a large collection was assembled, displaying the original ecology of the Li people and their tools of livelihood and production. In the auditorium, we had documentary films produced by CERS and books about their heritage.

In the six years since we set up this Hong Shui Village Conservation Project Site, we have experienced many changes in the village. From the early days of muddy roads, taking baths in the river, and outdated utilities and poor communications, there are now good cement roads and reliable electricity, water and communications. With the help and support of the local government, which allocated a piece of land next to the village for resettlement, Li people moved out of the old village to new subsidized flat- topped tile houses. In spite of this, I still have a gripe about the local government. Since there was no other relevant supporting policy except moving all the people out of the village, all the old thatch- roofed houses were left abandoned and empty. The

whole village became lifeless. Without the smoke from cooking fires and maintenance, houses were soon moth-eaten and more and more of them began to collapse. If the local government could have given the villagers a certain amount of financial aid each year, asking them to maintain their thatch-roofed houses, and encourage them to stay in the houses to make some traditional handicrafts, or slightly modify their houses to become farmhouse style B&Bs, this might have helped them to develop tourism business. If a scenic Li folk village can be set up, villagers can sell their handicrafts, traditional food and perform dances to earn income. In this way, much of the traditional culture can still be preserved. As tourism is the leading industry in Hainan Province, the government really should have given serious consideration to establishing a traditional Li folk village.

In December 2013, we visited the Hong Shui Village Conservation Project Site again. When we passed along the road, we saw many trees in the rubber plantations broken in half due to the fierce attack of Typhoon Haiyan. In our conservation project site, four roofs of the thatched-roofed houses were a total loss and three houses were partially damaged. I was deeply distressed by the scene, and also overwhelmed by the destructive power of nature.

How to better protect the primitive traditions and culture of Li people in CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Hong Shui Village and at the same time to ensure effective and sustainable CERS team with student groups at Hongshui Village. Restored houses of Li village. Elder women of Hongshui. Li man playing instrument development? It seems that there is a long, long way to go, but CERS is up entertaining costumed Li women. Interior of Li home. Kitchen area of a Li home. Tattooed Li women in front of thatch-roofed house. to the challenge.

PAGE 18 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 19 Before I tested my luck with the water, we ferried across our gear, computers, mobile phones and more, in water- tight bags attached to four inner tubes tied together into a small raft. Each time, the current and ESCAPE FROM the whirlpool flipped our raft and the “cargo” would turn upside down under the water while being pulled across, attached to a sagging zip line we managed to set up across the river. This same zip line later became SUPER TYPHOON our safety line as I braved my way across the river. If our interns looked at my first crossing with anxiety, there was a second one to round out the excitement. RAMMASUN This additional gap of the river to the bridge head on the opposite bank was only about five meters, but felt by Wong How Man like a hundred. The gap was created when a concrete slap of cement was washed off from its hold. But for Haikou, Hainan someone having to cross it, in this case me, it still provided quite enough trepidation. So I called up enough bravado and jumped into the river again to finish my relay. As I reached the other bank, I seemed to hear faintly cheers from the watching crowd behind me, imagined or real.

Rammasun had come and gone. Random as the name may seem, it was chosen based on a sequence of names submitted by nations in the Pacific affected by typhoons, used in long alphabetical rotation. Rammasun is a Siamese name chosen by the Thais meaning thunder god. The last typhoon carrying the same name hit the region in 2002. The current super typhoon Rammasun left a trail of deaths as it swept through the Philippines. No doubt it would also leave its spicy mark in the history of Hainan, an island in southern China about the size of Taiwan. Though traveling at a pace of only eight knots an hour, it hit Hainan with a force of over 200 kilometers an hour of wind speed, what Chinese meteorologists noted as Level 17 of wind force (60 meters/sec), the worst to hit the China coast in 41 years.

Just two days ago, we were congratulating ourselves that we beat this storm by hours as we reached our project site deep inside the mountains of Hainan Island. Here CERS had been busy restoring twenty houses since 2007, the last remains of such traditional houses of the indigenous Li minority group, now totaling 1.2 million people. Under a roof we were, but then, these were thatch-roofs. The image of the first encounter of the Three Little Pigs came into my mind. And this Rammasun storm promised to blow far fiercer than the Big Bad Wolf.

Luck had it that our village was well hidden inside a cul-de-sac of hills and we passed the night without a hitch when Rammasun hit Hainan. But the rain was pouring down as if we were living under a waterfall. Before dinner, all electricity was out, and we were told by the villagers that it was cut off as precaution in s case a wire shortage could precipitate a fire. About the same time, all our phones went dead.

Hang in there and hold on, we’ll pull you up,” Laohu, our toughest climbing expert, called out to me. But his shout was barely audible, drowned out by the loud water rushing by. He really didn’t have to tell me, as I would never have let go of the safety line. Though my feet were having a tug-of-war with my body and hands, I hung onto “the rope for dear life. The fast running current was sweeping my legs and feet downriver while my body and hands were hanging tightly above.

I had just crossed the angry river, after pulling myself hand over hand on a safety rope above me. Momentarily, but at the time it seemed like eternity, CLOCKWISE FROM LOWER LEFT: I reached the mid-section of a washed off bridge. Both sides of this bridge, Satellite image showing eye of Typhoon previously around 200 meters wide, had been washed off two nights ago. Rammasun approaching Hainan. Huge sign taken down by storm. How Man trying to cross river I knew my carabineer attached to the safety rope could hold the weight of over torrent. Swimming the last part while being 1000kg and the rope itself could bear at least 750kg, whereas I weighed a meager pulled in. Parting shot with CERS team and students. Washed off bridge across river. 70. But the drag from the torrential river was still extremely intimidating. Both Vibram soles of my old shoes, tough to begin with, came off and were carried downriver. Nonetheless, I must try to look tough and undaunted, especially when our student interns were watching from across the bank about a hundred meters away.

PAGE 20 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 21 SOLDIERS, NATURALISTS, EGOISTS AND VISSIONARIES: THE EXPLORERS OF BURMA (PART II) by William Bleisch, PhD Paw Khone on Inle Lake

MAIN: William Griffith (1810-1845), little known outside of Botany, but one of the CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: greatest naturalist-explorer of Burma. Library/meeting house of hat could motivate someone CERS Hongshui site. Students to give up the prospect of a meeting under rainstorm. comfortable life as official Students getting ready for or entrepreneur in colonial debate session. Collapsed Burma in exchange for houses after storm. CERS struggling up trackless mountains and sliding house with path becoming W down bamboo soaked hillsides as an explorer? stream. How Man riding the Next morning was time for a reality check when we Many of the early explorers were “soldier- storm in a hammock. went out to assess the damage of the typhoon. It was diplomats,” with either obvious or hidden then that I understood why our village was named political motives for their expeditions. John Crawford, Major Henry Burney, Henry Yule, Hong Shui, meaning Huge Flood. Gushing water John Anderson, M.D., Archibald R. Colquhoun, came down the hillside and the village stone path Despite all these events, our students were diligently learning from Dr Bleisch and G.J. Younghusband; each of them left we paved a year ago had become a running stream. about the biodiversity of tropical Hainan, having just descended from high valuable documentation of the Burma that The nearby river overflowed its banks and the rice altitude of the Tibetan plateau. The contrast these two experiences offered was existed before British conquest, but each also fields were flooded. Some vacated houses within rather extreme. After we saw some villagers electrofishing in the stream, which played a role in that conquest. the village, already dilapidated, collapsed because is prohibited by law, the students divided into two teams after dinner for a Exploration was not purely a political game, of the torrential rain. debate on this issue, one for and the other against. It was most interesting to see however. The writer George Orwell, whose how each team came up with their reasoning. Ultimately, they all decided such life was forever changed by his time in Burma, matters should be brought up with the children, hoping that they would effect listed four motivations as the chief forces that changes among their parents and other villagers. drive people to become authors: 1) sheer egoism 2) aesthetic enthusiasm 3) historical impulse If swimming across the bridge was hazardous and difficult, that was just the and 4) political purpose, and it seems that beginning of the ordeal for me to get back into the typhoon ravaged city of these motives apply equally to explorers, and particularly to the early explorers of Myanmar. Haikou. I must get there to procure an inflatable boat, as well as enough life- vests so the students could cross the river safely when it would be time for them As the 18th century drew to a close, a new to exit our site in a few days. It took me a relay of five different cars, and a breed of explorer took to the road. Less intent hike past yet another partly washed-off bridge to get into town after dark. What on discovering opportunities for expanding usually would be a three-hour journey had taken me all day. empire or for amassing wealth through trade or conquest, these men (and they were almost exclusively men) were intent on another quest Late that evening, we drove into a city almost unrecognizable, with few lights – discovery with the goal of increasing human and no traffic lights at all. Trees were down left and right, and bill boards had understanding of the world. Charles Darwin been thrown around like paper sheets. Finally, after nine o’clock at night, I (1809-1882) and Alfred Russel Wallace (1823- walked up the steps to the reception desk of the Taihua Hotel where we usually 1913) are two examples of those who were stayed while in Haikou. “We do have rooms, but there is no water, no flushing driven by what I would call the “natural history toilet, no air-con, and only auxiliary lighting,” said the lady at the counter. “By imperative.” They are by far the best known the way, there is no way to serve food, and don’t expect breakfast tomorrow exemplars, but naturalist-explorers were legion, and they combed the globe. morning,” she added.Super typhoon Rammasun had taken out much of the entire city’s utilities. Perhaps no other explorer exemplifies this motivation more purely than William Griffith. s “Just give me the key, I will lay down now with a warm beer,” I replied. Born in 1810, Griffith was educated in

PAGE 22 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 23 LEFT TO RIGHT: Lisu hunter from northern Griffith died in Malacca in 1845 at the age of 35, Ward. Ward must be counted as perhaps the most accomplished explorer and Ward died at the age of 72 while planning further Myanmar in 1937. The region of “Great not of jungle fever, but of hepatitis. In his short certainly the most prolific writer among them all. His career in Asia began in expeditions. Corrugations” in northern Burma and lifetime, he collected about 12,000 plant specimens, 1909 when, at the age of 23, he left a posting as headmaster of the Shanghai northwest Yunnan. This was the realm of as well as extensive collections of insects and fish. Public School to join an expedition to Mantze between Sichuan and Tibet. A Kingdon-Ward’s exploration was pumped up by explorer Frank Kingdon-Ward. Frank Many of these species’ names are still written with year later he launched his first solo expedition, crossing the Salween, Mekong a tremendous dose of self-confidence, if not sheer Kingdon-Ward (1885-1958), the pre- a simple elegy after their Latin binomial name, the and Yangtze gorges, travelling with local guides and porters. He then continued egoism. He certainly had the keen observational and eminent explorer of northern Myanmar. five letter abbreviation ‘Griff.’ It means that they his traverse of the great parallel river gorges with expeditions the following two descriptive skills of an expert naturalist, although were first described by Griffith. It has been said that years to cover both branches of the upper Irrawaddy in British Burma. his descriptions of flowers resemble the aesthetic he collected and described more species than any judgments of an art critic as much as of a botanist. other botanist ever. After the ‘Great War’ ended in 1918, Ward resumed his travels through upper He also had political agenda, a wish to change the Burma, Yunnan, and Sichuan, and later into Sikkim and Tibet. Expeditions world, but it was with relatively modest ambitions. Griffith left his papers and collections to the British continued in Burma until 1942, when he escaped the advancing Japanese troops It is true that he did do a bit of mapping on the side East India Company. They were transported to by walking on foot out of Burma to India through the Himalayas. During the for the British government, but his main political England and are today housed in the herbarium at war, he taught jungle survival to British soldiers in India with Jim Corbett, the purpose was the goal of sharing the plants he Kew Garden. His private journals were published big game hunter who later turned conservationist. When the fighting ended, collected with his fellow Englishmen and the world. posthumously as Notice of William Griffith from Ward worked for the U.S. government locating transport Dakota aircraft that the Proceedings of the Linnean Society: with a had crashed going over the infamous Hump. As soon as it was possible again, Above all else, for Kingdon-Ward exploration was at few extracts from his private correspondence and his regular expeditions resumed. They continued for twelve more years. its heart an aesthetic endeavor, a way to experience Selection of papers on the hill tracts between Assam life deeply and to observe and communicate the medicine at London University, but he showed an early interest in botany, and Burmah. Among all the explorers and plant collectors that crisscrossed this region, no one beauty of hidden wonders. For him the explorer’s publishing his first paper at the age of 22. As soon as he finished his studies, he else spent as much time as Kingdon-Ward in the field, most of it with a small path was also a path to self-fulfillment and spiritual sailed for India in May 1832, with an appointment as an Assistant-Surgeon in Other explorer-naturalists followed. Adolf Bastian, local team travelling light and on foot. And yet, during all this period, Ward was growth. “No man can look upon the humblest the East India Company. His first assignment was on the coast of Tenasserim, like Griffith, seems to have been motivated mainly writing prolifically. The world saw 25 of his books published between 1910 and flower, the dullest butterfly, the rudest shell by the annexed by the British Empire only six years before. by intense curiosity. There the similarity ends, for 1960, including 13 travel books and 4 collections of essays. strand – nay, no man can look upon earth and sky, Bastian’s interest was focused on culture; covering the commonest rocks, and birds, and beasts, nor In 1835 he moved to the Bengal Presidency, and was dispatched to inspect the archeology, religion and history. His rambling Why did he do it? Kingdon-Ward himself addressed his motivations as clearly the everyday clouds, and not feel the better for it. “Tea-forests” of Assam, to research the botany of the district and above all to account of A Journey in Burma (1861-1862), written as any explorer ever has. Early on in his career he wrote: “To traverse this To these things he is accustomed; but perhaps if find the source of the wild tea there, which, it was hoped, might prove to be in his native German, is much more readable than furrowed crust-belt, from the Yangtze in the east to the Irrawaddy in the west; he reverence them, greater things shall be revealed a way to break the Chinese monopoly on this lucrative commodity. Then in Griffith’s terse journal reports, but they are still true to cross the great rivers and climb the great divides, was my ambition. Its object, unto him.” 1836, he did something remarkable. He travelled from Assam overland through to the natural-history imperative. to collect plants, and the seeds of plants which might be introduced to England, the Burmese dominion of Ava, still hostile territory for a citizen of the British and to throw any light I could on the origin of this break-through…. And so it The history of explorers of Myanmar covers at least Empire, and from there he continued down the Irrawaddy to Rangoon. Bastian, with his often humorous account of his seemed to me worth while… if thereby one might shed one single ray of light three centuries and spans the range of types from adventures, is a clear forbearer of Otto E. Ehlers, on the tangled past, or reveal one tiny plant to those who love flowers. For the nerdy naturalist to egotistical socialite, from soldier These first early journeys were the beginning of a series of remarkable journeys. another peripatetic German. Ehler’s stage by stage plant collector’s job is to uncover the hidden beauties of the world, that others diplomat to spiritual aesthete. They have each left a Griffith eventually covered almost the entire extent of the East India Company’s record of his travels on horseback through Burma, may share his joy…” record of the land at a time before satellite photos possessions outside of peninsular India. He also ventured considerably beyond, northern Thailand, the Shan States and Yunnan and the Discovery channel, when to explore meant travelling throughout Assam, Burma, Bhutan and Afghanistan. Everywhere he from 1890 to 1892 provides detailed descriptions In fact, Ward was paid to collect the seeds of hardy plants from the eastern to experience life first hand with all its hardships, went, he collected plants, amassing enormous collections for places that had of costumes and customs, with many interesting Himalayas, so that they might be introduced to the gardens of England. He dangers and inspirations. Although the goals and never before been explored by a botanist. insights into the transportation and trade of the was very good at his job. He is remembered as the person who introduced 28 circumstances of exploration are quite different day. Ehler, however, was not an ethnologist or a popular flowers and shrubs to the gardens of England and the world, including today, the drive to experience and to communicate Griffith’s official report to the Government of India, dated 12th July 1837, is naturalist. He was writing for a popular audience, Meconopsis betonicifolia, the first Blue Poppy brought into cultivation, and is still the defining character of any explorer. filled with useful information for his employers, who were above all business not as a recorder of objective observations, but to Rhododendron Wardii, Acer Wardii, Lilium Wardii, Gaultheria Wardii, and men. He reported on native tea, he reported on the gem trade. At one point he amuse. Most of the text is about the journey itself Cotoneaster Wardii. wrote; “Of the Petroleum … we have ample experience from its universal use by and especially about Ehler’s relationship with his the Burmese, that it is a valuable product both as affording light, and preserving mutinous hired hands and others that he meets As much as he loved flowers, however, he was much prouder of his Royal in a very great degree all wooden structures from rot and insects.” Remarkably, along the road. Above all, the book is about himself. Medal from the Royal Geographical Society than of his three gold medals this was written several years before the invention of kerosene (distilled from “I had, before I became a traveler, no idea what kind for horticulture. He once wrote that his profession was to collect seeds and Burmese “earth oil”) and before the opening of the first commercial oil wells in of talents lay latently hidden in me and only waited herbarium material, but the real work of exploration was his hobby. In one of the west in far away Pennsylvania. to be awakened. In my capacity as student, hussar, his first books, In the Land of the Blue Poppy: Travels of a Naturalist in Eastern and owner of knight’s estate in Hinter-Pommern, I Tibet (published in 1913), Ward, then about 26, mused about his future. He Griffith’s account also provides useful information of another nature. “In had no idea that I was an excellent culinary artist, hoped then that he could continue to explore “the Land of Deep Corrosions” concluding this part of my report, I may perhaps be permitted to advert to the a cunning quack doctor, a sly diplomat, and a born as he called the region in northern Burma and Yunnan. “Convinced as I am question of the possibility of transporting a body of armed men in the Burmese proprietor of a show booth, yes that I even had the that with its wonderful wealth of alpine flowers, its numerous wild animals, its dominions by this route…. it must be remembered, that from the 1st of April stuff to be a peddler. Because of all these good strange tribes, and its complex structure it is one of the most fascinating regions to the 1st November, these hills cannot be traversed except by their native characteristics I managed to get through countries of Asia, I believe I should be content to wander over it for years. To climb its inhabitants, without incurring great risk from the usual severe form of jungle that were otherwise closed…” It is as if he went rugged peaks, and tramp its deep snows, to fight its storms of wind and rain, fever.” exploring sheerly in order to collect the kind of to roam in the warmth of its deep gorges within sight and sound of its roaring amusing anecdotes so useful to the accomplished rivers, and above all to mingle with its hardy tribesmen, is to feel the blood Yet, despite these occasionally strategic asides, Griffith’s life was dedicated to socialite that he was. Ehler’s light-hearted, even coursing through the veins, every nerve steady, every muscle taut.” the advancement of natural history, and above all to botany. Everything in his slapstick, accounts of his adventures make it easy to journals is recorded matter-of-factly; even the difficult crossing from British overlook his sheer, unadulterated egoism. Looking back from the tail end of his life, Kingdon-Ward should have felt that Assam into then independent Burma or the discovery of rhino or tiger tracks. he had achieved his wish. At the age of 66, after more than 20 expeditions in There is little room here for personal or poetic musings. The only excitement Ehler’s popular writing style and his unusual mode the region, he returned for what turned out to be his last expedition in Burma, expressed is reserved for plants, as when describing the unusual morphology of travel –with a small team of local hired-hands and now newly independent. On that trip, he once again travelled to Myitkyina and of a new species of Bauhinia, when exclamation marks punctuate the Latin no troops – are both precursors to the greatest of all the Irrawaddy Confluence and on into the mountains to the north, climbing anatomical terms. the European explorers of Burma; Frank Kingdon- up to over 3,000 meters elevation on foot. On April 8, 1958 Frank Kingdon-

PAGE 24 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 25 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Children of the Mergui Islands. Ocean of the GEM OF Andaman Sea. Dilapidated village houses. SOUTHERN Constructing a dug-out boat of the Moken people. ubiquitously nice, but living amongst inordinate amounts of garbage. Tourists are often led to MYANMAR believe in a fantasy of a native people, lost in time, by Huang Zheng Yu desperately clinging to their ancient ways, and struggling valiantly against the violent oppression of government and modernization. The truth I believe lone in my hotel room overlooking the serene Andaman Sea in is a lot more nuanced. Even the proudest people, Kawthaung, entry port into the vast Mergui archipelago, in the when introduced to modern luxuries, such as beer southern tip of Myanmar, I write to array memories of a month or coca cola or motor boat or television, prefer them gone by in a whirlwind. The Mergui islands, comprised of to their old favorites. They like us, must learn to more than 800 islands, is perhaps the last pristine, undiscovered live anew with nature. Many times, they took less island chain in Asia. It’s a mere 20 minutes by boat from Thailand, and three from nature simply because they didn’t have the A means to take more, but empowered with modern hours drive from Phuket. The water is crystal blue with shades of jadish green, and sandy beaches are a commodity on almost every island, laconically assigned technology, they like us, need to re-learn their roles three digit numbers for name by the government. Most if not all of the islands and responsibilities, to their past and their future. are uninhabited, and though there are recent murmurs of business magnates Seeing the Moken children swim playfully amongst from around the world buying up islands to build luxury resorts rivaling those plastic bags and plastic wrappers, I could not help of Maldives’; the process is still in its infancy, and the islands are largely left think, ‘who will protect them?’ to a plethora of birds, lizards, monkeys, and other odd creatures that somehow made the hundreds of miles of swim to claim their dominion. Are the Mokens or for that matter a developing nation allowed to make the same mistakes as us? For a month I roamed the islands. I stayed on three islands open for business. staple fish like salmon or tuna bred in fish farms, akin to the To go through the same excesses until they discover The Myanmar Andaman Resort, in operations since 2005, is considered the few land animals we have long domesticated and learned for themselves the ill effects of overuse and under only true island resort in the Mergui archipelago. The other two islands are quite to breed and eat. Once some of the fish that inhabit our protection of their natural resources? Which parts close to Kawthaung, given to Thai developers, and made into casino resorts oceans are gone, they are gone forever. Who will protect of their culture will they maintain and which parts catering exclusively to Thai gamblers boated in from Thailand on a daily basis. them from us? discard, in their and our unstoppable march to I made my way around on a diving boat chartered from Thailand, and enjoyed modernity? Who is to protect them from us? And six days of four dives daily. I then ventured around on a sailing boat, a cabin A key aim of the trip was to see the Moken people, sea who is to protect them from themselves? chartered yacht with an Austrian captain trying his first season in Myanmar gypsies who for hundreds of years operated without after years of operating out of Phuket. The scenery, like elsewhere in Myanmar, permanent settlements, moving from one island to another With tastes of succulent lobsters and earthy is one of life as it has always been, betrayed by hints of seismic change to in search of fish and fresh water. Now many of them are barracudas still fresh in my mouth, with a mug of come in new hotel constructions and strange new foreign faces. The moment domesticated, coerced by the government to dwell on Myanmar beer snuggly in my hand, I ponder these will be brief, before the onslaught of business interests, foreign and domestic, designated islands. When we finally visited a Moken village philosophical questions only as a spoiled tourist upon these luscious green emeralds dotting the sea, trying their hands at the last we were greeted with curious eyes and hip hop music. This can, in the luxury of his air conditioned hotel room undeveloped market in Asia. wasn’t altogether a surprise, as a previous trek into the wild overlooking a world about to change forever. terrains of Northern Myanmar We stopped at numerous diving sites but each site was progressively more had me assaulted by an endless disappointing in its scarcity of big fish and advertised biodiversity. The dive visage of banana groves and master chalked it up to dynamite fishing, killing fish and ocean mammals alike the competing acoustics of and severely damaging coral reefs. Every day we would encounter fishing Beyonce Knowles blaring out boats, vessels only slightly larger than our diving boat but crammed with a crew of a tiny wooden shed and the of more than a dozen hunting for squid or fish or crab. It became my adapted chirping of myriad indigenous routine to jump onto each boat and check out the various catch of the day, and birds. Islands we visited on upon a delightful find, trade beer or coca cola for the bounties of the sea. The the sailing trip, devoid of fishermen themselves commented on the increasing difficulty of catching big inhabitants, greeted us with fish. signs of modernity in the form of debris and broken bottles As I watched blue ringed angel fish angle in and out of their colorful redoubt, left behind by wandering largely oblivious to an otherworldly visitor enwrapped in heat retaining wet fishermen. suit affixed with a tank of oxygen, I could not but ask myself, ‘who will protect them?’ The fisheries of the world are facing catastrophic decline. Scientists So it was the same in the estimate that in mere decades, most people will no longer taste wild fish, only Moken village, the people

PAGE 26 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 27 and Chinese style You Tiao. As we walked past a home, I could see the lady owner had a tiny pet monkey, so we stopped to check it out. This must be a well domesticated macaque monkey as it was very calm and allowed me to handle it. Soon it was over my shoulder just as Zhengyu came in through the fence.

“Put it on me, put it on me,” Zhengyu quipped with his usual big smile. I took the monkey and set it over the Harvard cap that Zhengyu was wearing. “I hope he won’t pee on me,” said Zhengyu. As if on cue, the monkey did just that while raising its butt a little. Just at that moment, Bill, another Harvard guy, came in and snapped, “Well, that monkey must be from Yale.” The lady of the house felt really embarrassed and apologetic. She took Zhengyu’s cap and went wash it down before returning it. As for Zhengyu, his well shaved head had to take the torching sun for the time being.

At every morning market where we could buy some fish, our three biologists got excited and A Burmese Narrow-headed Softshell Turtle, as our chose from the assortment of species. Later they scientists identified it. Very little is known about this would measure these fish at a stainless steel lab EXPLORING THE turtle, so its status is not well documented. Local table we had devised on the stern of the upper fishermen said they may catch one every four to five deck. What’s remaining usually went to the pot. CHINDWIN UPPER years. This specimen yielded over six viss or 10 kilos of meat. They wanted to sell all for 5000 Kyat per viss. On one foggy morning, our boat pulled anchor We bought the best part for 25,000 Kyats, including the and slowly cruised upriver. Suddenly we heard REACHES head Aung wanted to dissect and keep as specimen on a loud speaker blasting Burmese religious by Wong How Man the boat. The entire turtle would have been worth about music, and through the fog and mist came a Kalewa, Myanmar USD100. large parade of boats, escorting a larger barge decorated with flowers and ornaments. It was a For dinner, we had turtle soup. Unlike chicken, the religious rite which went on from time to time. white meat is more tender than the dark. As Zhengyu, On land, initiation of novice monks is conducted We are late, we are late!” exclaimed Berry as she rushed up to the our guest, did not want any dessert, he asked for fruit. after a parade to the monastery, whereas here on upper deck of the boat. “What are we late for?” I questioned. “It He chose papaya among others, but immediately the river it is done by boat. is already ten past five and we almost forgot our Happy Hour,” our kitchen staff said that was not recommended. shouted Berry. Indeed, the ritual of Happy Hour on the HM According to local lore, eating papaya with turtle can In the evening, Aung would choose a nice Explorer is taken quite seriously. After all, our boat comes with a be detrimental or at least bringing back luck. location where a small stream flowed into the rather impressive library bar. Chindwin and set up our bat nets. Just in the At Maukkataw Village, we went on shore again to third evening, we caught six bats of two species. “Twenty minutes later, just as I was enjoying my Whiskey Coke, our Happy Hour check out the local morning market. It was so small Once the net was set up, the team had to go was again cut short. There was a sudden commotion as our boat passed another that not much could be bought except some vegetables s check it every half hour. In one of those nondescript sandy shore. “It looks like this crowd at the bank is slaughtering a cow,” said Professor Lau. They were waving at our odd looking boat as we passed by. Everyone had their binoculars trained on a rock by the bank where the slaughtering was taking place. Someone at the bow called out, “I think it is a sheep.” I went to the bridge and asked the captain to turn the boat around. “Be great to have some lamb steak for our new BBQ grill,” I told everyone.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Just as our boat got nearer, Aung, our Burmese biologist in the team, called out, CERS field biologists Mr. Aung, Dr. Bleisch and Su “The skin is way too thick for a sheep, I think it is a turtle.” Turtle indeed it was. exploring a river off the Chindwin. A bat caught in our As our boat got closer we waved at the crowd and soon a small boat came over net. A local orchestra performing on the HM Explorer. to take some of us to shore. While I watched from our boat, I could see someone A bamboo raft handler. Bamboo raft of the Chindwin raise high the large shell of a turtle so all of us could see it. River. HM Explorer moored off the Chindwin.

PAGE 28 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 29 CLOCKWISE FROM BELOW: lapses Aung went back after dinner with over an hour span and the net was torn Dr. Bleisch, Aung and Su inspecting fish at badly, with many bats struggling to get loose. Besides measuring these bats local market. Shells of freshwater turtles along and studying their outward features, Aung also dissected one of them for study. the Chindwin. Dissecting a Burmese Narrow- Mostly, they were released quickly after being measured and identified. headed Softshell Turtle head. A river parade to raise money for a Buddhist monstery. Bamboo raft-building along the river bank. Fruits in the After three and a half days of cruising and passing through many sandbars local market. during the low water season, we reached the confluence of the Chindwin with the Yue River, half day north of Mawlaik. Along the way there were many other heavier boats stuck at difficult sections with shallow passage. The Yue is a sizable tributary stream with headwater on the Indian side near the southern Naga Hills. This will be our stop for the next two days as we explore toward the Indian border by water. As the shaft for our Zodiac is still too deep, we used out of proportion for such an abnormal mutations. such journeys a year, with each barge/raft made up of ten to twenty thousand local flat bottom small boats to go upstream. bamboos. Zaw Win’s raft has ten thousand bamboos and can yield 1,500,000 When we got back to our mother boat, the crew had kyat. That is equivalent to over 1,500 USD per run, three runs a year, a hefty Halfway up the Yue River, our boat driver tried to explain to us something taken out the drive-shaft and propeller for a much- sum in such a remote village. unusual. Gesturing at the hill above the right bank, he seemed to be saying needed repair of a twisted shaft, incurred during something important. Chaw Su asked a few times and finally figured out it was one of the few times we were grounded on sandbars If what I saw of similar bamboo barges in the 1980s on the Yangtze River is any about an oil well. We got ashore and hiked up a gentle hill. A flock of Grey- while negotiating shallower water over the last few indicator, such rafts/barges will soon become obsolete in another decade or less, headed green parakeets flew off from one tree to another. There may have been days. A large fire was started on the shore using as more efficient road transportation, as well as motorized boat traffic, would over fifty in the flock, making a loud noise. After perhaps fifteen minutes of wood and husks to heat up the shaft for the repair. one day overtake this age-old trade. hiking, we got to a small opening in the bush. When we were ten meters away, Before midnight, the repair was done and the shaft we could already smell the foul odor of oil. mounted and connected back to the engine. Momentarily Aung, Bill and Su (a young Burmese biologist) came back from another full day outing up the Yue River, interviewing hunters and collecting Gushing out of some simple metal piping was water with oil. This “oil well” The following day, we launched both of our Zodiac specimens. They had with them two turtle shells and a live catfish weighing was more like an oil pit, but it was said that it was drilled down to some three inflatable boats to explore further up the Chindwin. about one kilo. Such a catfish can grow to over one hundred kilo. After our hundred meters in depth. A sign in Burmese read “Beware of Fire”. When This is the same river along which the British army scientists studied the fish for a while, it went straight to our kitchen as tonight’s asked, the driver said the well had been abandoned since 1970. It nonetheless fled upcountry before finally retreating into British dinner. As Bill walked past me, he quipped that they had seen hornbills fly by brought back to mind the ancient national wealth of an oil-rich country, with India during the Second World War as the Japanese during the day. He knew I’ve been craving to see one of these majestic birds some historians noting its usage for centuries, and later during excavation of the army advanced northwards from Rangoon. At the of Myanmar and must be trying to tease me. Disappointed as I was, I snapped British colonial times. Today, off-shore oil and gas of Myanmar are still under small village of Tanga, we stopped to check out the back, “Where’s the Hornbill, I am only seeing a horny Bill.” contention of modern countries eager to get the much needed energy. surroundings. Bill won’t mind any sneer, as this reconnaissance up the Yue River has yielded Burmah Oil Company, at the turn of the last century, was the most productive and “It takes two months to assemble enough bamboo one of the richest sites yet with multiple possibilities for biological studies into profitable oil company throughout the colonial empire, a predecessor of today’s and build one,” said Zaw Win Aung standing on the future. Unfortunately for this trip, due to constraint of time, we have to start British Petroleum Group. It was around that time that the marine and naval fleet his bamboo raft, which measured maybe fifteen back and retrace our route. of the British Empire turned from using coal to oil. Being capital intensive in its meters in length. “From here floating down to exploration and refining, the Scotts brought in much needed funds and also took Monywa should take around twelfth days now but By now, five of us in a seven member team, those who are not insulated from much of its later profit, as then Burmah Oil was headquartered in Scotland. Oil during the rainy season only three to four days,” the outside world, have read the story in the current issue of Vanity Fair, with produced in former Burma supplied all of India’s needs for kerosene. Zaw Win answered my many questions. Tanga a lurid article on Rupert Murdoch and his estranged wife Wendy Deng. Maybe village is near the Indian border on the Chindwin in time, our Myanmar partners would also be interested in such gossip from the While along this tributary, Aung collected a barking deer’s tail, as their boat River of upper Myanmar. While each bamboo raft rest of the world. But hopefully not, as they are better off without such frivolous stopped to investigate two skins taken downriver on another local boat. We also these days come with a small gas motor, they use it information that has consumed some of our lives. saw many albino water buffaloes, six in all over perhaps four village hamlets, far rarely except when negotiating around tough bends and fast currents. Two rudders, one in front and one As we anchored again in Kalewa, there was another boat half our size anchored to the back help steer the raft. At times bow would next to us. On it was a traveling Burmese orchestra. They would go from town become stern, and vice versa. to town and perform during festivals, religious gatherings, or civil ceremonies. We invited them onboard for a performance after dinner. With multiple drums, “The bamboos are harvested from the mountain and two intricate sets of gongs, cymbals and a flute-like wind instrument, the nine- brought down by bullock carts. They are sold to us member team played some very traditional music. While it sounded new and for 100 Kyats each and by the time we reach market strange to our ears, I could see that our Captain, First Mate and even Aung was they go for 250,” Zaw Win told me, revealing the enjoying it thoroughly. Some of my crew even clapped along with the rhythm margin they make in carrying out such work. In his and the beat. village there may be five to six families engaged with bamboo rafting. Each raft requires four to five I recalled my own childhood in the 1950s when street musicians were popular persons on board. Life on the raft is necessarily long in Hong Kong but gradually became obsolete and nowhere to be found when and leisurely. At night they would tie up and cook more contemporary music took over. Hopefully, this would not be the case for their meal onboard. In all, they may make three Myanmar, a country that has been slow to change.

PAGE 30 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 31 The cranes are still around, relatively abundant at the four to five usual gathering sites during the day. Taking pictures of cranes is no longer challenging, especially photographing flocks of these stately birds when they forage on the ground. Even dancing cranes have become mundane. Instead I have refined my focus on just pairing cranes, especially when they are in flight. Such concentration provides much better results, and thus rewarding as well. To yield defining photographic images, I must brave the bitter cold for extended period. This year, I am just partly fortunate in that sense, though the geese offered up a good show.

The many deer in the forest has become an added incentive, especially when we ran into stags with huge sets of antlers. With Ando guiding, we located a tree where an Ural Owl was holed up. Closing in with my 300mm lens, I captured its open and closed eyes as the rising sun cast its first light on the tree.

While looking for Sea Eagles, we also chanced upon a Red Fox by the frozen beach. It must be very hungry, devouring a dead harbor seal while scavenger ravens stood nearby. Perhaps obliterated by the sound of waves pounding the coast, I was able to get close to within five meters of the fox before it gingerly turned and gradually walked away. As the fox retreated, it buried its nose into the snow to clean off its bloodstained mouth. It was an HOKKAIDO SEQUEL unforgettable show of nature, and a photo op not likely to be repeated. by Wong How Man One evening, a special guest checked in. Masato Nagai is a Rock singer, guitarist, and avid birder. His bird book Kushiro, Japan is into its seventh edition with almost 700 bird species listed for Japan. With him is a young Japanese singer. After dinner and by the fireplace, Ando and Masato started jamming. I felt privileged to listen to this impromptu performance. One special song was written by Masato’s partner, and she sang it with a most wonderful clean “Eastern Hokkaido is part of Alaska, and western Hokkaido, part and clear voice. of China. This is what happened when the two continents split off a bit and merged to become today’s Hokkaido,” Ando tried to tell A mountain man, a forest man, a snow man, Ando San is all of that. With luck, I shall return another winter, me about the prehistory of this huge island to the north of Japan. maybe even before he has a chance to visit Manchuria. We were again heading to the coast off the east end of Hokkaido, hoping to photograph the most beautiful Steller’s Sea Eagle. It Here is for sharing, Ando’s jam session: http://youtu.be/E4cmOwnRLbg was not to be. The ice packs, floating south from the coast of Siberia, are late this year. Perhaps a colder than usual winter delayed its breaking off. The eagles migrate with these ice packs. CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Snow swans in a hot spring. A pair of Red- Ando and I have become good friends, since this is my fourth trip crowned Crane taking flight. A Snow Owl in a to Hokkaido and the third time that I stayed at his barn-turned- tree hole. Deer in the forest. Fox devouring a seal. Fox cleaning his mouth. hostel house. Like vacationers returning each year to tropical paradise, or ski slopes of Europe or even eastern Hokkaido, I come here to be in the snow, to be with nature and its wildlife. I am from Hokkaido. That’s how I answer when asked if I were from Japan during my yearly visit to Alaska,” Whenever Ando had a full house of guests, some ten to twelve said Ando San with a smile. This is not unlike how people, he would give an illustrated lecture with his photographs. Texans are not just American, or Taiwanese not being For this year, he had asked me in advance to prepare a talk on Chinese. “In fact, even within Hokkaido, we are two Manchuria, a place he has aspired to visit for a very long time. I “divided group depending whether someone is from the east or promised to invite him along during my next foray to that border west, just like the geology which somewhat affected the flora and with Russia. His dream and romance of that arctic region came fauna is divided in the middle,” explained Ando emphatically. from the Kurosawa film on Siberia.

PAGE 32 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 33 CERS IN THE FIELD CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Danchen, CERS Adivsor, with How Man. Sao Sanda visiting CERS Exhibit House at Inle Lake. CERS caving team in action. University students visiting 1939 Exhibit House in Shek O Hong Kong.

a six-month intern for her final semester of studies.

n CERS caving team conducted scientific caving activities in Yunnan including Bao Shan, Gaoligongshan and Wenshan.

n Danchen, former Vice Party Secretary of Tibet and Yunnan as well as a CERS n CERS has its board meeting at the newly she contributed many old family pictures as Advisor, met with How Man to discuss future restored Exhibit House in Shek O. The three- part of a historical exhibit. CERS activities in Tibetan region. story building by the beach, built and formerly owned by Shek O Village chief, is dated from the n Dr. Bill Bleisch took part an international n CERS started supporting Dongpu pre-World War II era of 1939. Exhibits featuring action planning workshop at Bo Ao for the Tsengteng Monastery, an ancient and the important projects and milestones of the critically endangered Hainan Gibbon. remote monastery in Bienba County of organization are on display. In July we also eastern Tibet. hosted the first group of 25 university students n CERS signed a Memorandum of at the site. Understanding with the Community-based n We regret that long-time CERS friend Fr NEWS Tourism Training Centre in Luang Namtha Alfonse Savioz of the Grand St Bernard n Professor Yu Shuenn-Der of the Academia Lao and delivered a training course on Mission passed away at age 94. CERS has Sinica of Taiwan joined CERS as a Research wildlife knowledge and conservation there made a documentary film about the Associate. for local tour guides and government mission’s pioneering work in Tibet. officials. n Sanda Simms, a former princess of the Shan n Dr. Don Betz, President of University of State, returned to Myanmar from the UK and n Suolang Dongcuo, a Tibetan graduate Central Oklahoma visited CERS in Hong visited CERS Exhibit House at Inle Lake where student from Bard College, joined CERS as Kong.

CERS IN THE MEDIA

l CNN online story on How Man and CERS. l Esquire Magazine in Hong Kong. l How Man delivered his annual lecture to the Royal Geographic Society in Hong Kong with a topic “What’s Left to Explore?” l How Man lectured to student of Diocesan Boys’ School in Hong Kong, the Columbia University Alumni Association, and for Omega in Shanghai. l Yunnan TV, Kunming TV aired programs on CERS caving efforts within the province. l Spring City Evening News of Kunming published CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: an article on CERS caving activities. Expedition team in front of CERS project site in Gyantse Tibet. Adrian Fu on TOP TO BOTTOM: motorcycle escapade. How Man with monks. Campsite in northern Tibet. CERS CNN featuring CERS. Esquire interns after Snub-nosed Monkey. Dante with crab harvest in Tai Tam Hong Magazine on CERS. Lecturing Kong. CERS archery team at Lisu Crossbow Festival. Packing to go home. at DBS Hong Kong.

PAGE 34 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 35 THANK YOU THANK YOU

n The Shun Hing Group made a major support to CERS with a n Thank you to the current patrons for renewing their annual special arrangement such that a newly acquired 1939 house in support to CERS. Shek O of Hong Kong would be used exclusively by CERS for n future exhibits. This is in addition to the Shun Hing Education Chang Bai, a retired life-long fisherman of Tai Tam Bay in and Charity Trust which makes an annual substantial donation Hong Kong donated his sampan boat to CERS for education to CERS. purpose. n n During a visit by How Man to Switzerland, Omega president The Jebsen Company continues its support of beer, wine Stephen Urquhart donated a 1939 Omega watch from their and beverage to CERS. museum collection to grace the CERS 1939 Exhibit House. n Coca-Cola China donated beverage and prizes for the n Eu Yan Sang continued as corporate patron as well as Annual Lisu Crossbow Festival co-organized by CERS and the support on research of the Musk Deer. Baima Snow Mountain Nature Reserve in Yunnan.

n Erich Beck and Grace Young of Great Bites Candy made special CERS label mints and candies to promote protection LEFT TO RIGHT: of the Irrawaddy Dolphins. Coca-Cola supporting Lisu Crossbow Festival. Stephen Urquhart, President of Omega, with 1939 watch as gift. Chang Bai donating n Eric Xin became a new CERS patron. fishing boat. Great Bites CERS Dolphin mint and candies.

CURRENT PATRONS Hong Kong l Betty Tsui l Zhengyu Huang l Gigi Ma Arnoux l Patrick Wang l Barry Lam l Dr Joseph Chan l Dora Wu l Derrick Quek l William E. Connor l Eric Xin l Oliver Silsby l William Fung l Sonny Yau l Chote Sophonpanich l Victor Hsu l Wellington & Virginia Yee l Hans Michael Jebsen l Billy Yung l Anish Lalvani Corporate l Christabel & Ricky Lau l Bull Capital Partners l Danny L. Lee & Amy T.Y. Fung Overseas l City Developments Limited l Afonso Ma l Eric Chen l Coca-Cola l Albert Ma l Betsy Cohen l Dragonair l Patrick Ma l Judith-Ann Corrente l Eu Yan Sang Int’l Ltd l David Mong l Ingrid Ehrenberg & Joe Chan l Jebsen & Co. Ltd. l Daniel Ng’s Family l Richard Friedman l Omega l Dr William So l Ester Goelkel l Shun Hing Group l James & Mary Tien l Joel Horowitz l Toppan Vite Limited

A subscription to this newsletter is US$100 for three issues. CERS’ MISSION: All proceeds support CERS projects. The mission of the China Exploration and Research Please contact us directly if you are interested in signing up. Society is to enrich the understanding of our cultural and See the bottom of page two for contact details. natural heritage.

The production of China Explorers is made possible through the generous contributions of Toppan Vite Limited

PAGE 36 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY