The dish that keeps the office here connected and lets me keep blogging. I climbed up on the roof to get this shot with the traditional rural house and homegarden in  the background. There was a time when people went overseas and didn't know if they would ever come back or hear from their loved ones. Even my grandmother left family behind to get on a ship to come to Canada and it was years before she got a chance to go back and visit. Now its so easy for me to communicate with anyone anywhere. But I also think it makes it harder to focus on just 'being' in a place. I'm in Haiti,  but I'm also  thinking about  Burma,  Burundi,    Canada.

This also is farmer field school. Farmers making observations together in the field to solve real problems that they are concerned with. As I mentioned the other day, the idea is to put more emphasis on farmer knowledge and less on trainer knowledge. This is a hard habit to break, and there's a well established hierarchy of those with more education having more to say.

I looked out my window this morning when I first got up and saw this mist. I grabbed my camera and ran outside basically in my pyjamas because morning mist like this doesn't last long. Turns out I had about 5 minutes before the mist started to burn off. I don't know what real photographers say, but it seems to me that the beginning and end of the day are some of the most interesting times to take pictures but the light conditions change so fast it's hard to capture. Not that this picture qualifies as 'interesting'. In my imagination it looked much better than it actually turned out here.

This is farmer field school. Or at least a part of it called the AgroEcosystems Analysis. The idea is that farmers observe real field situations, and draw their own conclusions, and learn from each other. Among other things, the system is designed to break out of the mentality that organizations do all the teaching and farmers do all the learning. Here you see the result of the staff testing the idea, making observations and drawings of a plant in the field, in this case, velvet bean. I took a picture of the field where this observation was done just a few days back, for those that are keeping track.

If this looks like a picture of a bunch of grass, that's because it is a picture of a bunch of grass. Otherwise known as a forage bank. One of the big causes of deforestation here, or perhaps one of the reasons it is so difficult to reforest is because of animal grazing, especially goats. So creating alternate food sources for animals so they aren't tempted to eat trees is one of the objectives. This is not a new idea. Forage banks have been around and successfully used around the world. But not a widely adopted practice here. At least not on the scale required to also allow reforestation. 

Every time I visit, if I am able, I visit this farmer's agroforestry plot. Basically I've been following this tree planting and this farmer for the past 6 or 7 years. It's fun to see the trees growing and talk to the farmer. It's kind of our thing. In fact this time he came by the office and asked me when I would be free to go see the plot. He keeps planting more trees in the remaining spaces. You might remember from previous blog entries that the soil in this spot is not great, one of the reasons he decided to plant trees, but but they continue to grow and are starting to be a small forest. If you look at the tops of the branches you might see that there's a lot of resprouting after Tropical Storm Sandy

I did catch up on my sleep. Not that I'm going to make this entire blog about my sleep habits. But on the first night I went to bed around 8 pm and slept right through til morning. It's very peaceful here at night. If you're looking to catch up on your sleep this is definitely the place to do it.

Now everytime I pass by these fields, I am compelled to look and see how the soil conservation and tree planting we did on a massive scale as part of earthquake response is holding up. Two years later there is considerable loss, as would be expected, but there are a few pockets where farmers have been able to protect their fields from marauding goats and other troubles. This field in the foreground is one. I don't know if you can really see but there are a bunch of trees on the first hill that are doing pretty well, and 3-5 metres in height.

About the whole physical readiness thing. The reason I didn't score 100% in that category is because I went to bed at  2:30 am this morning, and my alarm was set for 3:00 am in order to get to the airport on time. You read that right. I felt kind of silly trying to sleep at all.

I'm not looking for sympathy though--just to be clear it was completely self-inflicted. I'm sleeping on the plane. I'm probably sleeping as I type this.

Five days at home is all I get in November. I'm back at the airport again waiting for an early morning flight to Haiti. Ideally I would like to have more time between trips to recover and prepare for the next foray, but this is just the way the scheduling happened to work out this time. Keeps me on my toes I guess. I'm mostly ready. To me there are three levels of readiness:
1. Physically ready--is my laundry done? am I caught up on my sleep, do I have my travel documents? etc
2. Tactically ready--is all the scheduling lined up for the events/activities that are suppose to happen in the upcoming days? are training or discussion materials prepared? are the right people prepared to take part?
3. Emotionally ready--less tangible obviously--are the mental batteries recharged? am I ready to give the visit 100%? Am I eager to get out in the field, or am I kind of wishing I could sleep in and have a leisurely Saturday morning breakfast?

For this particular trip I would give the following ratings:
1. Physical readiness--90%
2. Tactical readiness--85%
3. Emotional readiness--70%

The Korean Air in-flight magazine has an article on Burma that describes the changes going on in an almost off-hand matter-of fact kind of way. It makes me feel like my speculation about change is out of touch. And the article also recommends that you book your hotel well in advance because there are so many tourists pouring in. I know that a friend of mine who is a travel agent says it's one of the more popular destinations at the moment. Maybe someone who knows more about the country can comment, but I see no evidence that things are going back to the way they were. And the evidence I do see (including inflight magazines) seems to point to massive and sudden change. I just get this kind of gut feeling that no one either inside or outside is ready for what is happening or about to happen. Like this is truly is a pivotal moment in the history of the country and the region.

Many citrus orchards all over northern Thailand are in serious decline. I've heard different explanations, but at least one factor involves a disease known as citrus greening. Maybe someone else more knowledgeable can elaborate, but this tree and hundreds of others in this plantation are victim, and apparently once the disease reaches this stage, it only has one or two years left. In fact the owner of this orchard is going out of business and is looking to sell his land. Some large scale farms are turning to rubber plantations as an alternative.

In case you've never heard, I've been on a quest for the perfect travel pants. I virtually live in them after all, so I've had a lot of time, on planes, in airports, in crowded markets, to think about what they would  be like. And  I've never found  them. I've  looked in every store and on every website where you think they  might show up. No  luck. So one of our staff here in Thailand used to be a professional seamstress, and I finally decided that the only way to get the perfect travel pants is to  actually make them. Last time I was in the region, I left  a pair of  pants--one of my favourites, which was close--behind, along with a hand drawn sketch of what they ought  to look like, with the dimensions. And here they are.  There's going to be some rigourous field testing,  but I'm pretty excited  about the outcome.  I've also realized that with some minor adjustments, travel pants 1.1 will be even more perfect.

Thaton is a town near the border with Burma where there is a famous temple and several statues of Buddha. It's quite a beautiful and interesting spot. Definitely a tourist trap but worth seeing. These dragons were not there the last time I visited and seem to be part of a multi-million dollar project for and by the faithful. From where I took this picture, you could literally turn around and see Burma across the next hill.

This is a community leader explaining the map which shows the various types of forest as well as grazing, cropland, and houses (the white triangles). This community has organized itself, produced this map and more formal digital maps to help themselves better manage their forest as well as make their case to authorities that they can care for the environment and feed themselves at the same time. Our partner organization here has worked with this community to help them achieve these goals. This particular map is mainly an education tool for the community itself, to help everyone understand what parts of the forest are for what type of use or protection.

A very sad--what I think is a--sun  bear in this miserable cage in a tourist area. Funny thing was it wasn't even somewhere where people would see it. It was kind of in behind the craft market all by itself. I had to wander off on my own to find it. So why was it there? I understand--from the internet--that there's a practice of collecting bile from bears in Asia for some kind of medicine, but generally the bile bears are kept in much smaller cages. So I'm not sure what's going on here. All I know is that this bear seemed very much out of sorts. At one point as I was rudely snapping these shots, he lunged at the side of the cage.

Buddha on the Mekong River at the golden triangle, or the confluence of the Mekong river and Mae Sai river. Buddha is actually in a boat headed downstream. Doesn't appear to be in any particular hurry. I shouldn't be surprised I suppose.

My latest past-time: collecting pictures of me with flags of countries. The trick is that the flag has to actually be in the related country. This is Laos, the latest addition to the collection. Right in at the Golden Triangle, where the Mekong River meets the Mae Sai River. I didn't realize that today we would be passing this way and that I would get a chance to cross the Mekong into Laos. I mostly satisfied my criteria of having officially  been in a new country, which are to have a stamp in my passport (a special visa stamp for a free-trade zone), taken local transportation (the tourist boat across the Mekong), and had a meal (drank a cup of local Lao coffee). I realize this one is a bit shaky but I'm claiming it anyway.

I just totally ordered breakfast in Thai. No resorting to English, and no guessing what the waitress said. I think that's the first time that's happened to me here. Mind you there were only 4 things on the menu; and there were pictures; and I'm pretty sure the waitress is used to dealing with tourists with terrible accents. Stiil don't take this away from me. It's one small step forward in my years long (albeit occasional) struggle with Thai. 

Another fun thing to do here is go to the night markets. This one also happens to be in Chiang Rai, but one of the most famous is probably in Chiang Mai.  There's lots of tasty and inexpensive  food and a wide variety of things to try. Below you see the widely popular noodle soup, and the perhaps not so popular deep fried crickets. The second picture is  traditional Thai dancers. The idea is to just wander  around,  eat, take in the sights, maybe look  at some touristy craft stuff. I ended up buying a small clay lantern that burns cooking oil.

This is the Mae Gohk River heading downstream towards the Mekong, the main river in south east Asia. There is a perfectly good road to Chiang Rai,  our destination, but we chose the river mostly for the fun of it. While water travel is an important means of transport in the region, this particular section of river is primarily monopolized by the tourists. In this case, I can't really pretend not to be one, since while I am here for work--and have been the whole time (no, really)--this morning's destination was elephant riding. 

At the home of a farmer who is doing a lot of backyard agriculture. On his own he has figured out how to raise this what appears to be an amphibious fish. Locally known as snake head fish (in Thai). It is apparently a delicacy and quite expensive. He's raising it in tanks but pulled a few out the  tankd for us to see.  They seemed quite happy to just sit on the ground.  Is it a mudskipper? Someone must know. It was strange looking in any case. I  was pretty impressed though that this farmer had just thought to get some from local fisherman and start raising them himself. The advantage is that they don't need much water, or frequent change of water which reduces management issues. 

Today was a field day. Visits to a couple of villages who have been facing the same problems as the village I mentioned the other day. These villages though have managed to gain at least partial security and have also been able to use farming techniques like agroforestry to improve their income and improve the local environment. Here's a farmer showing us how to make rope out of bamboo by slicing it lengthwise in increasingly thinner strips. He took one strip of bamboo and split it probably 4 or 6 times to get the right dimensions. The machete skills involved were quite impressive. I asked him when he started using a machete. Six or seven years old apparently. 

Not much to tell, or take photos. I have been note taker for these meetings so far which means I sit and type for 8 hours. It's improving my listening skills.

We did get to go out for supper with someone celebrating their birthday and there was cake.

This is an agroforestry plot at the farm center where we are meeting. Agroforestry as  you  know  if you're read this blog at all is a system of integrating trees into farming systems--as you might guess from the name.  Here you see fan palm, a plant used for roofing materials,  pineapple, and timber trees. Pretty much everything in an agroforestry plot is probably there for a reason, producing some useful product for food or income while at the same time creating a system which is good for the soil and often mimics natural systems. The organization here, UHDP has been promoting agroforestry and other beneficial practices for almost 20 years and has become regionally recognized as a place to go to learn. I have been here a whole bunch of times and learn new things everytime. If you're ever in the neighbourhood you should drop by.

China was just a step to my destination--a meeting in Northern Thailand. I'm here with representatives of all the countries where we work for 2 main reasons: one, to see the work that our partner in Thailand is doing, and two to share ideas and discuss our work around the world. Below is a photo from a community of an ethnic group called the Palaung. Many of them came from Burma and have settled in Thailand under less than ideal conditions. It was really interesting for me to listen to, and participate in a dialogue between this group and our staff from different countries. One of the things that strikes me more and more, here, and in other parts of the world is the situation of 'stateless' people. I have a hard time imagining the impact it must have on someone to leave one place because they are unwanted, and arrive in another place where they are also unwanted. People carry on, inspite of the odds, as people do, but one can sense in a meeting like this a kind of vulnerability that is very moving.

Maybe some would wonder why I ended up in Kunming any. It was really just an excuse to go somewhere. I was on my way to Thailand for work anyway, and the flight did work out to be slightly cheaper than the alternate routes. Admittedly it was not the easiest way to get to my destination. But I got to tour around if only briefly. One thing that struck me was the quiet. Every scooter I  saw, and there were many were electric and therefore almost  completely silent. Even some of the cars appeared  to be electric or at the very least hybrids. I also saw several bicycles that had been converted to electric. My pre-conception was that things are not very environmentally friendly, but on that count, Kunming at least seems way  ahead.

I'm a few days behind because I couldn't access my blog site from China. But I did manage to arrange my transit travel there on the way to Thailand. Not the route more travelled, but I got to sight see a bit around Kunming in the southern part of the country. Big modern city with an enormous new airport. A strategic error on my part since I had the mistaken idea that it would be a tiny back country airport. I had further assumed that it would be easy to get out of this imagined airport and find a hotel. A classic and somewhat hilarious situation ensued with about a dozen strangers gathered around me (all about a foot shorter than me) trying to (helpfully) understand what exactly I was trying to say. Eventually I did find a cab driver who spoke enough English to get me to a hotel at 1 am. On my return journey to the airport the next day, an equally amusing situation occurred with me standing in the middle of the street holding my arms out like an airplane as a substitute for being able to speak coherently to the cab driver. 

Below is the complimentary hotel breakfast--fresh noodles--quite delicious and just a little spicy, and hot soy milk.