Blogs from Qinghai, China, Asia - page 5

Shane flew to Beijing in September as part of his new job with USGS (Patuxent Wildlife Research Center), working on a satellite telemetry project of waterfowl migration in Eurasia and Africa. By placing transmitters on the backs of ducks and geese using little harnesses, we can track the migration of individuals around the globe. A specific focus of the project is determining how wild birds may be contributing to the spread of avian influenza (bird flu), which spread prolifically from Southeast Asia and China into Western Asia, Europe, and Africa since 2005. We would be working at Qinghai Lake in Central China, which sits at over 9000 ft on the Qinghai/Tibetan Plateau and was the site of the largest outbreak of bird flu virus in wild birds (over 6000 birds perished in 2005). I traveled with ... read more

Day 4 July 10, 2008 Before coming to Ledu County I said on numerous occasions that I thought this would be an opportunity to see a part of China I hadn't seen, the rural countryside. I realize now that I have actually seen the rural countryside numerous times throughout my time in China. The difference now is that I am not in Ledu County as a tourist. I think perhaps I thought that I would be teaching in a small village with only a few hundred people. This is not the case at all. The population here is about 20,000, which is incredibly small compared to many cities in China, but it still makes for a good sized little town. Thankfully, McDonalds and KFC have not yet appeared here, but there are a few well known ... read more

Day 2 July 8, 2008 Day 2 in Ledu County has been relatively uneventful, especially for someone such as me with a low level of Chinese comprehension. Because the students are taking exams, we will not start teaching for several days. Thus, the Tsinghua students have set out to do some research on the successes and failures of a recent government health program aimed at covering a percentage of health expenses for people in rural areas. Yue Lin, the only female Tsinghua student, and Ma Haipeng, also a Tsinghua student, spent the morning meeting with people to get permission to interview doctors. They found that if a government official did not accompany them, the doctors would not be willing to interview. What it all comes down to at the end of the day is that us ... read more

Many months have passed since my last entry. I’m in the US now and I guess I only think about updating my travel blog while I’m overseas and technically, traveling. And here at home, there’s not much to report except for life in the good ol’ US of A as most of you already know it. These days that means a little cold, a little grey and a little too much holiday food. My Lama, Traktung Rinpoche, invited me home in October along with Lama Yonten, his wife Osel Drolma and our friend Gangri. (All of them have been written about in previous entries.) We scrambled for the month of September obtaining passports, applying for visas, assembling all sorts of supporting documents and finally, interviewing at the American Embassy in Chengdu. The process was hectic and ... read more

Please visit the extensive photo gallery that goes with this entry. See it here. Shortly after four of the pilgrims left for their homelands (see last entry), Chuck, Carin and I returned to Ngawa and to the home of Lama Yonten and Osel Drolma. There, we spent ten days so that Chuck and Carin could assist with work at Lama Yonten's monastery, Kashi Gompa. Their primary role was to teach Engilsh to the young monks that Lama Yonten has taken in. The gompa does not have funds or facilties to care for the boys, so Lama Yonten himself provides his own money for their necessities. All of the boys come from difficult backgrounds. Several suffer from some form of disfigurement; one has learning challenges; all are from extremely poor families; two are orphans; several are semi-orphans. ... read more