Very thought provoking Kevin! It reminded me of when I volunteered in the Hoang Lien reserve of Vietnam in about 1996. Its right on the border with China. We were lucky to be able to stay in some of the Hmong villages; our task, to record species and monitor biodiversity. The Hmong were busy cutting down the huge pomu trees of the rainforest that they then shouldered (amazingly) down the windy tracks and over the China to sell. They were also very few mammals as they had either been eaten or trapped! They were very poor and had very few ways of making any income. I was in my early 20s and it was a really good lesson in not judging at face value what was going on!
What an experience! I've never been to that reserve, but I've been reading about it after your message. Sounds really fascinating. Hope they are managing to hold back the tide!
Very thought provoking Kevin! It reminded me of when I volunteered in the Hoang Lien reserve of Vietnam in about 1996. Its right on the border with China. We were lucky to be able to stay in some of the Hmong villages; our task, to record species and monitor biodiversity. The Hmong were busy cutting down the huge pomu trees of the rainforest that they then shouldered (amazingly) down the windy tracks and over the China to sell. They were also very few mammals as they had either been eaten or trapped! They were very poor and had very few ways of making any income. I was in my early 20s and it was a really good lesson in not judging at face value what was going on!
What an experience! I've never been to that reserve, but I've been reading about it after your message. Sounds really fascinating. Hope they are managing to hold back the tide!
Great blog Kevin! really enjoyed reading this one. Politics, people, wisdom and most importantly a good laugh or two!
Wonderful and humbling. Makes one feel culturally ignorant and untraveled, but so fun to vicariously live the stories through your writing.