Jodi in China

Well, I haven’t blogged in a long while, because my life suddenly changed from a relatively mellow exploration of Kunming, to a whirlwind of travel and research in my study area. That is because a fellow student, Michelle, returned to Kunming, and we started our research schmoozing and adventures (it turns out schmoozing is a huge part of being able to do successful research here, and Michelle is the queen of schmooze. more details later on). Michelle has been great - She’s lived in China for 2 or 3 years, off and on, and so speaks and reads the language fluently. She is very social, and so has built up an amazing network of Chinese friends and contacts, who just love her because she’s blond, cute, and friendly. She has been to most of our study area already, so is very savvy on how to get around. Even though we are so different, we've gotten along great Probably because she’s very patient and willing to lead me around and explain everything to me and translate for me -- and I'm willing to do whatever she says. It works out good so far.

So anyways, a couple of weeks ago we hopped on a bus to go north to our study area, Northwest Yunnan. NW Yunnan is part of the Himalayan mountain range, bordering Tibet. The region is amazing in terms of its ethnic diversity (Tibetan, Bai, Lisu, and several other ethnic groups) as well as its biodiversity. It has subtropical, temperate and alpine ecosystems, all within a relatively small area, due to the great topographic relief. It is the northern range for southern species, and the southern range for northern species, and then has a ton of its own endemic species. So it has been designated as a “biodiversity hotspot” by conservation organizations worldwide.

Northwest Yunnan, until very recently, has been pretty much ignored by China. Its very rugged topography, and the idea that it is inhabited by “barbarians” (definitely some racism here), made it a very inaccessible and undeveloped region. However, recently China has recognized the potential for tourism and exploitation of natural resources, including hydropower from several major rivers in the region. So it has recently opened up in terms of road and infrastructure development, economic investment, as well as permission to foreign tourists and scientists to visit and work here.

So we made the long trip up from Kunming, a 12 hour bus ride, and landed in Zhongdian, aka Shangri-la, the largest city in the region, and the home base of our research program. The place has two names (actually three, if you include the traditional Tibetan name for the town) because several years ago Zhongdian was renamed Shangri-la as a means to develop tourism for the whole region. Although I have been staring at maps and satellite images of the landscape of Shangri-la for the past year, I hadn’t really researched what the city itself was like. I hadn’t even read the tour books. So I was pretty surprised at what I found. A pretty small, typical, dirty, developing city in some areas, but with a large part of town, including a maze of old streets called Old Town, completely devoted to tourism. In Old Town, there are still the narrow cobblestone streets, with no cars allowed, and lined by big Tibetan houses, but with the street-fronts of the houses all shops, hostels, restaurants, and bars for tourists. Old Town is not very big, maybe 10 x5 blocks, but set out like a maze. It seems to me the ratio of tourist businesses to tourists is not really on the side of the tourist businesses. But….I guess it works ok. Anyways it seems like it will be a fun place to hang out and recuperate from our research treks out in the hinterlands. There are even several places selling real coffee (aahhhhh). And the pizza is not bad either! Also there is a really neat Buddhist temple in the middle of old town is lit up and visible day and night.