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Dongjiang Expedition Part 1: The meaning of “free-range”

March 1, 2013 / / 4 Comments

You may recall that awhile back, I participated in an expedition to explore the watershed of Dongjiang River, the source of 80% of Hong Kong’s water supply.  Over 90% of the watershed’s land area is in Guangdong Province, while the remainder is in Jiangxi Province. As you can see from the route map above, we traced the river from its mouth (lower right) at the Pearl River Delta (虎門) up to its source (upper right) in the mountains of southern Jiangxi.

Through written treaties, China has promised to provide a continuous supply of Dongjiang water to Hong Kong as well as maintain Dongjiang’s high water quality.  Despite these promises, many are skeptical of China’s sincerity.

For several reasons (first, political sensitivity, then, laziness), I’ve held off on posting about that expedition…until now.

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Sanniangwan garbage mystery – partially solved

January 31, 2013 / / 1 Comment

Remember all the garbage that washed up on the beaches of Sanniangwan after the last typhoon?  That was an extreme example, but the truth is that regular tides bring in enough trash to litter the beaches every day.  We often speculated on the source of all this garbage – How much of it came from Sanniangwan locals?  How much washed in from shores far away?  Sanniangwaners insisted that it washed down from the rivers feeding the estuary, namely Dafengjiang (大風江） and Luerhuanjiang （鹿耳環江).

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Mothers have dreams too

January 26, 2013 / / 1 Comment

A friend of mine has dreamed of  visiting Antarctica for as long as she can remember. When she became a mother, she dove head-first into mommy-land, leaving her own dreams to drown in the morass.

Several years ago, she met Robert Swan, the first explorer to reach both poles on foot, and he invited her to join his annual Antarctic expedition.  Although she was happy about the invitation, her knee-jerk reaction was “No way”.

Robert Swan responded to her chain of excuses with “so what?”  after “so what?” and eventually,  she realized that all of her fears had been self-generated -  In fact, her kids were old enough to be taken care of by her husband for a couple of weeks.  In fact, she could arrange for someone to temporarily take over her duties at work.  In fact, her poor eyesight would not impede her ability to have an enriching experience.  She saw that her worries were immaterial and that she was responsible for living a meaningful life beyond her identity as a mother.  And now she’s on her way to achieving her Antarctic Dream.

My friend’s story reminded me of an epiphany I had almost 2 years ago at a 10-day meditation retreat.  As usual, the retreat was kicking my ass.  For hours a day, I cursed the unbearable pain in my legs and back.  Despite not really “doing anything”, I was exhausted, both physically and mentally.

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