I am sorry it has been so long since I last blogged. After traveling to the states for the holidays I got out of the habit of writing. Since I last wrote many changes have taken place at my site that have made me very sad. If you recall from a previous blog, a massive road is being constructed about an hour and a half hike from my field site. The road is almost complete now. It is amazing how fast these changes have occurred. I am also very sad to report the loss of thousands of old growth trees and likely isolation of wildlife populations along with the construction. The road might as well be a fence because wildlife are unlikely to cross it. These kind of geographic barriers lead to inbreeding which is problematic for gibbons, a species where there are already so few individuals left.

New Road

This segment is not yet paved but will be soon.

New Road

New Road

Another big change that has occurred is that the village near my site was moved due to dam construction. The dam is being built by foreign investors who would like to export its power to other countries. Of course, in a communist country the local people have no say whatsoever in what happens to their village. Thus, they have been moved to the side of the road where they currently live in shacks.

They have carried the boards from their old houses since they hope to rebuild

I brought some more books for the village headman (Naiban) to give to the children. This is the headman’s daughter.

We had a visit from the ViengThong district rangers. So of course we had to share beer Lao and Laolao (Lao home-made whiskey)!

evil huge spider

It is nice to relax in a hammock after a long day’s work

All for now!