The Useless Tree

Travel

  • Nanluoguxiang and 30 years of China

    I'm back in Beijing, looking forward to my talk at the Bookworm tomorrow. But before that, this evening, I'll be talking about Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Dao with the good people at Sinica podcast (internet is slow here,… Continue reading

  • A Shout Out to the Dazhai Boyz

    One pleasant result of my trip to Dazhai, Yunnan, last week was meeting the Teach for China fellows there. River and Richard and Tom and Gareth, a nice crew: It seems that Tom and Gareth blog about their experiences, and… Continue reading

  • To Shangri-la and back

    Home in Williamstown again, after an intense, if short, China trip.  After Lincang, I went up to Shangri-la to visit some new friends, Russ and Kesang and Fei Fei at Black Pottery Coffee.  Let me put down some of my… Continue reading

  • Dazhai, Yunnan

    I'm now in Lincang, a small city (about 500,000 people is small by Chinese standards) southwest of Kunming.  I arrived here Monday, spent the night, visited a middle school where Teach for China has fellows, and then headed over to Dazhai,… Continue reading

  • Off to Yunnan

    I leave tomorrow for Yunnan province, China.  The main purpose of my visit is to observe and learn more about a new organization, Teach for China (formerly China Education Initiative).  Like its sister organization, Teach for All, its mission is… Continue reading

  • Confucianism and the Differences between Cambodia and Vietnam

     Back from my trip to Cambodia and Vietnam, jet-lag still lingering in my head, I want to jot down some rather rough observations… One of the first things you will notice when comparing the two places is the relative prosperity… Continue reading

  • Remembering Aidan at Angkor Thom

    Today, March 19th, we went to Angkor Thom, one of the many temple complexes in and around Siem Reap.  Whlie there I lit an incense stick in memory of Aidan.  The Buddha watches over him.  Here is the spot:  … Continue reading

  • Siem Reap

    OK, finally figured out how to get on to Typepad.  Let me see if I can get some photos up here.  UPDATE: So, I was a bit rushed there at first.  Internet access is spotty: hard to upload photos… Since… Continue reading

  • On the road… to Cambodia and Vietnam

    On Wednesday I will set off on a trip with a group of alumni from Williams College.  We will start in Siem Reap, Cambodia, staging ground for the incomprable Angkor Wat temple complex.  From there we will board a comfortable… Continue reading

  • Return

    We're back from Ireland, just as the Daodejing would predict: Return is the movement of Way, and yielding the method of Way. All Beneath heaven, the ten thousand things, it's all born of being, and being is born of nonbeing. … Continue reading