奇文共賞：《施氏食獅史》

這幅美洲獅是07年殼牌野生動物攝影獎
10歲以下組的獲獎作品之一

朋友發來的只能看不能讀的奇文《施氏食獅史》，通篇只用一個音shi。據說作者是著名語言學家趙元任。

石室詩士施氏，嗜獅，誓食十獅。施氏時時適市視獅。十時，適十獅適市。是時，適施氏適市。氏視是十獅，恃矢勢，使是十獅逝世。氏拾是十獅屍， 適石室。石室濕，氏使侍拭石室。石室拭，氏始試食是十獅。食時，始識是十獅，實十石獅屍 。試釋是事。

我的古文沒學好，有幾句沒看明白，但我琢磨是事之釋，大約是十獅嗜奶，不幸中毒逝世成了石獅；而貪食的施氏嗜食獅，亦因此遭了報應。

A Marginal Win

Finally I chose this vintage Otagiri china vase... I waited until the last minute to place my bid in order to guarantee my chance to win it. There were so many tantalizing violet-themed collectibles on ebay, nevertheless, as I was simply trying to use up the small remaining balance on a bank card which was not worth keeping, my choices were limited by my meager funds. Yet I am delighted to have won by a small margin this elegant Japanese vase featuring violets...

A Loss So Dear

I just had a major computer crash which cost me a few days of work, a lot of patience and the chance to win this charming vintage Lefton china box adorned with violets. Alas!

高地*幽蘭(9.9 - 9.11)

高地旅館大門

雲中的玉帶路-1

雲中的玉帶路-2

從玉帶路看大理壩子和洱海

蛛絲毛藍耳草（Cyanotis arachnoidea）

形似飛鴿的唇形科（？）奇花

野菊（種未知）

野牡丹（Melastoma sp.？）

紫雀花（Parochetus communis ）叢中的

緣毛鳥足蘭（Satyrium ciliatum）

又回到了大理，還趕上了好天氣，自然要再爬蒼山。依舊沿天龍八部影城旁熟悉的步道向上攀登。一個多月過去，沿途開花的植物又有不同，仍讓我無數次駐足為他們留影。所以儘管8點剛過就進了山，抵達中和寺已過中午。

未及進寺朝拜，我先去尋訪了隱匿於寺後深山中的高地旅館。因為事先未與主人打招呼，我還擔心會吃閉門羹，畢竟現在已入淡季，山下古城裡的旅舍都十分空閒，想必這高山深處的旅館一定更冷清。轉過幾道彎，望見院門大開，才讓我放了心。門上的對聯寫著：隱林中繪光影故事，居雲上享花鳥心情。可見主人的超脫。

門旁的牌匾上是摘錄自《道德經》中的一段話：不出戶，知天下；不窺牗，見天道。其出彌遠，其知彌少。是以聖人不行而知，不見而名，無為而成。

Without leaving his door
He knows everything under heaven.
Without looking out of his window
He knows all the ways of heaven.
For the further one travels
The less one knows.
Therefore the Sage arrives without going,
Sees all without looking,
Does nothing, yet achieves everything.

旅館的房舍雖然簡陋，卻無妨暫避塵囂的俗人來此分享主人的“花鳥心情”。終年不變的房價高出古城一倍還多，但考慮到主人僱傭了18匹馬，費時一個多月才把家當搬至山上的艱辛，也算合理。無奈在結塘時兩次遇盜，盤纏已所剩無幾，我躊躇了一會兒，決定還是先去中和寺看看（或許寺中亦可藉宿？）再作決定。

中和寺雖名為寺，其實是個道觀。大概是緊鄰索道，遊人紛擾之故，感覺寺裡仙氣不足而俗氣有餘，令人不免掃興。

看看天色尚早，我把原來計劃明日的行程提前到今天，畅游玉帶路北段（中和寺以北）。一路依然風光無限，而除我之外，更無第二個遊人，唯流泉飛瀑、奇花異卉一路相伴。有護欄的路在桃溪戛然而 止，通往梅溪的路口豎起了“遊人止步”的牌子。前行的路更加險峻，且無護欄，試著走了一段，念及自己是獨自一人，我還是謹慎地選擇了折回。終於決定不投宿高地，下山回城了。

今日最動人的發現乃是一處峭壁上飛泉邊的一大片紫雀花（Parochetus communis ）和紫雀花叢中的一株香氣淡雅的的緣毛鳥足蘭（Satyrium ciliatum）。

丽江浮光掠影(9.7-9.8)

I took a most pleasant walk from Shuhe to Baisha on this road

I evaded the rain and contemplated in this illuminated temple

Peristrophe japonica (九頭獅子草)

Coallodiscus flabellatus (石胆草)?

Yet another unidentified violet

10 years ago when I first visited Lijiang (丽江), it was already a hot tourist destination. Now "the old town has been almost totally taken over by outsiders and the streets are simply packed with tourists," other travelers kept telling me.

So I only made a brief stop in Lijinag on my way back. I visited Shuhe (束河) and Baisha (白沙) (which are also part of the World Cultural Heritage site), the two villages not far from town but far quieter than the old town...

I found a lot of violets in the temple complex where the famous Baisha murals were kept.

花落阿花落（8.28-8.31）

The small village on the bank of Lancangjiang River（澜沧江)
was where we started our expedition

Ahualuo merrily runs through the lush forest

The Lisu (傈僳) hunter with his crossbow

Unidentified violet 1

Unidentified violet 2

A violet growing on a moss-covered tree trunk in the stream

Viola diffusa（蔓茎堇菜）?

Helwingia japonica （青荚叶/叶上珠）

I joined in a botanical expedition to Ahualuo River（阿花落河）in Weixi（维西）County. It was part of the EIA work for the proposed hydro-power station on the river.

8.28
The scenery on both sides of the road leading to Weixi was breathtaking. Quiescent Nixi（尼西）Tibetan village, nestled in a deep valley about half an hour's drive from the botanic garden, awed me at first sight. Only the fast-moving van prevented me from taking a good picture of it. Along the way, I saw many houses built on steep slopes and quite a few temples on high cliffs or mountaintops.

8.29
We set off at around 9 a.m.. After crossing a suspension bridge, we reached the place where Ahualuo mingles with Lancangjiang (澜沧江), and from there we started our exploration.

I spotted my first violet of the day soon after, and it was in flower! It looked like Viola acuminata to me except that there were no purple stripes on its lower petal. Later on I found several more species (V. diffusa?, V. magnifica?, etc. )on the roadside, but only the one which resembled V. acuminata was still in flower. The elevation of the place was lower than Jietang and the weather was much warmer. I was surprised yet delighted to find violets still in bloom at this time of year.

We reached our camp site quite early. I was surprised that my teammates did not bring any tents. They simply cut some tall wormwood （蒿）stalks to put on the ground and we slept on them in the open with only a plastic sheet hanging on the walnut tree to provide some cover.

8.30
I was not able to sleep much and got up at 3 due to the cold. Fortunately our guide kept the fire going all night through. So I sat close to the fire and waited impatiently for the dawn to break and the temperature to rise.

The journey today was more difficult than yesterday. We walked on a rough narrow path alongside Ahualuo River. But the spectacular view rewarded our endeavours. Ahualuo ran merrily through the lush forest dwelt by a myriad of wonderful plants, including quite a few species of violets. I had to make quick stops to take pictures as I did not want to be left far behind.

After we had reached the first inspection site, our guide did not know the way further into the deeper mountains and we were stuck on a slope. Luckily just then we met a Lisu (傈僳) hunter who was collecting mushrooms in the forest. He agreed to show us the way. We passed his home in the forest and he invited us in and treated us with fresh umes (Prunus nume, 梅子) picked from his tree.

8.31
On our way back to the village, we ran into a lot of children harvesting walnuts, or herding flocks of goats and pigs in the forest. I also spotted a number of cultivated fields on precipitous slopes. We were told that almost all the Lisu people who had traditionally lived on the mountains were relocated to the more "civilized" flatland area. However, like the hunter we met, many have returned after a while because the mountains were where their hearts belonged and on which their livelihoods depended.

Alas! Another free-running river, home of the Lisu people, and a haven for wildlife is falling victim of "development"...

结塘花花世界（8.12 - 9.6）

Napa Lake （纳帕海）below the garden

On rainy days, I take this path home

Hyoscyamus niger （莨菪）

Cyananthus delavayi （蓝钟花）

Gentiana forrestii（苍白龙胆）

Cute leaves of Viola rockiana （圆叶黄堇菜）

the one and only V. rockiana in flower

V. rockiana in fruit

the bird-watching tower overlooking Napa Lake

My first night at Jietang (aka Shanggelila or Shangri-la, by which it is known today. Jietang was its original Tibetan name) Alpine Botanic Garden was quite miserable - after a weary 8-hour bus ride, there was no hot water for me to take a shower, and the night was cold.

The next morning I woke up with a headache - a sign of altitude sickness. To go to the main building of the garden from the dormitory beside the nursery where I was provided lodge, I had to walk acrosss a wet grassland, climb over a fence preventing the intrusion of grazing buffaloes and yaks, and finally trudge up a muddy path through the woods. Owing to the high altitude (3,390 m) of the place, I had to walk slowly and gasp for breath every few steps. Fortunately my situation improved gradually during the day. Although the canteen food (half-cooked rice, veggies cooked in GMO oil, etc.) was quite an attack to my stomach, I feasted my eyes on the wonderful array of wild and planted flowers and the fabulous view of Napa Lake which is just below the garden.

Due to my extended stay in Dali, I missed the chance to join the garden's field work team to do some botanical explorations in the surrounding areas. My voluntary work, once again was to help them with some translations. After all, it was the rainy season and we had to stay indoors quite a lot of the time.

On the 14th, I spotted my first violet of Jietang near the relics of a temple (a sacred site of worshiping for the local Tibetans). It was the delicate Viola rockiana. It had long finished flowering and most the plants I saw had dispersed their seeds, leaving empty capsules as a sign for me to distinguish them from other violet-leaved look-alikes. Later on I found 2 or 3 other species of violets in the garden and its surroundings. But without their flowers, I was not able to identify which species they were. According to the Flora of Yunnan, there are 56 species of violets in this province, which has long been renowned to be the "Kingdom of Plants" and a paradise for plant hunters.

It was very sunny on Saturday (August 16). I went into town in the afternoon. On the way, I had a glimpse of Songzanlin Temple（松赞林寺）tucked in the green mountains in the distance. The whole temple glittered under the brilliant sun, looking otherworldly. It was a dazzling view!

The old town of Jietang is much smaller, compared to those of Dali and Lijiang. I wandered around and indulged in some little tourist's pleasures. I stayed the night in a small inn converted from an old traditional Tibetan house.

I spent the whole Sunday morning in Songzanlin Temple. It was the first Tibetan Buddhist temple that I have visited. I did not have any enlightening encounters with any master lamas, as I had highly anticipated; but I did have a few interesting botanical discoveries, including this outstanding plant with an extraordinary name in Chinese: 莨菪（天仙子）

Heavy rain on the 25th and 26th flooded the entrance to the nursery. My commuting between the main building and the nursery became even more adventurous...

On September 2, I finally spotted the one and only V. rockiana in flower on the side of the path leading up the mountain behind the garden. This lonely little late bloomer with delicate leaves became the second yellow-flowered violet on my record of violet sightings in the wild.

The weather is getting colder as the villagers start to harvest their highland barley and euphorbias begin to turn read. Before long the grasslands will become a sea of red. The black-necked cranes are expected to come soon to winter at Napa Lake. I wish I could stay here and wait for them, but alas the Moon Festival is calling me home...