Tibet's Golden Worm

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Zaduo, the end of the road, On Mekong River, the staging town for expeditions headed further west to the sources of Asia'c greatest rivers, Mekong, Yellow and Yangtse. Reputed to have the best yartsa gompo in China, the nomad population (85%) makes it's living from herding sheep, yaks and collecting YG, providing 80% of yearly income in 2 month gathering season, May to end of June. 4300m. Pics of town, Mekong River and yartsa gompo market Mostly Hui muslim minority traders.
Local nomad market and yartsa gompo collecting on Heitushan Pass, 4450m. Morning rain has stopped, and families head up the mountains nearby the campsite. Only a small handful of yartsa gompo in this area
Serxul, center of Yartsa Gompo in Sichuan and reputably best in China. Word's highest town at 4150m? We go to the hunting fields at 4500m . Pics of temporary tent town set up for 2 months during the YG season from May to July. Tupten family, our hosts, wife Gatseng, girl Tsering Dolma 10, boy Gompo Dundze 6. Takes 1 hr to their collecting fields by motorcycle, all very regulated by gov. They work beside other family members, 20 in all from 10am to 6pm. Painful work on hands and knees crawling in search of tiny stem showing only half inch above ground. Then dug out using special tool. Good day, as Tupten family collects more than 60
Nomads gather in Serxu, the world's highest town at 13,600 ft (4,150 m) to clean and display their wares, their trusty Tibetan ponies unaware that they are fast becoming obsolete.
Local market selling Yartsa gompo, Mostly Tibetan nomad traders.
Local nomad market. Town is packed due to the snow. Since no one is out collecting yartsa gompo, everyone comes to town for shopping. And thanks to the high price, they all can afford motorcycles which have taken the place of the horse.
30yr old Zhongshi Caterpillar Fungus Firm, biggest in Chengdu w. 24branches in major cities across China. Pres Mr Zhong Shuangquan. Pics of Chengdu Chinese Herbal Medecine wholesale market. Most expensive YG is 360,000Y/kg for1200 worms. Worms from Nakchu area, TAR. Xray used to catch fakes or weighted w needles. They do sell other meds but 80% of income from YG. Also pics of downtown branch. Women shoppers spend 40,000Y.
Serxul, center of Yartsa Gompo in Sichuan and reputably best in China. Word's highest town at 4150m? We go to the hunting fields at 4500m . Pics of temporary tent town set up for 2 months during the YG season from May to July. Tupten family, our hosts, wife Gatseng, girl Tsering Dolma 10, boy Gompo Dundze 6. Takes 1 hr to their collecting fields by motorcycle, all very regulated by gov. They work beside other family members, 20 in all from 10am to 6pm. Painful work on hands and knees crawling in search of tiny stem showing only half inch above ground. Then dug out using special tool. Good day, as Tupten family collects more than 60
Yartsa gompo collecting with our nomad clan.
Nomad camp at Heitushan Pass, 4450m. Heavy snow today makes collecting yartsa gompo impossible. Everyone sleeps in except for the women who milk the yaks and make the tea as well as shovel snow.We spend time w Cai Long Xia(53), wife Na Mo Yong Zhuo(34), girls Gai La Zhuo Ma(8) and Yi Xi Duo Ma(10). 2nd family Renzhang a mo(30), Tudeng Yi Xi Bay(8), wifeGai La(29).
Xining, capitol city of Qinghai, largest yartsa gompo wholesale market in China. Qinfen Lane. Controlled by Hui minority, Pics of cleaning, grading, buying and selling.
The yartsa gompo market
Chinatow, traffic, traditional medicine shops.
Zaduo, the end of the road, On Mekong River, the staging town for expeditions headed further west to the sources of Asia'c greatest rivers, Mekong, Yellow and Yangtse. Reputed to have the best yartsa gompo in China, the nomad population (85%) makes it's living from herding sheep, yaks and collecting YG, providing 80% of yearly income in 2 month gathering season, May to end of June. 4300m. Pics of town, Mekong River and yartsa gompo market Mostly Hui muslim minority traders.
Tibetans are never without their tea and drink an average of 40 cups a day. Ten-year-old Tsering Dolna, slathered a lotion to protect against the intense sun, sips her butter tea, adding precious calories to her diet.
Replacing herding as a livelihood for nomads, harvesting Yartsa Gombu involves the entire family. Using handmade spades and trowels, the caterpillar fungus is hacked out of the ground.
Keen eyesight and patience are required to spot the well-camouflaged Yartsa Gombu, which protrudes only a half-inch above the ground. Formed when a fungus invades the body of a caterpillar, it is said to have near-miraculous medicinal powers and holds the promise of riches for Tibetan Nomads.
Motorcycles, purchased with the profits from Yartsa Gombu sales, are replacing horses for families like the Tuptens, who are camped near Hei Tu Shan Pass.
Carrying virtual fortunes in plastic bags, these traders angle for he best prices for their yartsa gombu from uighur dealers. The mushrooms will sell for $10-$50 per "worm."
The dri (female yaks) still need milking, despite an early snow, and the job falls to the woman of the tent.
The dri (female yaks) still need milking, despite an early snow, and the job falls to the woman of the tent.
White canvas tents are brighter and drier than traditional yak-hair tents. Though sparsely furnished, there is always an altar and a cooking stove, fueled by dried yak dung.
Fresh from foraging for yartsa gombu on the grasslands, t his nomad shows some prime specimens to traders.
A hundred years ago, Tibetan horses would have been tied up in front of these storefronts in Serxu, but today, the motorcycle is the nomad's preferred means of transport.
The white canvas tents provided by the Chinese government are increasingly preferred to the traditional black yak-hair tents by today's nomads, like this family camped near Hei Tu Shan Pass in prime cordyceps-gathering territory.
Tibetans call these multi-colored flags "wing horses." They are hung to protect travelers crossing through the often-treacherous mountain passes.
A motorcycle built for two does double the duty for these nomads on the trail of the Yartsa Gombu, which translated literally means "winter storm, summer grass."
A woman adds her prayers to the growing mountain of more than a billion mani stones at Gyanamani Temple, in Yushu, an area rocked by earthquakes in 2010. This collection of hand-carved stones with Buddhist sutras and symbols is the largest in the world.
A woman adds her prayers to the growing mountain of more than a billion mani stones at Gyanamani Temple, in Yushu, an area rocked by earthquakes in 2010. This collection of hand-carved stones with Buddhist sutras and symbols is the largest in the world.
These men show that one needn't be standing to receive the benefits and good karma of a clockwise turn of a prayer wheel.
Nomad families spend the Summer months living together in yak-hair tents, grazing their animals and searching for the valuable yartsa gombu (cordyceps) caterpillar fungus.
Like ladies at an old fashioned quilting bee, workers begin the task of cleaning the mushrooms brought in by nomad traders to Yushu, in Qinghai Province.
Muslim uighurs control the mushroom trade, employing women are like these their millinery finery, to sort, clean and dry the yartsa gombu in Xining, capital Qinghai.