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 gr...
Local nomad market and yartsa gompo collecting on Heitushan Pass, 4450m. Morning rain has stopped, and families head up the m...
Serxul, center of Yartsa Gompo in Sichuan and reputably best in China. Word's highest town at 4150m? We go to the hunting fie...
Nomads gather in Serxu, the world's highest town at 13,600 ft (4,150 m) to clean and display their wares, their trusty Tibeta...
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 s...
30yr old Zhongshi Caterpillar Fungus Firm, biggest in Chengdu w. 24branches in major cities across China. Pres Mr Zhong Shuan...
Serxul, center of Yartsa Gompo in Sichuan and reputably best in China. Word's highest town at 4150m? We go to the hunting fie...
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...
Xining, capitol city of Qinghai, largest yartsa gompo wholesale market in China. Qinfen Lane. Controlled by Hui minority, Pi...
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 gr...
Tibetans are never without their tea and drink an average of 40 cups a day. Ten-year-old Tsering Dolna, slathered a lotion to...
Replacing herding as a livelihood for nomads, harvesting Yartsa Gombu involves the entire family. Using handmade spades and t...
Keen eyesight and patience are required to spot the well-camouflaged Yartsa Gombu, which protrudes only a half-inch above the...
Motorcycles, purchased with the profits from Yartsa Gombu sales, are replacing horses for families like the Tuptens, who are ...
Carrying virtual fortunes in plastic bags, these traders angle for he best prices for their yartsa gombu from uighur dealers....
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 alta...
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...
The white canvas tents provided by the Chinese government are increasingly preferred to the traditional black yak-hair tents ...
Tibetans call these multi-colored flags "wing horses." They are hung to protect travelers crossing through the often-treacher...
A motorcycle built for two does double the duty for these nomads on the trail of the Yartsa Gombu, which translated literally...
A woman adds her prayers to the growing mountain of more than a billion mani stones at Gyanamani Temple, in Yushu, an area ro...
A woman adds her prayers to the growing mountain of more than a billion mani stones at Gyanamani Temple, in Yushu, an area ro...
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 valuabl...
Like ladies at an old fashioned quilting bee, workers begin the task of cleaning the mushrooms brought in by nomad traders to...
Muslim uighurs control the mushroom trade, employing women are like these their millinery finery, to sort, clean and dry the ...