CHINAEUROPE AFRICAASIA 中文双语Français
Travel\Popular destinations

Living like a nomad

By Erik Nilsson | China Daily | Updated: 2017-09-25 08:03

Living like a nomad

Nilsson's nomadic hosts present him with yak butter and caterpillar fungus. [Photo by Erik Nilsson and Tseringbum/China Daily]

That is, pliable enough to forge fences of feces that serve as fuel.

They're constantly torn down and rebuilt-to burn and to protect.

Once I'd filled the wheelbarrow, it was time to lead the yaks to the mountaintop pasture. My hosts taught me to whistle to get them to hustle.

Next, it was time to release the sheep.

They gave me a slingshot, which locals jokingly call "Tibetan guns".

Herders fling stones to steer flocks.

I twirled the weapon and hit myself in the head.

Later, I visited a shack behind the nomads' home. The family poured yak milk into a filter atop a sputtering machine with two nozzles. One dribbled out the base for cheese. The other oozed butter.

The family gave me a chunk of yak butter the size of a basketball, wrapped in khata (traditional Tibetan scarves) and six sprigs of caterpillar fungus wrapped in tissue as a parting gift.

Tseringbum explained I can slow-boil a single piece of the parasite with a whole chicken or steep several pieces in the deer-blood liquor he'd given me, for at least a year. (The longer the better.)

The first snow of 2017 fell as I prepared to leave. Winter begins in early August.

I waved to the family.

A marmot I'd seen flash from its burrow when I arrived popped out of its den, as if to say goodbye.

And I bid farewell to the people, the wildlife and the livestock-including the yaks that buck.

Contact the writer at erik_nilsson@chinadaily.com.cn

Previous Page 1 2 3 4 5 Next Page

BACK TO THE TOP
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US