Lumbum meditating in the cave where Guru Rimpoche once meditated. I am frequently asked how I go about finding a guide on the trips I take. A good guide is critical to the work I do. Of course I need someone who speaks fairly good English, but the most important quality I’m looking for is… Read more »
There has been a lot of controversy about the rate of climate change on the Tibetan Plateau—especially concerning the predictions about the disappearance of glaciers. Because of unseasonable rain and fast melting glaciers the rivers overflow onto the fields requiring the farmers to harvest their crops underwater. I have spent the last 2 years interviewing farmers… Read more »
Mt. Kailash, Tibet I just finished my first Kora (walk around) Mt. Kailash in Western Tibet. The 52 km trek that crosses one pass at 18,600 ft has served as a spiritual quest for thousands of Buddhists, Hindus, Jains and the pre-Buddhist Bon Po of Tibet. Serter, 39—Has been a porter on the Kailash since… Read more »
Tibetan woman inside her home showing a computer in the background. I am heading back to Mount Kailash and the western Tibetan Plateau to finish my next book documenting the rapid lifestyle and environmental changes occurring on the plateau. Arranging for support and logistics for a trip into the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) presents its… Read more »
Inigo de Angulo, a photographer from Spain, also accompanied me on one of my trips to Tibet in May. It was such a pleasure to watch Inigo interact with the people as he shot and gave Polaroids to his subjects. Inigo has been working on a long term project documenting many religious practices around the… Read more »
Over the years I have had many people ask me if they could assist me on one of my trips. I’ve never been too anxious to do so because I felt it would be too disruptive to have more “foreigners” than necessary show up in a remote village or at a nomad’s tent taking photos…. Read more »
One of the things that amazed me as I traveled through what was formally Kham and Amdo on the Tibetan Plateau was the amount of new construction at many of the Tibetan Monasteries. It was not only the amount of new construction but the size and quality of the new monasteries and prayer halls that… Read more »
During the month of May an obscure fungus becomes the major focus of people living on the Tibetan Plateau. The Cordyceps sinensis fungus is known locally as Yartsa Gunbu or Caterpillar Fungus. The fungus devours and eventually mummifies its host, the ghost moth caterpillar, from inside out during the caterpillar’s hibernation on the mountain grasslands between… Read more »
Pilgrims about to cross the 15,000 foot Chola Pass on their 2500 kilometer pilgrimage to Lhasa, prostrating the entire way. The devotion of the Tibetan people is unbelievable. As I travel through the Eastern Tibetan Plateau, one thing has become very apparent. Tibetan Buddhism is enjoying a strong resurgence. Almost every Monastery I visit is… Read more »
We met Choqhua, a monk from the small and remote Trakkar Monastery near Labrang in Gansu Province. We spent 3 days staying with him in his little cottage. He took us to the tiny remote village where he grew up and to a nearby cave where the 9th Panchen Lama was said to have meditated. … Read more »
