Yartsa Guen Buep

How many of you know of an oddity called the Yartsa Guen Buep? I give you a hint: it is found at altitudes over 14,000 ft. above sea level; some think it is a caterpillar, while others think it is a mushroom. In truth, it is a bizarre cross between the two. Some consider it an elixir for longevity; while others swear that it can cure venereal warts and restore sexual potency. Whatever the truth, one thing is for sure - this crinkly yellowish amalgam has got to be the most expensive ingredient in the Traditional Chinese Medicine. It can cost upwards of Nu.400,000.00 per kilo in the international retail market.

 

The Western world knows them as Cordyceps synensis. It is a unique combination of a caterpillar larva of the Himalayan Bat Moth and ascomycetes fungi. Half of it - the caterpillar part - is embedded into the ground while the fungi sprouts out of it and is exposed above ground.As the fungi mature, the caterpillars underground become a mummified host to the grass/mushroom that sprout out of it. In essence, a fully grown fungi and a completely dead caterpillar is what comes to be known as the famous Yartsa Guen Buep. This means that, there is no such thing as a live Cordyceps.

On rare occasions one does see live Yartsa Guen Buep. They are basically caterpillars that have not been infected by the fungi. Perhaps they may qualify as half a Cordyceps since they do not have the grass or mushroom growing out of their heads. They wiggle and squirm like any live worm or caterpillar, unlike the Cordyceps which is completely lifeless.

The annual collection of Yartsa Guen Buep is emerging as a serious threat to the natural environment of our alpine regions. In addition to threatening the life style and livelihood of the traditional yak herders, it is causing a rift in the traditional bonds and relationships that existed between the highlanders and the people in the warmer southern regions. Age old customs and traditions and working relationships are being overridden and severed - yielding way to strange new attitudes and conduct. In their quest for a handful of the bizarre worm, human life and health is being put into jeopardy.

This is how a Cordyceps is seen to the bare eyes. The Cordyceps collectors must have keen and sharp eyes to notice them. The hunters of these worms spend months crouching on their four - in extreme weather conditions - looking for these camouflaged caterpillars sprouting mushrooms that look like grass.

This is how the worms are seen on the ground:

This is how the Cordyceps looks when plucked from the ground:

 

This is how a rarey seen "live" Cordyceps looks like:

This is how the worms look like when then are dired and ready for supply:

Nimalung Tsechu

All the following images were shot at the beautiful Nimalung Lhakhang in Bumthang, Central Bhutan. By mistake, I ended up at the Tsechu on the day of the Cham-ju (19th June, 2010) which was as well since I got to photograph the dancers without their masks.

Having had this first time experience (photographing the Cham without the masks), I realize that it does not work for me. Instead of focusing on the movement of the dancers and the dance itself, I end up trying to capture the various facial expressions of the dancers. In the process I miss out on some great shots.

Hitting The High Note

When can a man claim to have truly achieved greatness? When he is featured as a comic character!

In the following comic strip from a comic book produced and published by ICom America, yours truly is giving history lessons to couple of kids. ICom America is a world leader in the manufacture of radio and communications equipment. I am a certified ham radio operator with the unique national CallSign: A51AA (pronounced: Alpha Five One Alpha Alpha).

ICom makes world’s best radio transceivers and obviously they feature the best characters in their comic booksJ. Jokes aside, I hosted an amateur radio expedition comprising of nine American operators. One among them was the General Manager of ICom America who presented me a high end ICom transceiver. That was 10 years back.

Good old K B Wakhley has it all worked out for himself. He told me over a cup of coffee and tuna sandwich yesterday at Karma’s Coffee that he is gearing up towards keeping himself employed after his retirement. Now there is a funny one - to be employed after being retired? Weird idea, but come to think of it, the man has understood how difficult it is to do just NOTHING! When a man has worked all his life, how do you go about doing nothing? That has got to be a real tough job. I am already beginning to feel dreadful about the prospect of doing nothing. May be I need some little indoctrination from Mr. K B Wakhley J. Or, may be, I will just do my epochal trilogy on how I started the country’s first Ham Radio Centre, how I nearly broke my back trying to keep my fellow amateurs around the world happy by giving them a “contact” - known in the HAM jargon as a "QSO" - at all odd hours and, why, I finally gave up Ham radio altogether.

Journey Into The Mountains Of Dhur

Recently I was in the mountains of Dhur, Bumthang in Central Bhutan on an assignment to photograph people collecting Cordyceps. The place is extremely cold and rugged and I was camped at an altitude of 16,200 ft. where the collection of the Cordyceps take place.

The place is stunning and the mountains are simply breathtaking. We were snowed in for 3 days upon arrival but the view thereafter was simply out of this world.

I am posting some photos so that you can see for yourselves how beautiful the place is.

Flower Of The Cactus

Druk Air's ATR

On an assignment for the Tourism Council of Bhutan to shoot Rinpung Dzong and Taa Dzong through the Druk Air's aircraft cockpit, I never got to shoot the scene I needed but I got this shot before we too off for Kolkata on the 7th of May, 2010.

The image looks dramatic because it was shot against the light - proving that there are rare occasions when ideal conditions are not needed to yield great photographs :)

Ashy Drongo

Bar-headed Goose

The Bar-headed Goose is among the world’s highest flying birds – flying as high as 33,300 ft. which is way higher than the Mount Everest! They migrate to Bhutan during the winter months. The ancient Chinese martial art form called “Dayan QiGong” is said to have been inspired by the Bar-headed Goose.

They migrate to Bhutan during the winter months and can be seen, among other places, in Punakha and Wangduephodran. The photo below was taken at Bajothang, Wangduephodrang.

Great Barbet

Black-necked Crane

Common Hoopoe

Macro Photography

The following 3 flower posts are intended for Sangay who is a regular visitor to this blog and who is interested in macro photography - particularly those of flowers. These images are posted to show him what I mean by even sharpness and focus. I wish I had more time so that I can post some more - but for now this is all I can do.

Enjoy!

Koencho Sum Khenno!

Lessons From The Bird

Whenever I am in Zhemgang area shooting birds, I take along my father so that we can catch up and talk of things that he would want to talk to me about. During one such trip, he asked me; “why do you take picture of the same bird so many times?”. My reply was; “because it is never the same - the perch is different, the pose is different, the mood is different, the light condition is different, the background is different and even the age of the bird is different. So I shoot them over and over again because I hope that each one will be different and better than the last”.

Bird photography has taught me that the pursuit of excellence is an unending process. One can never say that one has achieved the very best - that does not seem to be true. I have known that one can always do better than that which one thought was the best.

The punkish bird called the Crested Kingfisher posted below is one of the most common Kingfishers in the country and yet, photographing them has been a real test to my patience. As numerous as they are, I have had very little success in getting a good shot of the birds. I finally nailed it last month. The photo was acquired from the Pho-Chu area in Punakha. Just love the details and colors on the bird! I am posting a head-and-shoulder shot so that you can get to see the details of the bird and the subtle colors. As you notice, the bird is not entirely black and white.

The other lesson I learnt is that these birds proliferate because they are wary by nature. Their wariness keeps them alert and thus away from the clutches of their predators. :)-

In Praise Of Canon EOS10D

The following seven old images from my collection are posted to pay tribute to my first ever digital SLR (Canon EOS 10D) that I owned. Since then, I have owned six successive models of Canon bodies. I pay tribute because even at 6MPEG, this camera still beats my latest acquisition (1DS Mark III at 21 MPEG). To this day I believe that this old body captures the sharpest, the most detailed, the most natural and the truest skin tones of a subject. Judge for yourself!

Five years back, on an assignment for the WWF, the camera’s body suffered a crack when I fell and it hit a boulder while shooting wild elephants in the jungles of Gedu/Pasakha. The lens that was mounted on it - Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM also cracked open and the front glass came apart. But I taped it up and the lens works as good as new. Because I love this body so much, I sent it to the Canon factory in the US to have the camera’s casing replaced. It cost me close to US$500.00 for the replacement as well as charges for its return delivery to me. Since its return to me, I have not shot a single frame with the camera - for fear that it might break my heart to discover that my camera does not capture images as beautifully as it used to. But one of these days I am going to pull it out from storage and give it a test run!

Regardless of whether it performs as well as it use to, this one is NOT FOR SALE. This is an object that gave me so much pleasure. More importantly, it is my belief that this camera body is partly the reason why I remained focused on photography as my chosen vocation.

As a further tribute and for the enjoyment of the viewers, I am not embedding the copyright mark on these seven images :)

Young Model For Poster At Paro International Airport

Green-tailed Sunbird

Crested Serpent Eagle

Asian Barred Owlet

Miss Bhutan Beauty Pageant 2008 Judge #1

Tshoki Tshomo Karchung - Miss Bhutan 2008

Miss Bhutan Beauty Pageant 2008: Contestant

Tham Dawa

Fire-tailed Myzornis

Northern Goshawk

Great Hornbill