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With Qomolangma (Mt. Everest) sitting on the horizon, this young vendor spends his days selling everything from bracelets purportedly made from yak bone (quite often goat's horn) to gastropod fossils dug up from the surrounding hills. To distinguish their wares' authenticity, some vendors wear trucker hats bodly imprinted with the slogan "We Fuck the Fake Shit." Trinkets seep in from China's neighboring provinces, as well as from Nepal, draining the Tibetans' profit margins. As a result, some Tibetans resort to digging up priceless fossils from the region, selling them to the tourists passing through. The specimens are sizable, sometimes as large as a grapefruit, and are often in pristine condition. One of the many problems, however, is that precise geological/paleontological data is lost (a fossil found in its matrix offers a richer narrative than one displayed on a blanket), including the land's ancient backstory. To complicate matters, Tibetans face racism in the cities, finding it difficult, if not nearly impossible, to secure work.

(Note: the red tinge to the clouds' underbelly is the result of the iron-rich earth reflecting rose-tinted light back into the atmosphere. This phenomenon can also be seen in the American Southwest, particularly in Arizona, Colorado and Utah.)

In the Fishing for Tales photo essay.

Also in the Wild West of the East photo essay.