Pema Kyap always has a story to tell. A few years ago, Dechen wrote about him in her blog; she met him on and off at a Ritoma’s friend’s house where he often joined in for dinner and entertained with his colorful story. After a stint in prison for stealing televisions (he got caught when the television he was running off with dropped on his foot and has been limping ever since) his life took a better turn with his son being recognized as a lama, which meant status and material comfort all in one package. He renovated his isolated winter house and the local authorities brought electricity there just for his family, a single pole cutting across the landscape for several kilometers. Now, with his son studying in Labrang Monastery, he lives comfortably, dabbling in little schemes here and there and keeping a few animals. He likes hanging out with our team during photo shoots out on the grassland and is always handy lending us animal props; a lamb here, a horse there.
Pema Kyap told us that every year, he drove several days Southwest into the Changthang grasslands where he met up with nomads who grazed their yaks in the most remote areas, in the proximity of drong herds. Drongs are seen as the ultimate, original yak whose superior size and gait is a subject of great respect and admiration; as tall as 2 meters at the shoulder, they charge with their imposing horns, waving about their long, straggly belly hair and for this reason are better spotted from a distance. In summer, the drong bulls mingle with the herds of their domesticated cousins and breed with the dris. Pema Kyap travels a thousand kilometers to buy the offspring from these summer encounters to resell to Amdo nomads eager to improve their yak breed. Once, he also bought drong skulls from the carcasses the Changthang nomads occasionally find, especially in the wetlands, and brought them back in his truck, where he hid them carefully, as drong hunting is strictly forbidden.
Kim Yeshi 