The Chinese yuan has not only begun fluctuating against the US dollar. It’s also come under attack by a commodity considered to be as good as gold by Tibetan nomads on the Ganjia Grasslands in central China.

Tibetans migrating into the verdant mountains between Xiahe and Tongren this weekend convinced The Idiot that their yaks are more valuable than China’s paper currency.

For one thing, they contend, the yaks are much more utilitarian than the yuan.

The Hall of Buttered Sculpture at the Labrang Monastery in Xiahe illustrates that yak butter, which is donated by Tibetan Buddhist yak owners, is the perfect medium for sculpting numerous legends from Tibetan and Buddhist lore. Naturally it will soon be recycled!

A yak butter sculpture at the Labrang Monastery.

Yak butter, which is also used for candles and grease in Tibetan Buddhist lamaseries, is a staple foodstuff and the key ingredient for yak butter tea. Yak steaks and kebabs are a favorite meal throughout the Tibetan Plateau while other “parts” of the yak are used for roofing material and fuel.

The roofs of many nomadic tents are made from yak hair.

Yak “fuel” patties drying on a village wall near the Ganjia Grasslands. Mmmm!

The yaks also provide herdsmen with a perfect excuse for an odyssey to set up a summer home in the hills. Numerous Tibetans migrating this month to the 3,500-meter high Ganjia Grasslands will graze their herds here until late September.

Nomadic Tibetans choose a summer home ideal for grazing yaks.

The yaks, until their moment of transformation into yak steak or kebab, have a pretty good life during the warmer summer months.

Grass-fed yaks on the Ganjia Grasslands.

Just-milked yaks on the Ganjia Grasslands.

Although the yak/yuan conversion rate fluctuates, The Idiot’s been informed that a decent exchange rate this summer, based on the price of a full-grown healthy yak, is 1 Yak = 10,000 Yuan Renminbi, or about $1,475. This young yak might be the best investment you’ll ever make.

Is this young yak for sale?

Text and Photos: Joel Stratte-McClure

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About Joel

Joel Stratte-McClure has been a global trekker since the 1970s. He lived in France for over 30 years, working as a journalist, before he turned his attention to a unique life-time-project of walking the shores of the Mediterranean. The first 4,401 kilometers are explored in his inspirational and entertaining first book "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean." The next 4,401 kilometers are covered in the gods-filled sequel, "The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean,” published on Valentine's Day 2013. The last 4,401 kilometers will be discussed in the last book of the trilogy currently entitled "The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Alexander the Great Walks the Mediterranean."