semi-nomadic yak herding

i took a long lunch break today and walked down to the national mall to see what i could see at the smithsonian folklife festival (http://folklife.si.edu/festival/2008/) - i've never been to it before and spending thirty minutes in the sun sounded way better than spending it under the halogen lights in my office. it was really pretty interesting, they have little "villages" set up from cultures all over the world, and my work buddy and i spent most of our time in bhutan, which i don't even think i knew existed before today. so apparently, this little country bordered by china and india (hey, no pressure) is about the size of west virginia, and the government controls foreign influences and tourism in order to maintain the country's national heritage. imagine that. i bet they don't even have coke there, or starbucks or even a single KFC. what a wonderful, wonderful place this must be! they had performers doing native dances (fascinating!) and demonstrations of architectural styles, crafts, food...all kinds of stuff that is way more interesting than anything we eat, build or make here in the US (this obviously excludes circus peanuts, because those are the greatest things on earth and i'm pretty sure only some sugar-sucking american slob could have come up with something so horrifying and so delicious). but get this: most of the population that lives in bhutan lives off of the land, many of them in tents (not luxury RVs the way we do when we are "roughing it"), working as semi-nomadic yak herders. huh? i don't think i've ever even SEEN a yak, nor could i imagine working as a herder of this mystical creature. and i'm also wondering if semi-nomadic means something along the lines of like part time, like they yak herd monday, wednesday, friday and every other saturday, and if that's the case, i'd really like to know what they do with the rest of their time. i think i would like being a semi-nomadic yak herder. for about a day. then my spoiled US senses would start kicking in and i'd be whining about needing to charge my ipod, check my email, wash my clothes in something other than a river, or have my meal delivered to me in 30 minutes or less, and i'd probably get fired. i bet, though, that actual real yak herders don't have to deal with too much stress, other than stuff like, hey, where'd that yak go? i wonder if life without diet coke and gps systems is worth that...