In 1991, Michael Yamashita embarked on a rare adventure, sponsored by National Geographic magazine, to document the Mekong from its holy source to its destination in the South China Sea. He climbed 17,000 feet up the Tibetan Plateau - what some call the "roof of the world" - to become the first Western photographer to photograph the source. From there, he spent six rugged months tracking this most glorious of rivers.

He returned with stunning images not only of the river's wild waters, but of the people who live by and above them. Yamashita's rich photographs of the varied cultures and peoples who inhabit the lands along the Mekong give a picture of the diversity of life in these regions never before covered in such detail. Many of the 73 images in Mekong: A Journey on the Mother of Waters will surprise the reader, as they are from locations rarely seen by outsiders.