As a New Year came in I thought back to those whose ‘new’ year’s have not yet come. I thought back to three generations of women who hosted our team on a barren portion of the Tea Horse Road years ago. Their community at over five thousand metres, ‘Ala Dhotok’, bristled with wind and yet our team of dusty husks of glazed eyes and matted hair was welcomed, fed, and sent off with a mountain warmth that remains in the veins still. Within their tent, grandmother spoke of the days of trade and plied us with tea and yak cheese, her daughter cared for her own daughter and our filthy group lay back content in the knowledge that even if for the moment, we were warm and fed.
Some sips of tea later we made out for the waist deep snows of Nup Gong La (Western Pass), warmer and a bit more sane for our little stop. Good Wishes to you mountain goddesses for your own upcoming year in the snows. Even a great route through the sky like the Tea Horse Road needs the warmth of its people.
About JeffFuchs
Having lived for a decade in Yunnan, Fuchs’ work has centred on indigenous mountain cultures, oral histories along with an obsessive interest in tea.
Fuchs is the author of 'The Ancient Tea Horse Road' (Viking-Penguin) and he was the subject of 'The Tea Explorer' documentary based on his exploration of the Tea Horse Road.
His photos and stories have appeared on three continents in publications such as Kyoto Journal, TRVL, and Outpost Magazine, as well as The Spanish Expedition Society, The Earth, Silkroad Foundation, The China Post Newspaper, The Toronto Star, The South China Morning Post, and UNESCO amongst others. Various pieces of his work are part of private collections in Europe, North America, and Asia. Fuchs served as Asian Editor at Large for five years at award-winning Outpost magazine.
Jeff has worked with schools and universities, giving talks on both the importance of oral traditions, tea and mountain cultures.
His recently released book ‘The Ancient Tea Horse Road’ (Penguin-Viking Publishers) details his 8-month groundbreaking journey traveling and chronicling one of the world’s great trade routes, The Tea Horse Road. Fuchs is the first westerner to have completed the entire route stretching almost six thousand kilometers through the Himalayas a dozen cultures.
Fuchs partnered with Wild China to create a journey along the Tea Horse Road which National Geographic Traveler called one of the "50 Trips of a Lifetime".
He is co-founder of Akahiao Nature Institute on the island of Hawai'i along with his wife, Julie Rogers.
