In the coming weeks a trip back into the characters and moments of our journey along the Tea Horse Road (the first documented western journey along the magnificent highway through the sky).
The first segment then begins here.
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We started our journey in the dark near the village of Nyalam on the Tibet-Nepal border on a morning of driving snow and wind. As pale morning light took over from dark, all of the winds and snows stopped as though flipped by a switch. This little one was bouncing around with other children running around in the heights near one of our tea break points.
The Little One of Nyalam
She fixed our entire team with those eyes and she moved my entire world in a second. Months into the Tea Horse Road journey, this was one of those moments that marked time. For my own journey at that point, she marked a transition point as we made our way off of the Tibetan Plateau and would soon begin the long coiling route to Kathmandu. If felt like she knew everything in a moment by sheer intuition…it feels like she still does looking at her even now.
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.
