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.
Yeshi and I shared tea with this old memory palace of time. Goat milk and butter were used instead of yak variations. The tea was deadly but his memories as he recounted the days of watching caravans along a portion … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged butter tea, Cha Ma Gu Dao, Himalayas, Jeff Fuchs, mountains, portrait, Tea, tea and mountains, Tea Customs, Tea Expedition, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, tea travel, The Ancient Tea Horse Road, The Tea Explorer film, Tibet, trade routes, Travel
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Not heeding the warnings of Sonam Gelek; I should have known better at this stage of our journey than to plunge onwards without his counsel…but onwards I plunged. Consistently accurate and intuitive, Sonam had warned against our team traversing a … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged Himalayas, Jeff Fuchs, mountains, tea and mountains, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, Tibet, Trade Route, Travel
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“When you are lost in the mountains you must sit and think with your good brain….think!” Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged butter tea, China, Expedition, Explorer, Himalayas, Jeff Fuchs, Lama, shangrila, Tea, tea and mountains, tea horse road chronicles, tea stories, tea trade, Tibet, trade routes, wisdom, yunnan
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“Tea is our everything. I don’t know where it comes from but we take it every day in the morning, afternoon, and night. Our children learn to make it when they are young but we must help them get the … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains, Tea, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged Asia Travel, Asian History, Cha Ma Gu Dao, China, Jeff Fuchs, mountains, Nomads, Tea, tea and mountains, tea culture, tea history, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, Tibet, Travel
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At various times all of these gents were pivotal characters along the journey and in my life. The slim and polite denim-clad Sonam (at far right) belies one of the most ferocious wills and straight up strongmen that I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and journeying with. Amongst this group he was the only one on every one of those 52 days and nights of journeying on the Lhasa portion and he would be a partner on dozens of subsequent mountain journeys. Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged Himalayas, Jeff Fuchs, Lhasa, mountains, Tea, tea and mountains, tea explorer film, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, Tea Horse Road Expedition, Tibet
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Nomadic women of Ganze gather on a grassland to take part in a horse festival. It was through and over such high grasslands that the Tea Horse Road moved towards Dzogong, Chamdo, Lhasa and beyond. Nomads and their lands were … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains, Tea, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged Asian History, Cha Ma Gu Dao, Expedition, Himalayas, Horse Racing Festival, Jeff Fuchs, Lhasa, Nomads, tea and mountains, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, Tibet, trade routes
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Napu went up the tea tree amid a forest of tea trees, shimmying along a support branch, until she could access the buds and leaves two metres off of the ground. I shimmied up along side her to watch her … Continue reading →
Posted in Tea Horse Road
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Tagged Camellia Sinensi, Cha Ma Gu Dao, China, Jeff Fuchs, Pu'erh, puer, Tea, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, Tea Plucking, tea sourcing, tea travel, Xishuangbanna, yunnan
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One of the gems of old world Himalayan transport and the Tea Horse Road in particular was the yak hide ‘ferry’ that would take tea, salt, mules and journeyers across waterways where there were no bridges. It still does operate … Continue reading →
Posted in Mountains, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged Asian culture, Asian History, caravans, Cha Ma Gu Dao, Himalayan Trade, Himalayas, Jeff Fuchs, Pu'erh, Tea, tea and mountains, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, tea travel
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Immersed in a hotspring that is tucked within a mountain cave, sitting beside the venerable and irrepressible Dorjè Kandro. Just days before, we began the fifty-two day walk from my – then – home in ‘Shangri-la’ (Gyalthang) in northwestern Yunnan, … Continue reading →
