The concept of a ‘departure’ has all changed since Sebastian’s arrival into our little orbit. Now a departure isn’t simply an exciting bit of stimulant rip…now it is thing tinged with a bit of regret knowing he won’t join on this first journey back to the Himalayas since he arrived.
He feels something is up and doesn’t like the little mound of gear and bags that has been sitting on our floor for days now.
The journey will follow another trade route(s), this one part of a meandering pathway in the north of Nepal through Upper Mustang and Upper Dolpo. Like so many of these ‘pathways through the sky’, its story is a part of something wider and broader as these routes operated as thin-aired conduits of trade and commerce, migration, and other worlds.
The tea is ready, the pots are ready, and the hope is that he will in time join me on these journeys.
Thank you Julie Rogers for the unsaid permission to go back into the mountains and for watching over our son…and convincing him I’m returning.
Updates to follow
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.
