Tea Horse Road Chronicles – A lusty bit of Leaf Tribute

Posted on May 3, 2021 by JeffFuchs

One of the most exquisite pieces of tea porn I’ve come ever across was this compressed mass of large leaf material, formed into seven gourds, sized in ever-descending size to form a large pyramid of vegetal fuel. It was also an homage to how tribute tea was often shaped in the days of trade. This bit of gorgeousness sat in a corner of a tea shop in Simao and I spent long hours debating trying to buy it and ship it home…all 70kg’s of it.

 

If ever there was a contrasting image of the Tea Horse Road’s daunting and physical Himalayan journey, this was it. And I never did acquire – any – of that statue of gorgeous leaves.

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A Snow Pass, The ‘Feel’, and Karma’s Chai

Posted on April 27, 2021 by JeffFuchs
The mind wanders back to a mountain pass, a blizzard, and that wonderful thing that exists still: instinct.
On a day of few words along a portion of a trade route in Ladakh as a blizzard piled in at 5000 metres, this moment reflects the question, “When do we know absolutely if we will continue?”.
Attempting to move over the snow pass of Lasermo, one of those very mountain mantras comes into clarity as well, “There is nothing that we dictate”, as elements, variables, and perception still guide most journeys. And so we adapted and followed our languid reader of the winds and snows, Tsewang (pictured here). Our mules and horses trusted him, and so too did we. Here, he looks back to us for the sign to continue…or to retreat.
He ‘felt’, he could still read the pathway, even though there was nothing but a blanket of white, beautiful froth before us. We would ‘just’ make it over the pass as the blizzard came in full force. Once we set up camp, Tsewang would politely demand a masala chai be made in his honour by our guru of delights and wisdom, Karma. He was obliged and the skies would clear.
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Tea Horse Road Chronicles – He Was Late

Posted on April 20, 2021 by JeffFuchs

The horseman assured Sonam and our team that he would appear at 7am sharp the next morning. He promised over several cups of tea, and that was usually the sign of a deal that was done and agreed upon. The taking of tea together is considered something of an informal, unwritten agreement. We awoke and no horseman, no horses, and no guide along a particularly desolate stretch of the Tea Horse Road. We needed this man, however unreliable he might be and more than that we needed his horses and mules. Locals had fled into the high country in their annual pilgrimage to collect caterpillar fungus and we were desperate for his assistance.

Ever-patient Sonam, who rarely showed hostility to any living thing, went off like a beautiful thing of fury. He tracked down the horseman (who was still drunk and in bed) and berated him in front of the remaining community for not being a man of his word. Sheepishly, our man took it on the chin (over tea) and we were off with both him and his horses.

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Tea Horse Road Chronicles – Walks and Words

Posted on April 10, 2021 by JeffFuchs
“When you walk through mountains, you appreciate any arrival. When you walk to a place, you can speak about a place”.
An interview about the Tea Horse Road which turned into a sumptuous afternoon with tea about far more than a simple trade route through the sky. Speaking with this monk of his memories of life and travel along the great trade route through the Himalayas, the chat became more of a discourse on life, reverence of the natural world, and the way in which we choose to live and treat one another – it became a series of brilliant moments of listening, near the grand circle of gathering, Boudanath.
Interview in Kathmandu - The Tea Horse Road
Much of the thoughts and words were hinged upon the idea that if one was to survive and thrive as a trader, a journeyer, or a migrant, one needed to remain open to the world and to people. This “openness” though had a caveat. “When you are certain of something in the bones, you must be decisive before you get too clever and make excuses. It must be done at the moment it is clear.”
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Tea Horse Road Chronicles –

Posted on April 3, 2021 by JeffFuchs
The final destination along the Tea Horse Road, both for our own expedition and for the great journeys of the past, was Kalimpong, in Western Bengal. It became for many muleteers and tea traders a kind of plush retirement community; close enough to the snow and spires while being accessible to the more temperate market centres.  Yeshi and I would spend days sipping sweet tea and eating lethally good baked goods from Auntie Penzon in her ʻSomdala Kotteeʻ (Orange Cottage). She was a goddess of warmth and wizened beauty. Deep, bubbling, and utter royalty along the length of the trade route, she had her own tales of the route and its characters. One of the great beauties of her time, her own origins went back to ‘Gyalthang’, now called ‘Shangrila’, and my home for a decade.
Portrait of girl in Kalimpong, which was one of the last points along the Tea Horse Road
 
She had competition though for attention in the form of a young relative who who would light up the green interior of the cottage with daily squeals of laughter and that rare thing: morning joy. She would in a moment make me forget my baked goods, my tea, our tales of the route as she took over time and space. Uniformed, with a small back pack, she would be hustled off to school and return later in the day, equally energized and alive. This was one morningʻs departure that lit up mine. One moment later she was gone.
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Tea Horse Road Chronicles – The Tea That Never Came

Posted on March 26, 2021 by JeffFuchs
A simple tea room in Weishan, Yunnan, and one of the only tea rooms in my life that I failed to actually have tea in. Weishan was another of the understated hubs along the Tea Horse Road, and it marks another of the tea growing regions of Yunnan, north of Xishuangbanna. While so many of the Tea Horse Roadʻs spaces and faces were larger than life epic tapestries and living maps, there were an equal number of graceful, understated, and hidden elements. This was one of those.
Weishan on Yunnan's Tea Horse Road
 
From Weishan, many Muslim caravan teams (who were known as rugged and more vitally ‘on time’ with their shipments) were based. Trader hubs inevitably saw more opulence enter into their walls and cities than did many of the more remote destinations. Caravan teams were usually enlisted for only certain sections or routes, so it was in many cases only the tea that made the huge journeys from start to finish. Mules, humans, sheep, horses, and yak would all be transition as the route moved into different topographies and cultural hubs. One muleteer explained effective traders and muleteers dthis way, “A good muleteer is a linguist, a fighter, a negotiator, and someone who is smart enough to know when he doesn’t know enough”.
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The Tea Sessions – Part 2 – Gyokuro Trip, Umami Grip

Posted on March 17, 2021 by JeffFuchs

Continuing my tea-fuelled series for Outpost Magazine, The Tea Sessions, as it takes a (brief) break from Puerh and into Japan’s fabled world of umami as it plays out in a stunning Gyokuro serving session in Kyōtanabe.

Article here: Gyokuro Trip, Umami Grip

Gyokuro Trip, Umami Trip

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Tea Horse Road Chronicles – Part Human and a Little Part Goat

Posted on March 9, 2021 by JeffFuchs
Over the course of years since meeting Dorjè I’ve written and pondered much about him. “Part goat and a little part human” was how he was described to me. Perhaps sounds unfair but the goats’ abilities in the Himalayas are legendary and entirely positive. He was (and remains) one of the most feral and strong men I’ve ever encountered with DNA that must read like a fascinating spread sheet of strengths and small micro links between tendons, muscles, and reaction times. Whisky would always come before tea, and loyalty to friends and family before all else. He was integral in a 52-day trek portion along the Tea Horse Road from northwestern Yunnan across eastern Tibet, and I’ve seldom seen a stronger sense of honour and sheer physical strength in a mortal being. His other nickname was ‘Peter O’Toole’ for reasons that most would understand, though I needed to explain this reference to the other team members. This photo of Dorjè was taken during a rare moment of relative calm in his home in Yong Zhr, near Kawa Karpo. He remains one whose strengths lie in the doing and remaining true to his path. Amongst his many ‘Dorj-Moments’, many stand out. One such ‘moment’ was more like a series of moments when our team had arrived to a remote village along the Tsayuchu river valley. We needed supplies after having been so long upon the route, and we needed to information about the path ahead. Dorjè promptly announced that he didn’t like the “feel” of the place, and had his knife close at hand. He stalked through the minuscule town and pleaded with us to leave and not worry about food and directions through the nearby snow mountains, and that he would make it up to us somehow. He was relentless in his request, so after having secured a small bit of food, we were off. Dorjè would in fact guide us true over a nearby pass and find us a more inviting community to rest in and gather supplies.
Portrait along the Tea Horse Road
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Tea Horse Road Chronicles – Choices, No Choices, and some Courage

Posted on March 7, 2021 by JeffFuchs
Ascending up to the Sho La Pass in northwestern Yunnan in May there would always be a chance of weather issues, but it would still be a surprise when, even at the relatively kind altitudes of 3000 metres, the skies churned and smouldered and our intended pathway became lost amid a late snowfall. A mule and its cargo became lodged in  deep snow at the top left, but this moment was entirely about the young 16-year year old Lisu boy and his courage taking charge of our team. He had to take the lead of our mule tea team, meticulously picking his footing so as not to risk the hooves of the mules. He wasn’t a muleteer and he wasn’t used to snow but he relentlessly moved onwards and upwards, wordlessly moving over the deceptive white carpet. He, like so many youth, simply needed the work and he wouldn’t relent. Thirty minutes after this photo we would almost lose Dakpa (top left in orange) in hidden crevasse covered in a fresh snow layer, and our mules would halt, unable to proceed. A blizzard came in reducing sight lines to mere feet and four of us would continue over the pass, while the mules, our gear, and the young Lisu boy would remain waiting for the weather to ease. It wouldn’t. I would never see the young boy again, and wouldn’t see my gear for another week. I would see two of the mules years later on another crossing of the Sho La Pass…in far better weather.  It is these largely untapped tales and risks that make the Tea Horse Road such an underrated part of Asian history.
Caravan along the Tea Horse Road
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Tea Horse Road Chronicles – Tea and Bloodlines

Posted on February 27, 2021 by JeffFuchs
On foot our team of four puttered and wandered west (often faintly lost) through the Nyanqen Tanghla mountains in Tibet towards Lhasa. Highlights seemed on some days to be every single breath and moment. On other days, the grind of silent plodding under the sky made tea brakes and chats with locals something utterly vital. Tea was the one offering and item that seemed available at all times, in any space, where any ‘community’ existed. Sometimes, this would be a ‘community’ of one. Such was the case at this gentleman’s home near Ala Jagung. Elegance personified he carefully prepared butter tea nodding and confirming that we were on the correct ‘middle route’ of the Tea Horse Road. He fixed himself up at one point telling us that we should photograph a “real Khampa”. Even though we were long miles away from the lands of the Khampa, her reminded us that the Khampa traders travelled anywhere, and in his case he was a descendant of a Khampa tea trader himself that had found love upon the road…and make a new home.
tea stories from the himalayas
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