Almost ten years ago Andrew Gregg, sound magician Mike Josselyn, 90th Parallel, and I, made ’The Tea Explorer’ documentary. Many over the years have asked when it will be available for a more general viewing. Finally, the piece which (still) airs on CBC Docs in Canada is out on Youtube. A friend recently sent me a link saying it had been up for about a year. Now it sits, accessible, up on Youtube…albeit with heaps of ads.
Three of us spent a month retracing portions of the Tea and Horse Caravan routes, documenting what we could that was still humming of the days of trade (and tea). Much of the journey was a realization that the memory-banks of the days of trade were largely all that was left. Memories and stray, windblown pathways through the mountains.
Our little endeavour was entirely fuelled by – and about – tea. It was too, a project that increasingly was about the people who interacted (and interact still) with the eternal fuel and those epic routes through the sky.
Link is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r9d83lqOtE&t=584s
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.
It was a real pleasure to watch! I’ll be showing a clip to the students of my tea course this autumn 🙂 Hope you and the fam are very well.
Great to hear and apologies for the delayed response Lucinda. Blog site had not updated and wasn’t seeing messages.
We are well, running, and in need of movement. Hope you are well in all ways.