Tea Horse Road Chronicles – Walks and Words

“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.”

About JeffFuchs

Bio Having lived for most of the past decade in Asia, Fuchs’ work has centered on indigenous mountain cultures, oral histories with an obsessive interest in tea. His photos and stories have appeared on three continents in award-winning publications 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 Traveler amongst others. Various pieces of his work are part of private collections in Europe, North America and Asia and he serves as the Asian Editor at Large for Canada’s award-winning Outpost magazine. Fuchs is the Wild China Explorer of the Year for 2011 for sustainable exploration of the Himalayan Trade Routes. He recently completed a month long expedition a previously undocumented ancient nomadic salt route at 4,000 metres becoming the first westerner to travel the Tsa’lam ‘salt road’ through Qinghai. Fuchs has written on indigenous perspectives for UNESCO, and has having consulted for National Geographic. Fuchs is a member of the fabled Explorers Club, which supports sustainable exploration and research. Jeff has worked with schools and universities, giving talks on both the importance of oral traditions, tea and mountain cultures. He has spoken to the prestigious Spanish Geographic Society in Madrid on culture and trade through the Himalayas and his sold out talk at the Museum of Nature in Canada focused on the enduring importance of oral narratives and the Himalayan trade routes. 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. He makes his home in ‘Shangrila’, northwestern Yunnan upon the eastern extension of the Himalayan range where tea and mountains abound; and where he leads expeditions the award winning ‘Tea Horse Road Journey’ with Wild China along portions of the Ancient Tea Horse Road. To keep fueled up for life Fuchs co-founded JalamTeas which keeps him deep in the green while high in the hills.
This entry was posted in Explorations, Tea Horse Road and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.