Author Archives: JeffFuchs

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.

Expedition February 2012 – Ancient Trade Route to Sacred Mountain

Back to the comforting cold and silence of ‘Shangrila’ here in northwestern Yunnan in preparation for another Outpost Magazine exclusive. Revo Polarized sunglasses, Mountain Hardwear, and our own Jalamteas are sponsoring (and happily fuelling) a ‘western first’ along an ancient … Continue reading

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Bang Ma Sip

A little recollection of being introduced to Bang Ma tea; it contentedly remains a tea by my side on every journey since discovering it.   There are moments that hit when the head and heart – and in this particular … Continue reading

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Ascend to End

  Traders, pilgrims – travelers, who utilized their legs and lungs through the mountain corridors of he Himalayas often tell tales of the mountains’ ‘natural order’, of the inevitable paths that lead and have led through the walls of stone. … Continue reading

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Feature Article in Outpost Magazine – Tsa’lam – The nomadic route of salt.

To the entire creative team at Outpost Magazine, Canada’s award-winning adventure travel magazine who helped turn the Tsa’lam feature into one of their classics – a big thank you. To Wild China, whose patient support and award aided and smoothed the … Continue reading

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An Ascent, An End

Skies, snow and peaks have replaced moss-laden trees and the mind clears along with this parting of the eyes’ peripheral. All of a sudden the introspection that has come with days of tunneling through gargoyle forests and wandering mosses gets … Continue reading

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Slips and Stones…

Mornings can ease in or they bump in. I wake in Gebo and have somehow managed to roll not only off of my matt but make it a good three metres from where I first lay my head the night … Continue reading

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Jalam Teas’ Coupons for Friends of Jeff

For anyone reading this, whether by happy accident or by loyal readership, this is what Aurelien has drafted up – the sometimes wonderful coupon for purchasing our Bada tea cake. When you access Jalam Teas simply type in “T&M-$10off” as your … Continue reading

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Jalam Teas Launch

And so, after much sipping and traveling; after obsessing on how to get teas ‘out of the bag’ from the gardens and ancient tea sources to you direct, Allen, Aurelien and myself have finally got our modest version of how … Continue reading

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Prostration and the Town of Thieves

  Jana is one of those towns that looks to be embarrassed with itself, somehow inward looking with its newly built homes falling into disrepair and a winding dusty road that is littered with refuse. We one depart it one … Continue reading

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A Devil’s River of Heat

  The kora, for Buddhists and Hindus, circumambulating in a clockwise direction follows the apparent movement of the sun. The sun in question is now hidden as we wake in the camp of Chube’ka. Tucked into the valley there is … Continue reading

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