At long last an ebook version of my ‘The Ancient Tea Horse Road‘ lives and breathes, making the whole tale a little more convenient and giving some of those incredible geographies and personalities another opportunity to shine, charm, and threaten.
Of considerable importance (and in answer to many, many requests) the ebook has a map, so the journey our team took will make a little more sense and will be put into a context.
Tenzin, his memories, memories and continued enthusiasm for the Tea Horse Road gave (and still give) the route, lifeblood
The ebook does contain images, but we are at work to create a more image intense version of the book including photographs of the route that were taken on the original journey as well as upon several more recent journeys along unchartered portions of the route.
Butter tea, whose very offering represents one of the timeless gifts of travel upon the Tibetan Plateau
The book retraces our team’s journey along the grand ‘route through the sky’; a route of memories, of mountains, and of course of that eternal Asian commodity, tea.
Tea...a simple green leaf, that had no real equal on the trade routes
From the mist-laden subtropics of southern Yunnan up, and onto the Tibetan Plateau, the route known as Gya’lam (wide road) to Tibetans, Cha Ma Dao (Tea Horse Road), to the Han people, and ‘The Eternal Road’ to the legions of traders and muleteers, lives again.
Yeshi, Jeffers, Dakpa, Tenzin, and Sonam in a rare moment of physical unity standing outside the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa
The read is apparently enhanced with a cup(s) of tea at hand.
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.
Greetings Jeff Fuchs!
My love of horses and tea somehow led me to discover your writings and photos, which are presently enhancing the passing of winter here in a most enjoyable way.
I was able to purchase the ebook version of your “The Ancient Tea Horse Road” book through amazon.ca, but it seems to be a version that does not contain maps or photos. You are a super writer and your descriptions generate amazing images behind my closed eyelids, but your photography is also so wonderfully evocative I find it disappointing it does not accompany the text in this version of the ebook. Have I purchased the wrong one? Should I have ordered through amazon.com instead? If there is a different link to the version you describe in this journal entry would you pass it along. In the meantime I will keep looking through your blog to see if I have missed a follow up to this topic.
My best,
Lynne Gerard
Hi Lynne – thanks for the note and apologies for the map-less version.
I’m going to send on a map for the book which I drew up but wasn’t used (no idea why not). Much appreciate the words and check your email for a map of that wonderful route through the sky.
best to you,
Jeff