Tag Archives: Tea Horse Road
The Journey to Sho’La Pass – Part 2 – Sandalwood and Heat
What is eternally rivetting about the mountains is their ability to hold traces of what has come before on their surfaces, while simultaneously holding unimaginable power. Tucked away, under forest cover, within valleys, and particularly on the stone, the trails … Continue reading
The Journey to Sho’La Pass – Part 1 – Horsemen Are Always Late…
Songjè the horseman is late. It isn’t unusual for this part of the world, but still the same, it is something that burrows its way into me. For moments it seems as though his absence will delay the entire expedition. … Continue reading
Expedition: Shangri-La to sacred Sho’La Pass Begins
A team of five of us begin the trek from Shangri-La to the sacred 4,815 metre Sho’La Pass tomorrow via an old trade route that wanders along the Yangtze and Mekong Rivers.
The Lion and the Descent – The Sacred Lakes in the Heights – Part lll of lll
Morning comes with smoke and the sounds of “pops” on my sleeping bag. The smoke is from our still-burning fire which Ngawa kept burning all night. Aniè has slept only intermittently and Ngawa worried about our old lion so he … Continue reading
The Lost Route, Found – The Sacred Lakes in the Heights – Part ll
When a memory of a memory inevitably isn’t quite what one expected there is a kind of exasperation, a kind of disbelief that one cannot actually recall a place, a feeling, or even a person. It is hard to acknowledge … Continue reading
November – Tea Horse Road, Jalamteas Event in Toronto – November 7th, 10th
A Sacred Lake and the Horseman
Upcoming post is based on a recently completed journey up a mountain in northwestern Yunnan with a brilliant group of students…and an icon of the mountains, local horseman Sangjè. Hands of steel, a voice that silences and the requisite face … Continue reading
“Yunnan Tea Road” Article in award winning TRVL
Arriving back to Zhongdian (aka Shangri-La) to wet, hints of snow in the surrounding mountains, and the usual fun and games getting up-to-date with the goings on in our old town. Building goes on, buildings go up and the sound … Continue reading
Kawa Karpo Expedition Feature out in Outpost Magazine’s edition #89
At long last the Kawa Karpo Expedition that Bill Roberts, Roberto Gibbons Gomez, myself and a titanic guide named Daba undertook and completed is out in tangible print in Canada’s award-winning adventure travel Outpost Magazine. It marks the first documented … Continue reading
Explorers Club talk on the Tea Horse Road
Back in Canada for the month of August before returning to China in September. With tea roaring around in the blood, I will be speaking tomorrow Friday, August, 10th to the Explorers Club in Toronto on that topic that gives … Continue reading