Tea Horse Road Chronicles –

The final destination along the Tea Horse Road, both for our own expedition and for the great journeys of the past, was Kalimpong, in Western Bengal. It became for many muleteers and tea traders a kind of plush retirement community; close enough to the snow and spires while being accessible to the more temperate market centres.  Yeshi and I would spend days sipping sweet tea and eating lethally good baked goods from Auntie Penzon in her ʻSomdala Kotteeʻ (Orange Cottage). She was a goddess of warmth and wizened beauty. Deep, bubbling, and utter royalty along the length of the trade route, she had her own tales of the route and its characters. One of the great beauties of her time, her own origins went back to ‘Gyalthang’, now called ‘Shangrila’, and my home for a decade.
Portrait of girl in Kalimpong, which was one of the last points along the Tea Horse Road
 
She had competition though for attention in the form of a young relative who who would light up the green interior of the cottage with daily squeals of laughter and that rare thing: morning joy. She would in a moment make me forget my baked goods, my tea, our tales of the route as she took over time and space. Uniformed, with a small back pack, she would be hustled off to school and return later in the day, equally energized and alive. This was one morningʻs departure that lit up mine. One moment later she was gone.

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.
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3 Responses to Tea Horse Road Chronicles –

  1. Danielle Dani says:

    Wait, what ????!!!!!!????? You end the writing with ” ….. one moment later she was gone ….” what happened to this gorgeous child ?????? 😢

  2. Danielle Dani says:

    Ohhhhhh – whew – just realized you were saying this joyous soul was dancing before you then departed on her way to school. Gosh, what is silly I was to jump to the conclusion that something horrible had happened to her … what a relief that I came to my senses !!!!!!!

    • JeffFuchs says:

      Not to worry Danielle. She went skipping off to school as she did every day…and then would return with her energy intact to run the household.