A little moment of respite for our incredible hostess who remains still, one of most formidable characters in my memory palace. While running around researching the Tea Horse Road, a friend who was from the Yi minority invited me to meet his grandmother, who had lucid memories of the old trade route. As much as the time with her was about tea and the route itself – which steamed through her region near Xiaguan, Yunnan, – she herself became a kind of all-encompassing subject of my attention and affection. Somewhere in her nineties, she still ran a household, puttering around offering up drinks and speaking about spirits that wandered at night. Her diet (and energy) fascinated me. Besides the odd bit of tea, she subsisted almost entirely on a diet of raw eggs whipped into a small brew of homemade whisky, with a little sugar added. Twice daily she took this ‘life-juice’ and managed quite fine. It was only when preparing to leave that I was told that she had only twenty-percent vision. She had scurried around for days nimbly skipping about offering up all she had to us, hunched up but fluid. An amazing bit of inspiration and energy bundled into human form.
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.
Oh my oh my oh my! What a find to treasure in your heart forever, give her a hug for me OK?
I gave her several long ones when we departed, after a sip of something strong.
best to you
Jeff
A lovely, succinct – yet evocative – descriptive of one of the many “formidable characters in your memory palace”. Now this energetic woman and imagining the taste of her small brew “life-juice” are part of my virtual experiences. I always appreciate these glimpses in other cultures you so beautifully document. Thank you for this, Jeff!
Always a joy to pass on these little bits of light Lynne.
Be and stay well and don’t forget to take the little bits of ‘life-juice’.
Jeff