Decided that there must be some way to pay some tribute to the faces, spaces, and leaves that have inspired either by wonderful force, or by gentle ways in the past year. It is also a way of saying thank you.
The best way, I think, is simply to post a series of images and brief posts in the final days of this, 2015. People who mentor, inspire, and those who simply go about doing what they do so well; or landscapes and tea leaves that conjure and stimulate, this is a series of tributes to those (and those things) who’ve moved and inspired in this last year.
So, this is the first of a series of posts that celebrate inspiration in whatever form it came in the past year…with the very necessary captions.
Inspiration in whatever form it comes, is still inspiration.
One of the year’s inspirational moments took place amidst bristling winds (where so much inspiration seems to come from for me) at close to 5,000 metres. Nothing dramatic…simply a nomadic elder laying her yak cheese atop her roof to dry. Sustained by gritty DNA and their sacred pashmina goats these people are the quintessential nomads. The Karnak people have continued to defy much of the modern world’s attentions…and they do it well. They understand the land, the elements and pay tribute to the very simple aspects of the world in which they inhabit.
Though perhaps lacking some of the intense spectacle of the nomadic woman, this photo represents an equivalent value to me. Karma, who seems to defy every title, is quite simply one of the Himalayas’ great mentors. Horse whisperer, cook without equal, tea-maker-at-all-times-of-day-and-night, healer, and reader of the mountains’ every breath, he is one of my essentials on every expedition that I can manage. Gentle soul and good friend as well I’m proud to say.
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.
