We’re delighted to announce that our documentary film The Tea Explorer film is getting an additional airing on Sunday Sept, 10th at 9 pm ET/10 PT on CBC’s Doc Channel in Canada. Best taken with a cup of leaves and water in close proximity to the hand. I’ve been hearing from people in the US about the film being shown on AWE tv as well. Below a couple of the inspiring characters when telling the story of the Tea Horse Road. Mother of Ajo of Litang and known to many as simply a

Finally, our Tea Horse Road inspired film doc, The Tea Explorer has a first ever air-date on television on CBC’s Doc Channel on July 23rd, 2017 at 9pm ET. The link above will give a teaser of some of the people, leaves, and landscapes that are inseparable from this epic route through the sky. It is a story of Mountains, a green leaf, and the memories with some random obsessive bits from myself to fill in some of the spaces. Shar Gong La, or Eastern Gate Pass along the Tea Hor

A still-active strand of the Tea Horse Road in northwestern Yunnan province where that relentless editor 'time' has changed very little...for now. Caravans still transport goods into remote portions of the mountains. Taken upon our journey along the route in 2006 Much of the Tea Horse Road’s great appeal is the sheer expanse of geography taken in – some estimate (as we did when our team traveled it) that five thousand grand kilometres taking in rafts of culture, language, die

Michael and I are back in our beloved hinterlands driving deep into the nomadic territories of Gansu province. Continuing my travels into the frontiers to witness a very special way of life change. In this part of the world at least the frontiers are often both the most dynamic and the most remote – change and the modern world’s goodies come swiftly but seem at times to miss entire landscapes and valleys. Watermelons in this part of the world reign supreme – for good reason A

So often it is the elders who remember tales through their time spent recounting orally the comings and goings of the past. Here Amne Machin is a backdrop of life. Breakfast often brings realizations – some stimulated by the first thoughts of the day and others brought to life from without. Tucking into bowl after bowl of milk tea this morning comes with a nugget of information imparted almost casually, which reminds me very clearly of what is key to this journey. It has to d

Jeff coddles some white gold At first it is a glimmer, nothing more than a reflection that I think might be there. Shimmering heat already ripples in the morning air blurring my sightlines.  Michael’s eyes are creased studying the same spectre that I see…he is making a humming sound as if to speak and my veins are chocked with blood. Tsa (salt) and its ancient home are close and that sense is within both of us. Tsam Tso - Salt Lake, at last We are about 40 kilometres west of

Mountain Warmth Time is always the great and constant editor and time winds down to the actual departure date of the Salt Road (Tsalam) journey. One can prepare gear, the body and the mind but that first blast of wind in the face from the heights in a blink obliterates everything but the ‘now’. The landscapes we will enter on this journey have their own stories and their own fierce abilities…but I inevitably imagine entire caravans passing through these lands being ushered by

The Route of White Gold When: May, 2011 Who: Jeff Fuchs, Michael Kleinwort Where: Southern Qinghai (Amdo) One of the ancient world’s great and unheralded trade routes was the eastern Himalayas’ Tsalam, or Salt Road. Known to many Tibetans as “The route of white gold”, much of its desiccated remains rest at close to 4 km in the sky upon the eastern Himalayan Plateau. Traversing some of the planet’s most remote and daunting terrain, the Tsalam passed through the snowy homeland