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| Mr. Tea
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| Explorer, writer, photographer, Jeff Fuchs is a man who has made his own life his greatest adventure—and yet he knows the value of simple pleasures, like taking the time to enjoy a cup of oolong tea.
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Jeff Fuchs got his first taste of adventure alongside his larger-than-life Hungarian grandmother whose wandering spirit heralded his own. She had a habit of getting lost with little Jeff in tow, the two of them indulging her passion for food, often sharing a huge meal in a strange place before eventually finding their way back home.
Grandma Fuchs lived with Jeff and his father mostly in Canada and during a
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brief hiatus abroad in Switzerland. Her tough-mindedness coupled with her romantic instincts, exerted a strong influence over the family and Jeff in particular, who developed early the desire to experience events, places and people firsthand rather than in the abstract.
For Jeff, poised to become the first westerner to complete a perilous four-month 2350 km trek along the ancient Tea Horse Route, (www.planetranger.com) in the Himalayas, hiking was more place than activity—somewhere he could go to feel alert, at peace and alive.
“Most weekends in Switzerland the three of us would head into the nearby mountains where I would wander in utter contentment. Mountains, and by extension I guess the cultures that inhabit them, have always held me.”
His father used to make up stories for him every night, his imagination enriching his son’s already vivid inner life.
“I started reading early and by the teens I was gobbling up the adventures of Kipling, EE Shipton and Conrad. These books spoke to a part of me that was very real as opposed to ‘romantic’. Imagination for me was not an escape so much as something based loosely on places I had already seen, ideas I read about.”
After studying photography at Dawson College in Montreal, (to see samples of his exquisite work, go to www.jefffuchs.com), Fuchs’s love of travel and his penchant for keeping notes and journals evolved into highly evocative, almost poetic adventure-travel writing.
Insatiably curious and impulsive by nature, Fuchs set off in search of inspiration and found that it resides in the most unlikely spots—he likes the little places, the path least worn, the people that exist in the peripheral view.
“There are so many untold stories, and histories that transcend culture and geography and this leads and inspires me. If my own inspired work inspires and stimulates others I am content to continue. There is a lot out there that people may not be able to see and experience, so if I can transmit a portion of that then I am content… a huge amount of what I do is motivated by my interest in cultures and oral histories. It is a joke amongst friends that I inevitably stay longer in places off the map than I intend to.”
He’s spent the last four years traveling and working in Asia, focusing on tea and its cultivation and becoming familiar with indigenous tribes in places such as Taiwan—whose members can trace their origins to Polynesia, and writing about and photographing the lives of minority groups living in Yunnan and Sichuan.
Fuchs leads a nomadic and spare existence—yet is somehow able to derive comfort wherever he goes—and although ownership is not a priority for him, he does confess to having a weakness for tea pots, which he collects.
One of the most difficult aspects of the life he’s chosen is the leaving.
“Part of travel and extended stays away from home means that relationships with others are based on time-honored trust. The friendships I have, I hold dear because those are people who have been there throughout the years of living away and take me as I am. Often I want to stay longer with a specific group, or in a remote place, because that constant leaving is difficult. It is worth it without a doubt, because there is the option to return and rekindle those relationships with people, to renew the old ties. Seeing nomadic children grow up and remember your name. Not being able to conjure up those faces and places would be a loss.”
By fully immersing himself in different cultures and unfamiliar geographies, Fuchs has an altered sense of perspective, which has contributed immensely to his understanding of the greater world.
“Travel removes one from one’s own headspace and opinions. It’s not just the stimulant effect, because often it is humbling, and tough – but all of this contributes to a more balanced view. People who, regardless of travel, have an innate sense of themselves, unapologetic and certain of their purpose, always move me.”
Exotic travel demands a certain balance of temperament and philosophy—the dichotomy isn’t lost on Fuchs.
“I am both idealist and pragmatist. You cannot travel and explore and willingly put yourself in totally foreign places for extended periods of time without being idealistic. Having said that, you cannot survive for those extended periods of time without being pragmatic. The bigger part of me is the idealist. There is risk in anything, and risks are part of any life anywhere. Mine just happen to be in a different geography…that is the learning curve of life. I fear losing the old stories and the ability to tell them. I have more fears in the ‘civilized world’ than anywhere else, with traffic, the crush of humanity, the chaos.”
His trip to the Himalayas has been uppermost in his mind for the last three years—there is both a book and a documentary in the works. The West is largely uninformed about this incredible trade route—Fuchs, in partnership with old friends from the Himalayas, Khampa Caravan, plans to document oral histories, preserving stories that have been passed from one generation to the next.
Integrity of purpose, says Fuchs, is crucial to what he does and that’s just the beginning.
“It is essential to work with locals no matter where you are, because they have perspective and a true knowledge of people, difficulties, and methods of doing things practically.
Research and linguistic skills are invaluable. Mentally one has to stay focused and regard the upcoming journey as a privilege and remind oneself of the responsibility to document in a way that does justice to these ancient cultures. Diet and training are irreplaceable and part of a daily routine when you are involved in these types of treks. Any time I can be outdoors, no matter what the weather, allows a trust and understanding of the elements and oneself in those elements. Yoga keeps the joints and circulation from totally rebelling.
“Acclimatizing to altitudes is essential, no matter where you are, so part of the preparation is knowing the environment. One thing you learn from working with mountain cultures is their ability to work ‘with’ their environment instead of battling it.”
Being open to new things, recognizing that control is an illusion, and routinely exceeding his comfort zone have engendered in Fuchs an impressive degree of self-knowledge, a feeling that “limits are negotiable.”
“Spend enough time anywhere and a certain knowledge develops, which translates into confidence. My learning has come from being humbled time and again by the cultures and places I’ve seen and I suppose in some measure by a grandmother that had a will stronger than mine…The nature of my work has kept me questioning and making sure that my own conduct and motives are answerable. Definitely keeps my needs and desires simple. Creates and amends my value system. My necessities in life are few...tea is one of the few.“
Naturally restive, Fuchs has to remind himself to be patient, to take his time and savor the glorious road ahead. He is in unique position to understand the implications of commitment and considers himself fortunate to understand what it means to make a decision and live with the consequence—every choice, he’s learned, comes with a price tag.
He’s made his peace with the results of the choices that he freely makes.
“Without a doubt my spirit is heartened by what I encounter and being able to document the elements. It is in a way a ‘linking’ of worlds, and introducing the view that, while customs and the physicality of things and peoples differ there is a common link; a unity of purpose. Though I do wonder at times about how far off the simple essentials, we have swung here in the ‘developed nations.’”
Perhaps more importantly, Jeff Fuchs knows the value of making your own way.
“Gandhi said, ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world.’ Don’t let the world set your code of living, but rather choose it yourself and don’t dwell upon it too much.”
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