On foot our team of four puttered and wandered west (often faintly lost) through the Nyanqen Tanghla mountains in Tibet towards Lhasa. Highlights seemed on some days to be every single breath and moment. On other days, the grind of silent plodding under the sky made tea brakes and chats with locals something utterly vital. Tea was the one offering and item that seemed available at all times, in any space, where any ‘community' existed. Sometimes, this would be a ‘community’ of one. Such was the case at this gentleman’s home near Ala Jagung. Elegance personified he carefully prepared butter tea nodding and confirming that we were on the correct ‘middle route’ of the Tea Horse Road. He fixed himself up at one point telling us that we should photograph a “real Khampa”. Even though we were long miles away from the lands of the Khampa, her reminded us that the Khampa traders travelled anywhere, and in his case he was a descendant of a Khampa tea trader himself that had found love upon the road…and make a new home.
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