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 Horse Road in Tibet.
The Tea Explorer doc follows roughly the direction of my book but has to compress certain elements. Editing a passion project is an evil thing…for it takes an ability to cut out and for that I’m ever-thankful to 90th Parallel Productions and director Andrew Gregg for making those cuts. For the film we followed a route into Nepal’s remote Mustang region and the hallucinatory spaces of the Kali Gandaki gorge. Our route traced yet another alternate route of the great tea road, as well as finding a gift: the absolutely epic trader, Konga, who features in our film and warms it with his integrity and passion. The film will travel to film festivals as well and I’ll be updating when possible about the tea-fueler progress of the film.
Epic Konga retrieving some of his trade paraphernalia, which was used for yak and mules. An epic interview with this treasure of the days of Himalayan trade.
We’ll follow the tea leaves off of ancient tea trees in Yunnan as they move through the Himalayas ending up in Kathmandu.
A Hani picker of tea moves along a branch in southern Yunnan Province
Will also update regarding online streaming and DVD possibilities as I know more. Good sips and thanks as always for continuing to participate in these mountain and tea-fueled rants and wanderings.
A moment with my idol, Konga, at a recent trip to revisit him and present him with some more of the Yunnan Puerh tea, he craves. The Tea Explorer is as much about these vital characters as it is about the tea itself. Tea could not have traveled for 13 Centuries without these titans of the mountains hauling it.
Comments