Arriving back to Zhongdian (aka Shangri-La) to wet, hints of snow in the surrounding mountains, and the usual fun and games getting up-to-date with the goings on in our old town. Building goes on, buildings go up and the sound of band saws now competes day and night with the local collection of canines for title of undisputed champion of decibels.
However the route may be called, whether it be the Tea Horse Road, the Tea Caravan route, the Horse Tea Route, or even simply the Yunnan Tea Road, the strands that make up its length are stained with far more than simply tea. Fabrics, medicines, DNA, and any trade item that had value was bundled aboard the mules and horses and taken away to other hungry lands.
An upcoming post about a Tibetan mountain Doctor and a remote monastery will is imminent but before that a link here to a feature article in the award-winning TRVL on Yunnan’s Tea Road here. TRVL is an ‘ezine’ exclusively for iPads…and they do it brilliantly. The link and app are free.
Of course, tea, the great panacea of Asia was always first on any list of desired items during the caravan’s busiest times
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