Interactive Chai Pilgrimage Map
PART I: NEPAL + INDIA
We traveled by plane, train, rickshaw, boat, bus, foot…you name it.
Click on each star along the route for a glimpse into our adventure.
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Welcome and thanks for visiting!
Click above Ganesha to visit our main site.
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CHAI PILGRIMAGE (the Book) is coming!
Due out 2010! Sign up for our Chai Pilgrimage mailing list! -
Travel our chai pilgrimage map!
- Archival Prints for Sale.
PHOTO GALLERY.
Chai Wallahs.
- Tea.
- Signage.
- Holy Cows.
- Sketchbook.
LOVELY AND WONDERFUL BLOG!!! MY CONGRATULATIONS.
10 May 2009 at 7:57 am
I adore your site and made myself a cup of chai instantly! I took my first trip out of the US this past winter and traveled to South India. I was in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Our house guest didn’t think I would like chai and prepared coffee instead. I asked her if I could have a cup of the chai that she had made for herself and she grinned from ear to ear! Certainly not a Starbucks Chai latte, but oh so much yummier. I’ll never forget how pleased my hostess was that I loved it so much as well as all of her cooking. I’m already planning my next trip! Thank you for the lovely site. I’ll enjoy reading it from the beginning.
24 May 2009 at 6:13 am
hello,
i dont know if it is of much relevance or not.
i am not such a chai enthusiast, i am more of a traveler. i have seen some of the best tea gardens in India. i have been to darjeeling, ooty and munnar(kerala) in that order with some years gap in between every place.
at darjeeling, the weather was so great that the look of every tea garden was amazing.
ooty’s itself was such a beautiful city that i loved the tea gardens there better than darjeeling.
but when i went to munnar, the tea gardens there were the best. the simply attracted me to them. the way they were evenly cut and well maintained was simply awe struck. i like munnar because of the tea gardens unlike ooty where it was the other way round.
otherwise, tea culture at Ahmedabad (gujarat) is huge. having a cup of tea with your friend/ relative is an experience there. people share every cup of tea they have. they never have a cup of tea alone. the amazingly large number of tea stalls at every nick and corner of the city is a complete reflection of this fact. tea is available 24hrs at roadside vendors. people in the costliest cars come to have tea at these stalls at 3 or 4am.
i hope these places could also be added to your interactive map.
04 Jun 2009 at 3:08 am
hi Nanette, thanks so much for your comment and for visiting our site. i love hearing about when people first discovered chai! my first cup was from my husband ‘here’ but soon after i was drinking it several times a day in Nepal and India, on the street and in homes. i’m so lucky that i have a devoted chai wallah for a husband…i drink it almost every day! and even right now. we’d also like to go back, but we’ll have to wait now til littl’ Tulsi gets bigger! hope you enjoy our site and our book, too, someday… jenny
13 Jun 2009 at 9:30 am
Hello Ankur, namaste! thanks for your comment and visiting our site. it’s nice to hear about the tea gardens in kerala. patrick and i have been wanting to visit kerala and will, someday. when we do, we’ll be sure to visit munnar. unfortunately we did not get to visit gujarat on our last trip although we would have liked to. this is why these places are not “on the map”. however, maybe i can make an extended map that includes places of tea and masala chai recommended from others like you. if you have any photos of these gardens or chai stalls, please email them to me, and i’ll include them when i do. i think that’s a great idea, especially those traveling around India where we did not go. thanks Ankur! jenny
13 Jun 2009 at 9:37 am
Like your chai site!
I love chai!
I must admit that the first couple of times I tasted chai I found it was too sweet… But I remember the first time I got the taste if it.
It had been a cold night in the Thar desert just outside Jaisalmer. Me and my boyfriend was waking up to the weird gurgling sounds from the camels and a delicious, hot steaming masala chai in a steel mug. The chai wallahs this time was the smiling and friendly camel-safari- wallahs. They usually washed the mugs with sand in the desert. We got the warmth back in our limbs, watching the beautiful sunrise over the sand dunes while we drank the delicious, sandy chai… he-he.
Ever since I enjoyed the differnet kinds of chai all around India and make my own cup here at home (Norway). Masala chai with lots of ginger is my favorite.
10 Jul 2009 at 11:12 am
thanks for sharing about your sandy masala chai in the desert! we loved your story. and the image in my head of the camel chai wallah is magnificent! thanks for sharing — we hope to be blogging again soon. Tulsi and our summer garden has kept us so busy. peace, jenny
10 Jul 2009 at 11:54 am
Hi,
I got here from Seth Godin’s blog post. And I’m blown away! I love traveling and even more so when it is out of the normal. All the best for your book!
17 Sep 2009 at 7:36 pm
nice map! can you tell us more about how you made the map? it is beautiful, almost looks like it was made from chai ingredients. what paper is it?
best, roger
18 Sep 2009 at 12:50 pm
thanks, roger. glad you like it! i’ve been doing a lot of little sketches for our book with tea bags and cinnamon on old scrap papers. same for this map. it is fluid and fun and seems so perfect for this project. are you an artist?
18 Sep 2009 at 4:23 pm
Hi!
Liked to concept of writing on Chaiwallahs!
During my design education, i do remember many of my friends used to do system design on this subject! And they used to come up with quite good amount of design intervention ideas on improvising chaiwallahs social condition!
As Ankur as mentioned in Ahmedabad, tea is a culture in it self. There is special tea called “cutting”
As people keep drinking mug full of tea they kill their appetite. Also whenever they meet any friend or relative even outside home, just to have a chat they offer chai to each other on the near by tea stall. Or in the shop if any customer comes to purchase some good amount of stock, to great them shopkeeper ask for tea. Now in each of this scenarios there is something called “cutting”! Cutting is half cup tea which people can finish fast and get back to their work!
The tea is quite significant to few of the very great institutions in India! And that itself is a study in its own sense! Each institution has one tea maker outside the main gate and students – professors will surely go once to this place and discuss about all varied subjects! The teawalls are also getting quite good amount of knowledge while listing to their discussion and also actively participate. I can relate this as i have seen this happening outside my design institute NID (National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad) and IIM (Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad).
Hope to see such many interesting fact, stories in your book! Best of luck!
Regards,
Monil
21 Sep 2009 at 10:43 pm
Absolutely Incredible Website and Adventure!!!!!! I’m speechless at the extent of creativity as well as your passion for travel. Hopefully one day I’ll get there too
Keep up the awesomely awesome work!
21 Jul 2010 at 12:07 pm