Ancient Leaf for The Travel Almanac

David Hurn once asked me, “How do you become the best at what you do?” He then added, “Do you think the best violinist in the world was just born that way? He practises every day of his life. So why shouldn’t you train your eyes the same way?” Registro wants to be an exercise; a way to keep taking images, daily, with no specific project in mind. A way to give legs to images, to let them walk out there in the streets, sitting in cafés or living rooms rather than be buried in a kind of “cemetery,” a vast archive of data stored on hard drives, occasionally visited but rarely seen. It’s difficult at times, having all this material and no output, so this is it.

Located in China’s southern province Yunnan, the village of Nuogang is one of Jingmai Mountain’s most authentic, inhabited by both the Dai and Bulang indigenous communities. Surrounded by a 32,000-acre ancient forest of organic tea trees, some of which stand 15 metres tall, its name means a place where deer drink water in the Dai language. Constructed from stone and wood, the thousand-year-old village remains hidden inside a majestic green valley with a subtropical monsoon climate; at the heart of its people’s culture is the belief that their ancestors live on through the abundant flora and fauna. A stay here feels like being in a dream, where the settlement and the plantations become the only reality. The inhabitants of the village are mostly tea makers, producing raw and ripe fermented Pu’er tea, as well as black and white varieties. The tea plants grow into small trees that are placed inside a structured grid. Each day, women from the village ride their mopeds into the immersive forests to tend to their crop. Only the small uppermost leaves are delicately picked for their unique flavor and the plant’s good health. The atmosphere is extremely calm; the harvesters move quietly and gently through the verdure, sometimes climbing trees to reach the high foliage. The spirits of the forest whisper softly, keeping them company throughout their day.