Yak Butter Blues: A Tibetan Trek of Faith (Hardcover)

by Brandon Wilson (Author) "High in the Rockies in secluded, privileged mountain villages like Vail, there were still some things on which you could depend..." (more)
Key Phrases: butter blues, hase camp, yak butter tea, Dalai Lama, Don Juan, Mount Everest (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
""Edge of your seat" stuff. I could taste the bitterness of the "Yak Butter." What a wonderful experience!" -- John Sebastian, host, WABJ's Morning Show (Michigan)

"A wonderful and wild read...The writing is charged, alive, and a little threatening." -- Richard Bangs, Executive Producer/Director of Great Escapes MSNBC

"If you've traveled independently through Tibet…this lively memoir is sure to provide a yak-scented whiff of nostalgia." -- Hannah Nordhaus, Kangri News (International Mountain Explorer's Connection)

"It places readers in the thick of the action every bit as well as Marco Polo transported Italians to China." -- Joseph W. Bean, Book Reviewer, Maui Weekly, November 4, 2004

"Moving and emotional testimony, and a travelogue that is the next most vivid experience to hiking upon the trail oneself." -- Midwest Book Review (October 2004)

"Recommended for adventure travel and Tibetan culture collections." -- Library Journal, October 15, 2004

"Told with humour and insight, you experience life at true Tibetan pace: so close, you almost smell the yak butter." -- Michael Buckley, author of Heartlands-Travels in the Tibetan World and Tibet: The Bradt Travel Guide

"Worth a read by any adventure or travel-trekking novel enthusiast." -- J. Sinclair Oal, Backpacking Light (Spring 2005)

"YAK BUTTER BLUES has been named a Highlighted Title, recognizing the latest and greatest in independent publishing." -- Independent Publisher, October 2004

"…a high-altitude tale of synchronicity, divine providence, begging monks, trigger-happy Chinese soldiers and dehydration." -- PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, March 27, 2005

Product Description
Yak Butter Blues is an inspiring true tale of one couple's courage, love, faith and resolve to trek an ancient pilgrim's trail 1000-kilometers across Tibet. This story of human endurance provides an intimate first-hand look at the valiant struggle of the Tibetan culture to survive -- and at the humanity connecting us all. An IPPY award winner.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 284 pages
• Publisher: Pilgrim's Tales, Inc.; 1st edition (July 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933037237
• ISBN-13: 978-1933037233
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,823,382 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From Lhasa to Kathmandu, March 24, 2006

By	Cathy L. Yanda (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Yak Butter Blues (Paperback)

..."Look, you two, I don't think this has ever been done before-and there must be more than one good reason why."...It's a good thing author Brandon Wilson and his wife, Cheryl, didn't take these words to heart or I wouldn't have been able to go along with them on their adventure from Lhasa to Kathmandu. While I may never get there in person, I feel as though I have met the people of Tibet and seen everything they did while staying out of the freezing cold. I read this book, slowly, savoring from the first "Tashi Delek!" to the last "Namaste". I came to love Sadhu, the wandering holy man, so much that I was close to tears near the end of the story.

Traveling with Brandon and Cheryl, and the people they meet along the way and share their adventure with, for 650 miles across an ancient pilgrim's trail is exhilarating. You will enjoy the way things open up to them as minor successes happen to allow them to trek across Tibet, visiting beautiful Buddhist monasteries and passing out pictures of the Dalai Lama to those who helped them along the way. While experiencing much success, they also experienced getting shot at, getting caught in a blizzard and a sandstorm, not having enough to eat or drink, getting lost, Cheryl getting bitten by a dog, and much more. The one thing that stayed constant, besides their determination, was the Yak Butter the book is named for.

...Like Henry David Thoreau's noble quest to "live life deliberately"..."Yak Butter Blues author, Brandon Wilson, teaches us just that...open your life to adventure, seek it out, find something that suits you and jump in with both feet...don't stop to think or to over-plan. If you do, your logic could take over and you would miss all the fun! Pick up two copies of this book...one for yourself and another for a friend. You will both be glad you did. Thank you Brandon and Cheryl for sharing a once-in-a-lifetime trip!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yak Butter Blues by Brandon Wilson, April 22, 2005

By	Verna H. Eddy - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Yak Butter Blues: A Tibetan Trek of Faith (Paperback)

Brandon transpoted me to Tibet and I was taken step by grueling step with him and Cheryl and their rugged Tibetan horse Sadhu on their 1000 km trek from Lhasa to Kahtmandu that they were told was impossibe.
The trip had to be completed before the mountain passes were snowed in so they had about six weeks so they had to walk eighteen miles a day on dirt roads thru tracherous mountain passes at very high altitudes encountering the unpredictable Chinese military.
At the end of each day there was always a surprise lodgeing,with very meager sustenance but always they were welcomed by Tibetan families who shared what they had.
This is a heart warming book that proves nothing is impossible and the human body and mind can be stretched to endure and and rewarded in ways that uplift the spirit to new heights.
The Tibetan people are proof that somehow they will endure and need world support.
It is a wonderful book and exciting adventure.
Verna Eddy
Kailua Hi

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fearless or Hairbrained, November 25, 2004

By	Norman Goldman "Editor of Bookpleasures.com" (Montreal) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Yak Butter Blues: A Tibetan Trek of Faith (Paperback)

After reading author Brandon Wilson's email requesting a review of his book Yak Butter Blues, wherein he recounts how he and his wife, Cheryl, travelled 40 days from early October to the end of November in 1992 over 1000 kilometers travelling along the ancient pilgrimage route across Tibet, my first reaction was- they must have been either fearless or harebrained!

Colorfully detailing their gruelling venture, Wilson recounts how they set out from one of the highest cities in the world, Lhasa across the inhospitable terrain of Tibet and finally ending up in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Evidently, they were one of the first Western couples to trek this ancient route alongside, by the way, a horse they named Sadhu. They were, as Wilson states, " a trio of mad marathoners." The author also informs us that he lost thirty- five pounds or one fifth of his weight, and added to the weight loss was his and his wife's bout with diarrhoea and bronchitis.

A fair portion of the book is devoted to the daily nerve-racking routine of finding shelter and food, not only for themselves but also for Sadhu. You can well imagine the challenges they had to endure, particularly that their knowledge of the Tibetan language was extremely limited, and for the most part they had to rely on hand and facial gestures or as they termed it "feeble minded sign language" to be understood.
The hospitality displayed by most Tibetans was incredible, as for example, the time when a family of nine gave up their tiny bedroom to the Wilsons, and were forced to sleep in a dingy stall. There seemed to always be some kind of mysterious force that watched over the couple making sure that there would forever be someone reaching out to them with shelter and food. It was these gentle souls, who encouraged their dreams, and who passed onto them a force that never abandoned them in some of their most dispiriting moments.

Intertwined in the reportage is a first hand glimpse of the injustice and continuing deplorable occupation and intense cultural genocide of the Tibetans by the Chinese who savagely overran the country in 1950.

Ultimately, however, what left me with a lasting impression was the author's summary description of their adventure when he affirms: "the ultimate beauty of walking, of traveling deliberately, one foot in front of the other, was the opportunity to observe and wallow in the minute details of everyday life surrounding them."
Their lives were reduced to raw essentials- vulnerable and exposed, opening up their eyes as to how half of the world lives and survives.

Norm Goldman, Editor of Bookpleasures