Product Description

Yak Butter Blues: A Tibetan Trek of Faith 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 Independent Publisher IPPY award winner.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #529601 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
"A remarkable account of bravery and determination..Time and again he (Wilson) shows us that hardships can become blessings." -- Jean Aspen, author of Arctic Daughter: a wilderness journey and Arctic Son: fulfilling the dream

"A true pilgrimage, one that plumbs the heart of troubled Tibet and teaches impatient and stubborn Westerners to slow down and appreciate this amazing planet." -- Wanda Adams, Honolulu-Advertiser

"Are you ready for a walk? Because it's doubtful after reading "Yak Butter Blues" you'll be able to sit still..." -- Dan Austin, Director of True Fans

"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, March 2004)

"Not a guidebook or travel manual, "Yak Butter Blues" is the compelling story of single footsteps through a harsh landscape." -- Liz Janes-Brown, The Maui News, November 21, 2004

"Read this book over and over to learn how perseverance in the face of hardship can give us both joy and hope along the road to our futures." -- Jim Damico, Wanderingtheworld.com

"Recommended for adventure travel and Tibetan culture collections." -- Sheila Kasperek, Library Journal

From the Publisher
A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND KILOMETERS BEGAN WITH ONE BOLD STEP.

Author Brandon Wilson and his wife Cheryl challenge the "impossible" and set off on an incredible 1000-kilometer (650-mile) odyssey on foot across Tibet. Join their adventure from Lhasa to Kathmandu, as they become the first Western couple to make this perilous trek across the unforgiving, windswept Himalayan plains.

What begins as an adventure, quickly turns into much more. Discovering that Tibetans are forbidden to trek this same pilgrim's trail, the Wilsons decide to walk it in their place-and prove to the authorities that it can be done without repercussions in China.

YAK BUTTER BLUES is a remarkable tale of survival. Alone, with only their stalwart Tibetan horse Sadhu, the Wilsons face Tibet's ruthless environment head-on: the blistering winds, extreme temperatures, sandstorms, blizzards, high altitudes and thinnest of air. Those conditions are made all the more challenging by exhaustion, hunger, illness, inflexible bureaucrats and trigger-happy soldiers.

YAK BUTTER BLUES is an inspiring story of faith and the kindness of strangers. The land and climate leave their imprints daily. However, an even more lasting impression is created by the Tibetan monks and generous villagers eager to share what little they possess: yak butter tea, the warmth of their family's fire and steadfast faith in the Dalai Lama's return.

YAK BUTTER BLUES paints a gripping portrait of a Tibetan culture pushed to the brink of extinction by Communist occupation for over fifty years.

YAK BUTTER BLUES is an intimate tale of personal enlightenment. Along the path, the couple gains a sense of greater purpose, wonder, renewed faith-and ultimately discover what it takes to endure.

Join their riveting physical, spiritual and emotional pilgrimage, through the highs and lows, across a vanishing land in this classic Tibetan tale.

From the Author

"Travel has a unique way of opening your eyes, or "shifting the paradigm." Or so we found especially in Tibet. During our brief time there, we were witnesses to the heavy cloak of occupier-sponsored control and suspicion permeating all aspects of the Tibetan daily life.

While Yak Butter Blues is a tale of our survival in a sometimes-hostile land, it's also a story of survival for the average Tibetan struggling to maintain their culture, dignity and even their very existence. That is the true meaning of those "yak butter blues."

I hope that this book becomes a message in a bottle for those who showed us so much unexpected kindness, generosity and bravery in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

Customer Reviews

From Lhasa to Kathmandu
..."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!

Yak Butter Blues by Brandon Wilson
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

Fearless or Hairbrained
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