Yak Butter & Black Tea: A Journey Into Tibet

by Wade Brackenbury

Book Overview

Wade Brackenbury wanted an adventure, and he got the journey of a lifetime. Along with a charismatic photographer named Pascal, Wade went seeking the Drung people, a dwindling minority in the vast empire of China, said to live in an obsure valley in Southern Tibet. No Westerner had been to the Drung valley in over a century. Yak Butter & Black Tea is a story of daring and adventure, offering a fascinating glimpse into a hidden corner of contemporary...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1565122011
• ISBN13: 9781565122017
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Algonquin Books
• Length: 252 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.0" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

An excellent modern adventure

So many travel writers today are over concerned with politically correctness and, touchy feely encounters with the inhabitants of the places they go. Indeed, nowadays it is increasingly more difficult to find real adventure off the beaten track. Wades memoirs bring to live travel writing of the old school, where real physical obstacles half to be over come, along with a true quest into the unknown. Some of the readers have condemned Wade for his political incorrectness, but I believe this reflects a lack of understanding for all that happened and the circumstances of the adventure. I think the author handled himself well under the circumstances he found himself in, those circumstances not being what he had anticipated. and he does portray the tale with brilliant and brutal honesty. What an unforgettable story! Yak butter and Black tea is one of the best modern day adventure travel books I have read this year. I give it two thumbs up.

I enjoyed it so much i wished it were longer!

I loved this book for its fantastic insight into the perils of such a journey. The personal contributions really make this book work!

Love This Book!!!

This book is tremendously interesting and exciting. It took me to a different world, far from McDonald's and KFC. I loved it and highly recommend it.

Wade Brackenbury - a modern day hero

I read _Yak Butter & Black Tea_ with great interest! Dr. Brackenbury uses his many skills to explore the unknown worlds around which we live but are unaware of. China is a fascinating country and I loved seeing it through Wade's eyes. He brings the people home to me: their faces, their families, their lives and lifestyles. Wade's interest in a people whom he was not even sure existed any longer took me with him on an unforgettable adventure! I know that there is more to the story than the book tells, because I have read his unpublished manuscript; and know of all the beautiful pictures he took along the way and was not allowed to include with his book for the sake of keeping the price in an affordable range. Those who want more need to contact the publisher. Meanwhile, I am looking forward to more books from Wade. His life is speant getting to know people, using his medical skills to help them whenever he can, and telling their stories. I highly recommend that anybody interested in Asian cultures read _Yak Butter & Black Tea_.

A fantastic adventure!

This book was a great read, and a refreshing brake from the run of the mill books on travel. I almost couldn't put it down, finishing it up in two evenings! What makes Dr. Brackenbury so appealing is his stark honesty, along with his ability to accurately portray, to convey to the reader an understanding of what he is going through. There is a clear-cut ethical dilemma in his decision to undertake this illegal expedition into a closed part of Tibet. And yet he makes no attempt , to hide from the reader his own responsibility, short comings and mistakes. I was in particular impresses with the physical difficulties of the trip, the difficulty in obtaining food, in staying healthy, and warm. With out over doing it, the author portrayed these obstacles in such a way, as I could imagine my self there, cold and hungry and afraid. This book abounds with accounts of real encounter, real danger and actual suffering, both physical and emotional and to an extent that is necessarily missing from most travel literature. I have read virtually every account about past illegal attempts to visit Tibet, my favorite two books have been up till now 7 years in Tibet, and trespassers on the top of the world. Yak butter and black tea is the first book I have read in resent times that approaches the true live drama and adventure I enjoyed in these. Within the first few pages of the book, it becomes apparent that the author is somewhat harsh in personality, strong willed and forceful. Someone less so would not have been able to complete such a journey, There were instances where I didn't agree with his methods of obtaining help from the native Tibetans. But I was also impressed with his candid attempts to put something back. Time and again, he shares his limited medicine, and takes time out to treat the villagers with his chiropractic skills. The book builds to an exciting climax as Brackenbury finally does make it to the "forbidden valley" as he calls it. His first encounter with the People of the Drung was poignant indeed. I think what struck me most, was a passage near the end of the book where the author portrays his reluctance to leave his temporary primitive out law existence, and go back to modern life.