A Tibetan Trek of 1,000 Kilometers Tests a Couple's Courage, Love, Faith...and Very Survival in Yak Butter Blues
Yak Butter Blues: A Tibetan Trek Of Faith, a new book by Brandon Wilson, is a true story of the first Western couple to make a perilous 1000 - kilometer (650 mile) trek across the unforgiving Himalayan plains. While they struggle to oversome the ruthless elements and constant challenges, the couple becomes an invaluable witness to a Tibetan culture pushed to the brink of extinction. Wilson leads you along on their physical, spiritual and emotional pilgrimage, through the highs and lows, across a startling land in this colorful, candid, caring and acclaimed tale, Yak Butter Blues: A Tibetan Trek of Faith.
(PRWEB) March 23, 2005 -- "Impossible" was what everyone told Brandon Wilson and his wife Cheryl when they first considered trekking a 1000-kilometer (650-mile) ancient pilgrimage trail across Tibet. But those "impossibilities" only made them more determined.
Their quest to become the first Western couple to trek this trail across the earth’s most remote corner was far from your usual travel fare — some even called it sheer lunacy. It was certainly far from easy or predictable.
What began as an adventure, suddenly changed when the couple discovered that Tibetans are prevented from making the same pilgrimage today. So the couple decided to make it in their stead--and prove to the authorities that it could be done.
Yak Butter Blues: A Tibetan Trek of Faith (Pilgrim's Tales 2005), $16.95 pb, $26.95 hardcover) is an edge-of-your-seat tale of survival.
Alone, with only their stalwart Tibetan horse Sadhu, the Wilsons faced Tibet’s ruthless environment head-on: the blistering winds, extreme temperatures, sandstorms, blizzards, and the thinnest of air…made all the more challenging by exhaustion, hunger, illness, inflexible bureaucrats and implacable, trigger-happy Chinese soldiers.
Although the land and climate left their imprints daily, an even more lasting impression on these adventurers was created by Tibetan pilgrims, monks and generous villagers eager to share what little they possess: yak butter tea, the warmth of their family’s fire, camaraderie and a steadfast trust in the Dalai Lama’s return.
Inadvertently, the couple became an invaluable witness to a culture pushed to the brink of extinction by brutal occupation. The author sympathetically interweaves the story of Tibet’s current plight and struggle to survive into their own.
Along this simple path, the Wilsons discovered the human link connecting us all, a link that becomes clearest on a trek that removes the distractions of modern life as it unveils the truths of "deliberate travel." In doing so, the couple found a sense of greater purpose, wonder, a renewed faith and ultimately what it takes to endure.
This true, candid, caring and classic tale leads readers along on a physical, spiritual and emotional pilgrimage across this startling land — on a thousand-kilometer odyssey once called "Impossible."
For a preview and media kit, visit:
http://www.PilgrimsTales.com
Early Reviews:
"Recommended for adventure travel and Tibetan culture collections."
- Library Journal
"A wonderful and wild read...The writing is charged, alive, and a little threatening. Yak Butter Blues flickers insistently like a flashbulb afterimage in the mind long after the book is tucked away."
- Richard Bangs, Executive Producer/Director of Great Escapes MSNBC
"I came under the spell of Brandon Wilson’s lively and vivid prose. He is a fine writer—perceptive, funny, a great way with words—making the book a whopping good read."
- Royal Robbins, world-renowned mountaineer, adventure kayaker and author
"A soaring travel diary. It places the reader in the thick of the action every bit as well as Marco Polo transported Italians to China and, as it seems to me, better than Lowell Thomas led readers in the dust of Lawrence of Arabia…."
- Joseph W. Bean, Book Reviewer, Maui Weekly
"Told with humor and insight, this vivid narrative allows you to vicariously experience life at true Tibetan pace, one step at a time: so close, you can almost smell the yak butter."
- Michael Buckley, author of Tibet: the Bradt Travel Guide and Heartlands: Travels in the Tibetan World
"A moving and emotional testimony, and a travelogue that is the next most vivid experience to hiking upon the trail oneself."
- Midwest Book Review
"A remarkable account of bravery and determination. Wilson leads us through a harsh and beautiful landscape and takes us into the hearts of the people who live there. Time and again he shows us that hardships can become blessings."
- Jean Aspen, author of Arctic Daughter: a wilderness journey and Arctic Son: fulfilling the dream
"This book stimulates the reader’s interest in seeing the world...one step at a time. Well done!"
- BookHeadReview (Chicago), 5 out of 5 stars; posted on amazon.com
"...Vivid and engaging."
- Honolulu Star-Bulletin
"Even Indiana Jones would have reconsidered the expedition. The Wilsons journey across Tibet serves as a beacon of light for a repressed people held captive within their own country."
- Jeff Alt, author of award-winning A Walk for Sunshine
About the Author:
Brandon Wilson is an internationally published writer and award-winning photographer. An explorer and expert long-distance ultralight trekker, he is passionate about inspiring others with the possibility of discovery through long-distance hiking.
Although already a voracious explorer of over 90 countries, this Tibetan odyssey opened his eyes to the deep satisfaction of traveling "one-step-at-a-time."
By slowing down, he believes, "We absorb the hidden ‘magic’ in the world. We travel outside — while traveling within."
Since Tibet, Wilson has hiked three other major pilgrimage trails: the famed Camino de Santiago across Spain; the ninth century, 1150-mile Via Francigena from England to Rome (he is the first American to complete this route), and the 400-mile St. Olav’s Way across Norway.
Wilson’s photographs have won awards from National Geographic Traveler and Islands magazines.
About the Book:
Yak Butter Blues: A Tibetan Trek of Faith
by Brandon Wilson
280 pages, Travel Narrative/Non-Fiction
27 duo-tone photographs & maps
ISBN: 0-9770536-6-0 * $16.95 trade paperback 5.5" x 8.5"
ISBN:0-9770536-7-9 * $26.95 * hardcover 6" x 9"
2nd Edition Publication date: November 2005
Pilgrim’s Tales
Distributed by Ingram and Baker & Taylor
Available at http://www.PilgrimsTales.com, amazon.com, bn.com, chapters.ca, amazon.ca, blackwell.co.uk, cdbox.it, Seekbooks.au (Australia), McGovern & Prentice's New Zealand Online Books, or from your favorite bookshop.
For a preview with sample chapter, photos, and media room, visit http://www.PilgrimsTales.com.
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