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Honest examination of the need for “adventure”,
This book is a VERY visceral account of a Western American’s journey into his own machismo and through minority areas within the Chinese Empire. There is disappointingly little information about the Dulong/Drung people, and it is very easy to question the ethics of how two Western men bent on being the first Westerners to get into the Drung Valley treated people–especially Tibetans whose hospitality they could be viewed as exploiting, but even petty Chinese bureaucrats. Brackenbury is self-critical and seems to come to realize the indefensible aspects of his conduct. At the same time, he clearly endeavored to ease suffering through his medical and chiropractic skills and to minimize the negative impact on those he encountered. His indisputable physical courage is complemented by the courage to present material that is used by some amazon reviewers to indict him.
Although the book is mostly about him and what he put himself through on a very difficult trek, I think that it provides insight into the brittle relations between the indigenous leaders (who generally accepted, aided, and even defended him) and the colonial Chinese officials who do not learn the language and are the active agents of ethnocide. Battling provincial bureaucrats is a major part of the travel literature genre, and Brackenbury seems to me to be fair in showing some virtues as well as vices of the Chinese officials.
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|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!
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|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.
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