Customer Rating: 
Summary: A rude traveler
Comment: Wade Brakenbury made several tries, and was arrested several times, before succeeding in violating Chinese laws and regulations to travel on foot through a sensitive border area closed to foreigners. He spends much of the book deriding China and Chinese authorities for their effrontery in having tried to stop him. The very nerve, trying to tell an American that he can't go anywhere and do anything he wants in another country! His account is an easy read, with no great insights to cause time-consuming reflection, and has some value for armchair travelers in search of vicarious adventure, but you won't learn much about China, the Chinese, its border areas with Burma, or the minority people the author encounters along the way.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Intriguing
Comment: I read this book a few years ago, when I was just getting into reading travel narratives. This is a great one to start off the genre with. It's an easy read, and a great story.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not really worth your time
Comment: Wade Brackenbury probably has a fascinating story, and I felt cheated that he didn't tell it. Those of us who travel, or read travel books, to meet people, to learn about other cultures (and respect them), or to understand how others live and cope, will feel frustrated by all the opportunities Brackenbury missed to learn or make a difference. He seems to have been mostly oblivious to the culture around him, or the personal growth he could have been experiencing.
For the most part, he seems to have removed himself from the people or viewed them as an obstacle to avoid or overcome, instead of embracing the opportunities to get beyond his narrow view of the world.
There are hints that lessons were learned along the way but they are thrown in such an indifferent and insubstantial manner, that finishing what seemed to be a promising book was a task.
Brackenbury is not a traveler, or a writer with great talent, but he is obvioulsy an outdoorsman, a hiker, and a person with a great determination and ability to finish his goals.
There are too many other books out there for me to recommend this one with any enthusiasm.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An excellent modern adventure
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Yak Butter & Black Tea
Comment: First of all this was a simply written adventure tale that kept my interest. His single handed quest into an unknown region sparked a desire in me to strap on one of my numerous packs and head out. He inspired me, one who spent 4 years back packing mostly in Asia 30 yrs ago. Secondly, the book made be aware of how common backpack travel is China today. His trip would have been impossible 20 yrs ago. Thirdly, it was an honest account, that has given international exposure to a people that are about to be Chinese-ized. And those who critized the author as the Ugly American, forget to mention that he gave medical treatment to many of the poor people he met. Bottom line - if you're a person who hasn't had your brain politically corrected and you love a good adventure tale, I hope you read this.
