Lonely Planet Shanghai: City Guide Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This guide is so close to being excellent but for some unknown reason Lonely Planet has decided that it is not necessary to list the names of sites, restaurants and the streets on maps in Chinese characters. This has been a complaint with all the previous editions, so I was hoping when pre-ordering this for a mid-May trip that they would remedy situation....but no, that would make too much sense. As reviewers of previous editions have pointed out 99% of cab drivers cannot read the "English" spellings of Chinese places. As a result, we found ourselves stuck having to have Chinese friends or hotel concierges go through and translates all the names in the book.....makes you wonder why you bought the guide in the first place. The maps have some Chinese names, but probably only for about 10% of the streets, and often not enough for cab drivers to figure out where to go. It boggles my mind that this guide could have so much good and insightful information yet leave out the basic of most basics. In the end we ended up having all the Chinese names written into the guidebook by hand (so we manually had to do what LP should have offered in the first place). Heck, maybe I should just Ebay our much more useful version of the guide. Aside from this major (and I mean major) fault the guide is very good. My only other complaints is that the text is microscopic (I am guessing 6 or 8pt), which helps make the book light, but also difficult to read. Also, the map keying system is just bizarre in that listings direct you to a map page but not the specific location where that listing is on the map....for that you have to go to a separate index page which then gives you the location on the map.
So in the end, I find it hard to recommend a guide that you will most likely have trouble getting around with unless you speak the language. It is just completely unacceptable for LP to leave this basic information out and why I can only give it 2 stars. Please learn from your mistakes Lonely Planet.


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Lists the newest, best restaurants, clubs, and shops, hand-picked by Shanghai resident, Damian Harper. Chinese script for city maps. Mouth-watering food chapter and easting listings.

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Frommer's Thailand (Frommer's Complete Guides) Review

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(More customer reviews)The Frommer's Guide to Thailand is an easy to use and accurate guide to Thailand. Its recommendations on accommodation and what to in various areas of Thailand was accurate and enjoyable. I would recommend this book to anyone travelling to lovely Thailand.

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You'll never fall into the tourist traps when you travel with Frommer's. It's like having a friend show you around, taking you to the places locals like best. Our expert authors have already gone everywhere you might go--they've done the legwork for you, and they're not afraid to tell it like it is, saving you time and money. No other series offers candid reviews of so many hotels and restaurants in all price ranges. Every Frommer's Travel Guide is up-to-date, with exact prices for everything, dozens of color maps, and exciting coverage of sports, shopping, and nightlife. You'd be lost without us!
Frommer's holds the key to worry-free travel in this exotic land, with valuable cultural insights, the latest trip-planning advice, detailed maps, and smart tips on language, local customs, and getting around. You'll find honest, in-depth reviews of luxury beach resorts, high-tech business hotels, intimate inns, and simple guest houses and bungalows, all based on recent personal inspections.

We'll show you spectacular beaches, waterfalls, floating markets, majestic temples, ancient ruins, national parks, palaces, and traditional villages. We'll lead you to amazing restaurants, and even take you elephant trekking in the Northern Hills. You'll also rely on us to guide you through the confusing, bustling, but intriguing city of Bangkok (our author, who lived there while writing this guide, knows it intimately, and discovered all sorts of hidden surprises). With Frommer's in hand, you'll experience all the wonder of Thailand!

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The Rough Guide to Singapore Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The Rough Guides have always been a good compromise between the traditional Baedeker-style travel guides my parents used and the Lonely Planet guides from my backpacking days. The chunky Lonely Planets (the volume for China has the size and the weight of a solid brick) are still unrivalled when one wants to travel in a country with bad infrastructure and few tourist facilities; but for someone who travels light and wants to visit Singapore, the Mini Rough Guide to Singapore is a good choice.
It is a travel guide that fits easily into a pocket but has all the information one would expect: detailed coverage of the major sights, reviews of the best places to stay, eat and drink, a brief introduction to the history of Singapore, and nine useful color maps (including one for the subway system that came in handy). One of the highlights of the guide is a six-page section with short reviews of books for further reading. It includes not only travel accounts and history books but also works of literature that touch on Singapore, among them works by Anthony Burgess, Joseph Conrad, W. Somerset Maugham, and Paul Theroux (Mark Lewis, the author of the guide, spent a year teaching English in Singapore after graduating from university during which time he regularly contributed book reviews to the Singapore Straits Times).
The book is very readable, well organized, chock full of useful information for the visitor, and very "user-friendly". It would qualify for five stars were it not for two (minor) complaints: One is that travelling mostly on a limited time budget, I have always liked travel guides with a couple of suggestions for day tours around town (none here, unfortunately). Secondly, I feel that a squeaky clean, efficient and hyper-controlled city like Singapore really asks for more irreverence and jokes than Mark Lewis allowed himself in his book. This is a matter of temperament, of course. Or maybe the editors of the Rough Guides series thought that a travel guide is not the right place to really indulge in the joys of oddities and ironies.

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"The Rough Guide to Singapore" is the ultimate travel guide to this fascinating island state, with clear maps and detailed coverage of all the best attractions. You can discover Singapore's highlights with stunning photography and information on everything from the Night Safari and Universal Studios to back-to-nature experiences, like the rainforest at Bukit Timah and the Sungei Buloh wetland reserve. You can find detailed practical advice on what to see and do in Singapore, relying on up-to-date descriptions of the best hotels, bars, nightspots and shops for all budgets. Plus, "The Rough Guide to Singapore" helps you experience the city's dazzling culinary offerings with reviews of the best restaurants and hawker-style eating places. Unrivalled background information will help you appreciate the city's vibrant mix of cultures, from Chinese and Hindu temples to ultra-modern skyscrapers, and comprehensive maps will make exploring the island a breeze. Make the most of your trip with "The Rough Guide to Singapore".

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Lonely Planet Thailand's Islands & Beaches (Regional Travel Guide) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is particularly helpful as it contains many detailed maps. As well, the accomodation section is very useful for the traveler who does not have any set plans as it helps to show several different price ranges from budget to high end & includes phone numbers & websites of them frequently.
there are also tips for every type of traveler here in very detailed sections on every province in thailand. although it says islands & beaches there is a very good section on Bangkok city itself which is good as most people start & end up their Thailand vacation there anyway & spend some time in the city.

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Lonely Planet knows how to kick back on Thailand's best beaches. We've detailed the best places to stay, no matter what your budget, so go ahead and work on your tan. Or go diving off gorgeous Ko Phi-Phi, surrender to serenity - or the Full Moon Party - on Ko Pha-Ngan, island hop in the Similans'it's all at your fingertips.Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to the heart of every destination they visit. This fully updated edition is packed with accurate, practical and honest advice, designed to give you the information you need to make the most of your trip.In This Guide:Color chapters on diving, activities, national parks - and beaches!Perfect places to stay: the best independent reviews of accommodation from bamboo huts to opulent villasGreen Index highlights ecofriendly options

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Lonely Planet Southeast Asia: On a Shoestring (Shoestring Travel Guide) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I am currently (Oct 2010) travelling through Thailand with this book and I am very displeased with it - for reasons that are not Lonely Planet's fault, but you should be aware of anyway. Wherever I go (or NOT go due to lack of travel information), I feel that I know significantly less about the travel destiation than my fellow travellers. This book also does not put enough emphasis on some of the climate phenomenons around here (monsoon) with climate diagrams for example. For first-timers to the region, this can be a big problem.
This book is a compromise in so many ways, it has become really useless. I suggest to get the LP country guides instead, they tend to be excellent. I have the Thailand country guide on my Kindle and it is perfect for reading (and really light). The Kindle has its own set of problems though, like the legibility of maps.
What I suggest to do is to get the paperback version of the first country you travel to, then buy the next one in a bookstore in the country of visit (LP guides sell everywhere in Thailand), so you only carry around one book at a time. Or swap books with fellow travellers. Or get a Kindle and the electronic LP books, and get paper maps of the respective cities you travel to (tourist maps tend to be free everywhere). But stay away from this south-east asia guide.

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For 35 years Lonely Planet's Southeast Asia on a Shoestring has been the backpacker's bible. Discover Cambodia's ancient temples, Thailand's island paradises and the best pho in Vietnam. We help you stay longer and spend less.Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to the heart of every destination they visit. This fully updated edition is packed with accurate, practical and honest advice, designed to give you the information you need to make the most of your trip.In This Guide:Detailed itineraries to help you plan your perfect tripEat Cheap and Sleep Easy with budget beds, cheap eats and places to partyGet the low-down on history, environment, culture and current events

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