Travel to Asia

Lonely Planet Southeast Asia on a Shoestring (Lonely Planet South-East Asia on a Shoestring)

Format: Paperback
Author: China Williams
ReleaseDate: March, 2006
Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications
Rating:

The SE asia bible!
Don't know if there is a better book that covers so many countries this well. Used this book to travel in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Bali (though I finally ended up buying another book for Bali as Indonesia itself is huge). Other people on tour had the Rough guide to SE Asia book and we found this one to be more useful because it had better maps and more information.

Obviously a bit tailored towards backpackers but you can easily find more upscale places (hotels, restaurants etc) in the "splurge" section.

Wouldn't dare to say that it covers everything but certainly a must-have for people traveling in the area.

Lonely Planet- not with this many package tourists.


I just finished travelling around Southeast Asia with this as my primary guidebook. "Nobody touches the Lonely Planet for budget travel advice," states the back cover of this book. It includes the basics for getting around, eating, etc. . . but it really is just the basics. I have used other books from the lonely planet series in the past, and have found them good enough to continue using, at least until this volume. It has been 5 years since I was in this region last, and things have changed. Especially the guidebook, which was once a rich trove of off-the-beaten-path hints and tips. Increasingly, however, it seems that the Lonely Planet authors seem less interested in helping you find a unique experience and more interested in serving up a cookie-cutter, package tourist rehash. I have a couple grievances with this book:

-It insists on constantly pointing out little sidebars entitled "Splurge!" which indicate ways that the budget traveller can spend a great deal of money in one shot. Why this is in a travel guide called "shoestring" I couldn't tell you. Neither do the authors, but I suppose we can assume that backpackers are interested in spending $5 a night for a couple of months and then blowing $150 to stay in some posh hotel in Kuala Lumpur or racking up an additional $20 in credit card debt for an entirely forgettable dining experience in Bangkok. I just don't feel these are relevant to 99% of actual budget travellers, but they waste a lot of space that could be much better used on greater detail. But I will get to that in a minute.

-Another issue I have is the lack of actual information about actually moving from one place to the next cheaply. Cheap local transport is available in many of the places covered in the book. For some reason though, the book usually offers helpful advice like 'just take a cab,' or 'buses are so cheap, so don't bother with local transport. ' As an independent traveler that actually enjoys saving money AND spending time with the locals (what's the purpose of traveling again?!?!), I regret the lack of information about local transport.

-The maps in the book, though better than some in past editions, leave much to be desired. Streets are incorrectly labeled or in the wrong place, intersections are vaguely marked, and occasionally they add a street that doesn't exist or remove a street that does. Worst of all, in a region that prides itself on an almost complete lack of road signage, not many good landmarks are given to orient oneself. There is little that is less fun on the road than standing in front of a train station, staring at one's new alien surroundings, being hassled by touts who are trying to steer you in the wrong direction while trying to find that cheap hostel you read about.

Look, if you want a run-of-the-mill book to complete a run-of-the-mill trip, by all means, you will find this book quite helpful. But if you are looking for that individual experience that is the beauty of independent travel, you might be best going with a different guide for this region.

By the way, the quote I wrote at the beginning should be viewed as a warning rather than an enticement.

Great to read but difficult to do so due to VERY SMALL print.
My main complaint is the size of the type. I really like the Lonely Planet guides, and this one is very good regarding the amount of information it contains. Not only is it very small and difficult to read even with glasses on, but the paper is very thin so the words from the reverse page show through. I'd rather pay a couple of extra dollars and have higher quality paper. I also agree with other reviewers who felt that the Indonesia chapter could easily be eliminated, partly because it is difficult to due justice to that widespread country in a chapter. .

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