Travel to China

Insider's Guide to Beijing 2007

Format: Paperback
Author: Adam Pillsbury; Editor
ReleaseDate: 31 October, 2006
Publisher: True Run Media
Rating:

priceless
I don't live in Beijing, but as a frequent visitor, this book has really provided valuable information. Kudos to these authors. Now if they could just do something about those pesky dust storms!.

Needed info
Of course if you have friends there, that is one thing. The "Insider's Guide to Bejing" is a needed book, going to Bejing for the first time. But soon you will wish to see the city and surroundings. The book gives many ideas and how to approach certain places. There are do's and don't in every society and this book show's easy places to see and places with more difficulty, how to approach them. . . Or makes you think. . ?? "Should I approach this" :-) Yes, it's all fun to learn from these people and see a great culture.

extensive but already out of date
I preordered the 2007 edition, and used it within 2 weeks of receiving it from Amazon. The editorial content is excellent and very thorough, especially restaurants, which receive shallow treatment in other guides. However, I found many stores/restaraunts/etc not as listed, because they had moved or gone out of business. Such is the reality of Beijing -- it is changing so frantically, that no guide can be reliable, even when newly published. So the frustration is there is wonderful information to use to plan a visit, but your plans will be thrawted by construction upheaval and property speculation.

I appreciate generally complete Chinese language addresses with places listed. I would recommend that information be organized more around neighborhoods, since Beijing is so spread out that finding something interesting may not necessarily be easy to get to. Also, I would concur that the maps could be improved. Finally, while this guide is is useful to the visitor, it is oriented to the expat living in Beijing. The proof is the heavy weight of the guide -- quite uncomfortable to carry around.

Related products:
click image or link for details on these China travel books.

	Beijing Travel Map: China Regional Maps 2005/2006 Edition (Periplus Travel Maps)
	The Rough Guide to Beijing, Second Edition
	Lonely Planet Beijing
	China (Eyewitness Travel Guides)
	Frommer's Beijing (Frommer's Complete)