5 comments about Lonely Planet Korean Phrasebook.

1. I have been in Seoul off and on - for business - for the past year. Despite rumors to the contrary, I find this an extremely difficult language. Most Koreans under the age of thirty have a working knowledge of English. Ordering coffee at Starbuck's is certainly not a problem, restaurants are often a problem, department stores pretty impossible. Once you get used to the sections in this book, at the very least you can point. Certain phrases are just good to know. It may seem stupid, but being able to say "Hello" or "Thank you" is extremely endearing to Koreans and it seems to me that this is the very least we can do. The size makes it easy to carry around and it's the least expensive phrase book I've found.



2. This pocket book has alot of great info packed inside. Something for almost everything that might come up. I am very happy with it



3. This is a real helpful book with a lot of key phrases. I really recommend this book to anyone who wishes to learn the basic phrases.



4. Don't bother getting this unless you want to learn how to speak Korean. If you just want a few simple phrases and how to say them look for something else.



5. This is a great little book packed with lots of grammar, useful phrases, vocabulary and even cultural notes. This is a very useful book to use either alone, or as a supplement to other Korean texts. I really like it because it is so small that I can carry it with me in my purse and read it when i'm waiting in line somewhere, or at a restaurant, etc.
   I highly recommend getting this book. It is definatly much more than just a phrase book and I think you will find it very useful. There are lots of neat cultural references that I find very interesting. Worth the price.

1 comments about The Rough Guide to Thailand's Beaches & Islands 3 (Rough Guide Travel Guides).

1. Great and giving advice and suggestions for areas that are less visited by tourists!!! Perfect for an independent traveler like me.

5 comments about Crossing Boundaries: A Global Vision of Design.

1. mr wolf in his travels search for inspirations in the most unusual places: ethiopia, burma, syria - most of times acquiring local handcrafted items which he will use in his decorations. Although his palette is a bit neutral, with pastel colors most of times, his interiors are extremely beautiful, with subdued elegance and charm. Interesting is how he manages to mix the objects from his travels, with modern furniture, mirrors in abondance and white walls.



2. This book with it's exciting interior pictures captures interior design at it's best. Mr Wolf's incorpration of ethnic items makes these interiors personal and interesting. His use of color and his inclusion of Benjamin Moore color numbers is a nice feature. I very much like this book and his style. I am an interior designer also and I'm not easily impressed by most other designers work.



3. I regret that i have bought this book! It does not show anything special and the objetcive of the author of showing misery people and then show glamorous spaces is a shame!!!!



4. My wife and I plan to remodel, and bought this book for inspiration and design concepts. We ended up quite disappointed.
   
   The book has 5 chapters organized around 5 places that Mr. Wolf traveled to. Each chapter consists of two parts: travel log and design. Both parts show many colorful photographs, some of them quite beautiful. In general, the travel log part has more pages then the design part. For example, in Madagascar Scale chapter, travel log has about 24 pages vs. 18 pages for design. The pictures are even more lopsided towards the travel part. Often the relationship between the design and place seems rather superficial or contrived like a blue/yellow color scheme that is somewhat similar to an umbrella on a photograph or a light color bedroom inspired by a misty landscape. Also, Mr Wolf's design schemes are not as varied as you would expect if they were inspired from all over the world. Most of them use very similar style furniture and color schemes.
   
   Worse still is that the book does not present design concepts in any systematic fashion. It does not say much about the places that Mr. Wolf designed, what were the challenges, or how different rooms fit together. There is not a single floor plan in the whole book, and rarely it shows the same room from different angles to give the reader a feel how things fit together.
   
   Conclusion: If you are looking for a travel diary with pretty pictures, this book might be for you. If you are looking for design ideas that are of practical use, stay away. You might consider Kelly Hoppen's book ``Home'' instead. We bought it together with this one and found it packed with useful interior design concepts and really helped us to think through all the elements of designing a house or apartment.



5. This book lacks consistency, and although the pictures might be technically good, the interiors design itself has little to do with the story the author is tryng to sell to us: that he has seen certain things in his 'exciting and sophisticated'journey that inspired him to create special interiors. What we get instead is a twisted, dated, unrespectful and pasteurized concept of what other cultures could give us in our every day living. Please, don't buy it.

5 comments about Laos (Country Guide).

1. I bought this edition for a bicycle trip across northern Laos, but was very disappointed with the very old and inaccurate information on Hua Phan Province in the northeast of the country. It's a remote region, and probably on few travelers' itineraries, but it was on mine. I felt let down that the authors didn't provide up-to-date coverage. Neither author even visited the province! That's not good enough.



2. When I first read the reviews at amazon, I thought I just ordered a worthless piece of paper. In fact that guide was as useful as I used lonely planet in other countries. It gave me maps of where I was, general knowledge of many regions of Laos and much more, exactly what a guide book is intended to do.
   
   I agree though that some of the information in the book is no longer right, but it is as always in a country opening up to tourism, constantly evolving. Anyway, if you live by the book, you will be deceived so use it as a reference when needed and try to go beyond the book (same for every lp).



3. This book made traveling through Laos a fantastic experience. Though prices in the book can't keep up with increases, most of the information was very timely and accurate. Very useful as a reference guide and helped make our trip go smoothly.



4. I agree 100% w/ Bryan below. (So, you could stop reading my review now) But when planning a trip to Laos, one needs to do allot of research on one's own. You can't leave it up to a guidebook. But why would you really want to anyway? Of all the guidebooks on the market, I'd still pick this one as my top choice. It's respectful of Laos, imparts a firm sense of culture, history and identity with the reader and then let's you figure some things out for yourself. Laos is a beautiful country... but you need to relax and keep in mind the motto" LAO PDR...please dont rush".... same thing with any guidebook, relax, enjoy the read and let the journey take you where you need to be.



5. What a difference a new edition makes. Lonely Planet's brand new guidebook, Laos 6th edition, released August 2007, is easily the best on the market. The traveller looking for comprehensive coverage in a guidebook need look no further. An extra 60 pages long, this title packs an impressive punch, with a good balance of exhaustive coverage of the key destinations along with sound information on the lesser known spots.
   
   Quite simply, Australian co-authors Andrew Burke and Justine Vaisutis have put together what is the best English-language offline resource for travel in Laos. From a tourism perspective, Laos is a rapidly developing nation, especially in the major tourist centres where new accommodation options multiply at a seemingly ever-increasing rate, yet they've done a fine job of boiling down a snapshot of the country into a guide that will be more than enough for the most demanding traveller.
   
   Matters get off to a good start -- a good, easy-to-read colour map (even if some of the roads look a tad sketchy), suggested itineraries and a completely rewritten history section by Professor Martin Stuart-Fox, author of A History of Laos (1997). This is followed by a pretty stock-standard introductory section -- the people, government and culture are all covered, though the government -- arguably the most repressive and certainly the most secretive in Southeast Asia after Burma -- gets off the hook pretty lightly.
   
   What does stand out in the introduction is the generous space given to Laos and its natural environment -- particularly its budding eco-tourism industry. As Burke says in an upcoming interview with Travelfish.org, "If there's anywhere in Asia where eco-tourism can be a success, then it's Laos". There's an outstanding summary of all the main trekking opportunities in the country's NPAs -- this alone makes the book worth buying (or at least a quick use of the library photocopier).
   
   At the other end of the book, the "Directory" section, covering everything from getting a flight to what you should have in a medical kit is informative and rather well organised. As with other Lonely Planet titles, I think it's a bit too lengthy and hand-holding in nature.
   
   Listings
   The guidebook's listings are comprehensive, not exhaustive -- if you expect every place on Don Dhet to be listed, prepare to be disappointed. Perhaps half the available options in Vang Vieng are listed, similarly so in Luang Prabang, but what are listed are the best, and these can be taken as representative of others in the offing. Burke and Vaisutis do a fine job of brushing away the slimy rambutans and spoiled sticky rice to leave you with a feast of the best options to choose from.
   
   The accommodation listings are generally easy to digest, with one exception -- Luang Prabang. There, the listings have been divided up geographically into "Near the Mekong", "Historic Temple District", "Thanon Pha Mahapatsaman", "Ban Wat That" and "Elsewhere". This is confusing in a number of ways -- "Near the Mekong" and "Historic Temple District" could easily be taken to be the same area -- neither is marked on any of the maps of Luang Prabang -- nor is "Ban Wat That". "Thanon Pha Mahapatsaman" is a short strip of around 200m of road that carries just three accommodation listings, and "Elsewhere" is just vague and meaningless. All this for just 37 listings -- Luang Prabang isn't that big a place!
   
   Where this guide does come into its own is regarding things to do -- and this is particularly the case with the Southern Laos section. While it tends to be motorcycle-focused, there are lots of good tips and suggested day-trips to week-long adventures you can undertake. Less of this type of material is suggested in the north, where the focus is more orientated towards trekking and the tried and tested destinations, but you'll find ample material within the book to point in the right direction.
   
   Transport
   One of the big issues people face in Laos is the time it takes to get from A to B. Over time the road network has improved considerably but it still takes a while to get around, so it's refreshing to see that most of the bus and songthaew travel information includes an estimated trip time.
   
   Border information is outstanding. Every main international border has a boxed section containing detailed information on how to get to and from the various border crossings and what's particularly good is there's information on onwards travel as well.
   
   Text and design
   As always, the densely-packed text has been put through the Lonely Planet humour wringer, so don't expect too many Laugh Out Loud moments, but the facts are all there and that's what really matters. As with all the new Lonely Planet titles, there's more fact boxes scattered throughout the book than I'd like, but at least in this case they're mostly interesting or of some practical use.
   
   Maps
   With 61 maps you'll struggle to find yourself needing many more. Some -- the Wat Phu locale (p 267), Wat Xieng Thong (p 142) and Around Vang Vieng (p 124) -- seemed superfluous, but all the key spots are mapped out well.
   
   I had two issues with the regional maps: they're difficult to read, and make frequent use of the "unsealed road" indicator. Some of these roads are really little more than foot-trails. Perhaps they need an extra map indicator for goat-tracks.
   
   Photos
   The guide contains a pretty good collection of pics. There's one of kids fooling around in the Nam Song at Vang Vieng (p 11) which really caught my eye, but it's a shame that given the weight the NPAs get in the text, there's only one photo taken in one -- and that of an easily visited waterfall. Having photos taken of the more remote (and beautiful) parks would have been a great means to showcase some of Laos' more challenging destinations. People aren't going to go if they don't know about it!
   
   Conclusion
   My gripes are minor and mainly focussed on the layout and in some cases organisation of the title. These are factors that will be minor inconveniences once you're on the road. Lonely Planet's Laos 6 really delivers the goods -- it isn't exhaustive (that's why it's called a guide), but it's succinct, accurate and very easy to use. Be you a first time visitor to Laos or a repeat visitor looking to get off the beaten track, you'll do well with this title in your backpack.
   
   The friendly people at Lonely Planet sent me a complimentary copy of Laos 6, so even though I didn't pay any money for it, we'd suggest you do -- it's worth every kip.

1 comments about Culture Shock! Philippines: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette (Culture Shock! Philippines).

1. I found this book to be extremely informative. It is centered on western ex-pats living in the Philippines, but it is highly useful for anyone traveling there. It is nicely written and also includes some Tagalog phrases/translations that are not well known among non-Filipino. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a general overview of Filipino culture, society, and history.
   
   This book is an excellent reference if you are going to visit the Philippines and a MUST read if you are going to live there.

3 comments about Pocket Map and Guide Istanbul (EYEWITNESS POCKET MAP & GUIDE).

1. So small it can fit in the smallest pocket. Gives the basics. You'll probaby want a more thorough book, but that doesn't mean that you'll want to carry a bigger book around.



2. Istanbul is my next travel destination. I've got all the big books, but I plan to take this one out with me day-by-day. It's got a clear, easy to read map and simple descriptions of the things I want to do. Small enough to fit into any pocket.



3. I found this to be a nice overview of Istanbul. However, some of the recommended restaurants/cafes were nowhere to be found, and I was surprised by some prejudiced comments in it.
   I would recommend Rick Steves' guide instead- it was very useful for getting the most out of a short trip as well as giving concise history/cultural info, and the DVD (which i borrowed from the library) "Hidden Turkey" was a nice overview of a few aspects of the country (agriculture, food, culture etc.)

3 comments about Vietnam and Angkor Wat (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE).

1. What happened to the rest of Cambodia? Last time I saw Angkor Wat it was still in Cambodia. What gives? Does Cambodia not rate reviewing? Gezzzz



2. Like all the Eyewitness Guides I've used, this is chock full of pictures and lively information. I'm sure it will be hugely useful on my trip.



3. If you want pretty pictures of a few sites in each city, buy this guidebook.
   
   If you want the in-depth logistical information you need while traveling - doctors in Saigon, how good/bad the train really is, more than a handful of hotels/restaurants in each town, names of interesting shops - buy something else.
   
   I bought this ONLY because Lonely Planet got horrible reviews and Footprint, which are my guidebooks of choice, had not been updated in a couple of years. I will never buy it again.

5 comments about The Rough Guide to Vietnam 5 (Rough Guide Travel Guides).

1. Rough Guide has become one of my favorites. It's value is that it targets a group beyond the backpackers. Vietnam is no exception. The maps are good, recommendations we used were always good. There is plenty of practical information about getting around and still has info the the backpackers, but many suggestions for more upscale restaurants and hotels. This was our primary guidebook for 3 weeks of independent travel in Vietnam.



2. This book was very good and detailed with accomodations and eateries. The walking tours were very easy to follow and the maps were easy to navigate. I loved the color section on food to encourage you to try some of the food that would otherwise be intimidating.
   
   The biggest disappointment I found in this book is that it seemed that it was written SOLELY from a communist point of view. The book did not address South Vietnam and the effects of the war on the people there. It bashed the French and Americans. I FOUND IT OFFENSIVE AND WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER ROUGH GUIDE AGAIN! That's how's irritating and disrespectfuly it was.



3. Used Rough Guide for my 3 week trip to Vietnam. Information is accurate and helpful. Compared to Lonely Planet, the Rough Guide to Vietnam is much better written, has more in-depth historical information, and provides a non-partial perspective to this interesting and vibrant country.



4. I just returned from a trip to Vietnam (Jan 2008) and was given this book last minute by a friend. This book was invaluable to my trip and compared to the Lonely Planet that I had been using, it was way better. The information was useful, concise and accurate.
   The only 2 complaints about it are: the language section in the back does not do a phonetic translation which means if you are trying to ask for tea (tra) you end up saying 'tra' instead of 'ja'. You could flip a few pages to where they list all the proper pronunciations of the consonants but who has time for that? It's a guidebook not a dictionary.
   The other complaint I have is that massages were cheap and very good over there and yet were never mentioned in the book (where, how much, what to watch out for etc) The LP book did both. However, comparing the 2 books overall, the RG was still much better!



5. I was in Vietnam (Jan/Feb 2008) and I took with me Lonely Planet and Rough Guide, and the better of the two guides is, by a thin margin, Lonely Planet.
   
   However, there is much to commend Rough Guide Vietnam. It is worth buying just for the section that covers the history, religion (13 pages) and the overall culture of Vietnam. Excellent.
   
   This guide is well laid out; breaking Vietnam into eight sections. Each section has a page that points out the places not to be missed. Each of these sections opens with a very good history and explanation of the area. Rough Guide has an excellent selection of restaurant and eateries (better than Lonely Planet's) with enticing write-ups that tell you what to try, "Goi bo, a salad of banana flower, star fruit and pineapple" or "try stir-fried beef with lemongrass for starters, followed by fried scallops and then che baba - grandma's sweet coconut soup." This guide has a better selection of the discos and clubs than Lonely Planet and it has eight (8) pages of recommended books to consider - Super.
   
   HOWEVER, Rough Guides hardly has any maps, and those that they have are not as good or easy to use as Lonely Planet. It has a cumbersome "price code" system for accommodations, i.e. 1= under to $10, 2= $10-15, 3= $15-30, etc., thus, you have to memorize what the numbers represent or flip back and forth to the legend. Whereby, Lonely Planet shows you the cost in dollars. What an idea! Duh. Only a few accommodations (very few) have webpages. In today's world accommodations webpages are a must. All savvy travelers today want to "see" what a hotel or hostel looks like. R.G. does not breakdown restaurants by cost (Expensive, Moderate, etc.) nor does it give you any prices ranges ($10-15 etc.). Not Good.
   
   In short, the better of the two guides is Lonely Planet, especially if you are going to explore Vietnam and want to get away from the "tourist areas". However, if you are staying in HCMC, Hanoi or other major cities and want the best clubs and restaurants with good eatery descriptions then this is your guide. Strongly Recommended. 4 Stars.

5 comments about The Rough Guide to India 6 (Rough Guide Travel Guides).

1. A bit too much like the Lonely Planet and like LP, a bit lazy and predictable. Why, for instance, do these guides not recommend hotels near the Jama Masjid in Agra (where one can find shops and food in abundance, where one is but a short walk from the Red Fort and hence a short walk from access to the Taj and where transportation does not involve the hassles that one encounters in other parts of town)? You tend to find that LP and Rough Guide give the same recommendations as far as hotels are concerned 6 out of ten times...it's not that difficult - most Indian towns of any size have an array of options.
   
   I find the most frustrating aspects of this guide to be: the complete lack of maps for certain regions (I found there to be few maps of smaller towns in Tamil Nadu); inaccuracies in the maps (the Akbar Inn in Agra is 1km away from the point indicated and not on the same street as Tourist Guest House...in Gwalior, the guide will have you walking lenghty circles only to find that the hotel you are looking for is a stone's throw from the station on a road not indicated...in Bhavnagar a circle haphazardly placed on a map in the middle of a labyrinthine bazaar is apparently meant to serve a purpose); and the scales are occasionally wrong.
   
   There are also internal contradictions...the time from town A to town B is indicated as 5 hours when one looks at the travel info for town A but as 7 hours when one looks at the info for town B.
   
   Having recently decided that LP had seriously dropped its standards when it suggested turning left out of the bus stop in a Chinese town of plus 1 million people and looking for a red sign, I am at a loss for a decent guide book. Maybe the Footprint or Handbook guides are the way to go - I have yet to try them. What I tend to find most useful are older LPs (eg those of 10 years ago)...prices change and hotels open and close but those guides did tend to provide more options as far as hotels are concerned and the maps tended to be more accurate - some hotels will remain and where one finds one, one usually finds others.



2. I have just returned from a one month holiday in Bangladesh and Northeastern India. I was hoping for a more region-specific guide but there isn't one, so I had to carry this bulky country-wide guide with me.
   
   This appears to be an excellent guide for the more "usual" destinations in India, but people should be aware that it barely covers Northeastern India at all. Part of this is due to an editorial decision to drop information from prior editions due to political instability in many of those states, but the decisions on which areas to drop do not match local knowledge about which areas actually might prove unsafe for foreigners as opposed to local politicians. Granted, it is an ever-changing scenario, and this guide is by now a few years old.
   
   My main complaint though is the maps of the hill stations; particularly those of Darjeeling and Gangtok. They are just plain wrong, and not to scale (even in cases where they say they are to scale). Unfortunately the Indian government tourist maps for those towns and also Kalimpong are also wrong, and not to scale either, but are somewhat more helpful, so my suggestion is to visit the local tourist offices immediately upon arrival in each town and pick up their official maps.
   
   In both cases, however, contours are missing, and considering that these towns have several hundred to several thousand feet differential between top and bottom, and that there are no pedestrian steps to cut across the time-consuming road switchbacks, one can easily make a wrong decision at a switchback crossing and miss a major point of interest (such as the major monastery at the top of Gangtok). At the very least, since most roads are one-way (and few if any are marked), showing directionals would help.
   
   Considering this edition is many generations removed from the first edition, it is not acceptable that directions are often completely inaccurate. For instance, the major monastery outside Gangtok is listed as being to its east, when it is really to its southwest (but I did find it). And in Kalimpong, I missed the main monastery as I ran out of time after going more than twice as far as the stated distance and still not reaching the monastery south of town (which R.G. listed as being at the top of the hill, when ALL of the locals that I asked confirm it is near the bottom!).
   
   To be fair, the Lonely Planet guide is much, much worse all around. I have just ordered the Footprint guide to see if it is more accurate and complete for this region of India. I would at least like an accurate reference for matching against my trip notes, photos, and writeups!
   
   As far as the non-Himalayan eastern states are concerned, there is almost no coverage at all, for the previously stated reasons, but hopefully this will change in the next edition, as travel restrictions are blightening up and it is now possible to arrange permits for Aranchal Pradesh and Naga just a few days in advance (quite easy if you sign up for a local multi-day tour based out of a major town such as Guwahati in Assam).
   
   It would have been helpful to be more specific about which languages are spoken in which towns/regions, as this area is quite a patchwork, and also to mention the likelihood (or not) of encountering English speakers. As it turns out, the main hub for northeastern connections, Siliguri (in the northern part of West Bengal state), inexplicably has almost no English fluency at all, even though ALL travelers must pass through this town to make onward connections. Most resourceful travelers can work through this though, but travel guides need to also guide the more timid tourists.
   
   I will give Rough Guide credit for fairly good descriptions of the major highlights and how to reach them (which is quite difficult and more than one can ask from a guide that is only updated every two to three years). As always, they are the most culturally sensitive guide book and take the most effort to go for first source information (vs. Lonely Planet's habit of quoting second source information that is incorrect, without bothering to check it out -- and I am referring not just to location based information, but also cultural and historical background).



3. This is the best guidebook I know of for India. I used it on my recent trip and found it overall to have excellent, in-depth information, great info for putting things in cultural/historical context, and detailed, accurate maps. In my opinion it blows Lonely Planet out of the water. Several Indian guesthouse owners and the man at the tourist desk in Varanasi (who has worked there for 25 years) told me the same thing, and on the flipside I met not a single person who recommended Lonely Planet over this book. The general consensus about the Rough Guide is that rather than just giving a bunch of listings, it gives really practical information on how to get to places, get things done, get a ticket, avoid scams, and so on, in significantly greater depth than Lonely Planet. But not only is it more practical--it also gives more cultural/historical context, opinion, and descriptive writing. Lonely Planet, on the other hand, seems to have become lazy since they know they will sell a lot of books on name recognition alone. The last time I used Lonely Planet was on a trip to Brazil, and I was so disappointed with it that I vowed never to use them again. However, unlike Lonely Planet, I think you will have a positive experience with this book. A good guidebook is crucial in India because it is such a difficult country to travel in, and I think you won't be disappointed with this one.



4. Some of the same complaints that I have for the Lonely Planet Guide except this one was harder to read due to the use of the lighter inks in the text. Information was excellent! Now print a smaller, more detailed version for Rajasthan, Delhi, Agra, Khajuraho and Varanasi. These are the areas that most tourists are traveling to and all the rest is just wasted paper as we tear the books apart for our travels.



5. who ever wrote the rough guide to India obviously didnt have a very good time. almost every section is prefaced with "try to get out of this area as soon as possible, but if you have to stay here are some places you can get some bread and coffee." its down on most every city and only has a couple of places it can bring itself to recommend.
   
   i never had any problem with any of the hotel or restaurant information but having that book was like having a whiny friend along who wanted to go home. it became a joke at the end every time we consulted the book on a new city and it had a mopey description.
   
   i left mine on the table at the YMCA in Delhi on purpose.
   
   ps do not eat the dahl at the ymca in delhi.

5 comments about Trailblazer South East Asia: The Graphic Guide.

1. This guidebook is indispensable. It's easy to use once you figure out the map key, lightweight, and had tons of very accurate useful information. I loved it!! I ended up having the most reliable guidebook of anyone else I met.



2. This book was awesome.
   I used it in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
   I had a lonely planet somewhere deep in my backpack, but it never saw daylight until I left it in my room in Hanoi. Pretty much every place I went, I just took a quick look at the map and had a reasonable idea of what to do next or where to go.
   
   I met a lot of travelers who were impressed with it as well. I ended up giving it away as a gift on my way out.
   
   If you like a little more adventure than something like a lonely planet and don't want to bury your head in a guidebook, go with this.
   
   Also, the book emphasizes the philosophy that meeting people is what travelling is all about, more so than just seeing things. And I completely agree with that. So if that's your bag, then this book is certainly for you.
   
   Lastly, it is slightly dated (like prices, specific bus timings, etc.). But the information is still very usable.



3. This book became a close, guarded part of my experience in South East Asia. Mark Elliot has excellent insider tips and maps for things to see and do in every area of that part of the world!



4. This book seems to have all crucial information you will ever need when backpacking in SE Asia. Thin as a leaflet compared to many other traveller guides, but with at least as much information. Just be prepared to spend a smallish amount of time to learn how to use it and to remember the most important symbols.



5. The information is this book is good, but focuses more on the budget traveler. If you want to make a tour of south east asia as cheap as possible, this book is probably a great resource.
   
   What is really different about this book is the maps. There are tons of maps, all hand drawn in style and these maps have notes scribbled all over them. It isn't that great for finding something specific but it a very good idea for finding out what is near where you are. If you are not a planner, and just like to go and see what is going on once you are there, then this book may be great for you.
   
   If you are a planner, and you don't arrive anywhere without a itinerary, then this book is likely to be a hindrance since so much information is organized ON the maps.