5 comments about Moon Handbooks: Bali (2nd Ed.).

1. I've read virtually every guide out there and Bill Dalton's Handbook is the most comprehensive and compact source of information on travel to and in Bali. If you are an armchair traveler in need of visual stimulation to spur the imagination, however, this book is not for you. Far apart from the Eyewitness/Knopf style high-gloss photography combined with very little travel info, this guide provides current, practical info on everything to do with Bali: history, geography, culture, places to go, how to go, when, where to eat.... You name it, it's in here. But if you're looking for full-color photos and a stunning layout, go elsewhere.



2. This book made for a great read on the flight over. Being a history buff I really enjoyed it and it gave me a great sense of the place. But when I got to the island I found that the book was just about useless. I got lost all over the place, which for some is half the fun but not myself. People with the LP's-"southeast asia on a shoestring"fared much better than I at half the volume. I'm all for for making an effort at understanding the country you will visit, but a guidebook that can't guide me...



3. I was so excited about my first trip to Bali that I used 4 guides. By far, the Moon Guide helped me most to understand Bali and the Balinese. I was even able to impress the cab drivers with my new found understanding of Balinese religion, culture and customs. Although I disagreed with many of the hotel and restaurant recommendations - the real reason for visiting Bali is to get in contact with a culture that exists nowhere else in the world. This book will help you do that better than any other. The section on quick indonesian language is very helpful and the Balinese love tourists who try to adopt their language greetings. The maps are mediocre, but there are no good maps of Bali - most roads are nameless and unsigned.

   I was so impressed by Dalton's guide that I immediately looked for another moon guide for my next trip.




4. Having been to this magical place 5 times now and perusing many travel books on this land. I would place this as the number one book of choice for the area. The background of history and the covrage on the people make this the best trvel tome for this destination. It will give you a solid foundation and a good idea on what to expect when you arrive there. Even if you do not end up going there you would save alot of bucks by just vicariously experiencing it theough the shear reading of it!!!

   Good Luck!!

   Ron

   If you do get there you must try the "soto ayam", the best chicken soup around; better than grandma's!!




5. Bill Dalton, internationally acclaimed American travel writer, tour leader, and founder of Moon Publications, wrote the bible of Balinese travel drawing on twenty-six years of Indonesian experience (thirty visits and a total of six years spent on the islands). Jam-packed with incredibly detailed information, the first 310 pages prepare you for the journey of a lifetime with chapters on the land (topography, environment, and climate), flora and fauna (domestic animals, birds, reptiles, sea life, endangered species, flowers, trees), history, government, the economy, and local industries. Dalton quenches your thirst for cultural knowledge with chapters on the people (the caste system, marriage, children, village life), the language (plus a glossary of words and short phrases in Bahasa Indonesia), and religion (priests, temples, cremation ceremonies). Balinese creativity is honored with additional units on traditional and modern art, crafts (woodcarving, maskmaking, stonecarving, textiles, plaiting and weaving, gold and silver works), music, and the performing arts (dance venues and schools and the wayang kulit shadow puppet theatre). Dalton gives you everything you ever wanted to know about Bali, from white raja Mads Lange to the toothfiling ceremony to shaggy Barong masks.
   In the second half of the tome, Dalton treks you all around Bali, regency by regency, highlighting the important sights, beaches, nightlife, shopping, restaurants, recreation, transportation, and accommodation at all levels from homestays (the thrust is here) to luxury. Dalton leaves no Balinese stone unturned with his treatment of festivals and events, sports (snorkeling, surfing), health issues and concerns (including folk remedies), and visa/money practicalities. The depth and breadth of research is mindboggling, the reservoir of knowledge and amount of information is encyclopedic. Both travel guide extraordinaire and total reference book, this is an astonishing achievement: the travel parts may lose their currency (until the next edition), but the cultural course work/input is timeless. Dalton does not let you travel alone deaf, dumb, and blind-read him and you will not only see, but understand the Balinese universe pulsating all around you.

1 comments about The Other Japan: Voices Beyond the Mainstream.

1. This book is a well written, although sometimes meandering, account of the author's interviews with people in Japan who prove that Japan is not as homogenous as we might think. The only problem with the book is that it at times strays from the interviews into philosophical musings that are tedious. but the book as a whole is worth while and a must for anyone studying Japan.

5 comments about A Day in the Life of India (Day in the Life).

1. This book is a must for every international traveller's coffee table!! Indian households especially should be proud to display this book for it is surely a most priceless homage to all the beauty our country has to offer!



2. While many photography books about India focus on the landscape and monuments, this book focuses on the people living in this great land. From tending to the fields to attending grade school, the pictures are a glimpse into what India is really about.



3. I was thoroughly dissapointed by this book. The photos aren't too interesting or unique. The only good point of this book is that all the photos come with fairly descriptive captions. Most of the full page photos are so grainy, they could have been taken with a disposable camera. I don't blame the 2 dozen photographers who contributed to the book. Just seems the publisher decided to use a lower print quality in order to sell the book at a lower price. If you want a much better book with photos that will blow you away, check out Steve McCurry's South Southeast.



4. This book is a definate "Coffee Table" book. It will shock you by its large size, let alone its stunning photographs. I have been to India and am traveling again in one week. I just can't get enough. This book will practically take you theretoo. Enjoy!



5. For anyone who isn't intersted in India to see the Taj Mahal and leave, this is for you! Photographs that show how life really is in India, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Wonderful photographs, that will draw you in again and again. A coffee table book that will actually get read!

No comments about Insight Flexi Map Bangkok (Flexi).

5 comments about One Foot in Laos.

1. As someone who has spent a lot of time in Laos since 1993 and who knows most of the areas visited by the author, all I can say is that I'm not sure she was in Laos.

   Her opinionated style probably reflects how she related to people (locals and expats) in Laos, and it's no wonder she has such a biased view of the place. People were probably not levelling with her - or she wasn't listening.

   The Laos that I know, and particularly the expats whom she criticises, are not at all the way that I know them. The book isn't worth the trouble of opening the cover if you want to know about Laos. But if you want your prejudices reinforced then this is the book for you.




2. Murphy presents a candid portrait of Laos as it is today. Contrary to what the other reviewers have to say, she is a good observer and writes accurately. As a Lao, I can say that is true. The book is enjoyable.

   The only problem with Murphy's writing is her quaint outlook that bemoans even benign development. It seems she'd be happiest in a world without cars, television or money. Unfortunately she will not find that in Laos or anywhere else, though she may keep travelling and keep trying.




3. I just returned from a three week trip in Laos. Before I left I was given her book as something to read while gone.

   I felt disgusted and angry after reading her narrative of a country I grew to love over three weeks. As other reviewers have stated, her book was so full of unsubstantiated political rantings I had a hard time giving her any credibility as a source. It was almost impossible to enjoy her few cultural encounters and descriptions of the country because of the uneccessary commentary which accompanied it.

   Having been in Laos, I also noticed that many of the 'brave' and 'independent' things that she did were just plain stupid. Furthermore, although she constantly referred to her own cultural sensitivity and bemoaned the horrendous behavior of other travelers, I have to say that a good number of the things she did were in fact wrong and insensitive to Lao cultural norms.




4. Once I was able to get beyond Dervla Murphy's annoying bashing of the United States and the capitalist system, and her romanticizing of the noble savage, her travelogue provided, in the least, a good bench-mark of how rapidly Laos is changing. At best, her book was thought-provoking in that it made me question the benefits of development, and made me appreciate the resiliance of a nation that not too long ago was ravaged by war and continues to suffer from its effects. In addition, the book had rare moments of insite that conveyed the unique Laotian culture.

   Her anti-US sentiments were so ridiculous and pervasive that I had to attribute them to the rantings of a curmudgeony, old lady who had drunk one too many BeerLao.

   Having recently travelled through northern Laos, you could sense the change and growth brought on by tourism. The changes appear to be primarily physical. In contrast to the book the towns may look different, and have more restaurants, accomadations, and internet cafes, but the culture described by Dervla still appears to be in tact. I can not put in words, but I noticed and felt distinct, yet subtle differences between Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. At times, when she was not ranting about US imperialism and the negative effects of development, Dervla was able to convey this uniqueness.




5. The idea that this woman has somehow 'discovered' Laos in 1997 - some 22 years after its fall, is simply ludicrous. By the way, Laos has been open to those who care to enter it with an open heart and mind for some time.

   I wonder if she actually went to the places she talks about? What the US did there was horrible and some Yankees need to wake up to this. But her hatred is pervasive, you can feel it. I couldn't imagine going through life with such a cluster of inbuilt fear and loathing.

   Still, Laos is a great place to visit. Go the country and not the book.

1 comments about Voyage of Rediscovery: A Cultural Odyssey through Polynesia.

1. This is another book everybody ought to have in their library. Why?
   
   (1) The Polynesian double-canoe was the great voyaging craft of the human race. Not that other boats were not great too, but these people had so little -- little land, only a few precious trees, no metals, no compass -- and yet in a remarkably short period of time they populated a territory of Earth that would astound you. With a stellar navigation system stored in their brains (not on charts or in complicated sextants or chronometers) they found their way across a vast ocean. The double-canoe was the least boat (the least amount of materials, the least environmental impact for a given need for reliable sailcraft) that could be made to do the most work in the harshest of conditions -- just for those reasons the boats and their crews deserve recognition.
   
   (2) The book chronicles the several voyages of a reconstructed canoe in order to hypothesize about the ways in which the ancient crews used information about seasonal variations in winds and currents to make destinations that, during some parts of the year, would not have been accessible given the heading angles these boats could sail (about as good as a well-designed European square-rigger, though other Polynsesian outrigger canoes -- proas -- gradually developed after the great voyaging period and would eventually sail closer to the wind and astound the early European explorers with their sailing qualities). These voyages were adventures of thinking, training, and sailing a boat of unknown qualities and using a native type of non-instrument navigation -- those adventures are now a testament to the accomplishments of the native people of Oceania. (In a goofy kind of way, you can also remember such accomplishments when you are feeling a bit down on the human race).
   
   I hope those are good enough reasons to buy this book. There are others, but I'm tired, and I want you to write a review about the ones I have not covered.
   
   Flaws? Who has none? The author rightly desires to document the accomplishments of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, but some cultural/racial tensions arose during this long experiment, which is understandable given the state of things in territories whose historical development was altered by colonization and colonial administration. It was no doubt a difficult thing that some of the first impetus and funding for the adventure came from the 'White'-American "establishment" so to speak. But it would be fair to learn more about the total story of this cultural revival project, both the accomplishments and the tensions. [Note 1/8/08: Finney's later book, "Sailing in the Wake of the Ancestors," which I just received, addresses this issue] --wt

No comments about Malaysia Travel Pack, 4th (Globetrotter Travel Packs).

3 comments about Culture Shock! Sri Lanka: A Guide to Customs and Etiquette.

1. This guide is better than most. Lots of useful information about cultural differences. It does not contain much tourist information though so it is best used together with a more detailed guide.



2. The writer for Culture Shock! Sri Lanka appeared to be very familiar with the country. I am married to a Sinhalese and before we traveled to the country for my first visit, I shared selections from the book with my husband. He was pleasantly surprised that the information was fairly accurate. I referred to the book often during my travels and found it very helpful and right on point.



3. Unfortunately I read this book after living in the country for 20 months. I found all of the information contained in the book well written, accurate and very useful. My only regret was that I did not read this before coming here as it would have made the 'culture shock' more understandable.

No comments about Insight Compact Guide Laos (Insight Compact Guides).

4 comments about Laos & Cambodia (Insight Guides).

1. Insight Guides are useful as both travel guides and picture books.The info is short but concise and the wonderful color pics give you a really nice idea about what the destination spot looks like ( or looked like,as the books are also good for memory/photo albums). This volume is very useful for the traveler to the little known countries of Laos and Cambodia as it covers all areas of both countries and not just the big cities and main attractions. I especially found the info on coastal Cambodia interesting as it's hard to find detail on this beautiful place in other travel books. A must for the Asia traveler....



2. The photographs in this guide are stellar and the writing is clear and strong. I found every necessary detail needed for planning my trip in this book and learned a great deal about the culture before embarking on my travels. Wonderfully done!



3. This Insight Guide is very complete and informative. Having been to Cambodia, I can say first hand, that this is probably the best tourist guide available for that region.



4. This is a well-rounded book, with information about history, the people, the sights, the geography, and lots of really good photos. It was especially valuable to me because I was going to both Laos and Cambodia and didn't want to have a book for each of them. If you're looking for a guide that will tell you how to get from A to B, where to stay, where to eat, and so forth, you should probably look to Lonely Planet or Rough Guide. I was on a very small tour, so I didn't need those details and it met my needs very well.