5 comments about Lonely Planet Tokyo Encounter.

1. When we were planning our trip to Japan, we purchased The Rough Guide to Japan and The Lonely Planet Guide to Tokyo. Reading through the Lonely Planet Guide, I found very little that sounded worth doing or seeing. The same items described in The Rough Guide were much more intriguing. So I chose what to see and do based on The Rough Guide.
   Close to the time of our trip, someone who had just been to Japan recommended The Time Out Guide to Tokyo for the maps. But when it came time for planning the details of the tour - where the chosen attractions were located, when they were open, and how to get from here to there, the maps and the details in the descriptions in The Lonely Planet Guide were far more useful than those in the other two books. For practical use, I have given this book four stars.



2. This book needs to come with a free magnifying glass.
   
   I recently purchased the 2007 edition of Tokyo Encounter by Lonely Planet. We will be flying to Tokyo in November, 2007. They condensed the size of this book to fit into a pocket and as a result, the print is tiny and difficult to read. In fact, much of the print actually cannot be read without straining the eyes or needing a magnifying glass. The highlighted areas are shaded in pinks, greens, blues and the print on those shaded areas is ridiculously even more reduced to the point it cannot be read. This book is only for those with 20/10 vision and for those who carry along a pocket magnifying glass. Otherwise, don't spend your money.



3. I had no idea this book was so small until I received it, and I don't mind it at all. I have other Japan travel books by Frommer's and Fodor's so this thin book was a blessing.
   
   Another reviewer mentioned needing a magnifying glass to read, but I can read it fine and so can my husband -- we're twenty-somethings and he wears glasses -- so I think that if you have grandchildren or existing eyesight problems then yes, it might be an issue.
   
   For me, the bright colors behind the text were no problem. I love how colorful everything is -- EVERY page is in color. Great photos and summaries of the top "must do" attractions.
   
   The descriptions are short to keep the size of the book down, but they list all essential info: name in english AND hiragana/kanji/katakana (really handy!), address, hours of operation, admission fees (if applicable), a URL if they have one and what train to take to what stop and even what exit to use from the station. AWESOME.
   
   The only blemish on this otherwise amazing book is the foldout map. Mind you the map itself is helpful as heck, what with the Tokyo subway system map included, close-ups of three popular neighborhoods, every sight listed in the book listed on the map with appropriate designations (a2, d4, etc), and even helpful phrases such as "hello" and "two beers please." However, the perforation on my copy was poor and the map was glued in VERY crooked. While trying to carefully pull the map out like was intended, it pulled the cover from the back of the book. I should have just cut it with scissors in retrospect, but that was the point of the map: to pull it out easily. When I got it loose, it was difficult to pull the excess paper from the perforation. So just cut out your map out of your copy of the book and you won't have any problems!
   
   Oh, and the super-glossy parts of the front and back covers are just slick as hell.



4. First of all let me say that I do love this book. Next time I head to Tokyo, it will be in my bag. That said, I think the book could have gone a bit better in actually making a specific Akihabara section of the book, as it is, Akihabara is kind of mashed into the rest of Tokyo when it is a very distinct part of the town with excellent shopping opportunities. Mentioning what goes on in Akihabara on Sunday would be good too. Having a section on cheap eats would be good too, most of the places listed in the book are all higher class. Having some of the little one counter shops listed where you buy a ticket to select your meal would make it a bit more of a fun book.



5. This is really a beautiful book, with lots of colorful pictures and everythig. It's very concise and small, what is really good and easy to carry.
   
   It does not have as many information as other books, but is one of the best I've ever purchased.
   
   I reccomend.

5 comments about Bhutan (Country Guide).

1. Lonely Planet is unbelieveable! They continually pump out the HIGHEST quality guidebooks, and they've done it again with this edition covering Bhutan. I have spent a good portion of my life researching, and hording information on Bhutan, and have found Lonely Planet's guidebook to contain everything and more that the traveller could ever want...with two exceptions. I think that the lack of the U'cen script in the language chapter is a serious mistake. Lonely Planet has the capacity to print in the U'cen script as they did so in their Tibet edition. My other qualm is with the sparse coverage of the smaller and admittedly FAR less visited dzongkhags (districts) (i.e., Daga, Samdrup Jongkhar, Pema Gatshel, Zhemgang, Tsirang, etc.). Lonely Planet, resolve these issues and your book will be the best it could be.



2. I bought this guide before my first trip to Bhutan, and it helped me immensely in planning my tour. It contains detailed information about the country--history, culture, geography, and facts for travelers. And it gives accurate information about the trekking routes and cultural tours. As is typical for Lonely Planet publications, this one is interesting and well written, and I found the information to be relevant to my trip. It is not easy to travel to Bhutan (there are many government restrictions), and this book made everything easier. I had such a successful, fun trip that I've been back several times (www.jachungtravel.com), and I still refer to this edition of the guide. It's packed with good information, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to go to Bhutan.



3. Hello!

   I'd been searching for a book on Bhutan which could provide me with a little bit of everything about the country viz. the history, geography, people and the culture. I have searched for books on Bhutan in several book stores around. It was so hard to find one in English but I think this one will do.

   May be, finally......... I have found the book I'd been looking for.




4. In anticipation of a trip to Bhutan in 2008 I was looking for a travel guide and opted to buy Lonely Planet's. I read it cover to cover and found to contain very good information, advice, tips, descriptions, recommendations, etc. I travel extensively worldwide and Bhutan will be a novel adventure. It brings back memories of my trip to Tibet in 2000. I highly recommend this guide.



5. Full of good ideas, good list of tour groups (must go on a tour) especially locally owned. Good information on what to do, costs, etc.

No comments about Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: On the Tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar.

5 comments about Lonely Planet Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei.

1. Only gave a very brief overview,not enough information for someone who has not travelled to that part of the world.



2. This book is great. It has accurate information and makes trip planning a breeze. I have traveled all over Asia, and I use lonely planet books to plan all my trips.



3. I spent the better part of the afternoon reading this book as I'm planning on a trip to Singapore and Malaysia this week. The Lonely Planet can usually (although not always) be counted on to provide for solid information on travel destinations and this one does just that. It's pretty well written and everything is nicely laid out. I particularly enjoyed the historical overview at the beginning and the section on the national psyche. Malaysia and Singapore (I didn't read about Brunei) sound like thoroughly enjoyable and interesting places. I especially appreciated the description of KL as being something of a nightmare for pedestrians. That's the type of honesty that travelers need, and it's also what helped make the Lonely Planet famous in the first place.



4. Purchased this book to get basic information about the Island of Langkawi. Provided great restaurant list and information about getting around the island. Highly recommend this book if traveling to Malaysia.



5. I am impressed to have received a new copy of this lonely planet so quickly and exactly in the condition i expected.

5 comments about Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure.

1. What else would you come to expect from a hippie who views India as a cesspool of drugs and other ways to get high?
   The sad part is, its morons like this author who use India as an emotional dumping ground and have the gall to complain about a culture that is rich. Ofcourse, we have our own challenges of corruption, greed, crime, by that arguement which country doesn't have? But to be stereotypical of this is not right, as it can have unintentional repurcussions.
   For example: I remember watching the movie 'Midnight Express' and thankfully i had some turkish friends who set right my understanding and the inherent flaws the movie had about life over there.
   
   This book comes of at best as a silly representation of what life is over in India. Yes, there were some chapters and situations that were amusing, but the simple part is, make an attempt at better research of understanding our culture.
   not surprised that this person is australian.
   
   Garbage: 2 stars.



2. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Sarah has a quirky sense of humor that explores India in all its contrasts and contradictions. Like Sarah, I also have a background in psychology and I appreciated her interest in trying to understand why people are the way they are. For instance, through personal exploration she tries to discover why people are attracted to various religions and the role these practices and beliefs play in their lives.



3. I've re-read this book about 5 or 6 times and each time found something different to enjoy. Ms. MacDonald is an engaging writer and her journey of understanding India (and Indians) will keep you reading until the last pages.



4. I was looking for a lived-there book and this one is it! Fun, serious, always insightful observations shared by the author--who does not take herself seriously.



5. I'm a prolific reader and there are only a handful of books I've started and not bothered to finish. "Holy Cow" is one of them.
   
   MacDonald spends a lot of time describing how awful she found India, how little she thinks of Hinduism, and how WONDERFUL her WONDERFUL career in WONDERFUL Australia was (who outside of Australia has ever heard of her or her WONDERFUL work on Australian radio?) -- but mostly what she does is whine about how nothing on earth meets her rather adolescent standards.
   
   I gave up after 100 pages of her tedious complaining.

No comments about China, Portrait of a Country.

5 comments about Nepal (Country Guide).

1. we were in nepal in recently and found this guide to be very useful and informative; will recommend it to anybody who is travelling to a new country.



2. I bought this book to prepare for my trip to Nepal. I found the advice in the book regarding cultural mores and appropriate behavior to be invaluable. The descriptions of places, restaurants, and hotels was accurate. I would have liked to see longer lists of accommodations. One thing I learned in Nepal is there are many, many more hotels than this book describes.
   
   Here's why I gave it a 4: if you are over 40, go out and buy reading glasses before purchasing this book. The font size is very small and difficult to read for those of us with older eyes, especially in the dim light of an airplane or a Nepal Hotel Room.



3. Lonely Planet has never let me down. It seems no matter where in the world I travel, LP has walked, slept, and eaten there! I am still looking for a place to travel where they have not been. Any suggestions?



4. Good overall coverage of the region. Listed all major activities from rafting, hiking, driving, or whatever. I would recommend it for people traveling there. I wish it would have gone into detail about the tour operators.



5. I really only used the info regarding Kathmandu since that is the only place I visited but the information given was accurate even the warning about the electricity going out all of a sudden for hours in the city. That was fun to experience and thankfully we read it in the book. The best recent book I could find on Nepal.

5 comments about Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam.

1. i was travelling alone in Lhasa, Tibet and found this book in Makye Ame restaurant. i started reading and couldn't put it down. it gave me true enjoyable solitude on my lonely journey. loved it. i spent the last two days reading it in that restaurant. ordered a copy from Amazon last week and i can't wait to finish it.
   my heartfelt thanks to Mr Pham!



2. Andrew X. Pham's other works and notables:
   
   * Pham, Andrew X. The Eaves of Heaven: A Life in Three Wars. This title will be released on June 3, 2008.. ISBN 030738120X.
   
   As translator:
   
   * ng Thùy Trâm. Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram. ISBN 0307347370.
   
   Notables: Kiriyama Prize, Whiting Writer Award, QPB Nonfiction Prize, Guardian Shortlist Finalist, NY Times Notable Book of the Year, Oregon Literature Prize.
   
   Andrew X. Pham's website is at www.andrewxpham.com



3. This book is about a Vietnamese-American man looking for his identity in his homeland. Like many Vietnamese who were children when South Viet Nam fell to the communist in 1975, Mr. Pham's family fled to America where he grew up straddling two cultures. While his writing about biking though Viet-Nam is witty, observational, and realistic, I somehow felt sadden for him because of his Viet-kieu's experience, a terminology used for expats. Over all his story made many generalizations about a very complex and exciting country. I am too a Viet-kieu. What I found is a country full of eager young optimistic people wanting a better life for themselves, their families, sometimes - for better or worse - at any price. Yes, there are poverty and corruption, but there also exist the dignity and quiet grace of a peasant woman who gets up at crack of dawn, earning a meager wage for the day to feed her family because it's her duty. Mr. Pham chose to go back to America with his ''privileges'' and his ''opportunity'' still at a lost for his identity. Readers should not accept Mr. Pham's experience as those of the other Viet-kieu's in Viet Nam.
   
   M. Vo



4. This book embraces so many themes, so delicately, wrenchingly and compassionately. The center plot is a return to Vietnam by a young Vietnamese American which his family fled years ago to live in the United States. However, it is far beyond cross-cultural travelogue; it inhabits the American as well as the Asian psyche with such scary acuity, and takes us into an inner landscape where few can go....without this author as guide. The prose is elegant and luminous; the situations tragic, comic, ludicrous; terrifying. The tone I felt was one of battle fatigue but transcended by unrelenting steel: this one was meant to survive and to tell it all.....



5. 
   Catfish and Mandala hit close to home. My mother's family live in Vung Tau. So, when I read passages about it, it intrigued me. And it didn't disappoint.
   
   Despite what readers believe, this memoir isn't about Vietnam. Really. Catfish and Mandala tells a family saga--a Vietnamese family saga. It speaks to you about family tragedy, disaster, and redemption. This includes immediate family, extended family, and the family left behind after the war. Locals called Mr. Pham brother, uncle, etc. The metaphor glares at you, sometimes blinds you to it, but don't miss it.
   
   This work broke my heart, but I highly recommend it to children born from that land and know little to nothing about it--like myself.
   
   I do have one complaint, though, as a fellow writer: On their/his hams. If I see that phrase ever again, I will scream. I lost count after reading it the sixth time. One pass at an unusual phrase takes notice, but over six jars readers to a halt. Otherwise, I loved this book.
   
   Wolfe

5 comments about Shadow of the Silk Road.

1. I heard an interview of the author on NPR and his clarity, passion, and humanity led me straight to the library.
   
   I have not been the least disappointed in this beautiful book, which is not so much a travel book to me, but a book about thousands of years of fragile human perceptions both tragic and beautiul. It forced my own introspection as much as it tells a story of a world I have never experienced. This is a book I will buy prior to reading it again.



2. I bought this book hoping to get a good idea of what the people and places are like along The Silk Road. This book has some very interesting interviews with people along the way, but after a while, it these become less frequent and the book is more about "I came here and saw this. It looked like this. It made me feel like this, then I left and went here." I could have bought another book with pictures of the Silk Road and been better off in this regard. To me, the best part of the book was what he learned talking to people. Unfortunately, that makes up only a small part of his journey.
   Not a bad book, and I don't have regrets buying it, but I did start to look forward to finishing it so I could move on to the next one.



3. Barren landscapes, indigenous people desperate to leave; temples and monuments crumbling in ruin and the author covers it all in three hundred and forty four pages of barren text leaving the reader desperate to leave the book. Traveling the Silk Road could have been a fascinating adventure but this book offers no insight, portrays no curiousity as to why things are they way they are and if you can make it to the end of the journey you have endured!There are numerous better sources of first hand accounts of adventure travel in these regions. It is simply too hard to find kind words, a compliment, or a recommendation for this book.



4. Another great travel adventure By Colin Thurbon. I felt transported along with Thurbon as he tranversed the Silk Road. His references to past trips as well as history, provoked a need to research more about this part of this world. An excellent book. A must for those interested in China, Central Asia and World History.



5. Thubron engages in a three-part spiritual and physical quest to recapture the commercial highway of the Silk Road from China through Central Asia and Iran to Turkey. Along the route, he at length describes its history, archeology, myths, religions, and people, all of which in their genetic and cultural blending defy today's current political boundaries. Like beautifully glinting faience or tile are the remnants of its glorious past, if one follows a trail to search them out. In this quest, Thubron scales sheer cliffs with his fingernails and his determination and treads through villages and along rivulets to recover past civilizations' artistic glories peeking out in murals, tiles, minarets, chiseled caves, etc. His quest subjects him to risks to life and limb during the Chinese SARS epidemic and the danger of thieves and guards in Afghanistan and the Oxus. However, he is experienced in his knowledge of languages and in his former travel to the region twelve years ago during Soviet control. His great knowledge of history (political, religious, mythical) provides many facts and surprises to the reader, such as the longest epic being the MANAS rather than the ODYSSEY. His knowledge of the cities through which he passes and his conversations with the people who live there now is what the book is about. One of the most interesting stories is his proscribed admittance to a Moslem shrine, sometimes hiding himself to escape detection, or pressed forward among crowds, or tugged gently along as a guest (pp 264-67, 270-72). Another good story set in Tehran interviews an artsy youth with a film (pp. 284-93). In Maragheh, an inflamed abscess is a four-hour suspenseful ordeal with dentists who cannot communicate orally with him. Not least either is his surpise visit to an English language college in Tabriz where he converses with a class of female students. All of these interviews, histories, myths, and descriptions of places that few if any outsiders would now travel to, over the once crowded highway bearing silk, printing, and other goods and ideas between the Pacific and the Mediterranean, make a memorable and necessary story.

3 comments about Streetwise Jerusalem Map - Laminated Center City Street Map of Jerusalem, Israel - Folding pocket size travel map (Streetwise (Streetwise Maps)).

1. I tried to use this map on two occasions, but did not find useful as much, much too busy and complex.



2. I used this map in Israel in 2003 and LOVED it -- and was in fact the envy of my class. I left it with a friend only on condition that she return it to me immediately upon returning to the states, and even then it was tough to leave behind. Anyway, since the other reviewer didn't like it, it seemed important to add a voice from the other side. It's laminated and foldy, like FastMaps, and while it includes even tiny streets, it's not at all hard to read. There is also an index of cultural sites, hotels, gardens, points of interest, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim sites, and other stuff. And while it will not actually pick you up and bring you to Duffy's jewelry store or to the fabulous shwarma place in the old city, you will feel like it did. I'm packing it when I go again in a week! (summer 2007)



3. I never go to Israel without two of these. I am a map-o-phile and personally have many maps of Israel and Jerusalem. Some are in English and some are in Hebrew. This is the ONE map of Jerusalem that I highly reccomend to those who visit Israel with us. It's laminated, accordion-fold and easy to read.
   
   As for the negative review, I understand the statement about the complexity, however there is no way to have less content with an accordion fold. I would suggest a larger scale map for planning at home and the hotel, and use the StreetWise map for walking.