No comments about Disorienting Encounters: Travels of a Moroccan Scholar in France in 1845-1846. The Voyage of Muhammad As-Saffar (Comparative Studies on Muslim Soci).

3 comments about A Practical Guide to Living in Japan: Everything You Need to Know to Successfully Settle In.

1. A Practical Guide To Living In Japan: Everything You Need To Know To Successfully Settle In by travel expert Jarrell D. Sieff is a definitive, "user friendly" guide for students, business travelers, and vacationers arriving in Japan for their studies, business operations, or sight-seeing. A Practical Guide To Living In Japan covers immigration matters, finding a place to stay, money and banking, studying the Japanese language, getting around Japanese cities and countryside, health and insurance, as well as Japanese customs and social etiquette. A Practical Guide To Living In Japan is a highly recommended resource that will save the traveler, businessman or student an immeasurably valuable amount of time, expense, anxiety, confusion, and hassle.



2. I originally borrowed a copy from the library, and many other books about working in Japan. This is the most useful book out of all of them. The information is quite recent(2002), and it has a load of contact details in the back, airlines, embassy addresses and much more. It also contains useful pictures, and good tips to surviving in Japan. Definitely a must have. Suitable for anyone looking to move or live in Japan.



3. The book contains information on getting a visa, housing, banking, getting a car, utilities, and a good list of phone numbers in the back. In other words, stuff that's pretty easy to find online.
   
   Unfortunately, a good bit of it is either outdated or purely informational.
   
   The book is geared toward the college grad who just wakes up one day and says "Hey, I want to move to Japan!" It's for the person who doesn't have a job, doesn't have a sponsor, and generally doesn't have a prayer of getting a resident visa without taking a job at an expat bar or strip club. Here's what I mean:
   
   Housing: Generally, you can't rent a place in Japan on your own. Your company must do it for you, and generally pays rent directly to the landlord. You just show up, pick the place, and someone else does all the work. If you're an English teacher, the JET program handles it, and if you're coming on an expat package, your employer does it. In regards to the housing, the landlord doesn't deal directly with you, the landlord deals with your company. If you're one of those people coming over here and then looking for a job, then get online and check Metropolis or one of the other Japan expat sites and look at the classifieds for people needing roommates. It works much better than getting over here and learning you can't rent an apartment on your own just by handing someone money.
   
   Visas: Tourist visas are easy to get, resident visas are harder and require a sponsor (i.e., that company that gets you your apartment). You don't just show up at the registration office, the paperwork MUST be completed in Japanese, and to get the resident visa, your registration must be completed before you even enter Japan, or you have to leave, go back to your home country, and get it there before they'll even think of giving you a visa. The book tells you that, but makes it seem that you just go to the Japanese Embassy in your home country, and you're set. The book offers nothing with respect to the rules that came into effect in November 2007. It doesn't discuss giving power of attorney to a bin goshi (Japanese lawyer) who completes the paperwork on your behalf, it doesn't discuss the requirements for your visa and that your company must show why you are so special so that they must move you here. Once you get the visa taken care of and come over here, the Ward office tells you, in English, exactly what you need to do to register.
   
   Health Insurance: The Ward Office tells you how to get National Healthcare. If you have international insurance, your company tells you what you need to do. With respect to doctors, the best and only way is to get recommendations from other expats, either through work or make friends. Expats learn pretty quickly which doctors are good and speak enough of the desired language to allow you to get proper care. The pages with the Japanese words for body parts/medical conditions is great to have if you ever need to call 119 (Emergency). In the back of the book there are lists of phone numbers for medical services. Some are still accurate, but the names of the specific doctors to contact are not provided. This information is necessary when you call the numbers. For this reason, the recommendation to get recommendations from others is so necessary.
   
   Phones and utilities: The information is completely outdated. You go to a company called Softbank, get a cell phone, and you're set. Of course, you need your alien registration to get a phone. You can't get one without it. If you have a home phone, it is because it is owned by your landlord. You just get the line and pay the service fee as part of your rent. In other words, your boss pays this bill. You get a separate bill for long distance that you pay at the NTT office. Gas and electricity are almost always paid by your company/boss.
   
   Shopping: Other guides (Lonely Planet, e.g.) provide more and better information than this book.
   
   Keeping in touch with home and getting internet sections: They are outdated. They don't provide the right information at all.
   
   Banking: It's pretty easy these days. A couple of the banks in Tokyo have programs for foreigners. Most ATMs are bilingual. The book is good in regards to providing information that you can get a bank account at the post office, though. That doesn't exist in most countries, so it's a "good to know" part of the book.
   
   Postal services: This is all accurate, but largely outdated. The only courier you'll need to know about is the Yamato Transport, the one with the cat.
   
   Education and learning Japanese: There are a million Japanese teachers who advertise online through the English publications. For children, it depends on where you live, and the lists of schools in the book are still accurate.
   
   Public transportation: It's also outdated for the most part. The rail passes have changed, and the subway passes have changed.
   
   Clothing size information in the book is not even close to being accurate. Calendar year stuff is unnecessary because they use the same calendar as the West.
   
   There is very little in this book that you won't get in other, better and probably more necessary books or the internet. The japanese translations are in a japanese-english dictionary which you will need anyway. The up to date phone numbers for services are available online through Google searches, but having this book to allow you to have all the numbers in one location is a plus. But it is probably the only plus to an otherwise useless book.

No comments about In and Around Old Goa.

No comments about Insight FlexiMap Tokyo (Insight Fleximaps).

No comments about The Path to Buddha: A Tibetan Pilgrimage.

2 comments about Time Out Bangkok: And Beach Escapes (Time Out Guides).

1. I was a little skeptical using a Time Out guide for the first time, but I must admit that this guide led us to numerous local eateries that were absolutely fantastic. We used the "eating" section to choose 4 local places for dinner and we were handsomely rewarded with great food, at cheap prices, from local places that we never would have found on our own. While the maps are a little lacking (they don't mark restaurants on a map - this might be changed in the newer edition), we were able to find these "hole-in-the-wall" places with excellent food.
   
   I visited Bangkok for three days and found this guide, along with a local map, sufficient. However, I did miss some of the details and background descriptions that are provided in longer guides. The food section alone makes this guide worthwhile for anyone looking to take advantage of the great local food that Bangkok has to offer.



2. This is a review of the 3rd edition of Time Out Bangkok. It's frankly not worth buying, and I say that as someone who has enjoyed other Time Out city guides. A couple of specific problems:
   
   -The maps are frustrating. Bangkok isn't really pedestrian-friendly, but there are still great opportunities to get to know the city on foot. The itineraries that Time Out includes are interesting, but the maps often lack important street names or don't include addresses and landmarks to locate sights. (Ironically, the cover says "Now with improved maps.")
   
   -The writing is awful. For instance: "Calls for an industrialized Kra Canal or 'land bridge' across the southern isthmus would foul the environment on which tourism relies." Or: "Police raids and urine tests recur periodically and the unrepealed early closing directives...land later-opening venues in a pernicious, exploitable grey area as enforcement relents." Ugh. Reading a tour guide doesn't have to be pleasurable, but it should be bearable. Reading this one isn't.
   
   Bangkok itself is wonderful. You'll just enjoy it even more with another guide. If I were to go again, I'd consider Lonely Planet. Do give other Time Out guides a look, though. They can be excellent.

No comments about Exploring Phuket & Phi Phi: From Tin to Tourism (Odyssey Illustrated Guides).

5 comments about Mei Mei?Little Sister: Portraits from a Chinese Orphanage.

1. I purchased this book for my wife as we have adopted a baby girl from China. While these photos are from a different orphanage, the impact is the same. We did not get to see all the children at our daughter's orphanage, and they don't allow photos of the kids anyway. I recommend this book for any adoptive parents of children from China, or those looking into it. I will warn you, you will want to go back for more.



2. As an adoptive parent of a beautiful Chinese girl, I became extremely upset when I viewed these pictures. But by the grace of God, my daughter could have been featured in this book. That thought and the pictures of these children absolutely broke my heart. The pictures are beautiful but left me with a sense of helplessness because you can't save them all....although you want to. I returned the book because it was just too upsetting. I was torn between giving the book 5 stars because of the impact it has, but gave it 3 so someone might read this review and think twice about viewing it. It was not worth it for me.



3. We are in the process of adopting a baby from China, and this book just made my heart break. The images are so beautiful, and the children are so precious! In my mind, they seem to be simply be waiting... We can't wait to give one of them a home.



4. This book touches my soul every time I open it. I have adopted two girls from China and I see their reflections on every page.



5. We enjoyed the pictures of the girls. Glad that it was done in black and white. There are so many faces and expressions in the book - but its very hard to tell what they are truely thinking. We too have a "little sister" who's still in an orphanage in China. It would be a good book for those daughters that have already been found to have a book of portraits of their mei mei's who are still waiting for their forever families to find and come for them.

5 comments about Where the Pavement Ends: One Woman's Bicycle Trip Through Mongolia, China & Vietnam.

1. I found so much interesting firsthand information about Mongolia, China, and VietNam in this interesting book and for that I am grateful to the author.

   I did feel, not far into the book, that she was rather impetuous in her decision to take this 5,000 mile journey and was not very well-prepared at all. Right away, trying to cross the border into Mongolia was an issue for her and something that I thought she should have found out about beforehand. She also made some serious safety mistakes, as when she was accosted by the two young men on horseback in Mongolia. She could have easily lost her life.

   Her writing beautifully captures the natural beauty of the lands through which she traveled and also the basic goodness of the people whom she encountered during her journey.

   A good reading experience.




2. I picked up this book in anticipation of summer travels and was looking to get a woman's perspective on some of the places I will be going. I enjoyed reading about her different adventures, but ultimately was a little annoyed and bored. Her story was inspiring and what she did was amazing, but the way it was written was rather flat. And, I feel that if you are going to include pictures in your book, they should have accurate labels as to who they are of and when they were taken. In all, an okay book but not a stellar read.



3. The good news is, I really liked this book. The bad news is that when I finished it I quit my job, sold the house, drained my IRA and bought a bicycle.

   If you have ever traveled in the third world and experienced the mixed emotions of being a rich American in a poor country you will recognize yourself in this story. From the priceless experiences she has with people who let her into their homes and into their worlds, to those who have had much more experience with wealthy Western travelers and make their livings from them, she captures the two sides of this kind of travel.

   This is a book about a journey, not an expedition. Unlike so many books of this genre, the author parks her ego at the door. While riding a bike, especially as far as she does, is an athletic accomplishment this is not a book about an athlete. She does not try to impress us about how many kilometers she rides a day or how difficult a particular mountain pass was to climb. This is the story of a journey by an intelligent and introspective woman who is interested in getting away from the hippie travel circuit and seeing places she is told not to go and learning about people you will not see from the train or meet in the tourist hotel.

   How wonderful it must be to have all you really need with you on your bike and not really care that you don't know exactly where you are.




4. I enjoyed this book and oftentimes found the narrative absorbing. I was astonished by the contrasts particularly between Mongolia, with its frigid weather, expansive plains, and childlike adults, and Vietnam, with its tropical beaches and aggressive, war-weary toddlers! Attention to detail really enlivened the book. I particularly liked the linguistic asides and descriptions of different foods. I always looked forward to the pictures, although I sorely missed a photo of Beijing. The chapter about the author's trip over a dangerous Chinese mountain on her way to Xiangning was loaded with suspense! But then there was no resolution. After her harrowing experience, we needed to see her actually arrive in Xiangning.
   
   The book needed an epilogue, with the author safely ensconsced in her apartment in Vladivostok or Seattle, observing her surroundings and providing the reader with a final sense of perspective.
   
   And it would've been great to have an index in the back, so the reader could easily look up a word or reference that might've appeared 100 pages hence. I had to stick a post-it on page 42 so I could keep looking up the word "orom"!
   
   I hope the author elects to do this again in a completely different part of the world.



5. Far too often discretion is overthrown in favor of "attitude". How refreshing to read a book that not only reflects thoughtfully on cross cultural respect and understanding, but avoids the self-indulgence that is all-too common in travelogues.
   
   Ms. Warmbrunn is, in a very real sense, an adventurer. Setting out independently to explore countries alien to her, she exposes herself to physical danger, political intrigue, environmental challenges, and emotional reward...all from the seat of Green, her beloved bicycle.
   
   Through her experiences of Mongolian culture, and her reflections on their history, I learned more about that part of the world than through any history book I had previously read.
   
   I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever wanted to travel ANYWHERE, who has loved riding a bike, has wanted to be the hero in their own story, or who simply loves the skillful execution of a well-turned phrase. Arm-chair and adventurer travellers alike will warm to this book.
   
   In my heart of hearts, I'd like to think Erika and I would become best friends. I'd invite her to tea, or maybe we'd go to the theatre, and then after spinning around a model globe, which would stop when a finger was placed on it, we'd announce "Let's go there!", and then make plans to head out.
   
   Barring that grand experience, I console myself with her presence on my bookshelf, and hope that you, gentle reader, may do the same.

4 comments about Yoga School Dropout.

1. I have just finished reading this delightful book, `Yoga School Drop Out' by Lucy Edge. I happened upon it `accidentally' (we all know there is no such thing as an accident) at the library when I was looking for something entirely different. I did not manage to find what I was looking for; I did however find exactly what I needed!
   
   Lucy sets out on a Spiritual Quest to India determined to return home a Yoga Goddess. Things do not quite flow as Lucy anticipated and it looked as if she was destined never to return home as the Yoga Goddess she had envisioned. She did, however, gain more inner wisdom and insight than she could have imagined when she first set out.
   
   Along the way it was the "ordinary" people she met, not the yoga she did, or the gurus she listened to, that held the most lessons. Here are a few pearls that were shared along the way:
   
   On Asana: "Today asana has been made into a `photograph,' ... there is no difference between this and gymnastics ... But asana is not a performance, asana is what happens in the posture and afterwards"
   
   On Change: "Change occurs only when we become what we truly are, not when we are trying to be something we are not. Change can't happen when we are trying to escape our true nature"
   
   On Travel: "Unfortunately, when you travel, you take yourself with you"
   
   On Yoga: "... the reason I found them so inspiring was because their yoga practice stretched way beyond their mat. They saw yoga as a state of mind, an attitude to life, and the world as their school. Yoga was, for all of them, `a harmonious way of living', not a one-off physical goal - they knew all they had to do was look within"
   
   On Practice: "It was an unremarkable thing - Pranayama, meditation and perhaps a few simple sun salutations. It was practiced informally, not in a big class on the instructions of a big name teacher, but at home - quietly without fuss"
   
   On Enlightenment: "Enlightenment was not a trophy to be lifted high in one triumphant moment, it was about seeing clearly, and choosing wisely in daily life"
   
   All round just a great book! Thanks for the deLightful and inspiring read Lucy :-)



2. Loved loved loved this hilarious book. There's a lot of wisdom in Lucy's comedic descriptions of the guru culture (and industry), and a great deal of humility in Lucy's quest as she faces up to her own foibles and human frailties. The yoga world could use a good laugh at itself, and this book is a healthy step in that direction.



3. I am currently reading this book, Yoga School Dropout, w/ eat pray love and the Bhavighad Gita (SP). I again, like the last reviewer, just happend to find this book, literally while traveling on the ground and it has brought me back to my practice. It is very funny and educational. No matter what your experience w/ Yoga, this book rocks.



4. this book is funny, real, humble, and grand. as a 30 year old searching for her own place in the world after working in advertising as well, it wholly resonated.