Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet South East Asia on a Shoestring (Lonely Planet Shoestring Guides)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Nobody touches the Lonely Planet for budget travel advice," states the back cover of this book.

I just finished travelling around Southeast Asia with this as my primary guidebook. It includes the basics for getting around, eating, etc... but it really is just the basics. I have used other books from the lonely planet series in the past, and have found them good enough to continue using, at least until this volume. It has been 5 years since I was in this region last, and things have changed. Especially the guidebook, which was once a rich trove of off-the-beaten-path hints and tips. Increasingly, however, it seems that the Lonely Planet authors seem less interested in helping you find a unique experience and more interested in serving up a cookie-cutter, package tourist rehash. I have a couple grievances with this book:

-It insists on constantly pointing out little sidebars entitled "Splurge!" which indicate ways that the budget traveller can spend a great deal of money in one shot. Why this is in a travel guide called "shoestring" I couldn't tell you. Neither do the authors, but I suppose we can assume that backpackers are interested in spending $5 a night for a couple of months and then blowing $150 to stay in some posh hotel in Kuala Lumpur or racking up an additional $20 in credit card debt for an entirely forgettable dining experience in Bangkok. I just don't feel these are relevant to 99% of actual budget travellers, but they waste a lot of space that could be much better used on greater detail. But I will get to that in a minute.

-Another issue I have is the lack of actual information about actually moving from one place to the next cheaply. Cheap local transport is available in many of the places covered in the book. For some reason though, the book usually offers helpful advice like 'just take a cab,' or 'buses are so cheap, so don't bother with local transport.' As an independent traveler that actually enjoys saving money AND spending time with the locals (what's the purpose of traveling again?!?!), I regret the lack of information about local transport.

-The maps in the book, though better than some in past editions, leave much to be desired. Streets are incorrectly labeled or in the wrong place, intersections are vaguely marked, and occasionally they add a street that doesn't exist or remove a street that does. Worst of all, in a region that prides itself on an almost complete lack of road signage, not many good landmarks are given to orient oneself. There is little that is less fun on the road than standing in front of a train station, staring at one's new alien surroundings, being hassled by touts who are trying to steer you in the wrong direction while trying to find that cheap hostel you read about.

Look, if you want a run-of-the-mill book to complete a run-of-the-mill trip, by all means, you will find this book quite helpful. But if you are looking for that individual experience that is the beauty of independent travel, you might be best going with a different guide for this region.

By the way, the quote I wrote at the beginning should be viewed as a warning rather than an enticement

LP's latest Southeast Asia on a Shoestring is more than just a current list of cheap guest houses, temples, authentic local restaurants, and transportation info. It's a great read. Unlike other guides (including earlier editions of this book), this guidebook does a great job of making the places it covers come to life. It makes me want to go there. Right now. What's more, it's accurate and user-friendly.

Reading the other reviews of this book, I wonder: is it possible to separate one's appraisal of this book from one's appraisal of their trip to SE Asia? Should the reviewer knock stars off if the guidebook doesn't factor in his appetite for beer and disco when it recommends a daily budget? And what if the reviewer was ripped off or had a bit of stomach trouble? Is that the guidebook's fault? My answer: I don't think so.

I've visited a number of the countries covered by this book. In the case of Thailand, I've been there a handful of times over the past 8 years. I've bought at least two earlier editions of this guide as well as SE Asia and country guides from other publishers. If I could have only one guidebook to cover SE Asia, this would be the one. In particular, the Thailand section in this book is fabulous.

With that said, here are some things to keep in mind when you consider buying or, ulitmately, USING this book:

1. Notice the word "shoestring" in the title. At a practical level, this book is more about budget travel and backpacking than about four-star hotels and up-market restaurants. The sections on culture, history, weather, etc. will apply to (and appeal to) everyone, however.

2. Production of a book like this takes a while. Some things WILL change before this guidebook lands at your local shop. Probably prices will go up a bit. Also, things in this book may burn down, wash away, or generally just go to crap before you get there!

3. This book is NOT comprehensive. It's not like your local phonebook. This book is just a few hundred pages. It covers a bunch of countries. Keep in mind that there are other places (not covered by the book) that are worth visiting. There are other places (not covered by the book) to stay, eat, drink, SCUBA-dive, get a massage, or whatever that are as excellent as some of the places listed in this book. No guidebook can be comprehensive. You wouldn't want it to be.

4. If it's in this book then it's not a secret. There must be 1000 guest houses in Bangkok. This book lists maybe a dozen or so. Guess what? If you go to one of them, then it might be full of people who bought this book! Use this book, or any guidebook, as a general representation of what's available and what things cost in the country you plan to visit. With that said, most of Lonely Planet's choices are very good despite their notoriety.

5. In Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, etc. BEER costs a lot of money compared to guest house lodging or local food. If you drink a lot, you cannot expect to get by on $10 a day or whatever the recommended "SHOESTRING" budget is.

6. If you're going to Thailand only, or to Thailand and some other country only, don't buy this book. Instead, buy the Lonely Planet Thailand guide (it's THE BEST Thailand guide ABSOLUTELY) and buy a guidebook for whatever other place you're headed to. If you're headed to just a couple of countries in SE Asia, then most of this book really won't help you that much. Don't get me wrong, it's an interesting read. But when you're in Vientiane, wondering if the boat goes to Van Vieng and when, this book has the potential to let you down. Likely the details you need most had to be left out in order to provide space for East Timor or Singapore or somewhere silly. You need a country-specific guidebook for things like good bus or boat schedules.

7. This book won't tell you which cheap guesthouse has the best banana pancake (the official breakfast of the food-afraid tourist). And this book won't tell you where you can find a Pizza Hut, McDonalds, or KFC. If you want these things, ask anyone and they'll tell you where to go. (Just so you know, KFC in every language in the world is pronounced "kay eff see." When asking someone who doesn't speak English where you can find the KFC, be sure to say it reallly loud. If the simply saying "KFC" doesn't work, point to you wide open mouth with one hand and rub your belly with the other and repeat: "KFC, KFC, KFC.... This always works. Then they will say, "ohhhh, KFC," and point toward the nearest outlet.)

8. Buying this book may cause you to want very badly to go to Southeast Asia.

9. Buy Lonely Planet's Thailand book. It's the best out there. You will be going to Thailand, won't you?

This is indeed the classic SE Asia book and it keeps getting better. But I agree with the previous reviewer that Indonesia is virtually a different continent adding too much extra weight. However there is a 'mainland SE Asia' book which is very light and easy to carry: Trailblazer's Southeast Asia by Mark Elliott. It's a bit strange at first glance but is packed with maps and when you get used to all the icons (and discover just how easy it is to travel in SE Asia anyway) it may prove all you need. Best of all it's very portable. There are helpful reviews on Amazon.co.uk including mine! Worth thinking about if you want something different.

This guide is really good value, although you notice easily that it covers a lot of countries. South East Asia is big, the book is limited in size and therefore detail is missing. I bought seperate guides for Laos and Cambodia and this benifited my trip greatly.
Also, the part about Bangkok doesn't show the best bits and doesn't quite warn you for the worst(sex tourism), either.

No book can have a real big guide to travel SE Asia, or any continent. Too much information for just one book.
But this one has a great seleccion of sumarizzed info.
You can alwways criticize this kind of books as they try to cover too much, but for me, the selection of countries information, quantity and importance of data for each country, and Seleccion of cities, is great.

This is another great issue from the dedicated researchers, writers and readers of the practical and economic guides for world travelers. The SE Asia book is written with particular care, insight, and affection. In addition to a wealth of information on the countries of SE Asia, the guide offers some of the best practical advice for living, traveling, and surviving in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and other countries I did not visit and thus cannot speak to. It was just as good as any of their guides to China or India I that I have used in the past.

There is truly no absence of useful information in this book. Restaurants were still there, hotels were roughly the quality stated, and meals were roughly the same price. However, as a first-time "budget traveler", it didn't make things quite as obvious as I would have liked.
-- The first page of each country gives an estimated budget. This budget would be great if all you did was sleep and eat, but alas, I wanted more from Asia than a not-so-clean bed and some noodles. Transportation, beer, books, internet, music were all interspersed with other topics. It may be obvious to some people, but for someone who had never used a book like this before, I set a savings goal based on those initial figures, and was burned. Badly.
-- When searching the contributors' bios, it turns out that the 2004 edition merely had a few people go back to "revisit" the sites others had previously been, and not all followed the "shoestringers" philosophy. In fact, the writer who updated Singapore "left just in time to avoid credit-card meltdown". Doesn't sound like he was writing for me.

Just remember that this book is only an estimate, and a low one at that. If you occasionally like eggs instead of noodles for breakfast, a beer with dinner, or prefer an air-conditioned bus over the non, don't forget to add on some extra dough.

Last year I used LP's "Europe on a Shoestring" guide and it got me all through Europe. This summer I will be doing SE asia, so I ordered the new edition of SE Asia on a Shoestring. I just went through it, and it seems absolutely excellent! The book has cool little "Splurge!" boxes that give you a heads up on better resturants and hotels that are a bit more, but still budget and nice for when you've been roughing it for a month or two. I can't wait to travel with this book... in fact, I can't put it down here at home. It is a very well-written and witty guidebook, and seems in fact much better than my copy of Europe on a Shoestring...

My only gripe is that many people doing SE Asia (including me) dont go visit Indonesia or Malaysia. It would be nice if they had additional volumes for these far-flung places instead of including them in this guide. Maybe a SE Asia Mainland on a Shoestring for next year, guys? The Indonesia chapter is pretty durn thick, and its a shame to lug around all that extra paper! Maybe I can rip it out and sell it on eBay... :)

Have a good trip all!

I really like the Lonely Planet guides, and this one is very good regarding the amount of information it contains. My main complaint is the size of the type. Not only is it very small and difficult to read even with glasses on, but the paper is very thin so the words from the reverse page show through. I'd rather pay a couple of extra dollars and have higher quality paper. I also agree with other reviewers who felt that the Indonesia chapter could easily be eliminated, partly because it is difficult to due justice to that widespread country in a chapter.