Lonely Planet Thailand [Paperback]

Joe Cummings (Author), Morgan Konn (Author), China Williams (Author), Becca Blond (Author), Matt Warren (Author)

Book Description

Series: Lonely Planet Thailand | Publication Date: September 2005

the legendary best-selling, longest-running guide to Southeast Asia's most popular destination the only guide to Thailand written for travelers on any budget suggested itineraries include classic routes, tailored trips, off-road excursions and travel with children opinionated and up-to-the-minute coverage of Bangkok's hottest bars, restaurants and shops written by a Bangkok expert Thailand is the only Southeast Asian nation to have never been colonised Thaksin Shinawatra became the first Thai Prime Minister to be re-elected when his Thai Rak Thai party was victorious in February 2005. Before taking up politics, he was a police officer, and later a billionaire telecommunications tycoon a Rocket Festival is held in May in the country's north-east, using a volatile mixture of bamboo and gunpowder to convince the sky to send rain for the new rice season

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Who We Are
At Lonely Planet, we see our job as inspiring and enabling travellers to connect with the world for their own benefit and for the benefit of the world at large.

What We Do
* We offer travellers the world's richest travel advice, informed by the collective wisdom of over 350 Lonely Planet authors living in 37 countries and fluent in 70 languages.
* We are relentless in finding the special, the unique and the different for travellers wherever they are.
* When we update our guidebooks, we check every listing, in person, every time.
* We always offer the trusted filter for those who are curious, open minded and independent.
* We challenge our growing community of travellers; leading debate and discussion about travel and the world.
* We tell it like it is without fear or favor in service of the travellers; not clouded by any other motive.

What We Believe
We believe that travel leads to a deeper cultural understanding and compassion and therefore a better world.

Product Details

• Paperback: 808 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications; 11 edition (September 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1740596978
• ISBN-13: 978-1740596978
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #321,131 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #82 in Books > Travel > Asia > Thailand

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but Lonely Planet is capable of doing better, July 13, 2006

By 

AP - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet Thailand (Paperback)

UPDATE:
The book turned out to be decent background reading, but nothing one would take as a first choice everywhere. Many restaurant recommendations were good, some not so. But to be fair, the opinions were honest. And I am not sure what else I would take for a trip to Thailand. Its not a very difficult country to navigate with English spoken well and everywhere. Warning though on the prices, they were most inaccurate.

ORIGINAL:
We've been to Thailand before and covered a fair amount of the country. So purchasing the updated edition we were expecting to see a lot of the highlights of our previous visit, covered extensively. In this regard, Lonely Planet was a mixed bag. Some of the highlights from our visit to southern Thailand including details in and around Krabi were just not there. Also, visitors tend to use guidebooks and lean upon them for detailed recommendations of hotels. This book sets up brief and basic introductions, hoping instead that you use the internet instead to follow up on more details. Same for restaurants. If this was the true intention, websites and internet links would have been most helpful.

Its obvious that the book is not a complete overhaul from the pervious editions. A lot of the material is identical, word for word. Details of new hotels, ferry schedules, or the new low cost airlines flying internally in Thailand or within S.E. Asia are just not mentioned.

Still, its a reasonably exhaustive first step towards getting to know Thailand. And helping you plan your itinerary. Be warned though that you'll still want to use the internet a lot, to complement the information here.

Finally, I was contempleting getting the Lonely Planet Thailand's Beaches (including Bangkok) but that's not been updated at all in a long time (I intend to primarily spend time in the southern coast) and this book would be fine for most people especially if you are not anticipating the northern areas like Chiang Mai. Because this full LP version is rather heavy... and you are likely to not carry it with you everywhere you go. Still, overall-- a 4 star effort.

We are off to Thailand in August 2006. Stay tuned for updates to this review, the following month...

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good detail on less traveled Southern locations, January 14, 2006

By 

Jefferson Scher (Silicon Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lonely Planet Thailand (Paperback)

Last year I took the Rough Guide to Thailand and this year I am taking the latest edition of Lonely Planet. Already I can see a significant difference in the level of detail regarding smaller towns and islands. I especially like the attention to email access, as it's difficult to stay in touch without it. No guide is perfect, but the supplemental information about the status of recovery from the Dec. 2004 tsunami and policy changes under the current government help compensate for the frequent sales pitches for companion books from the large Lonely Planet library.

If it's possible to update this review after I get back, I will!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding for the first time visitor, November 27, 2006

By 

John Shim (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lonely Planet Thailand (Paperback)

I just returned from a month in Thailand and found the Lonely Planet Guide to be very impressive. Several things to remember is that:

a) if the publishing date is 2005 the content is probably several months to a year older.
b) if you have local friends and/or family the guide will still be useful but not nearly so compared to a traveler who is on their own. You might keep thinking why the guide doesn't cover something that your in country friend gives you great info or insight into. Relax, the LP guide, despite its heft can only provide so much info.

Comments on LPs logistics and highlights...

1) Logistics.
Negative. There wasn't a lot of coverage given on the new low fare airlines that are now available but this might be because these airlines did not exist in force when the research was done.

Positive. I traveled on local bus, long distance bus, train, taxi, moto-taxi, sky train, subway, regional airplane and even tuk-tuk. The guild had very precise information on how to get around locally and through out the country. This was probably the most helpful part of the book with information I was not able to find easily elsewhere. (Always keep in mind that prices and times will change though.)

Highlights.
Negatives. I could tell that the writers have a particular perspective on what is a highlight and what is not. They love the Wats or temples. I admit that many are incredible and worth the journey. But there are many, many, many of them. After seeing a few Wats, Wat fatigue set. The point is to keep your own interests in mind and not let the guide pick too much of what you decide to do.

Positives. I enjoyed many of the suggestions in the book including the cooking school in Kanchanaburi, walking the alleys of Chinatown in Bangkok, a particularly spectacular guest house in Koa Tao, etc.. My highlights were definitely not the guide's highlights but were found in the guide.

Thailand has a lot to see and the LP guide does an admirable job within the limits of the print format. Now get out there!