Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Thailand, Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia Travel Atlas (Lonely Planet Travel Atlases)

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

 

 

For the traveler that intends to leave the beaten path, be aware that this atlas misses off hundreds of villages in between larger towns and cities. After spending four months in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos I found this atlas to be dead weight in my pack. However, Lonely Planet publishes an atlas for each individual country, which has more detailed secondary roads, natural features, and remote villages. Moreover, if you do not have the luxury of four months plus at your disposal and you are traveling in these fascinating countries in a rush, this atlas will more than likely meet your needs.

Claiming to be "the best, most up-to-date source of maps" for the region this is a book by Lonely Planet that holds nothing it promises. I used the Laos and the Thailand maps to bike from the Chinese border at Boten to Bangkok via Luang Namtha, Luang Prabang, Vientiane, Udon Thani and Korat. I found that not a single (!) information regarding distances was right. And they weren't off by a few kilometres but rather by 10 up to 25 km (Udomxai to Pak Mong). Further the maps, especially in Thailand, depict roads to be unpaved where according to local information (and Thai maps) they were paved since more than a few years. The topographic shading is sloppy at best, if not completely incorrect. The mistakes are far beyond the "things change fast" warning published in every Lonely Planet guidebook and signal a further deterioration of quality at Lonely Planet. I strongly advice against buying it, it's just a rip-off!

I used this map to plan and execute a drive through Isaan, mainly on major roads. It is a useful overview to what we can expect to see along the way, including cities, the largest of the towns, and some sights along the way.

I am writing this review for balance on the other two reviews, particularly the one-star review which does not seem balanced to me. I am giving it 3 stars (which Amazon defines as "It's OK" because that is closer to what I think than 2 stars ("I don't like it"). I'm glad to have it for this trip, but I agree that it would not suit the needs of someone going way off the usual roads.

The map could have a lot more details, but the next level of detail involves a large number of villages and roads that vary in quality along the way.

What I find useful about it is the atlas-style presentation of the rectangles that map this region - i.e. turning to the next page forward brings you to the next block east, and the tops and bottom pages refer you to connecting pages. Thus you can get the big picture fairly easily, and see relationships between places you might want to go. And obviously an advantage of this map is that it covers three key countries many want to visit - per the title - but also includes a similar level of detail for Laos and Myanmar/Burma when the rectangle includes them. It also includes partial maps of Vientianne and Luang Prabang, two key destinations in Laos.

Of course, it is out of date now, and won't show all the latest border crossings.

Aside from the stars listed on reviews, another view of the usefulness of out of print products from Amazon is the price. The rather high price of this item as an outdated, out-of-print map suggests that it is still in demand.

If you REALLY want details, check out maps dot google dot com, which has a very detailed map of Thailand (only) with satellite images. Unfortunately, the legends use the Thai script, but you can search for nearly any town or village listed on the map and - if you guess the spelling used on google correctly - even find it.

If anyone figures out how to get google to show Roman spellings instead of Thai, please add a comment to this review.

UPDATE: google now has legends in both English and Thai. Thus you can print very detailed maps for your planned trip. The detailed map book is still useful for navigating on the fly.