Moon Handbooks Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos [Paperback]

Michael Buckley (Author)

Book Description

Series: Moon Handbooks | Publication Date: March 10, 2006

Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos are more accessible than ever before. For the first time in over three decades, it is possible to bicycle around Angkor Wat, motorcycle through hill tribe areas of North Vietnam, or cruise on a cargo boat through the Mekong Delta. Throughout the region, authorities are turning battlefields into marketplaces and tourist attractions. Logging thousands of kilometers by train, bus, jeep, boat, moto, bicycle, and on foot, author Michael Buckley explored all three countries extensively, getting to know the people, the customs, and the landscape. He helps you have a truly personal experience. Suggested travel strategies and lists of must-see sights provide you with real insights so you can decide where you should go, stay, and eat—without hassles or regrets. Complete with maps, photographs, illustrations, and special emphasis on leading destinations such as the War Crimes Museum in Saigon, Vietnam's French-built mansions and tree-shaded boulevards in Hanoi, the Angkor Wat towers, and the unspoiled natural environment and traditional culture of Laos, Moon Handbooks Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos has the tools you need to create your own unique trip.

Product Details

• Paperback: 720 pages
• Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing; 4th edition (March 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566917840
• ISBN-13: 978-1566917841
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #981,463 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #36 in Books > Travel > Asia > Laos
  • #74 in Books > Travel > Asia > Cambodia
  • #94 in Books > Travel > Asia > Vietnam

More About the Author

A nomad at heart, Michael Buckley thrives on adventuring in remote corners of the globe--rappelling through the treetops of Costa Rica, hunting elusive mammals in the wilds of Bhutan (with a camera), diving with manta rays, kayaking in Cambodia, or trekking in Tibet. To get off the track, he is keen on self-propelled transport methods--mountain-biking, hiking, kayaking and diving. He is author or co-author of ten books, including Eccentric Explorers (a biography-based book), Shangri-La: a Guide to the Himalayan Dream (themed around the Himalayan utopia), Tibet: the Bradt Travel Guide, and Travels in the Tibetan World (travel narrative). Although he travels world-wide, he is especially drawn to Southeast Asia and the Himalayan region.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Outstanding Guidebook, January 30, 2000

By 

David Stanley (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moon Handbooks: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos (2nd Ed.) (Paperback)

I've been using Michael Buckley's Vietnam Handbook for two months now and have found it to be excellent. It's well organized with country introductions which told me almost everything I wanted to know. Michael's sidebars are intriguing and I especially appreciate the city walking tours which have led me to many hidden little places I might have missed otherwise. The maps are better than those in the other guidebooks because sites are labeled right on the maps themselves rather than coded in a key which is impossible to read in dim lighting (a fault with the Lonely Planet series). Michael has provided not only the usual city and country maps, but also detailed inner city maps and even maps of the individual temples around Angkor Wat. This book covers three countries and sure beats having to buy and lug around individual guides to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. I've found that the coverage better than adequate and certainly head and shoulders above the general Southeast Asia guides which are surprisingly sketchy about these countries. Indochina is changing so fast that much of the practical information in any guide is bound to be out of date before the book reaches the shelves and this 1998 edition does require updating, but so do all the other guides to the region. You usually end up getting that kind of information from other travelers anyway. Of the three countries included, the coverage of Cambodia is the weakest, obviously because that country is only now opening to independent travel. Next edition Michael needs to get to places like Kampong Cham, etc. Meanwhile I recommend this handbook highly over all its competitors.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Adequate only, April 26, 2007

By 

S. Carr "simon" (Lyme, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Moon Handbooks Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos (Paperback)

Adequate rather than good, this is no Lonely Planet guide. The structure covering three countries means a significant amount of flipping back and forth to locate information on the country you're currently in. The Siem Reap/Angkor Wat section is particularly confusing, with the practical (hotel, restaurant & general living) information interleaved with the descriptions of the temple complex.

Although published in 2006, much of the political information did not appear to have been updated since approximately 2000.

This book will not encourage me to buy Moon for any of my future travels

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read, July 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Moon Handbooks: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos (2nd Ed.) (Paperback)

As a seasonal guide in Vietnam and Cambodia for each of the past seven years, many people ask me how they should prepare for their trip to the region. I always recommend this guide. My work requires extensive research and I read a lot of guidebooks and this one is the only one with any decent accuracy and thoroughness.

I also think Buckley is simply a good writer. Aside from Tom Brosnahan's Turkey guidebook for Lonely Planet, I think it is perhaps the best written one out right now. And I find his particular humor makes light of what can be trying circumstances and boring details.

By the way, the current edition has been updated with a lot of information from as recent as 1997 (about as recent as you can get in any guidebook of the area published in 1998 I am afraid).