Phaic Tan (Jetlag Travel Guide) [Paperback]

Santo Cilauro (Author), Tom Gleisner (Author), Rob Sitch (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (March 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811853659
• ISBN-13: 978-0811853651
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,070,321 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best (and only) reference for your trip, March 21, 2006

By 

J. Fraser (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Phaic Tan (Jetlag Travel Guide) (Paperback)

If you are planning a trip to Phaic Tan, you won't find a better reference guide than this one. While looking for ideas for travel for our 75th wedding anniversary, we stumbled on this book full of gems. What better get away than a visit to the Pha Phlung province?

Surprisingly comprehensive, we've shared the joys of Phaic Tan with many of our friends via this book.

The one minor quibble I have with this book is that I would have liked to see more coverage of the northern neighbor, Phic Shun. Tour books of these countries are like the countries themselves, hard to find.

Check out the publisher's website for more details...

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An armchair traveller's delight, April 4, 2006

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Phaic Tan (Jetlag Travel Guide) (Paperback)

Fans of the previous fake country guide 'Molvania' (ISBN 1585676195) will enjoy this new 'phaic' guide to a sun-drenched nation nestling somewhere in Asia. This knockout new edition is produced by the same Australian folk who discovered Molvania. I loved the first book mainly because it looked so convincing but wait till you see 'Phaic Tan', this is satire of the first order.

For a start it is printed on glossy paper and in color throughout with excellent photo selection, maps and graphics, the design is first class, too. The first chapter, Getting Started, in eighty-eight pages gives you a complete run-down on Phaic Tan including a page schedule of what you'll see on PT/TV, one of the country's three TV stations, a spread of food photos 'A Taste of Phaic Tan', has a reference to snake wine which is often served with its own tourniquet. The countries four main regions get a chapter each and there is an index in the back.

Like real guide books I don't think it's necessary to read this one cover to cover but rather to dip into the pages now and again, after all not much is going to happen in Phaic Tan over the next few years so this guide book will always be up to date.

Oh yes, do try and avoid the south of Pattaponga, the city map on page 154 clearly shows a gas refinery next to the Syon Yup fireworks factory and remember there is only one hospital, world-class apparently!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fitfully Funny Follow-up to "Molvanīa" Focuses on Southeast Asian Tourism, September 13, 2006

By 

Ed Uyeshima (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Phaic Tan (Jetlag Travel Guide) (Paperback)

The top five exports from this Southeast Asian nation are MSG, beaded car seat covers, spring roll wrappers, crab sticks and dengue fever. The region has two seasons - a wet one and a rainy one. The native populace considers it unlucky for pregnant women to go into labor in certain months, so they often attempt to delay delivery for up to four weeks. Welcome to Phaic Tān (pronounced "fake tan"), a small country that may remind you of all the worst stereotypes associated with Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia, all rolled into one.

For those like me who enjoyed the first Jetlag travel guide, "Molvanīa", published two years ago, you will get more of the same sardonic humor in the pages of this faux-guidebook. By this time, the novelty is a bit worn, and the droll, patronizing tone that the editors captured so well in the first book seems to be not as present here. The smug attitude is what makes the first "Lonely Planet" send-up so comically rich, even more than the ridiculous locations and customs described. The absurd, straight-faced observations in this book appear to be of a more generic funny variety, for example, at the luxurious Keow Bhan Hotel in Pattaponga, the editors write, "On Saturday and Sunday nights a local Dixieland jazz band plays so if you enjoy good music, consider booking a table mid-week." In fact, much of the humorous jabs here could be directed at any third world country.

The photos, which look like they are authentically taken in that part of the world, are also not as amusing as one would hope even with the joke-oriented captions. Still, there are some gems such as the section on Phaic Tānese cinema where movie posters for the country's leading movie star, kick boxing champion Trong Tchen, are presented - titles like "Instep of Fear", "Death Wish for Two", "I Greet You with Lead" and "Hamlet". Or the putting range shown in the illustration of the Royal Palace compound. Or the comic painting of the ruling royal couple. It may be that tourism in Southeast Asia is not as ripe for satire as Eastern Europe or simply that the editors have lost some of their original creative energy. Regardless, it's amusing enough for those inclined toward a mock-travel guide that mines Lonely Planet, Rough Guide and any number of travel publishers for laughs.