The Rough Guide to First-Time Asia 3 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) [Paperback]

Lesley Reader (Author), Lucy Ridout (Author)

Book Description

Series: Rough Guide Travel Guides | Publication Date: April 28, 2003

A book to read when considering a first visit to Asia, covering more than 20 first-time destinations, each profile covering the country's main highlights as well as its more unusual attractions. Suggested itineraries, online resources, embassy and tourist information are included together with the practicalities of life on the road. The final chapter, "Basics", covers contact addresses and websites for everything from backpack suppliers to travel health clinics.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lesley Reader has lived and worked in Bhutan and Thailand and travelled extensively throughout Asia.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

PREPARING FOR THE BIG ADVENTURE We’ve both made plenty of mistakes and faux pas during our fifteen years of travels in Asia, and this book is a distillation of what we’ve learnt. First-Time Asia is full of the advice we give to friends heading out to Asia for the first time, and it’s the book we both could have done with before setting off on our own first trips. Since then we’ve returned again and again, backpacking across India, China and Southeast Asia; living and working in the Himalayas, Thailand and Japan; and researching and writing guidebooks to Indonesia, Thailand and Tibet. And we still choose to go back to Asia for our holidays, attracted by the chaos and drama of daily lives that still seem extraordinary to us, by the food, the landscapes and the climate, by the generosity and friendship of the people and by the sheer buzz we get from hanging out in cultures that are so different from our own.

This book is intended to prepare you for your big adventure, whether it’s a fortnight in Malaysia or twelve months across the continent. It is not a guidebook: it’s a book to read before you go, a planning handbook to help you make decisions about what type of trip you’d like to make. And, because we can’t pretend to have explored every single corner of Asia ourselves, we’ve also included tips, advice and stories from lots of other travellers.

The first questions you’ll need to address are which parts of Asia to visit and, much more difficult, which places to leave out. The opening section of the book, Where To Go, looks at your options. We focus on the twenty most accessible and most visited countries of Asia, giving you an opinionated taste of what these destinations have in store for first-timers. Each country profile includes a round-up of the major highlights and tourist activities as well as a selection of personal recommendations and lesser-known gems, plus contact details for tourist offices and embassies. The most remote parts of the continent, north and west of Pakistan, rarely feature on first-timers’ itineraries, so we haven’t included them in this book. Burma (Myanmar) is also omitted in the hope that travellers will uphold the boycott on tourism requested by Aung San Suu Kyi, the democratically elected leader of the country.

The middle section of First-Time Asia, The Big Adventure, deals with the nuts and bolts. This is where you’ll find chapters on how to choose the right ticket and which guidebooks and websites to consult, plus advice on how long you can afford to stay away and what gear to pack. The second half of this section looks at life on the road in Asia, advising you on how to stay safe and healthy while you’re away, grounding you in local cultural do’s and don’ts, and giving you an idea of what to expect in terms of hotels and bus services. And finally, the Basics section at the back of the book is stuffed full of useful addresses, websites and phone numbers for further information on everything from discount flight agents and backpackers’ homepages to mosquito-net suppliers and conservation projects.

Even after you’ve digested First Time Asia, we can’t guarantee that you’ll avoid every problem on the road, but hopefully you’ll at least feel well prepared – and excited. When you come back from your trip, be sure to send in your own anecdotes for inclusion in the next edition. We can promise you’ll have plenty of great stories to tell.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Rough Guides; 3rd edition (April 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1843530481
• ISBN-13: 978-1843530480
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,609,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful but sometimes very general !, April 25, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Rough Guide to First Time Asia (Rough Guide to First-Time Asia: Everything You Need to Know Before You Go) (Paperback)

I bought the first the first edition of this book and I read it in 1 night. I found it very interesting and a with a very special writing style. The short stories included in each chapter from real experiences are really advisable in preparing a trip.

Once in Asia (Tokyo) for studying I read it again several times to plan a big trip after my studies. I think the book concentrates in many places for long trips and it is not useful for a short trip trough Asia for the very "first time". Particularly, I would like next editions of these book will include ideas for routes of trips beginning in Asia. Also, it must include data about travel agencies in Asia that the authors who has traveled here for more than 15 years, should know. As language is particularly a barrier in all these countries, all we would hope English speaking in those agencies.

But anyway, I strongly recommend this book. It is very useful to plan a trip according to particular interests.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading for Your First Time, July 23, 2006

By 

M. T. Kenney (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rough Guide to First-Time Asia 3 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

This book offers a general overview of what to expect in this region of the world. I found it most useful in helping me choose which contires I want to visit and which I don't. It lists the highlights on what each contry has to offer as far as touring and cost and informs about which countries to use caution when visiting. At no point do the authors tell you not to visit a country -- very unbiased. I particularly liked the itineraries they offered for 1- 2- and 4-week stays. They really helped in my planning. The book doesn't mention hotels and all that which is exactly what I wanted -- a gerneral introduction. Nothing is sugar-coated and they tell you about things as they actually are. I found their cross-references (further reading web site suggestions)to be of great value. The information offered is not very dated so if you have a strict budget, you can buy a previous edition and do just fine as you will likely want to buy a more specific book that tells you about hotels and prices at a later point. Overall, it's a great way to start planning your big trip.

4.0 out of 5 stars Rough Guide to First Time Asia, March 1, 2009

By 

Charles M. Kennedy (South Euclid, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rough Guide to First-Time Asia, Edition 4 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

Seems to have a wide range of useful information for first-timers to numerous countries in a region that is striking for its diversity from one country to another. The book is geared more for independent, personal travelers and not so much for business travelers (which I was).