Customer Reviews

The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia 3 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

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

 

 

I am currently travelling around SE Asia with this book, and find it a constant source of frustration. The book could easily have been better.

For instance, one of the things I find most useful in a guidebook is having a decent map of towns I'm going to. However, maps in this book lack grid references, meaning that on the larger maps you can end up spending a lot of time searching for a location.

It's also useful to have information on transport options between different areas. This book does provide some information, but often only makes reference towns which aren't mentioned anywhere else in the book and don't appear on the maps provided. At a minimum, I would expect some information on how to move between the major tourist destinations in a country, but this is not always provided.

Restaurant reviews lack any indication of the price of the food, and the descriptions are rarely colorful enough to suggest price.

The book also spends a considerable amount of space reviewing the last 1000 years of history of the regions involved. I don't mind this, but given that the book is already at over 1200 pages and lacking in other areas, I would have prefered that the writers spend more space addressing the present. If I want the history I can buy a book or go to a museum, assuming I can find them on the maps.

I don't know if any of the other guidebooks are better, but I'm definately considering trading this one in.

I have traveled all over the world. Last year in Argentina I used the Rough Guide and it was great. Unfortunantly this Rough Guide for Southeast Asia was aweful. I found descriptions to be lacking. There was seldom any guidence on how much things cost. The book actually did more harm than good. We visited Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. If we had not brought along a second guide book based on Rough Guide descriptions we would have missed some of the most amazing sights. This was an aweful Guide Book and you should not make the same mistake I made.

Fabulous because it covers areas less visited by tourists and give cheap options for loads of things.

Despite the title, this book doesn't cover all of Southeast Asia!
Two of the region's 11 countries are completely missing. These are Burma/Myanmar, which seems to be omitted for political correctness, and Asia's youngest country, East Timor, omitted simply out of ignorance - the publisher's policy appearently being that if few people go there, why bother with including it?
Also conspiciously missing from the book is the entire eastern half of Indonesia, the largest country in SEA: Papua, Maluku and West Timor. These are some of the region's most exotic and interesting places, with Asia's most extensive virgin rainforests and best preserved traditional cultures, so leaving them out just like this is a real shame.
So even if you are normally a Rough Guides fan (and I know many of their books are good), unless you are determined to stick to the well beaten tourist-tracks in places like Thailand and Malaysia, give this book a miss and go for Lonely Planet, which, while also far from perfect, at least does cover all of SEA!

Be aware that the cover art shown above may not be what you'll recieve. There are 2 versions of this edition (released a month apart), and I was sent the other (not shown). When I contacted Amazon about this (prior to purchase) they were unable to explain the variation. Happy enough though--I prefer the cover art that I received, and the info within is nearly the same.

The Rough Guide is well organized and pretty thorough on visa/entry requirements. Pages are thin, but helps with the weight. Choice of included countries has been commented on by others. If you're looking to do a trip to this area, you shouldnt need a guide book to point you every step of the way (if so, this may not be the trip for you). That said, the overviews provided are adequate, and more detailed info could be found in each country's individual guide book if needed.

Understanding that it is difficult to provide approximate overland travel times in SEA, I was a bit disappointed with the lack of travel times provided. Even a "8-13 hours" would be better than nothing. Ommission are expected in these types of books, varying among the major guides, but I would suggest a close comparison of the Rough Guides and Lonely Planet before making a decision. Not that this is why you buy a guide, but note to Lonely Planet: Your SEA cover art collage is disgusting and perhaps even disrespectful.

With all guide books, look through a copy before you buy to ensure it has what you're interested in.