Customer Reviews

Taipei In A Day Includes: Taiwan From A To Z, First Edition

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A number of travel guides I've seen are really good at identifying places to see and how to get there, but they don't go into great (or amusing) detail about how to blend in with the culture. This book gives you both - great details about where to go and explicit and entertaining details about how to fit in and not make any social mistakes. For example, I have friends in Taiwan and it's nice to know what gifts are appropriate to give! And, I love the amusing stories, such as the one talking about how men and women compliment each other's looks. The story about the "handsome" guy on the train is pretty funny. :-) So, if you are taking a trip to Taiwan, read this before you go, or at least take it on the plane for good travel reading and preparation before you get there!

great book. Wish I knew about it before a recent visit to Taiwan. My cousin showed me his copy after I got home from my trip because I was complaining about "crappy travel guides", which made my experience so different from his. I knew I wanted to visit a hot spring, for instance, but the book that I got, "Taiwan A to Z", didn't even list any. This book (the one my cousin used), Taipei In A Day Includes: Taiwan from A To Z", lists them along with hotels, restaurants, bars, etc. THIS is a book for tourists, but it includes much more, tidbits that you really SHOULD know when travelling to Taiwan. This book would have made my trip a lot more smooth, efficient, and more enjoyable in general. It sucks to be in your hotel room looking at a damned book about how you shouldn't give a clock to someone as a gift, wondering, "What am I going to do today... wish I brought my laptop!"

Taipei in a Day is the best country guide I have seen about Taiwan. This is a clearly written and informative travel book. The author offers detailed information about the country, culture and people that makes for some very interesting reading and travel preparation. I like the fact that different day trips are arranged for visitors, and the maps, site names and addresses are listed in both English and Chinese, which makes getting around very easy. It is obvious that the author has a passion for travel and for Taiwan. He goes into detail about fun things to do, not only in Taipei but also around the entire island, as well as in Taiwan's outlying islands. He provides helpful information about how to get around, what to see and where to dine. The bilingual names and addresses come in very handy for non-native Chinese speakers. The information is very up-to-date and the included Taiwan from A to Z encyclopedia is very informative. I also like the bilingual menu translations, the communication tips, the hiking, hotel and dining guides and the holiday information. While I have found most travel books to be quite dry, the author took the time to add interesting photos and illustrations as well as humorous commentary about the language and culture. I found the book very useful for Taiwan travel.

My sister and I got this compact travel book for a recent two-week trip to Taiwan and had a better time as a result. Of course we hit the touristy spots, but since we read the book on the plane before we got there, we knew where to go and what to try first. I liked how the author described the night markets in detail and even rated them. We tried an interesting dish at one of them described in the book and liked it so much got two more. We also used the book to travel outside of Taipei and visit a hot spring. We found this book to be a great Taiwan travel prep.

My wife and I looked at different Taiwan guidebooks. We didn't go with Rough Guides because the author says how "awesome" it is to be somewhere but doesn't go into much detail, and the maps are hard to follow. As someone pointed out, another guidebook with a confusingly similar name, "Taiwan A To Z," has the same info as "Taipei In A Day Includes: Taiwan From A To Z," which came out earlier. "Taiwan A To Z," like Rough Guides, is also dry, and there's no travel info. In "Taipei In A Day" we found helpful bilingual info, cultural, dining, hiking and historical outings, and great business advice. We're glad we went with this one.



We knew how to pack, which hotels to book, and how to get around. We had ideas for eating out and having fun from the English and Chinese info. The descriptions were spot on and the advice was helpful (my wife got a discount at an upscale shopping plaza as a result). This isn't a book for non-native English speakers, who may not get the humor in being a long-term expat. We appreciated the humor. We traveled on a budget and the book came in handy. There are different tour options so we changed our plans at one point. My wife was so impressed with this book that her brother plans to use it when he visits for business. We highly recommend this Taiwan guidebook.

This wonderful compact country reference book came in handy during a recent family trip to Taiwan. We landed in Kaohsiung and used the book to plan day trips in Kaohsiung, Tainan and Taichung, and used the high speed railway system to get around the island based on the book's suggestions. The itineraries are well-planned and offer good options for things to do. We had an itinerary for Taipei but had to change it because of the weather, and this book provided alternatives.

We found the Taipei metro map with photos helpful, and used the map with the metro "MRT" ride described in the back of the book, which highlights what there is to do along the Taipei metro. The Chinese translations under the names and addresses of restaurants and attractions around the island came in especially handy, and the "Taiwan From A To Z" section provided good information about the rest of Taiwan and its outlying islands. We truly enjoyed the restaurant guide! I can't recall a time when we've eaten so much. The restaurant guide is up-to-date and we appreciated the hotel and hot springs descriptions, which helped us find accommodations and relaxation around the island.

The photos introduced us to some of the interesting foods my husband ended up trying, such as stinky tofu (I wasn't that brave) and we learned about Taiwanese culture prior to our visit from the "Taiwan From A To Z" section. We found the maps detailed and clear. After reading "Communication Corner" we had a much better idea of what to expect about Taiwanese culture. We found people friendly but not fluent in English, so we used the English/Chinese phrases in the book on several occasions.

Along with the well-planned tour itineraries we discovered culture and humor as well as ample hiking, accurate hotel descriptions, and excellent restaurants. After reading this book we knew exactly what to expect, as if a local friend were helping us. In a nutshell, this book is exactly how a Taiwan travel guide should be, a well-planned communications book with both English and Chinese introducing the entire island of Taiwan. We were quite pleased with this book and recommend it to others.

Taipei in a Day was recommended to me by a friend for a recent trip to Taiwan. This book wowed me with it's local insights, humor and off-the-beaten-path directions and suggestions. The more I used this book to get around, the more comfortable I became in traveling in a strange land. I more than highly recommend this book for any travel to Taiwan. I hope to use it again and again. Thanks to Scott Freiberger for taking the time to know and understand Taiwan for all of us.....

Recently completed a 1 week trip to Taipei and used this guide exclusively for planning side trips and sightseeing. Everything was in this book. Needed to go through it cover-to-cover a couple of times because of the organization of the book, but could plan a whole day of activities with it. But if I just wanted to look something up quickly (like when I was on the MRT and trying to get all the info about Tamsui and all the activities/restaurants/sights) it took a lot of scanning. The index is not complete, has some incorrect page references and transliterations are also not complete in the index. The book didn't stress how incredibly easy it was to get around Taipei on the MRT. After we got our EasyCards and took our first ride we realized that we could cover twice as much as we had planned. Taipei has the BEST rapid transit system in the world! All-in-all it was a great guide - covered a lot of material. Thanks!!

While attempting to plan a trip to Taiwan from Australia I found practically nothing existed on Taiwan. The travel agents knew nothing about the country and even questioned why anyone would want to go to Taiwan.
While reading the Travel Advisor Forum I came across a reference from another Forumer who had read "Taipei In A Day" and found it very helpful.
I immediately ordered a copy from Amazon and found that the book not only covered Taipei but the whole of Taiwan. Without reading the book before going on our trip we would have found it more difficult than we did.
I recommend the book as an excellent guide to Taiwan and Taipei.


John D Smith
Salisbury East
South Australia

It is obvious that the author knows Taipei's most interesting nooks and crannies. This book could be indispensible to the traveler who really wants good advice. I highly recommend the book.