Customer Reviews

Tibet (Bradt Travel Guide)

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Michael Buckley is a seasoned traveller to Tibet. In the mid-eighties, not long after Tibet first opened to foreign travellers, he was joint author of the first Lonely Planet guide to Tibet, and also of the first to China. He brings a maturity to this book that distinguishes it.

Tibet, the Bradt Travel Guide effectively updates and expands on the information in Michael's excellent but poorly distributed Tibet Travel Adventure Guide, published three years ago.

I would recommend the Bradt Guide as the first and best to read before a visit to Tibet. I make that recommendation as one who has travelled independently to Tibet many times and has acted as a travel advisor to hundreds of western travellers to Tibet.

I have read every guidebook to Tibet published in recent years. Michael's is distinctive, in having a most attractive, easy style, speaking as though one traveller to another. Michael is never patronizing or pompous, he does not pretend to know what he doesn't know, and he does not flaunt his knowledge; among writers of guidebooks, those are rare achievements. Despite them, Michael is knowledgeable (there are many quite surprising bits of information) and forthright in expressing his own considered opinions about cultural and political matters; but he seems to be sharing those opinions and his reasons for holding them, rather than preaching. In short, he is interesting, persuasive and readable.

The phenomenon of Tibet is so extraordinary and the questions raised by its occupation by China so profound that a visit to Tibet goes far beyond mere sightseeing. Many travellers find that their experiences in Tibet contribute importantly to their understanding of the world. The Bradt Guide is a book whose depth will satisfy the needs of what might be called the thoughtful traveller.

When the Chinese speak of "Tibet" they mean only the so-called Tibetan Autonomous Region, effectively a province of China. Outside that Region are other territories totalling as great an area again, inhabited by Tibetans and styled by China variously as Tibetan Autonomous Prefectures (subdivisions of provinces) or Tibetan Autonomous Counties (subdivisions of prefectures). These other territories are covered by the Bradt Guide. Particularly valuable is the coverage of Tibetan territory in western Sichuan Province, Gansu Province and Qinghai Province - especially the important Tibetan territory of south-east Qinghai, seldom covered elsewhere.

In addition, some welcome coverage is given to Bhutan, and to Tibetan areas of Nepal and India, including the seat of the exile government at Dharamsala.

The presentation of maps is excellent. The usefulness of the section on Chinese language would be greatly enhanced if tones were indicated and Chinese script included: the foreigner, even with the benefit of tone markings, often finds it more effective to point to a phrase than to say it.

I hope Michael will continue travelling in Tibet and maintain future editions of this excellent book in the years to come.

The second (October 2006) edition of Tibet, the Bradt Travel Guide, is a welcome updating and expansion of the guidebook first published three years ago.

Michael Buckley has been writing guidebooks to Tibet for over twenty years, and brings a thoughtful maturity to the subject that is distinctive and invaluable.

I would recommend this book as the first and best to read before a visit to Tibet.

I have read every guidebook to Tibet published in recent years and have visited Tibet a dozen times. Michael's book is distinctive in having an attractive, easy style, speaking as though one traveller to another. He is never patronizing or pompous, he does not pretend to know what he doesn't know, and he does not flaunt his knowledge; among writers of guidebooks, those are rare achievements. Despite that, Michael is knowledgeable (there are many quite surprising bits of information) and forthright in expressing his own considered opinions about cultural and political matters. He is interesting, persuasive and readable.

The phenomenon of Tibet is so extraordinary and the questions raised by its occupation by China so profound that a visit to Tibet goes far beyond mere sightseeing. Many travellers find that their experiences in Tibet contribute importantly to their understanding of the world. The Bradt Guide is a book whose depth will satisfy the needs of what might be called the thoughtful traveller.

When the Chinese speak of "Tibet" they mean only the so-called Tibetan Autonomous Region, effectively a province of China. Also governed by China are other territories totalling as great an area again, inhabited by Tibetans and styled by China variously as Tibetan Autonomous Prefectures (subdivisions of provinces) or Tibetan Autonomous Counties (subdivisions of prefectures). These territories, often overlooked by travellers, include some of the most important and spectacular destinations in the Tibetan world. The Bradt Guide includes some coverage to these territories as well. Particularly valuable is the coverage of some Tibetan parts of western Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces - especially the important Tibetan territory of south-east Qinghai, seldom covered elsewhere.

In addition, some welcome coverage is given to Bhutan and Mongolia (countries whose religion is Tibetan Buddhism), and to Tibetan areas of Nepal and India, including the seat of the exile Tibetan government at Dharamsala in northern India.

The presentation of maps is excellent.

There are useful appendixes on the Tibetan and Chinese languages. The usefulness of the section on Chinese language would be greatly enhanced if tones were indicated and Chinese script included: the foreigner, even with the benefit of tone markings, often finds it more effective to point to a phrase than to say it. A new, illustrated section on "Useful Gestures" will be particularly helpful for travellers without language skills.

Appendixes include an extensive bibliography and Web directory.

Regardless of one's opinion on the contents of this travel guide on Tibet, it isn't of much use to those actually traveling in Tibet since the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) will confiscate it. This is exactly what happened to me two weeks ago at the Nepal/Tibet border. I had checked the book out of my local library prior to leaving on my trip since I thought it would be helpful to was to have a guide book during my travels in Tibet. At the border crossing the PLA searched our luggage and confiscated this book on the grounds that there are photos of the PLA in Lhasa (and they didn't like the 'words' contained in the book/caption) and that it contains a pointillism sketch of His Holiness. When I protested and asked to just rip out those pages but keep the book, the member of the PLA laughed and said, "no we have to take the book, but don't worry you can probably just buy another on Amazon or in China for cheaper before you leave". Just a warning to those actually trying to use this book as any sort of reference while traveling in Tibet, good luck with that. Also, it sounds like someone is making lots of cash off the black market sale of just these type of confiscated books in China.

This book was not a good guide book. It had poor maps, few maps, and very little information on what I really needed to know. I am quite surprised that a publisher would actually publish such a book. Not only that but it was so biased against the Chinese government that I was shocked that they could put this book in the non-fiction section. I understand that China overtook Tibet, and things have been rough for the Tibetans since, but he makes it sound like the world is over for them. He throws in clear-cut hateful statements toward China over and over again, unneccessarily, throughout the book. Quite unprofessional.

Do not buy this book for the travel information or for a clear history of tibet.

This is NOT a travel guide! I didn't find this book very informative but rather annoyed by the author's political comments. The entire book is politically loaded, with comments against Chinese government on almost every page of the book. Yes, I know that Tibet is a politically sensitive region and a good travel book shouldn't avoid the topic. However, the authors goes too far to turn this travel book into a personal political statement. In addition, as a Chinese reader, I found many details described in the book highly selective and biased. The author was trying to demonized Chinese - not only the Chinese government but also the average Chinese people! I bet you'll never dare to go to Tibet after reading this "travel guide" because the place was described like a communist hell!