Customer Reviews

The Traveler's Guide to Asian Customs and Manners: How to Converse, Dine, Tip, Drive, Bargain, Dress, Make Friends, and Conduct Business While Asia

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I purchased an earlier edition of this book back in the late eighties, and since then have referred to it time and time again prior to traveling to an Asian country for the first time. The book covers almost all Asian countries from Japan to India, and for the most part has been right on the money in its descriptions of the countries where I have worked or visited (Korea, Thailand, Phillipines, China, Australia). A chapter is devoted to each country with sections covering public/private behavior, meals, table manners, general business practices, etc. There are lists of dos and don'ts for the reader to follow, and advice on hotels, restaurants, tipping, transportation, and dress as well. It makes for interesting reading on different cultures even if one does not intend to travel to Asia anytime in the near future. Although whole books could easily be written on this topic for each country, this one covers the most important items in a well-organized manner.

This is a good book for learning Asian customs in general. There are fairly detailed sections for some countries but if you are looking for a lot of detail on a specific country this is not the book for you. this book tries to cover every Asian country including Indonesia so they could not get into great detail or the book would have been 1000 pages.

I bought it for a trip to China and I was hoping for a lot more detail. The chapter on China oddly enough was one of the least detailed in the book.

Good for general knowledge but look for something more specific to the country you are planning to visit.