Moon Handbooks: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, Third Edition (Paperback)

~ (Author) "After a long history of fighting off foreign invaders, Indochina is welcoming a new invasion from abroad-camera-toting tourists..." (more)
Key Phrases: traveler minibus, karst islets, sporadic banditry, Phnom Penh, Hong Kong, Luang Prabang (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This is no ordinary travel guide. Packed into its pages are one-of-a-kind experiences, cultural insights, and details on touring the ruins of Angkor Wat, exploring Halong Bay, and cruising the Mekong River. This new edition also includes expanded information on flights, border crossings, and permits to Cambodia and Laos. "A thorough approach.... Buckley sounds like someone who has traveled every pockmarked road between Saigon and Muan Sing, Laos." --The New York Times

Product Details

• Paperback: 750 pages
• Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing; 3rd edition (February 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566913721
• ISBN-13: 978-1566913720
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,278,443 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #41 in	Books > Travel > Asia > Laos
  #84 in	Books > Travel > Asia > Cambodia

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Outstanding Guidebook, January 30, 2000

By	David Stanley (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moon Handbooks: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos (2nd Ed.) (Paperback)

I've been using Michael Buckley's Vietnam Handbook for two months now and have found it to be excellent. It's well organized with country introductions which told me almost everything I wanted to know. Michael's sidebars are intriguing and I especially appreciate the city walking tours which have led me to many hidden little places I might have missed otherwise. The maps are better than those in the other guidebooks because sites are labeled right on the maps themselves rather than coded in a key which is impossible to read in dim lighting (a fault with the Lonely Planet series). Michael has provided not only the usual city and country maps, but also detailed inner city maps and even maps of the individual temples around Angkor Wat. This book covers three countries and sure beats having to buy and lug around individual guides to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. I've found that the coverage better than adequate and certainly head and shoulders above the general Southeast Asia guides which are surprisingly sketchy about these countries. Indochina is changing so fast that much of the practical information in any guide is bound to be out of date before the book reaches the shelves and this 1998 edition does require updating, but so do all the other guides to the region. You usually end up getting that kind of information from other travelers anyway. Of the three countries included, the coverage of Cambodia is the weakest, obviously because that country is only now opening to independent travel. Next edition Michael needs to get to places like Kampong Cham, etc. Meanwhile I recommend this handbook highly over all its competitors.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good companion to other guides,esp. for sights and history, August 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Moon Handbooks: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos (2nd Ed.) (Paperback)

I used this guide for travel throughout Cambodia and in Saigon in the summer of 1999. I found it to be well-written and insightful, particularly about history, culture, and general observations about travel in the region. I found that I didn't rely on it so much for nitty-gritty details like accommodations or travel info (I used Let's Go: Southeast Asia for that) or for places to go out (I borrowed someone else's Lonely Planet for that). But I did come to rely on its clear modern history sections, its meticulous maps, and even its opening chapters on travel in the region. This guidebook is clearly thoughtfully and thoroughly researched. Although I wouldn't recommend traveling with it alone, I certainly was glad I brought it along.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Adequate only, April 26, 2007

By	S. Carr "simon" (Lyme, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Moon Handbooks Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos (Paperback)

Adequate rather than good, this is no Lonely Planet guide. The structure covering three countries means a significant amount of flipping back and forth to locate information on the country you're currently in. The Siem Reap/Angkor Wat section is particularly confusing, with the practical (hotel, restaurant & general living) information interleaved with the descriptions of the temple complex.

Although published in 2006, much of the political information did not appear to have been updated since approximately 2000.

This book will not encourage me to buy Moon for any of my future travels