Product Description

Part of the Lonely Planet On A Shoestring Series. The original and longest running travel guide to Southeast Asia, written for backpackers by backpackers with extensive regional knowledge. Covers Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #243923 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1004 pages

Customer Reviews

Not very good
This book is touted as the Yellow bible. This it is definately not. It may be useful whilst planning a trip, but is so limited in scope that it rapidly becomes useless for practical purposes. Destinations are pretty much limited to the major tourist spots, with only a handful of hotels and sights per spot. Country sections wary wildly, with huge countries such as the Philippines condensed into less than 50 pages, whereas Thailand is covered it better detail.

Also, it is unlikely that many people visit every country in S.E Asia, so large sections of the book become redundant.

In short, look at this book before you go to get some ideas, but once on the ground, its a lot wiser to pick up individual country guides.

Buy the Let's Go guidebook instead
I thought it was a struggle to navigate South America using the Lonely Planet shoestring guide for that region, but I knew nothing about frustration and despair until I made the mistake of buying this.

Nothing as trivial as a guidebook should make a person shout and swear in public, yet that is what I was reduced to. I'm not proud of it, but there you go.

Large sections have clearly been updated only cosmetically, since information is often woefully inaccurate despite the fact it should be only a year or so old.

If you want to locate a "scene" or know where the "hipsters" are supposed to "hang," this book and its embarrassing attempts to be cool may be of some use. If, however, you'd like practical information, up-to-date prices, accurate descriptions, and help in planning what can be a daunting trip, just don't bother buying this book.

I sold mine while still on the road and haven't missed it once.

recent, yet not quite enough information
I've just got back home from travelling about a month in south-east asia, albeit just the countries Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. In this (according to some people) relatively short time, I've experienced that the information is lacking in certain areas. Transport prices and times, usually one of the big pluspoints for carrying a LP with you on your trip, are sometimes incorrect or dated (in this new edition!) and sometimes even lack to mention a specific transport option (nightbus, for instance). Also, I find that the Laos and Cambodia guidebooks are more complete in this respect, however sometimes outdated because they weren't published as recently as the shoestring guide. However, buying a guide that compasses a whole region, you should be aware of the fact that you will always receive some, but not all, information.
The other thing that bothered me about this guidebook (which cost it it's second star) is the moralism that is abundant in it. There's lots of examples where the authors of the shoestring tell you what you "should" or "should not" do. I think it's up to the traveller to makes his own decisions on how he behaves himself while abroad, and although I think there is some improvement possible with lots of people, the shoestring shouldn't play the parenting role in this respect.