Lonely Planet Taiwan (Lonely Planet Taiwan)

Rating:
Summary: Still A Handy Tool For an Ex-Pat
Review: Although I have been living in Taiwan for nearly 16 months, I still take LP Taiwan Guide along for weekend trips, and even jaunts to nearby cities, regardless of how many times I've visited.

The information is vast, for major urban areas as well as more out of the way locales. Also, the brief Chinese/English dictionary at the end of the book proves an invaluable tool. Even with a rudimentary knowledge of Chinese, simply pointing to Mandrin characters saves time and a lot of headaches.

LP Taiwan is a must for brief vistors as well as long term residents.

Rating:
Summary: A step up...from some others
Review: As an American who spent many years in Taiwan, I found this book to offer little to no insight into Taiwan at all. A far better source for anyone who wants to learn about this wonderful island NATION (not renegade province of China) "Culture Shock -Taiwan."

In Tapiei, Taiwan you can also buy a lot of great travel books at Caves Books that are published by local publishers in English ("Formassan Odyssey" is GREAT!!!)

The cultural information presented in this "Lonely Planet" guide is pretty out of date (my Taiwanese in-laws had a good laugh at some of the information presented), and the many of the destinations offered are VERY tourist centered. If you are looking for a starting point this book is OK, but if you want to learn about Taiwan, or really experience Taiwan today there are far better sources.

For a Lonely Planet guide this book is a shame. A new version is needed badly. No matter what, DO GO TO TAIWAN, it is a great place!!!

Rating:
Summary: Worthless for anyone who wants to see the REAL Taiwan!
Review: As an American who spent many years in Taiwan, I found this book to offer little to no insight into Taiwan at all. A far better source for anyone who wants to learn about this wonderful island NATION (not renegade province of China) "Culture Shock -Taiwan."

In Tapiei, Taiwan you can also buy a lot of great travel books at Caves Books that are published by local publishers in English ("Formassan Odyssey" is GREAT!!!)

The cultural information presented in this "Lonely Planet" guide is pretty out of date (my Taiwanese in-laws had a good laugh at some of the information presented), and the many of the destinations offered are VERY tourist centered. If you are looking for a starting point this book is OK, but if you want to learn about Taiwan, or really experience Taiwan today there are far better sources.

For a Lonely Planet guide this book is a shame. A new version is needed badly. No matter what, DO GO TO TAIWAN, it is a great place!!!

Rating:
Summary: Do you like McDonalds?
Review: I couldn't help but feel disapppointed in this book. It really seems to miss the point of foreign travel. For example, in the section on Taipei there are 23 listings for Western restaurants and only 13 for Chinese restaurants. Taipei is one of the best cities in the world for Chinese food, and the writer could only manage 13. This seems terribly unbalanced to me. To make it worse, some of the western restaurants introduced are Planet Hollywood (yeah, I went to Taipei to get the Hollywood experience), TGI Friday's, McDonald's and Subway (which in the author's own words, "needs no introduction" -- my point exactly). I went to Taiwan for the food, so this was a big shortcoming in my point of view. Another point , he only lists two teahouses and both are in (or near) a museum. He gives the excuse that teahouses are always closing all the time (of course that didn't stop him from listing a lot of nightclubs). It just seems like he wasn't interested in researching teahouses. He just couldn't be bothered. Also, he writes very little about the excellent night markets. In fact he devotes an equal amount of space to tell us about food courts. Come on!
It's sad, really. I've used a lot of Lonely Planet guides with good results before, which is why I bought this one without looking at it. However, I can't recommend this one unless your idea of a good vacation in Taipei is eating at TGI Friday's, having coffee at Starbucks, and going to a club (why are you going to Taipei? You can do that at home.) Well, to explain why I gave it two stars instead of one, the transportation and hotel information is useful, so I couldn't bring myself to trash it completely.

Rating:
Summary: Love foodcourts?
Review: I have to begin by admitting that I love to hate the tone of some Lonely Planet guides--an edition for Japan from the early 1990s distinguished itself by one of author's disdain for touring Japan!

That being said, Robert Storey's take on Taiwan (where I've been living for the past year or so) is remarkable for its general laziness. Many examples have been noted in other online reviews, but it's worth mentioning some of them again: the overwhelming focus on "ex-pat" hangouts, the author's love of foodcourts located next to train stations, and the compulsive need to mention that we can find McDonald's, Starbucks, Subway, and so on in Taiwan's major urban centers.

What's left behind in all this is the astonishing beauty of parts of Taiwan, the compexity of its history and its social formations, and the genuine warmth of its people.

To Lonely Planet: please find someone who actually cares about this place to research and write an edition that Taiwan and its visitors deserve!

Rating:
Summary: May not be as bad as the other reviewers suggest.
Review: I never imagined that Lonely Planet Taiwan could be so bad, but it indeed is. For instance, maps in the book are useless, and the Taipei metro direction is unclear and useless. And I cannot understand why the author says " For sth really special you can try Haagen Daz."

I didn;t belive the previous reviews, and now I learned how bad it is.

If you need more information, lots of Taiwanese websites provide very useful information. You can just go to Taiwanese consular office website and find the links.

Rating:
Summary: Has Robert Storey ever been to Taiwan?
Review: It's a serious question. The book is so filled with incorrect information and so lacking in any worthwhile information that I honestly believe Robert Storey is still fixing slot machines in Nevada and has never really gone to Taiwan. He wasn't able to save up the money for his trip and this is his novel, set in Taiwan.

I left my copy in Taiwan -- where I've lived twice, for a total of more than two and half years -- so I can't remember it in great detail. But with 400 plus pages, he could have told us something more than a few major spots.

He would say something is open to the public and I'd go there and find it wasn't and upon asking someone who works there (in Chinese) they would tell me, "No, that's never been open."

Worse than that, he misses A LOT of what there is to see and do in Taiwan, or at least gives you almost no information about it. If you want to know about the major museums in Taipei, this is a fine waste of your money. But you can get that information form the tourism office or your hotel or a friend or business associate.

One thing I can remember specifically is to stay away from Mrs. Chen's hostel (hostile?) in Kaohsiung. You don't want to stay there.

As another reviewer said, there are other guides available once you get to Taiwan. Go to Caves Bookstore.

It's really unfortunate that this is the only guidebook (Insight Guides are beautiful, but not giudebooks per se) on Taiwan availabe in the US. Taiwan is a country with plenty to see and do. Their tourism office brochures are better than Lonely Planet.

Rating:
Summary: Best Taiwan Travel Guide - How boo how?
Review: Spent an afternoon browsing travel guides to Taiwan and found this to be the most thorough. Like all Lonely Planet guides, it does a good job covering the history and culture of the country. The maps and descriptions of the areas around Taipei were pretty thorough, but the map and descriptions of Ken Ting (Southern Tip) seemed to bear no relation to reality. How hard is it to find a beach on a peninsula of an island nation? Almost impossible if you're using the Lonely Planet guide! Still, the guide makes up for its shortcomings with the shear volume of facts and activities it offers. I found things to do in Taipei that even the local ex-pats didn't know about. Highly Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Lacks even the most essential practical information
Review: Taiwan being one of the few Asian countries I have not yet been to, I bought this book for advance planning.
It has already failed even before leaving home!
When trying to estimate travel costs by looking for long-distance bus fares, I could hardly believe they were not given! In the "Getting There & Away" section after each town/destination, it was merely mentioned that buses do run there (surprise, surprise!), but no information on how long they take and how much they cost.
That is exactly the kind of practical information people usually buy Lonely Planet guides for, and I don't think I have ever seen another LP guide that didn't have them...
The 2 stars were given as it does give information about major sights, but given how poorly-researched the practical information is, I would be surprised if the rest was accurate.
This may just be the worst LP guide of all.

Rating:
Summary: Very unbalanced
Review: The LP guide to Taiwan is great if you want to hit tourist traps. However, those choosing a more flexible approach to travel may be disappointed. This particular guide is particularly short on some vital information that makes it almost worthless as a reference for trip planning.

For example: Mr. Storey lists exactly two bus stops in the Taroko Gorge area, leading one to believe that you can only use public bus transport two these places only. He doesn't mention that the bus also makes intermittent stops along the way, even to trails he listed in the guide. According to the locals, these stops were established years ago, and this information would have been easily obtainable by the author.

The guide is almost worthless when it comes to Kinmen, which has far more interesting sights and places then those listed. Having just visited Kinmen this week, a little exploration revealed all sorts of bike trails one could follow to some spectacular vistas. Again, this is all public knowledge - why wasn't this included?

On the other hand, Mr. Storey's information on expat hangouts has proven pretty accurate so far, and when he does list hiking trails, he has been correct in the four locations I've visted. His hotel information has also proven quite invaluable.

It is hoped that the author will spend more time and effort in investigating things a little more off the beaten track and provide us with some better information to work with.