Lonely Planet Thailand: Travel Survival Kit (7th Ed)

Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but things change fast
Review: LP has done a decent job covering the basics that you'll need to negotiate through Thailand. My advice as with most travelogues, never believe the prices as they always go up. Another piece of advice is to pick a spot before you get to a new destination and ask other travellers about that place. Some of the guest houses can change very quickly and a night spent at a cheap guesthouse that's noisy, dirty and maybe cockroach infested can be miserable. Enjoy Thailand and enjoy this book!

Rating:
Summary: very useful guide to a unique Thailand experience
Review: Thoroughly dissatisfied with our original travel guide we were lucky enough to get Joe Cumming's "travel-bible" as a present in the middle of our journey. It really made a huge difference and turned our holidays into a unique experience. The descriptions of accommodation facilities turned out to be amazingly accurate and the numerous tips regarding means of travel were extremely helpful indeed. This truly comprehensive and well written guide provided us with very useful recommendations regarding travel routes, accommodation, and sightseeing while at the same time offering a thorough insight into the country's political, socio-economic and cultural background. However, one should not mistake it for a scientific essay but take it for what it is: A practical travel guide. Going by "Tuk Tuk" in Bangkok is a great experience but take Cumming's warning seriously and beware of drivers trying to guide you to cheap "promotion outlets" since these are nothing but tourist traps! The LP is an essential guide to getting around and finding interesting spots in Thailand and leads you safely to cheap but decent accommodation in almost every part of the country.

Rating:
Summary: very useful guide book but with some missunderstanding
Review: We recently returned from a two week, self-organized tour of Thailand and Laos. Joe's books were our "Bible". We had family reasons for visiting Roi-Et, an out-of-the-way provincial capital in the northeast. We found very useful maps and descriptions even here. His warning about touts at the Chiang Mai bus station was right on, but beware even if you choose your own taxi driver and hotel (ours tried to guide us to a "better deal"). Another warning: An overnight bus ride in the winter can be like being in a refrigerator if the air con won't turn off. The low to medium priced hotels we chose from his guide for Bangkok, Chiang Mia, Khonkaen, and Vientiane (Laos guide) were all excellent. The recommended Khonkaen Silk Festival was really great, both the silk clothing and the Maw Lam music. One omission that we enjoyed (1 km jeep track & 1 km hike): The Borichinda Cave just inside the entrance to Doi Inthanon National Park.

Rating:
Summary: Very Comprehensive and Useful
Review: We recently returned from a two week, self-organized tour of Thailand and Laos. Joe's books were our "Bible". We had family reasons for visiting Roi-Et, an out-of-the-way provincial capital in the northeast. We found very useful maps and descriptions even here. His warning about touts at the Chiang Mai bus station was right on, but beware even if you choose your own taxi driver and hotel (ours tried to guide us to a "better deal"). Another warning: An overnight bus ride in the winter can be like being in a refrigerator if the air con won't turn off. The low to medium priced hotels we chose from his guide for Bangkok, Chiang Mia, Khonkaen, and Vientiane (Laos guide) were all excellent. The recommended Khonkaen Silk Festival was really great, both the silk clothing and the Maw Lam music. One omission that we enjoyed (1 km jeep track & 1 km hike): The Borichinda Cave just inside the entrance to Doi Inthanon National Park.

Rating:
Summary: A very helpful book for planning and travelling around!
Review: We was travelling around in Thailand for three weeks, and learned to know Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Koh Samui.We had a wonderful trip, and visited numbers of restaurants and a couple of villages, we did some shopping, went elephant-riding, rafting and diving and visited beautiful beaches. We brought two books with us: the "Bible" : Lonely planet travel survival kit, which helped us finding transport and accomodation, and besides that gave us a brief introduction to Thailand and the spscific regions we visited. We also brought Insight guides to get short summaries on specific themes, besides a number of lovely pictures that helped us picking out places to go.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic guide to a wonderful cultural experience
Review: We went to Thailand on honeymoon and were in no doubt that this would be a fantastic experience. This was made all the better having a copy of the LP guide. What a god send. We found it user friendly, a great read, thorough and useful for us as we went off the beaten track. Overall, we would recommend this to anyone who has a sense of adventure and wants to see and experience the real Thailand.