Lonely Planet Guide Book

[JimmyTheMook]

I used one all the time when making the rounds of most parts of Thailand so many years ago......

Fund it is the best researched guide book there is, not only for Thailand.

Now I want to hit the road for a while and wondering is it worth buying a new copy for 1000 baht to keep with me ?

[Rj 81]

I would get one if I were you. Why not, for 1000 bht you may as well.

If you go to Amazon.co.uk and search for Thailand loads come up with reviews.

The rough guide to Thailand is supposed to be better.

[leisurely]

If you've still got your old copy, use that. I doubt it's changed that much apart from prices. The grand palace and Jim Thompsons will still be where they were. The only thing that will have changed in BKK (depending on how long ago you were here) is the BTS and underground.

[cdnvic]

It's a good guide for sure, but take it with a grain of salt too as it's only the opinion of a few people really. Culture Shock! Thailand, and the Moon Publications Thailand Guide are quite good reading too.

[sceadugenga]

Read the facts, form your own opinions, I virtually gave up on it when they started slagging off the girly bars but quite happily directed people to gay venues that were full of male prostitutes. (Err.. so I've been told.)

Edited May 15, 2007 by sceadugenga

[taxexile]

with lonely planet books filling your case or backpack you can travel all the way around the world , through some of the wildest and remotest places yet never have to engage in conversation with a local , never have to ask the time of a train or direction to a hotel or for a food recommendation , leading to hordes of soft travellers all following the same well beaten path.

wheres the adventure in that ? might as well go on a package holiday.

those guides should be condensed down to 50 or so pages per country ( as they used to be) and let the travellers work the rest out for themselves

[meadish_sweetball]

Personally I think it is useful as a reference, to contrast with other travel advice - from locals etc. Just don't follow it slavishly. Apart from reviews of guest houses and restaurants, it has well-written articles about different cultural phenomena like art and history, so if you're interested in these things, it delivers.

But that's off topic since the thread is not really about the merits of Lonely Planet in general, rather the question was if it would be worth it to purchase a more recent copy than the one the OP already has.

I would say 'probably not' if 1000 baht is a lot of money to you - but you don't mention how old your current copy is? If over 6-7 years, a new one would probably be a good investment.

[jdinasia]

We keep one in our car for weekend trips out of town .... truly a helpful little beast!

[cdnvic]

Personally I think it is useful as a reference, to contrast with other travel advice - from locals etc. Just don't follow it slavishly. Apart from reviews of guest houses and restaurants, it has well-written articles about different cultural phenomena like art and history, so if you're interested in these things, it delivers.

But that's off topic since the thread is not really about the merits of Lonely Planet in general, rather the question was if it would be worth it to purchase a more recent copy than the one the OP already has.

I would say 'probably not' if 1000 baht is a lot of money to you - but you don't mention how old your current copy is? If over 6-7 years, a new one would probably be a good investment.

Few things are more annoying than a backpacker showing up to your guesthouse with a Lonely Planet that's six years old and expecting you to honour the price listed.

[toptuan]

Few things are more annoying than a backpacker showing up to your guesthouse with a Lonely Planet that's six years old and expecting you to honour the price listed.

Still pissed off about my visit last year, huh, CDNVIC?

Signed,

Farang Kee Nok

[cdnvic]

Few things are more annoying than a backpacker showing up to your guesthouse with a Lonely Planet that's six years old and expecting you to honour the price listed.

Still pissed off about my visit last year, huh, CDNVIC?

Signed,

Farang Kee Nok

I have been called a scamming scumbag buy people thumping their 1992 Lonely Planets far past the year 2000. I've taken leave of that business for a bit.

[sabaijai]

Few things are more annoying than a backpacker showing up to your guesthouse with a Lonely Planet that's six years old and expecting you to honour the price listed.

Still pissed off about my visit last year, huh, CDNVIC?

Signed,

Farang Kee Nok

I have been called a scamming scumbag buy people thumping their 1992 Lonely Planets far past the year 2000. I've taken leave of that business for a bit.

Yep I've seen it happen, sad and funny at the same time.

Moon Thailand hasn't been updated in nine years, with the 3rd -- and final (it's officially OOP and no longer listed on Avalon/Moon's website) -- edition released in 1999.

[mijan24]

It has been a good reference for many in the past, Those that turn up at your guest house demanding 1990 prices need to be guided to another planet - that said, there was an Australian in Khon Kaen this month claiming he was on an update assignment - he then proceeded to dribble on about his expectations and lost all credibility upon stating he envisaged the Kosa Hotel(1000 baht a night) as being the perfect accomodation for this travel group - all I can say is if for some strange reason his claim to being ther LP representative has any truth in it then get a current copy of LP quickly before this Australian bufoon has any input into the next edition.

Please note I mijan24 am from AUSTRALIA it pains me to say this about another Ozzie but "some mothers do have em".

Edited May 15, 2007 by mijan24

[cdnvic]

Moon Thailand hasn't been updated in nine years, with the 3rd -- and final (it's officially OOP and no longer listed on Avalon/Moon's website) -- edition released in 1999.

That's too bad. I always liked the way they were written.

[Crow Boy]

I used one all the time when making the rounds of most parts of Thailand so many years ago......

Fund it is the best researched guide book there is, not only for Thailand.

Now I want to hit the road for a while and wondering is it worth buying a new copy for 1000 baht to keep with me ?

It depends on what sort of information you are looking to get from it. If your interests lie in temples, ruins, national monuments and general items of interest then assuming you have a guide written within the last 6 years I would say not really necessary.

If you are looking for the new nightclubs and ways around Bangkok you may be better off with the copy of that particular book. Even so because things of that ilk change so rapidly any book will be quickly out of date.

The other option of course is to buy a new one, and then off load the old version at a second hand store to help defray the cost. You may even find a current version for sale which will still have a reasonable discount over the rrp. In Cambodia they had pirated copies of many books including the Lonely Planet guides for the region for sale at a reduced cost.

The lonely planet website Thorn Tree is an useful online resource for current information which will be ahead of even the most current edition.

Bottom line is you pays your money, you makes you choice

CB

[Fred Sanford]

cant hurt to lug that thing around, it may save you some cash but dont make a bible out of the thing

[Soju]

I still use mine, and purchase a Lonely Planet Guide for almost all destinations I travel to. It's generally an excellent deal in that I can research a good place to stay, a good route to take, or whatever and end up saving many times the cost of the book on just one trip. The internet is a great resource, but for someone like myself who likes to decide about my travels on-the-fly, it's indispensable at times when there is no internet nearby. I will say though that their quality has slipped tremendously recently, or at least in a few of the guidebooks I've used. The Laos one for example was just filled will errors in some sections. I once wasted several hours due to a map that was just loaded with mistakes and totally worthless.

[bmanly]

I have travelled extensively through SE Asia and have used the LP guidebook, use to have one for Thailand but gave it away to someone more in need of it a couple of years ago.

It can come in very useful when you are travelling into unresearched areas that you have never been to before. Last year I did a big trip through Cambodia going to places not many people travel to. Came in very useful for finding accommodation and transport depots like bus stations and train stations. The maps also proved helpful when you get lost. The best part about it is that you can go anywhere in the world break out the book check where is the downtown, bus stations, beaches, do and don'ts and get a general idea of where and what to pay for accommodation.

In Thailand I don't use it anymore only because of experience and my ability to speak basic Thai but even in Thailand when I did use it, it was handy. Example again, coming into a town late that you have never to. Break out the book check out a hotel and add couple hundred baht on top for price increases, hand the mobile to my Thai missus and call the hotel, are you full and how much? Sure beats walking around a new town with a heavy backpack not knowing where to go. The only thing as others have said things change big time, never expect the book to be spot on but as a guide it's better than nothing.

[Ulysses G.]

I've heard that Joe Cummings has retired from doing the LP Thailand Guidebook.

They must be crazy to let him go as he knows EVERYTHING about Thailand.

[Ulysses G.]

Read the facts, form your own opinions, I virtually gave up on it when they started slagging off the girly bars but quite happily directed people to gay venues that were full of male prostitutes. (Err.. so I've been told.)

I always found this strange too.

LP used to slag off the Malaysia Hotel all the time because it was full of (female) prostitutes, but it raved about how wonderful The Suriwong Hotel near Patpong was even though it was much grungier and filled with young boy prostitutes as well as something like 10 year old boys approaching customers for sex in the carpark. It is the only place in Thailand where I have ever seen children selling themselves.

[sabaijai]

Read the facts, form your own opinions, I virtually gave up on it when they started slagging off the girly bars but quite happily directed people to gay venues that were full of male prostitutes. (Err.. so I've been told.)

I always found this strange too.

LP used to slag off the Malaysia Hotel all the time because it was full of (female) prostitutes, but it raved about how wonderful The Suriwong Hotel near Patpong was even though it was much grungier and filled with young boy prostitutes as well as something like 10 year old boys approaching customers for sex in the carpark. It is the only place in Thailand where I have ever seen children selling themselves.

I don't remember ever seeing a rave for the Suriwong Hotel in any edition of LP Thailand, care to cite which edition? I do recall reading one LP review of that hotel mentioning it's creepy rep (if I recall correctly).

[jdinasia]

Read the facts, form your own opinions, I virtually gave up on it when they started slagging off the girly bars but quite happily directed people to gay venues that were full of male prostitutes. (Err.. so I've been told.)

I always found this strange too.

LP used to slag off the Malaysia Hotel all the time because it was full of (female) prostitutes, but it raved about how wonderful The Suriwong Hotel near Patpong was even though it was much grungier and filled with young boy prostitutes as well as something like 10 year old boys approaching customers for sex in the carpark. It is the only place in Thailand where I have ever seen children selling themselves.

I don't remember ever seeing a rave for the Suriwong Hotel in any edition of LP Thailand, care to cite which edition? I do recall reading one LP review of that hotel mentioning it's creepy rep (if I recall correctly).

I don't remember LP slagging off on gorly bars ... and it certainly doesn't list/mention anything other than non-directly commercial gay venues Maybe they didn't mention a bookstore .......

[CountryBoy]

One of my greatest regrets in not having a camera handy when in Hoi An was outside a restaurant which had a sign 'Good food, great service, reasonable prices because we're not listed in Lonely Planet'

[Ulysses G.]

Read the facts, form your own opinions, I virtually gave up on it when they started slagging off the girly bars but quite happily directed people to gay venues that were full of male prostitutes. (Err.. so I've been told.)

I always found this strange too.

LP used to slag off the Malaysia Hotel all the time because it was full of (female) prostitutes, but it raved about how wonderful The Suriwong Hotel near Patpong was even though it was much grungier and filled with young boy prostitutes as well as something like 10 year old boys approaching customers for sex in the carpark. It is the only place in Thailand where I have ever seen children selling themselves.

I don't remember ever seeing a rave for the Suriwong Hotel in any edition of LP Thailand, care to cite which edition? I do recall reading one LP review of that hotel mentioning it's creepy rep (if I recall correctly).

I don't remember LP slagging off on gorly bars ... and it certainly doesn't list/mention anything other than non-directly commercial gay venues Maybe they didn't mention a bookstore .......

I have nothing against LP. They DID mention a certain bookstore and have been quite good to me.

As far as ""gorly bars", I didn't bring that up, I mentioned a hotel, although, I do think jdinasia's memory is faulty on the "gorly bar" thing.

Someone tried to sell me a VERY old Thailand LP last week and I didn't buy it. It would have cleared this all up, but from what Sabaijai says I would guess that eventually LP found out about the Suriwong, but I had stopped reading it by then.

[highchol]

I would no more buy a new lonely planet book than I would purchase anything from bodyshop.

[Spaniel]

Another good source of information is the LP website, Thorn Tree. Doesn't take the place of the book but you can always get pretty reliable info from other posters.

[cdnvic]

It's worthwhile to have a read through the original "Southeast Asia on a Shoestring" from '87 I think, just to get a feel for how much things have changed over time.

[jdinasia]

I keep one with me in Phuket (the new one) and my old one in my car in BKK ....

absolutely a godsend when hopping out into new areas for an afternoon or weekend .... only thing more useful is doing research on here and the rest of the internet while at home...

[Ulysses G.]

It's worthwhile to have a read through the original "Southeast Asia on a Shoestring" from '87 I think, just to get a feel for how much things have changed over time.

I have bought several copies of the first edition of the Lonely Planet Thailand to give to the editor when he visits the shop, but by the time I run into him, I usually forget where they are stored.

He probably has a bunch anyway.

[tina90]

I used one all the time when making the rounds of most parts of Thailand so many years ago......

Fund it is the best researched guide book there is, not only for Thailand.

Now I want to hit the road for a while and wondering is it worth buying a new copy for 1000 baht to keep with me ?

Hello

the LP guides are definitely the best ones i know for thailand and for most of the other countries also great. And others think the same, i think. But i also like the "The Rough Guide to Thailand". There is also a lot of usefall stuff in it.

PS: Nice forum here.

tina