- Paperback: 536 pages
- Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications; 3rd Revised edition edition (1 Oct 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1741041856
- ISBN-13: 978-1741041859
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13.5 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 415,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Lonely Planet for honesty, history, irreverence and budget.' --Esquire
Product Description
This guide includes more destinations than any other English-language guidebook to this region. It showcases some genuine local treasures known only to domestic tourists until now - for example the charming rural villages that are very much off the beaten track. Regional chapters are twice the length of corresponding chapters in Lonely Planet's China guide - perfect for helping you step right off the beaten track.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I purchased this book to take with me around Yunnan province for three weeks. Judging by the size of the book, there is a lot of detail inside. However, a lot of the detail is focused on the wrong areas, is out of date, many grammatical and spelling errors and lacking in detail where it is needed most. It is unforgiveable for a major publisher not to properly proof read it's books before publication.
The book is designed, I would say, for young university students and those young travellers who frequently use the word "like..." after every other word, supplemented here and there by the word "cool". The book is also full of cliches which many may find annoying. There are also numerous references to certain areas of South West China being unappealing due to the influx of Chinese tourists. I would say it is not unusual to find Chinese tourists in China.
The accommodation listings in the book are sparse. Upon arrival to the many places, there is usually a huge range of accommodation to choose from. Whilst the book may profess to give recommendations, I felt the authors simply found the nearest guesthouse and raved about it without properly comparing others. Do not rely on the accommodation listings. You will be pleasantly surprised at the wide range of places and prices available once you reach your destination or search the internet for recommendations instead. Indeed LP misprinted the telephone number of one of the guesthouses.
Also, the maps are not particularly detailed, and do not highlight important places like railway stations. The bus and train timetables are also hopelessly out of date. For example, in Kunming there are numerous bus stations, most far away from the city. The guide does not tell you which station to go from, instead simply saying "bus station" which one would assume to be the main one. For long distance travel, more often it is not the main station. Also in Kunming, the LP recommends a tea store to buy local tea. That tea store is in fact a national chain, and their products can be purchased anywhere in China. The authors should have sourced and recommended independent speciality stores which are hard to find, but I suppose that would have been far too much work for them. Sadly, this kind of thing keeps coming up again and again in this book.
Whilst the book is detailed, most of it is focused on the author's subjective opinions, rather than fact. It is also annoying to read the many cliches. If you are very young, you might think the book is cool. If you've actually graduated, then you've probably got a few brain cells and may wish to choose a more concise but accurate book rich on facts.
The book is designed, I would say, for young university students and those young travellers who frequently use the word "like..." after every other word, supplemented here and there by the word "cool". The book is also full of cliches which many may find annoying. There are also numerous references to certain areas of South West China being unappealing due to the influx of Chinese tourists. I would say it is not unusual to find Chinese tourists in China.
The accommodation listings in the book are sparse. Upon arrival to the many places, there is usually a huge range of accommodation to choose from. Whilst the book may profess to give recommendations, I felt the authors simply found the nearest guesthouse and raved about it without properly comparing others. Do not rely on the accommodation listings. You will be pleasantly surprised at the wide range of places and prices available once you reach your destination or search the internet for recommendations instead. Indeed LP misprinted the telephone number of one of the guesthouses.
Also, the maps are not particularly detailed, and do not highlight important places like railway stations. The bus and train timetables are also hopelessly out of date. For example, in Kunming there are numerous bus stations, most far away from the city. The guide does not tell you which station to go from, instead simply saying "bus station" which one would assume to be the main one. For long distance travel, more often it is not the main station. Also in Kunming, the LP recommends a tea store to buy local tea. That tea store is in fact a national chain, and their products can be purchased anywhere in China. The authors should have sourced and recommended independent speciality stores which are hard to find, but I suppose that would have been far too much work for them. Sadly, this kind of thing keeps coming up again and again in this book.
Whilst the book is detailed, most of it is focused on the author's subjective opinions, rather than fact. It is also annoying to read the many cliches. If you are very young, you might think the book is cool. If you've actually graduated, then you've probably got a few brain cells and may wish to choose a more concise but accurate book rich on facts.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
6 reviews
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
The best guidebook to the region, with far more detail than all-China guides.
30 Nov 2007
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
"China's Southwest" covers the culturally fascinating provinces north of Laos and Vietnam, so a better title would be "Southern China." At any rate it's one of Lonely Planet's best books and provides good travel information, including some very worthwhile off-the-beaten-track places. You'll find descriptions of the many tribal groups who live in an incredible diversity of landscapes that ranges from tropical to Himalaya. Text includes parts of the Tibetan Plateau, which spreads across northwestern Yunnan and western and northern Sichuan, a good place to meet Tibetans and learn about their culture. I highly recommend travels to the provinces covered in this book--Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Chongqing. None of the all-China guidebooks do the region justice, so this guidebook is worth getting even if you already have a China guidebook.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
A lifesaver for non-Chinese speakers
4 Oct 2008
Format:Paperback
I found this book to be super-informative, accurate and helpful - helped me to both plan and execute my travels. In a region of the world where no one speaks English, this book will help find you a place to stay.
LP notwithstanding, in remote places I sometimes stayed with farmer families, ate with them, shared the afternoons. That was much more satisfying than the hotels. When Chinese do business they are intent on making you part with your money ... you, the foreigner, are seen as a walking breathing $$$ sign. When living with a family something in people's mind becomes relaxed and there is more of a human connection.
A tiny detail: I recommend you use ATMs whenever possible- Chinese bank tellers are trained to take only perfect - and I mean perfect - banknotes. Even a tiniest glitch, or color mark will result in disqualification. Chinese ATMs have a different keypad from those in the US; also they are alphanumeric only, so it helps to remember your code in #s.
LP notwithstanding, in remote places I sometimes stayed with farmer families, ate with them, shared the afternoons. That was much more satisfying than the hotels. When Chinese do business they are intent on making you part with your money ... you, the foreigner, are seen as a walking breathing $$$ sign. When living with a family something in people's mind becomes relaxed and there is more of a human connection.
A tiny detail: I recommend you use ATMs whenever possible- Chinese bank tellers are trained to take only perfect - and I mean perfect - banknotes. Even a tiniest glitch, or color mark will result in disqualification. Chinese ATMs have a different keypad from those in the US; also they are alphanumeric only, so it helps to remember your code in #s.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Our book cover is in tatters from being used so much!
18 April 2011
Format:Paperback
We just came back from 2.5 weeks in southwest China. This book was a lifesaver! The book had a lot of places translated into Chinese characters so people could help us find where we needed to go. I just wished they had Chinese characters for ALL of the places they listed!! The phrases at the end were very helpful in getting some of my Mandarin going. Being this was 2007 edition, and it is now 2011, there were definitely some changes (ie hostels moving or places increasing their admissions), but that is hardly the book's fault. It is more of a byproduct of how fast China's southwest is changing. Go there quick before it becomes too touristy, and bring this book with you!
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