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Product Description
Product Description
Author Robert Nilsen first ventured to South Korea while serving in the Peace Corps and continued to spend, off and on, around seven years of his life there. With Moon South Korea, Nilsen reveals the many sides of this less-traveled Asian destination, from hiking and skiing in the country's mountains to exploring the city markets of Seoul, arguably one of the best shopping destinations on the planet. Expert advice is provided on everything from proper communal bathing etiquette to the diverse selections of gimchi, seasoned and fermented vegetable dishes. Whether it's drinking from the famous Dalgi Mineral Spring on the east coast, biking on scenic Jeju Island, or exploring the Suwon Fortress, Moon South Korea provides travelers with a unique and memorable experience.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Out of curiousity, when considering my last trip to Korea, I purchased this book, Moon Handbooks South Korea. I already had the 6th and 7th editions of the Lonely Planet Korea books, and am a self-avowed fan of Lonely Planet. On reviewing the Moon book, and comparing it to the LP products, I have to admit to being impressed by the breadth of coverage of Korea by the Moon Handbook. I lived there for a year (in Gumi, near Daegu), and have visited twice more for several weeks, but there were places mentioned in the Moon book that I was totally unaware of, despite spending several days in some areas with my LP guide book. In fact, Gumi isn't even mentioned in the LP at all (except on a map), while the Moon book does have a brief section about the city, which surprised me, as the only thing of note in Gumi is the fact that it is the birthplace of President Park Chung-hee.
While I would consider the LP books are slightly superior in some areas, such as "Facts for the visitor", "Getting there and away", and "Getting around" sections, for sights to see, the Moon book provides much greater depth and information. This is particularly the case for cities and regions outside of Seoul. Of course, this is partially due to the greater number of pages in the Moon Book which obviously allow greater amounts of information to be provided, but having said that, in size and weight, the Moon book isn't significantly larger than the LP books. Otherwise, in terms of content, Moon is similar to LP. There is a Korean language section at the back, and place names are given in hangul as well as english in the text. In some cases, information as to how to get to some places is relatively light, but this probably wouldn't be such a problem to a long term visitor.
For short-term visitors, the LP book will suffice as plenty of information is provided that will keep people with a limited amount of time in the country busy. But I would suggest for those planning a long term stay in Korea (for example as ESL teachers) to try out this book due to the higher amounts of sights listed. Not every teacher gets to work in Seoul, and one of the shortcomings of the LP book is its brevity of information provided for the smaller, but still significant cities of South Korea. This is where the Moon book really comes into its own in comparison to the LP book, as it does not stint in this area.
To detract from the book, the maps in some instances weren't as well or exactly detailed as the maps in the LP book. The book is also directed at the US market, so in some areas of the book, such as "practicalities", information relating to visas, airlines, and exchange rates is relatively light for readers from the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Still, I would recommend this book over the LP book, at least until the next edition of the LP book comes out, which I believe will be around May 2010.
While I would consider the LP books are slightly superior in some areas, such as "Facts for the visitor", "Getting there and away", and "Getting around" sections, for sights to see, the Moon book provides much greater depth and information. This is particularly the case for cities and regions outside of Seoul. Of course, this is partially due to the greater number of pages in the Moon Book which obviously allow greater amounts of information to be provided, but having said that, in size and weight, the Moon book isn't significantly larger than the LP books. Otherwise, in terms of content, Moon is similar to LP. There is a Korean language section at the back, and place names are given in hangul as well as english in the text. In some cases, information as to how to get to some places is relatively light, but this probably wouldn't be such a problem to a long term visitor.
For short-term visitors, the LP book will suffice as plenty of information is provided that will keep people with a limited amount of time in the country busy. But I would suggest for those planning a long term stay in Korea (for example as ESL teachers) to try out this book due to the higher amounts of sights listed. Not every teacher gets to work in Seoul, and one of the shortcomings of the LP book is its brevity of information provided for the smaller, but still significant cities of South Korea. This is where the Moon book really comes into its own in comparison to the LP book, as it does not stint in this area.
To detract from the book, the maps in some instances weren't as well or exactly detailed as the maps in the LP book. The book is also directed at the US market, so in some areas of the book, such as "practicalities", information relating to visas, airlines, and exchange rates is relatively light for readers from the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Still, I would recommend this book over the LP book, at least until the next edition of the LP book comes out, which I believe will be around May 2010.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
I've just come back from two weeks in South Korea where I used this as my main guide. What's worth saying first is that this is written by a man, Robert Nilson, who is obviously very passionate about the country. This is very important as it shines though in the writing - one feels like one's reading a guide that is filled with personal experiences and memories of the author which makes it feel human and not a by-the-numbers guide.
There are excellent sections on the history of the country as well as detailed (if sometimes oddly dry) introductions to each province. The opening few paragraphs of each city/region give you a good feel and as we moved around the whole country this breadth was invaluable.
The guide could use some organisational editing. While many (black and white) maps are present, they are not well cross-referenced. In fact cross-referencing is generally poor in the guide, meaning there can be quite a bit of hunting around. If you're used to the Dorling Kindersley "see map B7" style then you're not getting any of that here. This would be easy to fix and I hope a future edition does so.
Another area where the guide misses out a little is on advice for particular classes of traveller. There's no mention of what vegetarian tourists should do (something that other guides usually include as a matter of course) and, upon reading that a night-club in Seoul was aimed at gay people, I realised there was no gay-travellers section. Similarly the advice on mobile phones in the country in this guide is pretty useless. This is hardly deal-breaking, but shows that having someone to check the book for common sections found in many guides would be a good idea.
Perhaps more seriously food recommendations are a bit of a mess. Along with the lack of map references there isn't much emotion given in the reviews - the author lists some places without saying much at all, and sometimes makes them sound quite poor. There are, in general, too many reviews for foreign food and not enough good Korean eateries identified.
Nonetheless this book was consulted many times while we were away. I enjoyed it and recommend it - I hope the author continues to update as I found it much more thorough and much more human than DK guides tend to be.
There are excellent sections on the history of the country as well as detailed (if sometimes oddly dry) introductions to each province. The opening few paragraphs of each city/region give you a good feel and as we moved around the whole country this breadth was invaluable.
The guide could use some organisational editing. While many (black and white) maps are present, they are not well cross-referenced. In fact cross-referencing is generally poor in the guide, meaning there can be quite a bit of hunting around. If you're used to the Dorling Kindersley "see map B7" style then you're not getting any of that here. This would be easy to fix and I hope a future edition does so.
Another area where the guide misses out a little is on advice for particular classes of traveller. There's no mention of what vegetarian tourists should do (something that other guides usually include as a matter of course) and, upon reading that a night-club in Seoul was aimed at gay people, I realised there was no gay-travellers section. Similarly the advice on mobile phones in the country in this guide is pretty useless. This is hardly deal-breaking, but shows that having someone to check the book for common sections found in many guides would be a good idea.
Perhaps more seriously food recommendations are a bit of a mess. Along with the lack of map references there isn't much emotion given in the reviews - the author lists some places without saying much at all, and sometimes makes them sound quite poor. There are, in general, too many reviews for foreign food and not enough good Korean eateries identified.
Nonetheless this book was consulted many times while we were away. I enjoyed it and recommend it - I hope the author continues to update as I found it much more thorough and much more human than DK guides tend to be.
3 of 7 people found the following review helpful
I bought this book before recently moving to South Korea. I live in Incheon, and the book contains little about this city so I am a little disappointed. However, it has proved useful for my day trips to Seoul (the Seoul maps are ok, but it doesnt give a subway map which would be very handy). I will rely on it when I travel around the country over the next year.
This book is all you need for a holiday/ short trip, theres not much choice on south korea so maybe worth a look around if your planning on living here.
This book is all you need for a holiday/ short trip, theres not much choice on south korea so maybe worth a look around if your planning on living here.
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