Books : Laos (Country Guide)
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 915
EAN: 9781741045680
ISBN: 1741045681
Label: Lonely Planet
Manufacturer: Lonely Planet
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 372
Publication Date: August 01, 2007
Publisher: Lonely Planet
Sales Rank: 91710
Studio: Lonely Planet
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Editorial Review:
Product Description: Discover Laos Weave your own path through the temple-lined streets of World Heritage-listed Luang Prabang, p. 134 Find out why Katang villagers sleep with their heads pointed towards an outside wall, p249 Explore the ancient Khmer's 'imitation of heaven' at mystical Wat Phu Champasak, p265 Join locals for a riverside Beerlao as the sun sets over the Mekong in Vientiane, p110 In This Guide: Three authors, 1472 hours of on-the-road research, 61 maps Our guide is dedicated to providing travelers with environmentally and culturally aware travel advice Visit lonelyplanet.com for up-to-the-minute reviews, updates and traveler insights
Average Rating: 
Rating: -
What a difference a new edition makes. Lonely Planet's brand new guidebook, Laos 6th edition, released August 2007, is easily the best on the market. The traveller looking for comprehensive coverage in a guidebook need look no further. An extra 60 pages long, this title packs an impressive punch, with a good balance of exhaustive coverage of the key destinations along with sound information on the lesser known spots.
Quite simply, Australian co-authors Andrew Burke and Justine Vaisutis have put together what is the best English-language offline resource for travel in Laos. From a tourism perspective, Laos is a rapidly developing nation, especially in the major tourist centres where new accommodation options multiply at a seemingly ever-increasing rate, yet they've done a fine job of boiling down a snapshot of the country into a guide that will be more than enough for the most demanding traveller.
Matters get off to a good start -- a good, easy-to-read colour map (even if some of the roads look a tad sketchy), suggested itineraries and a completely rewritten history section by Professor Martin Stuart-Fox, author of A History of Laos (1997). This is followed by a pretty stock-standard introductory section -- the people, government and culture are all covered, though the government -- arguably the most repressive and certainly the most secretive in Southeast Asia after Burma -- gets off the hook pretty lightly.
What does stand out in the introduction ... Read More
Rating: -
I agree 100% w/ Bryan below. (So, you could stop reading my review now) But when planning a trip to Laos, one needs to do allot of research on one's own. You can't leave it up to a guidebook. But why would you really want to anyway? Of all the guidebooks on the market, I'd still pick this one as my top choice. It's respectful of Laos, imparts a firm sense of culture, history and identity with the reader and then let's you figure some things out for yourself. Laos is a beautiful country... but you need to relax and keep in mind the motto" LAO PDR...please dont rush".... same thing with any guidebook, relax, enjoy the read and let the journey take you where you need to be.
Rating: -
This book made traveling through Laos a fantastic experience. Though prices in the book can't keep up with increases, most of the information was very timely and accurate. Very useful as a reference guide and helped make our trip go smoothly.
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When I first read the reviews at amazon, I thought I just ordered a worthless piece of paper. In fact that guide was as useful as I used lonely planet in other countries. It gave me maps of where I was, general knowledge of many regions of Laos and much more, exactly what a guide book is intended to do.
I agree though that some of the information in the book is no longer right, but it is as always in a country opening up to tourism, constantly evolving. Anyway, if you live by the book, you will be deceived so use it as a reference when needed and try to go beyond the book (same for every lp).
Rating: -
I bought this edition for a bicycle trip across northern Laos, but was very disappointed with the very old and inaccurate information on Hua Phan Province in the northeast of the country. It's a remote region, and probably on few travelers' itineraries, but it was on mine. I felt let down that the authors didn't provide up-to-date coverage. Neither author even visited the province! That's not good enough.
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