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 enlarge | Author: Rough Guides
Publisher: Rough Guides
Category: Book
List Price: $24.99
Buy New: $18.00
You Save: $6.99 (28%)
New (2) Used (8) from $8.75
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 592518
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 640
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 1
ISBN: 1858289653
Dewey Decimal Number: 915.990448
UPC: 781858022955
EAN: 9781858289656
ASIN: 1858289653
Publication Date: October 18, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 6-8 of 8 | | « PREV | | |
 Very interesting read January 3, 2007
5 out of 9 found this review helpful
I purchased this book in preparation for my first trip to the Philippines. I found the book very resourceful and full of interesting tid-bits. I'm leaving this month, so I will not know how practical the book is until then. However, everyone has picked it up off my coffee table and enjoys looking through it. Compared to other travel books that I have looked at, this one has been the most informative and organized.
 Yuch - one of the worst July 21, 2006
18 out of 20 found this review helpful
I'm am writing this from Palawan in the Philippines where a friend arrived a few days ago, somewhat confused, with this guide in hand. I have lived in the Philippines and traveled here extensively, and have used the other guidebooks. This one, well, sucks, IMHO.
Several issues. Firstly, the book is unbearably surly. It's tiring. Conscientious criticism is OK, but we're here to enjoy our trip, OK? If the authors hate the Philippines so much they should not be writing a guidebook. Strange how this British publication seems so bent on trashing our American colony....
Secondly, the travel information is just plain unreliable. We tried to use the book's step by step travel information but many times found that the details were lacking - intermediate travel steps were sometimes not there at all. Confusion! Distances noted seem to be right out of the Twilight Zone. How three cities significantly farther along the same route can all be the same distance from Manila is a mystery to me. Beyond that, many of the most desireable and prominent tourist destinations just are not listed at all. Palawan is a prime example, there's not that much here, and the excellent butterfly farm is not listed. Actually, virtually nothing is. And true to form they mention the ones they do only as an excuse to gripe about them, even the most beautiful.
Seedy aspects of some of the Philippines are not mentioned, or glossed over. This is unfortunate. There are many resort areas that are basically brothel towns, which is not pointed out in the narrative. Someone heading to these on a family vacation would be sorely disappointed. In regards to these resort areas, it's like writing a guide about Las Vegas and not mentioning gambling. People need to know what's there, so they can avoid it if nothing else.
I am also surpised - and I found this in the RG for Thailand recently as well - important phone numbers are often not listed. Several times a Filipino had offered to help us call a hotel or bus station and hoped to get the numner from our copy of of RG, to no avail. Seems they had gotten the number from LP before and assumed this guide book would list them as well.
Did I mention the guide is just plain mean-spirited?
They also do not seem to know their audience. I see the "Lonely Planet" crowd as budget travellers with some sense of travel conscience. Yet the guide exclusively recommends a very expensive handicrafts market in Manila that is known for exploiting local artists. There are numerous small shops that are reasonably priced that support local artisans, which don't seem to exist for the Rough Guide folks. Neiman Marcus seems to be the preferred mode.
I find little about this book to like. I have liked other Rough Guides, but for me this one... well, don't bother...
Spot On March 29, 2006
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
Couldn't agree more with the first reviewer. This is a better guide book to the Philippines than any other and beats LP by a country mile. It's better written, more thoroughly researched - and actually interesting. I used it when I was there last Easter and also found it to be very up to date. But what I liked most was the honesty. It calls a spade a spade, but always remains fair. The destination summaries are spot on. Even Boracay doesn't get away unscathed.
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