Customer Reviews
The Safe Option - By: Mars, 08 May 2007 
I found the 'Let's Go' guides to SE Asia way superior to the 'Lonely Planet'. The trouble with the 'LP' is that it tends to keep you on the well trodden trail & advises you to be cautious at every step.
The whole idea of travelling or backpacking is, I feel, to experience something new. You need to throw caution to the wind & just go for it. I think the opinions & tips in the 'LP' advise too much on what not to do & what nasties may happen if you do.
If you like to stay with the herd following the beaten track then this is the book for you. However, if it's a bit of adventure you're after then I'd look elsewhere.
Okay if you want to be like everyone else - By: R. Searle, 23 Nov 2006 Do you want to wear ankle bracelets, baggy farmer pants, Singha beer singlets, eat European food, watch DVD movies, stay in the same hostels as everyone other traveller, & follow the well-beaten path of everyone else while clutching your guide like a security blanket? Then this is the guide for you.
The guide itself is okay though unremarkable compared to others. The maps are rubbish & a lot of the information is out-of-date or appears based on hearsay. But everyone has one & its ubiquity means alll the sheep who carry it wander around doing the same things & staying in the same places.
Thailand is so over-touristed now there is no need for a guide. Everywhere is over-run with tour guides, hostels & internet booths where you can read millions of blogs from people doing then same thing, making a guide irrelevant. Yet people with this guide seem unable to think or act without first consulting the guide.
The guide is useful in one respect - if you want to avoid jaded Thai hosts, hostels full of hippie-wanabees with their bracelets from Ko Phi Phi & menus full of spaghetti & pizza, just don't stay at the places highly recommended here.
The Rough Guide does a similar job but is better set out with infinitely better maps, nicer fonts, better design etc. It is also written with more of a critical & analytical edge. The other bonus is that few other people seem to carry it around.
Footprint & Moon guides are also good if you can find them. I found a 1993 Moon guide in Khao Sok & it was brilliantly informative & had far more character than the Lonely Planet guide even though its was 13 years old (though the design was appallling I will admit). It was also years ahead of the Lonely Planet in terms of places to avoid even in 1993.
Thailand in a nut shell - By: Ms. S. Potts, 14 Nov 2006 
This book provided alll information you could need from the moment you land in Thailand. The information regarding prices was nearly alll upto date & offers information on accomodation for 3 price ranges: Budget, Mid-Range & Top-End providing lots of details no matter what type of holiday you are after.
It is particularly helpfull with warning tourists about local tourist traps & things to watch out for. It also supplies information about alll the different towns, local transport, hospitals, maps of the different areas with key places marked out. It provides a basic thai dictonary but does not show how to pronoucuate the words.
Overal a very good book which I found to be an invaluable travel guide! Would reccommend it to any first time vistors to Thailand.
EXPERIENCE THE "REAL" THAILAND with this helpful guide! - By: ! Betty Dravis, 16 Oct 2005 If you want to get the most out of your trip to Thailand, this guide will be invaluable to you. You will avoid the usual, crowded tourist traps & see a back country Thailand that will amaze you.
This guide will take you to places where you can get to know the fascinating Thai people & their intriguing culture as though you had always been best of friends.
Don't leave home without it!
