Most helpful client reviews
70 of 73 people found the following review helpful.
Worst Guide Book to the Philippines !!!
By Cheyenne
Im an Australian living fulltime in the Philippines and travel extensive as I'm a realtor retail islands & beaches here. Do not waste your cash buying this book. Firstly, it is a second rate copy of the former editions written by Jen Peters. You are better of buying his "Philippines Travel Guide" also available on Amazon.
Secondly, it is full of so a lot of faults and danger warnings that I'm suprised anybody would come here if it were genuinely true. For instance they write that Palawan is dangerous based upon a bomb being found at the airport. The bomb was in fact a defunct WWII hand grenade which was found in the grass at the edge of the runway, scarcely something designed to kill tourists. It warnings in regards to danger in Palawan are COMPLETELY defective in each instance. I live there and crime and danger are almost non-existant. Yes the Abu Sayeff kidnapped people from a resort, but they were from Mindanao on the other extreme of the Philippines and there has not been 1 single incident since then .. 5 YEARS AGO!
El Nido, one of the best places in the Philippines see EL-NIDO.NET The writers came for 1 day and how may the perhaps have researched a whole town in 1 day? The write that the trip from Puerto to El Nido by road is 14 hours, when in fact it is now only 7 hours and half of that on the new concrete highway.
Yes, there are dangers in the Philippines, but I feel safer here than living in any western city. Provided that you follow mutual sense you wont have any trouble here. This is one of the most under-rated tourism spots on the globe, incisively because of lame travel books and stupid travel advisories from overseas embassies.
Do yourself a favour buy the Jens Peters Guide and ignore whatsoever the Lonely Planet Guide says.
67 of 76 humans found the following review helpful.
Does not live up to the Lonely Planet standard
By J. Turner
I love Lonely Planet travel guides. The pithy been-there-done-that tone and insider info is invaluable. Every where I travel, I take along an LP guide. My recent trip to the Philippines was no different, but I cannot commend this travel guide to anyone. The LP Philippines guide merely does not live up to the standard.
The historical selective information is biased and more or less anti-American. The writers go out of their way to make anti-American remarks allround the historical section, while saying little or not one thing in regards to the historical atrocities devoted by other nations in the Philippines (Japanese death march anyone?). The writers distinctly feel that is their responsibility to inform the world that the United States is an empire building, bumbling, inept nation. I found the condescending tone and political prejudices personally offensive.
Secondly, I felt like the guide was written like a exploration report. There is so much that isn't reflected in the guide. We hired a taxi or van (with the driver) for in regards to 2,000 pesos and hit all the tourist areas for the entire a day, in Bohol, Cebu, and Davao (note: it is expected you feed the driver and he eats with you or at another table). Depending on how you negotiate, the rate may go as high as 5,000 per day for an air conditioned van and driver. This guide would have you waiting for taxi's or navigating Jeepney routes all day.
In general, the travel data is adequate for the northern islands, with numerous noteworthy exceptions. If you plan on visiting Mindanao, find another travel guide entirely. The writers are merely ignorant of the political circumstance in the Philippines, and the division on Mindanao is filled with inaccurate travel warnings.
The selective information when it comes to Mindanao and Davao are almost non-existent. If you are going to visit Mindanao, I would urge you to get another travel guide. After spending time in and around Davao, I started out to wonder if any of the writers in truth visited Davao, or did their exploration over the telephone.
The info in Manila is incomplete. I was amazed at how little selective information was available on a innovative city of that size.
Surprisingly, the selective information with regards to Cebu and Bohol, was more or less correct, but the price info was completely out of whack on panglao island on a great deal of of the resort hotels.
18 of 18 persons found the following review helpful.
rewrite this thing
By pmaligaya
I was not long ago in Indonesia for assorted months for work, and I could not thank Lonely Planet sufficient for a terrifi occupation that is the Indonesia guidebook, which we referred to as The Bible in the course of our travel. When I came back home, I purchased the Philippines guidebook because I was curious how they did it. I was so disappointed! The inaccuracies and omissions were horrible. One appalling omission: arguably the Philippines biggest and most colorful festival, the annual Sinulog in Cebu, is nowhere cited in the book. (I'm telling you guys planning to go the Philippines, this book could have been a lot thicker). And the worst part of reading this guidebook, you get the sense that as if the writers hacked their way through the archipelago to write this. Unlike in the Indonesia book wherein the writers sound like they genuinely loved the places they covered and have in fact expended numerous time in the places to be competent to write when it comes to them accurately, in the Philippines guidebook it seemed that they finished it just to get over it, without passion and care. (Although I have to admit, Manila was amply covered). I suggest you still get this book for a good deal of practical tips, but for the attractions themselves, you could visit the web site of the Philippine Department of Tourism (www.tourism.gov.ph) to supplement what's written in this book.
See all 33 client reviews...
|
Posted in swiss air
