Stephen Keeling, Brice Minnigh
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Very good, some room for improvement 4 out of 5 stars.
51 of 51 people found this review helpful.
The Rough Guide series has a new look, and improvements to their style. Rough Guide Taiwan 2007 is one of the new series. At the moment, this is the best guide available in English for Taiwan, and it is very good indeed. It does a fine job of presenting both major and lesser-known attractions, and is clearly superior to the nearest competitor, Lonely Plant Taiwan 2004 (more on this below).
Still, there is room for improvement; see CONS.
Taiwan is a fascinating but underrated set of islands, with friendly and helpful people, many of whom speak at least a little English or Japanese. The Chinese culture here is fascinating, but I had no idea before I came here the first time that there were people other than those descended from the Chinese. The indigineous Austranesian peoples add ethnic cultures, arts, and cuisines to get to know.
The diversity of natural beauty on this island is staggering - mountains, rugged coastline, waterfalls, and unique wonders like Toroko Gorge. You can see it all easily because of the new high-speed bullet trains that can take you from Taipei to the south in just over 2 hours. (Buses from the train to inland areas are not as fast, of course.)
Even if you have to stay in Taipei, there are many day trips to enjoy; Wulai is easy and worthwhile, and you could even take a train to see a little of the south, yet return the same day.
PROS
Excellent coverage of Taipei and (separately) each of the major regions, including one for the islands. An excellent overview in the first 24 pages, with color photos to give you a very quick introduction to the highlights, which will help you decide whether you want to visit Taiwan. Sections for Basics, and for Contexts (history, indigineous people, religion, culture) make it complete.
CONS
No maps section for quick reference, like Lonely Planet's, means you will have to search for the maps mixed in the text, and they are not as detailed as I would like, and use two colors. You will need to get a local map while you're here... but maybe your hotel can provide one free.
RG misses some key details here and there. Example: to go to Wulai, it says to take MRT to the Xindian station, then take the Wulai bus. It fails to mention that while most buses show both Chinese and English, the Wulai bus does not have the English characters for Wulai on it, only the Chinese ones. It does have two Taipei destinations in English, making me think it was not the Wulai bus, and the bus does not have a number (maybe it is a diffent company). To take this bus, you need to spot two Chinese characters. Your hotel concierge, or the Info center at the Xindian station, could write them for you, unless you happen to notice that the name for Wulai is given in a sidebar on a diffent page. I did notice... the day AFTER I spent almost an hour waiting for the bus, only to learn that it had gone by a few times already.
The Language section seems to be Chinese (Mandarin). It discusses the basic differences between Chinese and Taiwanese (a completely different dialect), but it doesn't actually say which is presented here. It would be nice if they had at least some basic greetings in Taiwanese and a few of the most common indigineous languages, as greeting people in their preferred language always brings good will.
CONTENTS/ORGANIZATION
Color Section (where/when to go, highlights), 24 pages
Basics, 52 pages
Taipei and vicinity, 80 pages
North Taiwan, 68 pages
Central Taiwan, 82 pages
South Taiwan, 70 pages
East Coast, 60 pages
Taiwan Strait Islands, 62 pages
Contexts (history, indigineous people, religion, culture), 41 pages
Language, 15 pages
Plus: two 4-page color sections on festivals and national parks.
OTHER COMMENTS
A warning: while many Taiwanese speak at least some English, and many younger or more-educated people can speak it reasonably well, you will at times need to look at the Chinese characters to find things (like the bus I mentioned in Cons). Unfortunately there are three different English spelling schemes used for Chinese words, so you will need fuzzy thinking using sounds in your head to work it out. Example: Xindian (the MRT spelling) is spelled Sindian on the buses. A road like Zhongshan might be spelled Jhongshian or Song Shan, but Songjiang is a different road in the same area. BTW, I have found that many Taiwanese can also speak some Japanese.
LONELY PLANET vs ROUGH GUIDE for Taiwan
I have always preferred Lonely Planet (LP) guides, and have many more LPs than Rough Guides. I found LP first and got used to the LP organization, which is reasonably consistent among their books. The LP city guides have a handy map section in the back, great for quick reference on the go.
But the LP Taiwan books, at least 2004 and before, are among the worst of the LP series. They are hopelessly incomplete for the fascinating country outside of Taipei. Compare, for example, the 592 pages for Rough Guide Taiwan 2007 vs 384 pages for LP Taiwan 2004.
Then there is accuracy and completeness of information in LP Taiwan. Perhaps the finest and most expensive Oolong tea in the world comes from the high mountains of Taiwan, and all kinds of tea are an essential part of Chinese culture, both in Taiwan and in PRC. Rough Guide discusses the culture, tea houses, and the two major growing regions for those who want to visit, and I consider the amount of coverage appropriate. LP has merely a sidebar written by someone who clearly knows nothing about tea culture stating, for example, that "the more bitter, the better." The truth is, for many Chinese people, a great deal of effort (indeed, the entire Chinese tea ceremony) is placed on brewing tea properly to avoid bitterness.
LP is said to be revising their Taiwan 2004 guide for publication in 2007. It will be interesting to see if they rise to the occasion and produce a book on par with the vastly superior Rough Guide 2007.
Update: LP Taiwan 2007, to be published in Nov 2007, now appears on Amazon for preorder. Since the page count has been grown only from 384 to 400 pages, it appears that the new edition is a minor update rather than the reworking that guide sorely needs to be up to the LP standard.
Update: According to a comment left on this review, LP Taiwan 2007 IS a rewrite after all. When viewing reviews on LP Taiwan, disregard all of the ones with dates before November 2007, as they apply to the earlier edition.
If you're faced with the decision between this guide and the LP Taiwan 2004 edition, I strongly recommend the Rough Guide.
Editorial Review:
The Rough guide to Taiwan is your definitive guide to this fascinating island. From the vibrant, frenetic streets of Taipei and teahouses of Taichung to the laid-back, historic Tainan, the full-colour section highlights all the âthings-not-to-miss’. Taiwan’s enticing markets and vast range of culinary specialities are covered in full with comprehensive reviews of all the top hotels, restaurants, bars and spas to suit every budget. There is in-depth information on all six National Parks and Taiwan’s highest mountains, including Taroko Gorge, the country’s most popular natural wonder. The guide also looks at Taiwan’s history, culture and indigenous peoples and comes complete with maps and plans for the whole island.
The Rough guide to Taiwan is like having a local friend plan you trip!
