Vietnam Books

Vietnam (Country Guide)

Nick Ray

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Lonely Planet Vietnam 9 -- LP's best try yet 4 out of 5 stars.
20 of 20 people found this review helpful.

For the first-time visitor to Vietnam, Lonely Planet's Vietnam 9 overall is a fine production -- and is easily Lonely Planet's best swing at Vietnam -- even if the style police are trying to ruin the show.

Vietnam 9 covers all the big-ticket destinations comprehensively, with detailed sleeping, eating, drinking and sights information. There's a detailed orientation section, loads of maps, crystal clear photos and lots of general information. Good coverage on most of the border crossings is included and the transportation information is pretty easy to digest -- if a little confusing at times. A series of suggested itineraries, while not overly imaginative, remain useful for first time travellers.

Authors Nick Ray, Peter Dragicevich and Regis St Louis have done the hard yards and crammed much of what Vietnam has to offer into Lonely Planet's famously tight word-limits. They've done a great job putting together what is a probably the most comprehensive text available and something much improved on Vietnam 8.

Listings
Guesthouse and hotel listings are concise and all budgets are well covered. There were some omissions which struck me as odd -- Mai House on Phu Quoc, Tay Ho Hotel in Can Tho, Jungle Beach north of Nha Trang, Hoa Hong in Da Nang and the Tung Trang in Hanoi -- all outstanding places, yet none made the cut. That said, there are stacks of excellent places they do mention -- more than enough for most readers. For the rest you'll just need to read www.travelfish.org.

Sights-wise, the information is excellent. Lots of historical background and interesting snippets are woven into the text, acting as leads for the reader to learn more. For example Ong Pagoda in Tra Vinh includes a reference to the Chinese classic The Romance of the Three Kingdoms for more information on the pagoda's god Quan Cong.

Transport
Transportation comes in two parts -- a summary and the destination specific sections throughout.

The summary section is good though a little unbalanced. There are almost three pages about getting a flight to Vietnam (surely something fairly simple), yet almost no information about the niche topic of buying a motorbike -- certainly an area where advice and suggestions would be useful. The train section has the briefest of fare charts, but thankfully steers people to the Man in Seat Sixty-One website (www.seat61.com) which is a far better resource.

The destination specific sections vary. In particular better information regarding frequency of bus services would have been good. There are also some discrepancies -- the Qui Nhon to Pakse bus service is listed as taking 12 hours and costing 250,000 VND, yet in Pleiku it reads "There is also an international service linking Pleiku and Attapeu (US$10, 12 hours)". This error (Qui Nhon to Pakse is at least twice the distance of Pleiku to Attapeu) is repeated in the transport introduction. Perhaps if one of the writers had actually done the trip they'd know that Attapeu to Kon Tum takes about five hours and another two hours to Pleiku, while the Qui Nhon to Pakse trip can take up to 20 hours. Of course these errors can happen to anyone -- I'm sure there are some in Travelfish -- but hey, LP has a bigger editing team than us.

Text and design
Talking about editing, the text is dense and the writing dry, verging on encyclopaedic. I've met a number of the LP writers over the years and without fail they've been a much more interesting, amusing and verbose lot than this text would have you believe. Perhaps the editors could spin the dial back a little on their "textual-de-emotionaliser device" to let the occasional witty or cheeky line slip through.

And while I'm on the topic of the back-end -- there's a new layout, and this one isn't great. A step forward is the removal of "Author's choice" aka the Lonely Planet Touch of Death -- replaced by a small "our pick" icon. A step backwards is the ordering of accommodation by price rather than quality. In this nod to the serial penny-pinchers, the rest of us are left scratching our head thinking "So which one do they recommend?".

Fact boxes though are the real blight. Vietnam 9 saw its length increased from 524 to 540 pages, yet rather than bulking out destinations, there are now more than 100 shaded fact boxes. Of course, some are useful; "Tracking the American War", tying together various sections covering war interests, is great. But half a page dedicated to Regis St Louis's motorbike breaking down is excessive -- especially when there's but a lone paragraph dedicated to trekking out of Kon Tum. Minor point perhaps, but the designers should have their cookie-jar benefits suspended for the incorrectly typeset, mistakenly padded fact box on page 163 -- sloppy.

Call me old school, but a move back to the basics -- accurate and easy to use information -- would be welcome. As an example, if you're looking for a list of internet resources for Vietnam, you'll be needing to refer to pages 21, 42, 58, 63, 69, 74, 79, 84, 89-90, 171, 465, 476, 494 and 495-6 -- whose bright idea was that?!

Now I'm getting petty and trivial -- lets move on.

Maps
The 105 maps cover all the major destinations and look terrific, but in anything short of ideal conditions, are difficult to read. Vietnam 8's maps, while uglier, were far easier to use. The new maps replace clunky shades and chunky outlines with gentle hues and delicate lines. This may look great in Lonely Planet's mapping HQ, but when you're crammed in a minibus trying to decipher the Hanoi map by torch, you'll be thinking different.

Photos
The photos are terrific. From the wraparound train cover-photo to the bored tourists gawking at the carpet in Reunification Palace, they do a great job of catching -- and explaining -- Vietnam. In another layout change, the photos are clustered in the first few pages, closely followed by a food overview and then eight more pages of colour in the centre.

Conclusion
It's worth noting that some of my criticisms are general and not specific to Vietnam 9 -- overall it's an excellent guide and I've rated the book at 8.5 stars (out of 10). If you're going to Vietnam and planning on hitting all the key destinations -- you'll be set with this title -- no questions asked.

*A pet peeve -- I purchased Vietnam 9 at a bookstore in Jakarta on July 20, and had seen it at the airport weeks earlier. Yet on the half-cover it reads "9th edition published August 2007". Unless Lonely Planet have a special in-house definition for the work "published" this is misleading to potential buyers who are looking for what they consider to be the most "up-to-date" text available -- it should read July 2007.

Editorial Review:

Discover Vietnam

Lie back on your very own junk and enjoy the languid beauty of Halong Bay's limestone outcrops, p.136.

Get lost in Hanoi's Old Quarter; sup on streetside pho and toast your fellow diners with a bia hoi, p. 95.

Squeeze into the Cu Chi Tunnels and marvel at the engineering ingenuity that kept the VC hidden from enemy fire, p.378.

Join the locals in an afternoon pick-me-up of snake's heart and a cup of serpent blood, p.48

In This Guide:

Three authors, 133 days of in-country research and 105 maps - more than any other guide.
Content updated daily - visit lonelyplanet.com for up-to-the-minute reviews, updates and traveler suggestions.

When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: Tie-In Edition

Le Ly Hayslip, Jay Wurts

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 44 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

I get it now, Le Ly. Thank you. 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Not having lived a very memorable life, my own writing has leaned toward fiction. Nevertheless, I tend to judge memoirs--and this is a good one--by the same standards I use for great literary fiction. One of those standards is the opener, or first line, in this case, "SUFFOCATE HER!" the midwife told my mother when I came into the world.

This is what we in the business call a 'zinger,' the equal of Camus' "Mother died today." or Melville's "Call me Ishmael." What a beginning! On trial for her life right from the git-go. This opener effectively signalled the continuous trials and potential consequences Le Ly would face for the rest of her life. She would have to come from stern stock if she were to survive, and her mother held her genetic end up with her smokin' response to the midwife, "I will bury her when she stops breathing. Now get out of here."

I have been a student of the Vietnam War since I first joined the Army as a chopper pilot in 1967--ironic because I've never set foot in that unfortunate land. I suppose I'm motivated by survivor's guilt. Anyway, Le Ly's fine memoir anchors a good bit of my newly won understanding of that longest and strangest of American wars. Coming from a Republican military family and growing up in the Cold War as I did, I believed at the time that everybody knew about and accepted the Domino Theory. And with my father a Korean War veteran (as well as WWII and Vietnam) I believed that any communists that were brazen enough to encroach from the north could be pushed back with a proper dose of American military muscle. I served in S. Korea myself many years after that war and things seemed to be plugging along rather nicely, thus preserving in my mind the validity of the Domino Theory. Then came Vietnam and the awful realization that we were not invincible. Hell, we got our butts kicked! Initial study from an unbiased source--General Westmoreland--suggested that America didn't lose the war, the South Vietnamese did. And he was right in a sense. Marvin the ARVN was quite content to sit back and let Joe slug it out with the VC and the NVA. I couldn't understand this. How could they take such a lackadaisical attitude about the fate of their nation when they had so much at stake? Did this mean they were for communism??? How could anybody with half a brain be FOR communism? I am not and never have been a practicioner of 'Jane Fonda logic' wherein if America makes a few mistakes, then the injured party must be lily-white, Q.E.D. I could see what rats the VC and NVA were. I knew they were just a front for a repressive dictatorship. Why couldn't the South Vietnamese see that? I was baffled.

Well, along comes a nice lady with the incongruous name of Le Ly Hayslip, who writes a book about those very South Vietnamese who didn't care about their government, or their nation (at least as we Americans tried to define it for them), or to my great surprise, communism or democracy or freedom (again as we defined that term). All they really cared about was getting the rice crop in and raising a few sons to do the same. Then the VC came into their village and beat everybody up, so they felt obliged to follow communism. Most of them didn't really know what that meant, but if the VC would stop beating them up, they'd learn a few songs and dig a few bunkers, then get back to the rice crop. The VC would leave and the Vietnamese Republicans would come in and beat them up again. So they were obliged to pay a few bribes and act 'patriotic' so the new bully would go away and again they could get back to the rice crop. This bizarre pattern only seemed normal to them. Throughout their recent past they had always been plagued by one bully or another--the French with their Morrocan allies, the VC, the NVA, the Republicans, the Americans--they were all the same to them. There was always somebody trying to get between them and their rice paddies. Deep down inside they were as apolitical as the grains of rice they were so diligently trying to harvest. You can eat rice. you can't eat dogma. The rice had fed them for generations. The VC et al. only fed them baloney. I get it now, Le Ly. Thank you.

--Ejner Fulsang, author of "A Knavish Piece of Work." Aarhus Publishing, 2006

Editorial Review:

A Vietnamese woman describes her journey from war-torn central Vietnam to the United States, recounting how she endured imprisonment, torture, rape, near-starvation, and the deaths of members of her family. Reprint. Movie tie-in.

Frommer's Vietnam: Including Angkor Wat (Frommer's Complete)

Sherisse Pham

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Well Done 4 out of 5 stars.
17 of 28 people found this review helpful.

I used this book while in Vietnam in August 2006. It was very helpful in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Cannot comment on it's usefulness in other cities.

Editorial Review:

Frommer’s Vietnam 2e is an amazingly detailed guide that takes the reader through the country with practical information, late-breaking bargains, cultural insights, user-friendly maps, etiquette tips, a language glossary, advice for business travelers, and practical advice on planning the trip and getting around. This guide explores everything from the thriving expat nightlife in Ho Chi Minh City (once called Saigon) to a journey by boat into the Mekong Delta, past rice paddies and riverside pagodas. Unlike any of our leading competitors––including Lonely Planet and Rough Guide––Frommer’s Vietnam features excursions to Cambodia, including comprehensive coverage of Phnom Penh, Siem Riep, and the popular temples of Angkor Wat.

The Rough Guide to Vietnam 5 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

Jan Dodd, Mark Lewis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Rough Guide Vietnam - Good maps, crappy and biased commentary 3 out of 5 stars.
9 of 16 people found this review helpful.

This book was very good and detailed with accomodations and eateries. The walking tours were very easy to follow and the maps were easy to navigate. I loved the color section on food to encourage you to try some of the food that would otherwise be intimidating.

The biggest disappointment I found in this book is that it seemed that it was written SOLELY from a communist point of view. The book did not address South Vietnam and the effects of the war on the people there. It bashed the French and Americans. I FOUND IT OFFENSIVE AND WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER ROUGH GUIDE AGAIN! That's how's irritating and disrespectfuly it was.

Editorial Review:

The Rough Guide to Vietnam is ideal for people who want to travel independently and discover more about this incredibly diverse country. It includes lively reviews of the best places to eat, from street kitchens to the upmarket restaurants of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, and practical advice on activities, from home-stays in ethnic minority villages to boat trips around Ha Long Bay and visits to its national parks. There are extensive, user-friendly descriptions of Vietnam’s many sights, including Hué’s Imperial city, temples and pagodas and Vietnam’s impressive colonial architecture, as well as its deserted beaches and the waterways of the Mekong Delta.

Vietnam and Angkor Wat (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

DK Publishing

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

A "Pretty Pictures" Guidebook 2 out of 5 stars.
10 of 12 people found this review helpful.

If you want pretty pictures of a few sites in each city, buy this guidebook.

If you want the in-depth logistical information you need while traveling - doctors in Saigon, how good/bad the train really is, more than a handful of hotels/restaurants in each town, names of interesting shops - buy something else.

I bought this ONLY because Lonely Planet got horrible reviews and Footprint, which are my guidebooks of choice, had not been updated in a couple of years. I will never buy it again.

Great! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 9 people found this review helpful.

Like all the Eyewitness Guides I've used, this is chock full of pictures and lively information. I'm sure it will be hugely useful on my trip.

Vietnam and Angkor Wat??? WHAT !!!!!!!!! 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 36 people found this review helpful.

What happened to the rest of Cambodia? Last time I saw Angkor Wat it was still in Cambodia. What gives? Does Cambodia not rate reviewing? Gezzzz

Editorial Review:

DK Eyewitness Travel Guides have been updated to include expanded hotel and restaurant listings, better maps, enhanced itineraries, and easier-to-read print.

Vietnam Cambodia Laos & the Greater Mekong (Multi Country Guide)

Nick Ray

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 2.0 of 5

Decent guidebook for the region 3 out of 5 stars.
17 of 28 people found this review helpful.

I am not a big fan of Lonely Planet guidebooks as I find they are really lacking in detail but this was the newest guidebook on the region I was visiting so I purchased it. It was decent but definitely lacking. Hopefully one of the other guidebooks will print a new edition for the Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos countries.

Editorial Review:

Discover Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos & the Greater Mekong

Take a slow boat down the mighty Mekong past remote jungles, ancient temples and intriguing hill-tribe villages, p.23
Get up close and personal with wild elephants in Laos, p.285
Trek to secluded waterfalls through Khao Yai National Park in Thailand, p.156
Explore magnificent Angkorian temples without the crowds in Cambodia's Preah Vihear Province, p.223

In This Guide:

Full-color chapter on the region's ancient wonders, from majestic Angkor Wat to World Heritage-listed Lijiang.
Border crossings chapter to help plan your adventure, with info on which borders are open and a map with marked crossings.
Visit lonelyplanet.com for up-to-the-minute reviews, updates and traveler insights.

National Geographic Traveler: Vietnam

James Sullivan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This authoritative guide to all the major sights you'll want to see in Vietnam—and many lesser known surprises as well—leads readers from the ancient capital of Hanoi, a lovely city of parks and lakes, to the now-silent battlefields where first France and then America met defeat, to booming Ho Chi Minh City (once Saigon) and the steamy waterworld of the Mekong Delta.

Northern highlights include magnificent coastlines and tiny villages tucked away in the mountainous jungle. North-Central Vietnam echoes with wartime memories, evoked by a visit to Vietnamese tunnels or a drive along the DMZ. Historic Hue offers a centuries-old citadel and the fabled Nguyen tombs; farther south, the Central Highlands boast national parks like Cat Tien, home to rhinoceros, crocodiles, and many species of monkeys. Ho Chi Minh City offers urban sophistication: skyscraping hotels, boutiques full of Western-style goods— and the sobering Museum of Ho Chi Minh City and Reunification Palace commemorating the North's victory in 1975.

Accompanying the lively text, photographs capture Vietnam's dazzling beaches, spectacular mountains, emerald rice paddies, ancient pagodas, and vibrant cities, with four-color maps to guide you along the way. One chapter details the nation's history and heritage; a second brims with practical information, including advice on how to get around, a selection of activities and entertainments, and an extensive listing of handpicked hotels and restaurants. Suggested walks and drives reveal the many faces of this culturally rich, beautiful land—a treasure trove of pleasures unlocked with a key called National Geographic Traveler: Vietnam.

Bikes of Burden

Hans Kemp

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great Book 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is a fantastic book and brought back some many great memories from travelling in that part of the world. A reccommended buy!

Awesome book!!! Must have after our trip to SE Asia. 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book was a must have after seeing much of this craziness first hand in Vietnam and Cambodia. You see this kind of thing everywhere over there but you can't ever seem to capture it on film since it is usually flying down the road heading the other direction.

THe pictures in the book are VERY true to everyday life in Vietnam 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

After a visit to Viet Nam this book really brings back wonderful memories of the various sights we saw everyday! The photography is beautiful. A great coffee table book to remind one of their travels!

Bikes of Burden 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

For a photographer, this is an outstanding book. Both as examples, for clever shots/scenes, and as a how to.

Editorial Review:

In Vietnam the motorbike is the main mode of transport, not only for people but for every imaginable and unimaginable product and produce. Without the motorbike the economy would come to a halt. Bikes of Burden shows in 148 stunning, full color photographs how the motorbikes, the drivers and their loads ride around the cities and countryside in acts that defy your wildest imagination.

Vietnam - Culture Smart!: a quick guide to customs and etiquette

Geoffrey Murray

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Culture Smart! provides essential information on attitudes, beliefs and behavior in different countries, ensuring that you arrive at your destination aware of basic manners, common courtesies, and sensitive issues. These concise guides tell you what to expect, how to behave, and how to establish a rapport with your hosts. This inside knowledge will enable you to steer clear of embarrassing gaffes and mistakes, feel confident in unfamiliar situations, and develop trust, friendships, and successful business relationships.

Culture Smart! offers illuminating insights into the culture and society of a particular country. It will help you to turn your visit-whether on business or for pleasure-into a memorable and enriching experience. Contents include


* customs, values, and traditions
* historical, religious, and political background
* life at home
* leisure, social, and cultural life
* eating and drinking
* do's, don'ts, and taboos
* business practices
* communication, spoken and unspoken


"Culture Smart has come to the rescue of hapless travellers." Sunday Times Travel

"... the perfect introduction to the weird, wonderful and downright odd quirks and customs of various countries." Global Travel

"...full of fascinating-as well as common-sense-tips to help you avoid embarrassing faux pas." Observer

"...as useful as they are entertaining." Easyjet Magazine

"...offer glimpses into the psyche of a faraway world." New York Times

Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos, 2nd: Tread Your Own Path (Footprint - Travel Guides)

Claire Boobbyer, Andrew Spooner, Jock O'Tailan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos, 2nd: Tread Your Own Path (Footprint - Travel Guides 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I find this book easier to follow and better than lonely planets.
I like the book. Very helpful

Editorial Review:

From the Mekong Delta to the Chinese border in Northern Laos, here is the first guide of its kind to these three southeast Asian countries. Experience Angkor Wat, the strangeness of the Plain of Jars, travel on a bamboo train and visit the Perfume Pagoda. Includes detailed coverage of Bangkok, the main transportation hub for the region.