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I like my guides to give my some good historical and cultural information in a concise but insightful manner. Take Thai temples. First time visitors are typically struck by their stunning beauty. But what do all the architectural forms mean? What aspects of Buddhism are contained within their design? You could read whole volumes on this at your local university. The Handbook, however has a two page spread that will get you up to speed fast with an understanding of the basic terminology and historical usage. To my mind this is what separates the Handbook from the more popular Lonely Planet travel survival guides. These "backpacker bibles" may be very good at where to get the cheapest rooms and meals, but really fall short on what you are really seeing while you are there.
Bangkok is both heaven and hell. It's city of fabulous restaurants, fantastic shopping, pristine temples and frantic sex. It's polluted, noisy, smelly, ill-planned and hot, hot, hot. And It's traffic is world famous. We used to joke that you could do anything you wanted in Bangkok; you just couldn't get there. (Over the last few years with the advent of many new tollways and since Dec. 99 the overhead trains this has really abated.)
I've used Parkes book a lot - along with my reprint of the "1928 Guide to Bangkok" which is great for my historical expeditions. And I have found myself in Thailand every year since I've left in 1990.
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"What is poetry? Carl Sandberg asks in the delightful "Short Talk" that opens this volume. How is a poem made? If it can be explained, is it really a poem? Should children write poetry? He then goes on to present his own captivating, often amusing poems. Dealing with everyday themes that young readers will enjoy, he writes about skyscrapers, hats, tactors, and buffaloes; pumpkins, weeds, cabbages, and birds. There are groups of poems about children, wind and sea, and night; and a number of Sandberg's best-known powems, including "Fog."
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This "new" edition of the Philippines Handbook, published in late 1999, is, however, a sharp contrast to Moon's normal standards.
Sloppily edited and badly out of date its errors are too numerous to mention, the accomodation sections being especially unreliable. I checked out accomodation comments for several cities which I personally know well including Manila and Cebu and the data in this book are either very out of date, very incomplete, or just plain wrong. Information on shopping in both Manila and Cebu is similarly outdated or just plain absent.
No travel guide, unfortunately, takes this interesting, challenging and rapidly developing country seriously. The "new" (1977) Lonely Planet guide is little better than the Moon guide
In summary, if you have an older edition of either guide, use it. These "new" editions are a sham.
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