Customer Reviews

Laos

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I have recently completed a 12-month backpacking journey around the world, a trip that included Laos. In each of the 20-some countries I visited, the Lonely Planet I carried proved invaluable. However, after having read some of the other Amazon reviews of the LP Laos book before using it, I was expecting this particular guide-book to be worthless. But in fact, after using Cummings' book for nearly a month in Laos, I was pleasantly surprised to find it as useful as any other LP that I have used. Actually, expecting this guide-book to be useless, I brought along another Laos guide-book, which proved to be much less useful on the road when used side-by-side with the LP.
Not only did I find the accomodation and eating sections for popular locations as accurate and update as I would expect, but Cummings' did a fine job of briefly describing many off-the-beaten-track places, providing initial ideas for numerous adventures into the unknown.
And of course, as in any country to see the "real-thing", it is always rewarding to venture to places that you have not read about in a guide book. For this reason, I would certainly not criticize Cummings for not writing more.
All in all, in my opinion this book certainly meets the lofty standards set by Lonely Planet.
A bit of advice to would-be travelers: During my 12 months of diligently using Lonely Planet guides, I have been amazed by the travel-blunders made by fellow travelers who have carried travel guides, but have not used them. Some travelers perfer to do it "on their own", but I have seen numerous costly, time-consuming, and uncomfortable mistakes made that could have been easily avoided if they would have simply consulted the book in their hands. A little diligence goes a long ways.

Joe Cummings' 'Lonely Planet Laos' is the most pedantic and useless guidebook I've ever been unfortunate enough to use. Cummings seems desperate to show the reader how much he knows about the country, going off on endless tangents that lead nowhere and tell the reader nothing (especially in his 'Dangers and Annoyances' section). Does your average traveller really need to know how the licence plate system in Laos works? His information on hotels, restaurants and other attractions is shockingly out of date and inaccurate. I once used the 1997 edition, and I noticed that very little in the book has changed. Don't waste your money.

The problem with this guide is that, even though things have changed since the last revision, the guidebook hasn't.

I would strongly recommend the Rough Guide and a curious spirit over the Lonely Planet guide to Laos, even the new 4th edition. Either way you're going to contend with some bad information, but at least with the Rough guide you won't have to put up with Cummings' writing. I'm sure he's a brilliant scholar, but there are other reasons people go on vacation besides research.

Don't miss Luangphabang and the villages up and down the Mekong, whatever you do. Beyond that, everything in Laos is hit-and-miss. Relax and enjoy it. I've never had so much fun on a vacation in my entire life, and it was cheap as dirt, too.

It appears that the more Mr Cummings writes, the worse his pamhlets degrade. If you have an intense interest only in how to locate the cheapest noodle stands and flea invested "Hanoi Hiltons" this book is for you. If you desire to learn something of the culture, people, ethnic minorities and diverse locale of Laos, please look elsewhere. This book was of very limited use to me in a country that already has so little written of it.

Laos is an amazing place, almost without infrastructure, cars and factories. The Laotians are too poor even to have rich people. They sell roasted rats and crickets in the local markets. Joe Cummings does a great job desribing the history, culture and politics of the country, but ignore everything he says about places to stay and eat. Above all, don't take his words as the final truth. There is so much to see and experience that he misses. And whatever you do, make sure that you find a comfortable boat for that arduous journey up the Mekong.

I'm sorry, but did the author even go to Laos before writing this book? Don't get me wrong- Joe Cummings does an excellent job in his Thailand books, however, in Laos, he falls short. The descriptions are incorrect (and sure, things change but not that much) and the maps are totally off. Skip the bike routes (eg. the one to Buddha Park) in Vientiane, especially after the rainy season.