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Title: Hong Kong & Macau (City Guide)
ISBN: 1741046653
Author:
Andrew Stone
Publicate Date: 2008-02-01
Publish: 2008-02-01
List Price: $19.99
Average Customer Rating: 3.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $10.99
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $12.32
Amazon Merchant Price: $13.59
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| Customer Review: |
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1: a useful guidebook for a bustling city
I have visited both Hong Kong and Macau over the years and always turn back to this guide for a reliable reference, particularly for the maps and transport info, as their are many transport options here. There are some mistakes--some significant--as other reviewers have pointed out, but 99% of the content is useful and accurate, with insightful background information and great restaurant, sights, and outings recommendations.
All guidebooks are a snapshot in time--this book is no exception. Hong Kong and Macau are fast-paced and therefore always changing (part of the allure...), so the accommodation and eating sections are bound to change.
The pullout map has a few errors, but can generally be relied upon for getting around central HK when you want to leave the book in your hotel. Hopefully next edition's map will be better. A previous reviewer noted troubles finding the Peak Tram. The Admiralty map is downright incorrect--use the map of Central HK map instead. About the tourist bus: trust me, it's quicker and more enjoyable to walk.
The guide is particularly useful for information on accessing the long hiking trails around HK. I have used this info extensively.
About Macau: It's a small place and this has most of it, with great coverage of the restaurants and sites. There are too many good restaurants in Macau for all to be included...more to discover for yourself!
Overall, I highly recommend this book.
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2: The book is great, it's the pull out map that's off
I think the last review was very unfair towards the book, besides it's critique of the pull out map. I exclusively used the Lonely Planet Hong Kong City Guide on my recent trip to Hong Kong, and it was spot on every time I used it. From the time I used it to find free internet (the cafe it pointed me to was exactly where it promised and had free interent), to the step by step directions for getting to the famous Wishing Tree and 10,000 Buddah's Temple (two separate, hard-to-find locations), to the reviews and locations of restaurants I went to, to the places I slept, everything was 100% accurate. For some reason, who ever edited the pull out map did mess up a few times, many locations and streets on it are innacurate. But the maps inside the book are all accurate. Highly reccomended.
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3: 1* for accuracy, 3* for walking tours. 4* for background reading, THUMBS DOWN.
I just went to Hong Kong and Macau for 5 days. The book (Feb 2008 edition, so brand new)had some good background reading and has a pull out map in the back which was nice, until we realized it was inaccurate.
Our basic itinerary was: Day 1: travel/explore kowloon (where we stayed). Day 2, Disneyland AM, Hong Kong peak tram PM. Day 3: Explore hong kong island (AM and early afternoon), Ferry to Macau (afternoon-PM). Day 4: walking tour of Macau, Day 5, Ferry to hong kong airport and fly home. As you can see, we didn't have a lot of time and needed to just hit the highlights.
In general, I thought the walking tours we did were pretty good, though in the future, I'd photocopy those sections. It was hard to walk and look at the book. We only made it halfway through the kowloon walk but it was nice.
After going to disneyland (that section is inaccurate in the book as well), we took the MTR to central and attempted to go to the Peak. There were a few signs on street corners but we followed the map. Seeing that the base of the tram was still halfway up the hill, we opted to take a taxi instead of following signs. We hopped in one, asked for the peak tram, pointed on the map, and the driver, not speaking english or recognizing the location, wouldn't take us. This happened again with the next driver. So we started walking up the hill. But we found a taxi along the way- and to our surprise he took us down the hill and about 6 blocks! OH YES, the #1 tourist attraction in HK is NOT in the right place on the lonely planet map. We also discovered that there's a tourist bus that will take you there from the star ferry. Would have been nice to know that. There seems to be room for improvement in this department- they tell you how to use all the forms of public transport, but not a lot on how to get from one to the other (the ferry terminal is not near the subway, for example)
Day 3- after exploring the city, we wanted to try one of the "highly recommended" restaurants in the book. Arriving at the location after a fair walk, it wasn't there. The security guard at the building informed us that it HAD been there, but there was another restaurant now. Our time wasted, we ended up eating in a mall at about 3pm.
I did enjoy the walking tour of Macau and for that reason I'm not giving it 1*. But even it had basic flaws. For example, it tells you to stop at the fort "before climbing the hill". Actually, as with most forts, it is at the TOP of the hill.
In terms of accomodations reviews in Macau, don't bother, the construction is evolving so fast, no book could keep up.
To sum up, we didn't have a lot of time and we lost a fair amount of it (and general satisfaction) because of this book. NOT RECOMMENDED. We kept wishing we had the Groovy Map to Hong Kong (love the Bangkok one- should have ordered one!).
Groov HONG KONG Map 'N' Guide
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