1: Outdated Information
This edition came out a few days before my September-October 2007 trip to The Philippines. I found a copy at my local travel bookstore, and thought I had lucked out by getting the very latest freshest information possible. I was wrong. The book kept letting me down, and at the worst moments possible. A couple examples:
A) Manila - Hobbit House has a new location on Del Pilar street, some 20 blocks away from the previous location on Mabini. It moved on March 14, 2007, over 6 months before the book came out. If the book updated its research, I wouldn't have had to navigate through all the hustlers in Ermita on a Saturday night who wanted to charge me to give directions.
B) Manila - the national museums aren't open Tuesday, when I tried to visit. They haven't been in many years, according to staff. Ignore the schedule Rough Guide shows!
C) In Cebu City, the Persian Palate restaurant is nowhere near the location they show. Also, they neglect to mention that it's not a single restaurant. It's a a full blown chain of restaurants, with locations in every mall. It seems very doubtful all these restaurants got built so quickly that the book researchers couldn't have found out.
D) Also in Cebu, the "Great Han Palace" they describe doesn't seem to exist. The building itself seems to be called the "Great Han Palace", but the restaurant inside is called something else.
E) Airport - Departure tax is 750 pesos, not 550.
I could have saved myself time, taxi fares, and a lot of aggravation by finding a better book. Don't make my mistake when buying a travel book! Just because it's recently published doesn't mean the info is updated.
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