A completely different question, but am I the only person that noticed Lonely Planet is sometimes 'wrong'? (Or at least, the 2008 South America on a shoestring-edition often gave me bad advise. Especially the Paraguay section was far off. It listed a number of museums that didn't exist. Asked about 10 locals and none of them had ever heard from them. Also Cusco, among other places, could have a better description.)
Reply to this It listed a number of museums that didn't exist.
LOL
That is bad! Were those museums in the imagination of the author of that Lonely Planet guide, or what. :D
Reply to this There was a hotel in Rio, Brazil listed in the Lonely Planet guide when I was there. The hotel seemed to have existed at some time, but was a delapidated ghost building when my taxi pulled up to it.
There was also a hotel some where in Peru that was closed for I dont know how long, by the time I go there.
Mel
Reply to this I have no clue what happened to the museum (or any of the other in Asuncion for that matter). All I know is that it's supposedly a great history museum lying in the middle of one of Asuncions suburbs (which I didn't know until after I took the long, 3 hour walk from Plaza de Armas to the museum, only to find houses and Paraguayans looking at me strangely. Later told my Paraguayan 'family' about my experience and they all laughed. 'You went to visit a museum in Paraguay? In Paraguay? Do we have museums? Since when? Anyway, they had never heard of the museum.'
About the Cusco section (just in case someone headed for Cusco reads this): It's a generally good description, some good places missing, some places listed that don't exist. The usual. Only the recommendation Clinica Pardo worries me a bit. I lived in Cusco for 3.5 months last year and was recommended to the clinic by other travelers/the Spanish school where I was taking lessons. A private clinic with English speaking staff who could send the bill directly to your insurence company (the only clinic in Cusco offering this service). It seemed a solid choice.
However, 3.5 months later in which I had the pleasure of visiting Clinica Pardo myself, hear stories from over 40 friends/tourist who also visited the clinic (one of whom actually worked there and confirmed my suspicions) I think differently. I would never recommend Clinica Pardo to anyone, not only because it's outrageously expensive compared to other (good) clinics in Cusco, but also because they have made too many mistakes, thereby endangering the lives of my friends. Actually, one of them almost died as a result of one of their mistakes. At some point it seemed they randomly diagnosed their patients with bacterial infection, parasite and/or salmonella.
I don't understand why Lonely Planet or any of the hostels in Cusco recommend this clinic (besides it's obvious advantages). I can only think it is a result of lack of knowledge. As long as a clinic has a good reputation (which Clinica Pardo had last year), and a traveler doesn't stay long enough to be able to see the bigger picture.. how would you know whether a clinic is good or bad (considering the situations in that specific country)?
Reply to this I think for the most part the guides are fairly descent but as long as you are using it as a guide. I think talking to people in town or other travelers give great recommendations. After someone pointed out to me the publishing cycle I was not so frustrated. I've learned that they only reprint every 2 or 3 years so most of the info is 3 to 4 years old once it gets published.
When we were in Bangkok we decide to go to one of the nicer restaurants that was advertised. We took a long cab ride to get there to find it was something else. We wander in the beauty salon next door and they just happened to have business cards with the new address on it. We hopped into another cab and found it. The time spent was well worth it. The ambiance was very nice and the food was excellent.
I've gained some great info from these blogs. I wish more people would include restuarant and museum ideas. I think it is getting better.
Exploring is the fun part. If you want it to go exactly the way the guide book outlines then you've lost your sense of adventure.
Reply to this I think it is always best to speak to local people or other travellers about locations/travel info/tour companies/prices etc beacuse lonely planet peru/brazil at least seem to have out of date or incorrect info. Ie if you want to get the train from santa cruz in bolivia to the brazilian border thre are trains that leave at diff times each day but the best one sells out early and goes tues, thru, sun so u need to go to train station day before and queue from 7am. The guide says there are trains at 8am daily except sunday and there are diff classes on the train and this is not so! Also a place rcommended to eat in Cuzco (cocoloco) had mice! The tour companies listed can be expensive too for example in lonely planet it recommends colca trek in arequipa but their tour was 700 soles compared with 150 everywhere else and cheaper one was v good! I think it is best for the getting to/away sections to help ou navigate more generally around a country but again if you speak the language you wouldnt need one at all.
Reply to this While travelling in China I have the impression that a lot of the advice is not based on first hand experience. For example when going to Huang Shan it was said that it is a two hour comfortable walk to the summit, not stating that it is 900 meters difference in height and it is many many thousands steps on concrete staircases. I don't find that comfortable at all. And it took us four hours to do it. In addition the book didn't mention that the most interesting part is actually ON the summit, and that is another 6-10 hours walking (again on stairs). Another example was a suggestion that you could walk round the West Lake in Hangzhou in one day - I have spent several days enjoying all the parks and paths. I also disagree with the promotion of Yangshuo and Dali which are really just awful tourist traps. That is why I think this forum is a great place because the blogs are real first hand experiences and you can judge the character of the person to see whether a place is for you or not. I also sometimes get annoyed by the self righteous comments - I am more interested in facts tha what the writer thinks. On the other hand I still use LP and re. China one has to realize that things change fast - and probably elsewhere as well. And I don't think there is a better alternative for most countries. However , if you are interested in culture the Blue Guide series have some excellent books - the one on Mexico was superb. Though it didn't give much of information on hotels etc.
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