The Rough Guide to Hong Kong & Macau – Edition 6
February 15, 2010 by
Filed under China Travel Guide
Product Description
Synopsis Explore every corner of two of Asia’s most exciting destinations with the fully-revised sixth edition of the “Rough Guide to Hong Kong and Macau”. From shopping on The Golden Mile’ to the Ten Thousand Buddha’s Monastery – inspired by dozens of photos – the 20-page, full-colour introduction highlights all the things-not-to-miss’. In addition, there are two brand-new, 4-page, full-colour inserts: Cantonese Cuisine’ and Architecture’. The guide includes a new… More >>
This book gives ou a nice overview of the region, and incredible specific tips for visiting HK and Macau.
Rating: 5 / 5
The authors and the editor probably do not know much about written Chinese. I have not tested this extensively, but the Chinese translations that you are supposed to show to anyone who doesn’t speak English for directions only seem to make matters worse.
For instance, Luen Wo market is translated on page 154 as the name of a walled village which is in a completely different part of town. Just imagine the frustration.
Or, try and order a turnip cake at a dim-sum restaurant using the table at page 204 and you’ll get chicken feet. If you want to order chicken feet of course you end up with stuffed beancurd, but the good news is that if you order stuffed beancurd you reverse the spell and get your chicken feet back.
I have another minor gripe about the unjustifiable scarcity and lack of details of maps in this kind of guides, which makes this particular book not a very useful one for hiking (an activity that you are likely to engage in if you are staying more than 2 days in Hong Kong and like me you hate shopping) or even for walking around the city for that matter, for instance the pretty spectacular Bowen Road walk, or the even more obvious Victoria Peak walks. Unless of course you integrate with better maps, that are *freely available* on the Internet.
I think it’s high time that Rough Guide and its main competitor Lonely Planet start publishing some decent maps with their guide books, instead of wasting countless paragraphs trying to explain what can be visually obvious in an accurate map.
Other than that, the book mainly delivered and it was a pleasant enough read, so 3 stars seem appropriate.
Rating: 3 / 5
I didn’t use a guide much while I was there but when I did, I found my Frommer’s guide to be much more interesting, attractive and well structured.
I never use a guide to find restaurants, hotels or any of the major tourist attractions, as I can do all of that on my own. But I count on my guides to lead me to interesting things that I would never see if I didn’t have one – the out of the way spots. This book definitely didn’t help me with that and most of the things that it includes I could have figured out for myself in about the first 20 minutes of arriving in my hotel.
The Frommer’s guide on the other hand inspired me to venture into the unknown and see some really wonderful things that I wouldn’t have otherwise. But that’s just me and other people obviously like this book, so it probably just boils down to personal preference, just like most things!
Rating: 1 / 5
Great walking tours are included in this Rough Guide to Hong Kong and Macau-the directions are explicit and easy to follow and the places to which we ventured exceeded expectations. There were GREAT shopping tips for a shopping mecca and we scored on several fronts! This is a great way to introduce yourself to Hong Kong and Macau before you get there and a great way to bring what you read into reality. A must-buy for travel to Asia.
Rating: 5 / 5
I recommend this guide, it was quite useful.
The descriptions of various areas were quite accurate, and the maps were mostly very good. The one of Macau seemed to have some minor errors, but that place is very confusing to walk around, so it could have been me. Anyway, you want the maps in this book or something pretty good, because the free tourist map is basically worthless.
I really like Rough Guides, because their reviews are very honest and balanced, and they are excellent about cross-referencing recommended locations, restaurants, hotels, etc and maps in each book. This guide is up to the same high standards, so it was very easy to use.
I would recommend that the walking tours guide (available for free at the airport, etc) is a good supplement to this guide. I used it extensively.
Rating: 5 / 5