China River Cruises - Guide Books

[patw]

We are preparing for our Viking River Cruise/Tour to China May 1 2005. I find that many of the books I use for Europe are not available for China.

 

What are the most helpful guide books that you have found for China?

 

Thanks!

 

Pat

[new_cruiser]

I used mainly Lonely Planet. It provided very good information about places to see and transportation in the cities we were visiting plus general China information. We went to a couple of the restraunts in it and were happy with them too.

 

It also did a good job on city maps (especially for the smaller cities we visited). I copied the maps at double size for easier reading when out and about. The print quality was very good so they blew up nicely. The key with the maps has the place names in Chinese characters and in English. I used it a number of times to show a taxi driver where we wanted to go.

 

We also used another book which I think was Fordors. It had very large sections for the major cities (too large I thought as it made it hard to review information) and only very brief information on the smaller cities like Chengdu. The balance of information in Lonely Planet was better.

 

Ususally I would supplement Lonely Planet with another guide because I want more upscale hotel recommendations than Lonely Planet provides, but with a package tour, you really don't need that.

[Gypsy025]

Although not a guide book, I would very much recommend a book "River Town-Two Years on The Yangtze", by Peter Hessler. Hessler was a Peace Corps volunteer in the second half of the 1990's teaching English and American literature at Fuling University. The book gives a great insite to the River area.

[patw]

Thanks to both of you, Gypsy and New Cruiser, for your suggestions. Although I am famaliar with the Lonely Planet books, I have not used them often. I will check it out.

I am intrigued by the River Town-Two Years on The Yangtze", by Peter Hessler, a Peace Corps volunteer. It sounds like good background reading.

Thanks for your ideas.

Pat

[new_cruiser]

By the way, I'm curious about which guide books you favor for Europe.

 

I have a method for choosing guide books. First I think of some of the questions I have. Then I go to Borders, get a latte, gather one of each guide book for the area I'm visiting and find a spot to settle down. Then I look for the answers to the questions in each guide book. I buy the one or two books that did the best job.

 

Some guide books are visually very pleasing but when you try to use them they are too shallow or difficult to use. By actually trying to use them I get a better idea of which ones will be practical for me.

[mmaskaly]

Our group just finished the Yangtze River Tour. Amongst us we had 4 tour books. The Lonely Planet Book was the best of the 4. River Town is an excellent book to get a feel of how the river was before the dam. Hope this helps.

 

Mike

[patw]

By the way, I'm curious about which guide books you favor for Europe.

 

 

I like Michelin Green Guides as a rule but I use several based on the destination. I like the maps and layouts in the DK Eyewitness Guides but they seem to lack the depth.

 

I usually get all of the books our library has on a destination and then go through them and decide which I want to buy. We have an excellent library system and this allows me to explore more books than my visits to Borders. However, I still enjoy the visits to the Border's travel section. I usually take only one guide book on trips but I also copy pages from some of the books that I buy and then discard them during the trip after use. This helps to cut down on the weight of my bag.

 

We also enjoy travel videos from the library.

 

I like your idea of thinking of questions and then searching for answers. I'll try it. Great idea!

 

Pat

[unberwoob]

Pat,

I would suggest "China Guide" by Ruth Lor Malloy, by open road publishing. It is very comprehensive and she has a webstite for updates. It was the best book I found for our tour last year.

Dennis

[patw]

Pat,

I would suggest "China Guide" by Ruth Lor Malloy, by open road publishing. It is very comprehensive and she has a webstite for updates. It was the best book I found for our tour last year.

Dennis

 

Dennis,

Thanks for the suggestion. I checked our library and they are transfering it to my branch so I should have it by Monday.

 

I really appreciate all of the information that everyone on the boards pass along. There is just so much infomation and so many people who are willing to share.

Thanks and Happy Travels!

Pat

[tommui987]

I have no recommendations as to guide books to China.

 

However, we just return from the Viking Cruise - Imperial Treasures of China - which essentially was Beijing and terminating in Shanghai. We signed up for the Shanghai extension. Other than the Shanghai extension, things were pretty well all scheduled for the land portion in Beijing, Xian, Wuhan and Shanghai. The other times you were on the Century Star and when you were not in a port, you were cruising down the Yangtze.

 

The extension was when we have a lot of free time. Unless you break away from the tours set up for you (which is a mistake if you are a first time visitor to China), there is not much free time to explore on your own.

 

(And if there is not much free time to explore, you really don't need a guide book! :-)

 

Incidentally, if you have the extension or free time in Shanghai, do visit the Shanghai Museum.