Taiwan

Rating:
Summary: J. Holbrook
Review: This book had excellent pictures and background information. For a resource to read before you go it is informative and helpful but as a resource on the ground it lacks some details. I did find the resources in the very back helpful. I used the book to plan the generals of my trip but relied on tour gides and local friends for the details. I liked this book, it was helpful and I'm glad I bought it but I don't recommend it to be your only resource on Taiwan.

Rating:
Summary: Nice pictures, but not so useful
Review: This guide is full of pretty pictures and nice background text, but practically useless on the ground. For all the information that this book contains you will have a hard time getting where you want to go. Unless your destination is on the MRT (subway) or Taipei City buses, there are no directions. The maps are so general that only major highways are included. Forget trying to navigate street level. Worst of all, many of the destinations are named in English and the Romanized Chinese, but there aren?t any characters for you to point at when conversing locals. Taiwanese taxi drivers are great, but that won't help if you can't tell them where to go!