China: the Silk Routes

Rating:
Summary: Press reviews:
Review: 'A heroic one-man enterprise' Daily Telegraph (London)

'This book is thorough on a huge swathe of Asia, stretching from the Chinese capital to the very heard of Central Asia' The Independent on Sunday (London)

'Excellent' The Sunday Telegraph (London)

'The best series of them all' The Sunday Times (London)

Rating:
Summary:

From the heart of China to Central Asia in one book
Review:

This book tells you everything you need to know to get from Xi'an and Beijing in the east to Islamabad, Almaty, and Bishkek in the west, not only by the main routes but by a variety of back roads not covered by other guides (including even the most hardened budget guide). Historical and cultural material includes readable introductions to the traders, explorers, pilgrims, spies, military expeditions, and migrations that preceded you up the Silk Routes--more than enough to keep you diverted on long train journeys. Immensely detailed practical information helps with acquiring awkward visas, deciphering Chinese menus, buying tickets, avoiding overcharging, picking the right hotels, and speaking simple Mandarin phrases. The Chinese characters are given for every city, sight, restaurant, hotel, and street name mentioned in the text, and every name that appears in Romanised Chinese is tone-marked to help with pronunciation. For independent travellers, the way to reach out-of-town sights by public transport is described in detail (even where the existence of such transport is officially denied), and reviewed accommodation includes numerous new rock-bottom and low-budget hotels overlooked elsewhere, as well as a selection of good-value hotels in all other price ranges. Restaurants reviewed include everything from street market food to those with expensive local specialities (and there are detailed instructions on how to eat them, too).

This is the guide I wish I'd had when I first began travelling in China 12 years ago. It has taken two years of desk research and travel to prepare, and if you like your descriptions of sights to be more than 'may be worth checking out' but also more than a list of historical facts, or if you want to have enough practical information to be confident of travelling by yourself on either main routes or obscure back roads, then this is the book for you.

You're welcome to join a free Internet mailing list called 'The Oriental-List' which I run for the discussion of travel in China and its near neighbours. To subscribe, write to [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Worth it's weight in gold!
Review: Last fall, I traveled on the Silk Road, from Uzbekistan through Western China to Xian, with two companions. This was far and away the best travel guide we used. Not only did it guide us to the best accomodations available in out of the way places, but it also gave us excellent practical information wherever we were. Because we did not speak the local language, we relied on this excellent book to give us interesting background and historical info. When communications were all but impossible, I would open the book and point to the relevant phrases written in Chinese characters, and we were able to get what we needed! This book is worth its weight in gold for anyone traveling independently in this part of the world.

Rating:
Summary: Worth it's weight in gold!
Review: Last fall, I traveled on the Silk Road, from Uzbekistan through Western China to Xian, with two companions. This was far and away the best travel guide we used. Not only did it guide us to the best accomodations available in out of the way places, but it also gave us excellent practical information wherever we were. Because we did not speak the local language, we relied on this excellent book to give us interesting background and historical info. When communications were all but impossible, I would open the book and point to the relevant phrases written in Chinese characters, and we were able to get what we needed! This book is worth its weight in gold for anyone traveling independently in this part of the world.

Rating:
Summary: a mixed bag
Review: One nice thing I can say about this guidebook is that the glossary in the back, as well as the micro maps provided of various regions, were extremely useful and tailored specifically for tourists ignorant of Chinese culture such as myself.
The two biggest problems are that it is outdated and that the information and coverage is inadequate. If you use this guide alone for Beijing, as we foolishly did, you'll be missing out a lot. Even in Eastern Turkistan (Xinjiang) a tremendous number of historical sites were left out in Kashgar and Yerken. If you're just interested in trekking and adventure traveling and the history and culture isn't that important, then you can go ahead with this book and the Lonely Planet guide to Central Asia. However, if that's your attitude you're really missing out on a lot and it's not worth all that money to come to this distant corner of the Earth.
For East Turkistan, the small section in the Lonely Planet Central Asia guide was much more useful for purely practical information (such as hotels and restaurants) than the considerably larger section in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Good for your feet......and intellect
Review: Two great virtues make this an excellent guide indeed. First, it is a really useful planner in that it contains sufficient details for you to map your routes, pick your transports, accomodation, eating places, etc. Alongside are also well written sections on the history and other aspects that an inquiring traveller demands and appreciates. Both the traveller/writer and the publisher are to be heartily congratulated

Rating:
Summary: This book is great!!
Review: We spent two months in NW China this summer and used this book so much that we threw away my other guide book (It is a very lonely one now). We finally left China: the Silk Routes with another traveller in Xiahi as we left the Silk Route regions. It is simply the best guide book for the Silk Road available, listing locations and towns that are not yet covered in other books, plus great essays on historical areas and the sites. It also has a handy index (with Chinese characters) of food, phrases, and other useful words to ease communications.