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Summary: Bali Handbook
Review: Bill Dalton, internationally acclaimed American travel writer, tour leader, and founder of Moon Publications, wrote the bible of Balinese travel drawing on twenty-six years of Indonesian experience (thirty visits and a total of six years spent on the islands). Jam-packed with incredibly detailed information, the first 310 pages prepare you for the journey of a lifetime with chapters on the land (topography, environment, and climate), flora and fauna (domestic animals, birds, reptiles, sea life, endangered species, flowers, trees), history, government, the economy, and local industries. Dalton quenches your thirst for cultural knowledge with chapters on the people (the caste system, marriage, children, village life), the language (plus a glossary of words and short phrases in Bahasa Indonesia), and religion (priests, temples, cremation ceremonies). Balinese creativity is honored with additional units on traditional and modern art, crafts (woodcarving, maskmaking, stonecarving, textiles, plaiting and weaving, gold and silver works), music, and the performing arts (dance venues and schools and the wayang kulit shadow puppet theatre). Dalton gives you everything you ever wanted to know about Bali, from white raja Mads Lange to the toothfiling ceremony to shaggy Barong masks.
In the second half of the tome, Dalton treks you all around Bali, regency by regency, highlighting the important sights, beaches, nightlife, shopping, restaurants, recreation, transportation, and accommodation at all levels from homestays (the thrust is here) to luxury. Dalton leaves no Balinese stone unturned with his treatment of festivals and events, sports (snorkeling, surfing), health issues and concerns (including folk remedies), and visa/money practicalities. The depth and breadth of research is mindboggling, the reservoir of knowledge and amount of information is encyclopedic. Both travel guide extraordinaire and total reference book, this is an astonishing achievement: the travel parts may lose their currency (until the next edition), but the cultural course work/input is timeless. Dalton does not let you travel alone deaf, dumb, and blind-read him and you will not only see, but understand the Balinese universe pulsating all around you.
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Summary: BEST GUIDE BOOK EVER ON BALI!!!
Review: Having been to this magical place 5 times now and perusing many travel books on this land. I would place this as the number one book of choice for the area. The background of history and the covrage on the people make this the best trvel tome for this destination. It will give you a solid foundation and a good idea on what to expect when you arrive there. Even if you do not end up going there you would save alot of bucks by just vicariously experiencing it theough the shear reading of it!!!Good Luck!! Ron If you do get there you must try the "soto ayam", the best chicken soup around; better than grandma's!!
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Summary: Best Bali Guide
Review: I was so excited about my first trip to Bali that I used 4 guides. By far, the Moon Guide helped me most to understand Bali and the Balinese. I was even able to impress the cab drivers with my new found understanding of Balinese religion, culture and customs. Although I disagreed with many of the hotel and restaurant recommendations - the real reason for visiting Bali is to get in contact with a culture that exists nowhere else in the world. This book will help you do that better than any other. The section on quick indonesian language is very helpful and the Balinese love tourists who try to adopt their language greetings. The maps are mediocre, but there are no good maps of Bali - most roads are nameless and unsigned. I was so impressed by Dalton's guide that I immediately looked for another moon guide for my next trip.
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Summary: The Best Bali Guide
Review: I've read virtually every guide out there and Bill Dalton's Handbook is the most comprehensive and compact source of information on travel to and in Bali. If you are an armchair traveler in need of visual stimulation to spur the imagination, however, this book is not for you. Far apart from the Eyewitness/Knopf style high-gloss photography combined with very little travel info, this guide provides current, practical info on everything to do with Bali: history, geography, culture, places to go, how to go, when, where to eat.... You name it, it's in here. But if you're looking for full-color photos and a stunning layout, go elsewhere.
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Summary: Great historical overview,terrible info./maps
Review: This book made for a great read on the flight over. Being a history buff I really enjoyed it and it gave me a great sense of the place. But when I got to the island I found that the book was just about useless. I got lost all over the place, which for some is half the fun but not myself. People with the LP's-"southeast asia on a shoestring"fared much better than I at half the volume. I'm all for for making an effort at understanding the country you will visit, but a guidebook that can't guide me...
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