Reviews (8)

Good overall guidebook...
I found this book to be extremely helpful in covering all the bases of transport, taxes, tipping, typical business hours, history, background, and a good overview of what's where, and how to get there.Often times, we'd have questions about things like poverty level, health coverage, average income, quality of water -- and found that the guide pretty much answered all of those, and more.
Great Guide!
This was the first time I bought a travel book from Lonely Planet.I loved it because it provides a historical as well as a modern background on the cities being visited.The recommendations for dinner, site-seeting, etc were great!The only thing I would've added is a rating of the top sites to see if you are only in the city for a short time.

Injustice!
This LP guide is a pretty good guide to HK and Macau. Being a foodie, I think their food guide section does not do HK's gastronomical scene justice! Beautiful food galore on the islands and LP can't even manage to cover half of that wonder. Oh well ;) Otherwise, it is quite a comprehensive guide to what's there to see around HK and Macau. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - China    2. Reference - Guides (General)    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign    5. Hong Kong    6. Macao    7. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (3)

Good Little Book
Pretty good little book for first time travelers. I bought this book and took it with me when I was in Hong Kong last month. You can just throw in your backpack while in Hong Kong and use it when needed.

Bad attitude ruins the book
This book would have gotten 4 or 4.5 stars, if not for the negative attitude that the writers display when writing about Hong Kong's various attractions."Act impressed"? Gee, thanks for that advice.How Lonely Planet.It's a nice book, unfortunately ruined by the tone, which sounds like it was written by a bunch of bored expats who mainly sit around in bars and binge drink.If you want to buy this, then be prepared for the bad vibes this book gives off, and please do not let it ruin a wonderful experience in Hong Kong.

Another Great Eyewitness Travel Guide
I swear by DK Eyewitness guides.Not only for pre-trip planning...but for use on location.Both domestic and international (own the typical...Italy, France, etc).
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Subjects:  1. Asia - China    2. Guidebooks    3. Hong Kong (China)    4. Travel    5. Travel - Foreign    6. Travel / Asia / China   

Reviews (1)

Great guide
Just got back from my trip to Hong Kong, Macau, and some areas of China.This guide was invaluable and perfect for my needs.The maps and highlights are great.The photos are colorful and plentiful.I chose this guide over the Lonely Planet because Lonely Planet seemed to have more listings, like hotels and restaurants.My hotel accommodations were already taken care of, so I didn't need that. The Insight Guide gives a good recitation of the history and the contemporary culture.I highly recommend it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - China    2. Guangzhou (China)    3. Guidebooks    4. Hong Kong (China)    5. Macau (China : Special Administrative Region)    6. Travel    7. Travel - Foreign    8. Travel Guides    9. Hong Kong    10. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (6)

Handy and complete
Just got back from a quick jump over to HK and Macau for business and I brought this book along. Contrary to some other readers reviews, I found the book absolutely invaluable! The walking tours were quite insightful and with good directions and time estimates -I never got lost. Some of my most memorable experiences were from the walking tours in HK. The information was accurate and concise. It provided everything I needed to know about getting to the outlying islands on my free day, getting to the airport and getting around town. Nightlife recommendations were great for the foreign visitor on business. I compared the recommendations to that in Lonely Planet and my own experience and I thought the Frommer's was a lot more true to the scene than Lonely Planet. I didn't run into any snags while using the Frommer's book. I also took a side trip to Macau with the book and had a great time. Info was accurate, although the maps a little inadequate, but nothing a quick stop into the tourist office couldn't solve. I'd highly recommend the book and I'd pass it along to any colleagues or friends who might be going to HK since it never failed me once.

Woefully Inadequate
If there is a hell for travel writers, I hope Beth Reiber will burn in it. The useful information in this book could be condensed into a postage stamp size guide: One good Dim Sum Restaurant, one good Macanese Restaurant and one walk in The Western District. I recently traveled with this book to Hong Kong. I had a Hong Kong resident as a companion and still got lost using this book. Ms. Reiber recommends a walking tour of Kowloon, but does not bother to place the last four destinations on the included map. Nor does she say that you will encounter two rivers of humanity flowing in both directions that will turn a fifteen minute walk into a half hour hike. It is easier for salmon to swim upstream to spawn than it is to find the Bird Market in Kowloon. She also recommends a Kowloon park that is not even on the visitor map! (Just hop on the bus, she says. It stops across from the park. Hah!) We took the bus to Stanley after seeing Victoria Peak. The bus ride is interesting but time consuming. First time travelers on a three day holiday will never be able to complete her suggested three day tour. Taxis speed things up at night, but get snarled in traffic during the day. I was there six days and saw most of the things on her list, including a side trip to Macao, but only by the grace of God did my Hong Kong friend and I find the ruins of Saint Paul's Cathedral, so inadequate were the included maps. As for the unnecessary words: Anyone can walk into a four star hotel and find a great restaurant. If you follow Ms. Reiber's restaurant suggestions you'll be eating either Very Expensive or Expensive (her categories) most of the time. If you like to shop, which I do not, I'm sure you'll find Ms. Reiber's book helpful; she drags you through every major complex of shops on her walking tours. Rick Steves she ain't. So if you are planning a trip to Hong Kong you can buy this book, but get some good maps as a supplement and draw out your routes in advance. A few things Ms. Reiber doesn't mention: The locals seem to think that tea is a disinfectant for chop sticks and soup spoons. Bring a pack of Kleenex with you to a neighborhood restaurant, because napkins are not provided. And forget about breathing clean air while you are in Hong Kong. However, the city is full of delights and I intend to return, now that I know my way around.

This book is not updated. Many names dont exist any more.
What have the frommers done is Just duplicating the old edition with a new name. This so called 2001 edition " frommer's hong kong 6th eddition" has so many names I could not look up on the internet mainly because they were sold to another company with a different name. The air lines they suggested dont even fly to hong kong any more. Many restaurants were nonexistant. Things are changing rapidly in Hong Kong. Frommers has not kept up with those changes. Seems like a [price] rip off scam to me. Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - China    2. Guidebooks    3. Hong Kong (China)    4. Macau    5. Travel    6. Travel - Foreign    7. Travel Guides    8. Hong Kong    9. Travel & holiday guides    10. Travel / Asia / China   

Reviews (1)

Much Ado About Nothing...
I bought this book for a trip to Bejing and Shanghai - and was quite disappointed. There is nothing in it that is not in other guidebooks. Several of the recommendations were hyped. And the attitude - snobby, awful. I'd suggest the Luxe guides, which not only tell you where to shop but also suggest places to eat, to drink, etc. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - China    2. Commerce    3. Consumer Buying Guides    4. Europe - France    5. Travel    6. Travel - Foreign    7. Travel Guides    8. China    9. Consumer guides & advice    10. Hong Kong    11. Travel / Asia / China   

Subjects:  1. Asia - China    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Hong Kong    5. Travel & holiday guides    6. Travel / Asia / China   

Subjects:  1. Travel    2. China    3. Living & working abroad   

Subjects:  1. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (3)

Useful, but there's more to know (and other books can help)
When I lived in Hong Kong in the 90's, Wei's book was a useful introduction to ways to behave around Hong Kong hosts and clients.But the book suffers from a typical Hong Kong problem, the reluctance to prepare the first-time visitor for the more unpleasant "underbelly" of Hong Kong society, which any westerner has to deal with.There is a general sense of insecurity in Hong Kong society which affects all interactions with westerners, business or social, and grows out of the tragic influx of millions of refugees fleeing China to the safety of British Hong Kong - this aspect of Hong Kong is not dealt withby Wei, but is dealt with in Jan Morris's Hong Kong (which contains much other fascinating information).A knowledge of this tragic history (which is often too painful for Hong Kong Chinese to discuss - like any criticism of Hong Kong, it causes loss of "face"), is essential for any understanding of how the place works.The unpleasant fallout from this historical situation, in terms of the societal frustration and bad public behaviour it causes, is dealt with brilliantly in Bo Yang's The Ugly Chinaman and the Crisis in Chinese Culture.Two novels of Hong Kong, Timothy Mo's The Monkey King and Paul Theroux's Kowloon Tong, offer suprisingly accurate takes on many actions and attitudes that the vistor and short term resident in Hong Kong will encounter, but can again be too painful to discuss.All the above books deal with things Betty Wei doesn't, and knowing about them will enrich your understanding of this interesting city during your visit/domicile there. Also helpful for understanding Hong Kong is the "classic" Hong Kong book, Myself a Mandarin, by Austin Coates.

dated but beneficial cultural reference
While I've not been to Hong Kong, I've had supervisors and co-workers who were Hong Kong persons, and have done some reading about this unique cultural mix.Thus I can't speak for the accuracy of all details except to say that the ones I can verify are accurate. Good historical information, but time for an update
This book contains a lot of good historical information on Hong Kong, but it came out before the biggest historical event of recent years -- the return of Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule. I hope the authors areworking on an updated version. It would also benefit from the inclusion ofa good map to give people planning their first visit to Hong Kong a senseof proportion and location. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Reference - General    2. Travel    3. Travel - General   

Subjects:  1. Asia - China    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Travel Guides    5. Hong Kong    6. Macao    7. Travel & holiday guides    8. Travel / Asia / China   

Subjects:  1. Asia - China    2. General    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign    5. Travel - General    6. Travel Guides    7. Hong Kong    8. Travel & holiday guides    9. Travel / General   

Subjects:  1. Asia - China    2. Asia - Far East    3. Restaurants    4. Travel    5. Travel - Foreign    6. Hong Kong    7. Interior design    8. Public buildings: civic, commercial, industrial, etc    9. Restaurant & pub guides   

Reviews (5)

Condescending, racist, out of date
Gershman's entries for Shanghai--a place that's truly heaven for shoppers--were awful. The places she recommended were tourist traps, her comments were perfunctory, and her information was woefully out of date (not by one year, but by several). There wasn't one valid tip in that entire section of the book. Hey, if she doesn't like shopping, eating in Shanghai or staying there, then why is someone forcing her to write a book on it. Of the five guides I bought before traveling there, this is far and away the worst!

Not ideal for true shoppers
A bunch of my girlfriends and I live in Hong Kong and are serious shoppers in Asia. We found this book to be outdated, commercialized and definitely not clued in to where the best shopping lies, particularly for Shanghai and Beijing. There are so many wonderful boutiques which were not included. You are likely to get the same information from the local hotel concierge if not more.

out of date and incorrect
Advice given regards places and items was either out of date orjust plain wrong. China, especially in cities likeBeijing and Shanghai, is changing so fast I suggest using only guides with current year copyright dates. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - China    2. Consumer Buying Guides    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign    5. Travel Guides    6. China    7. Retail sector    8. Travel & holiday guides    9. Travel / Asia / China   

Reviews (1)

review taken from kee magazine, hong kong, by rebecca walker
The Architecture of Density
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Subjects:  1. General    2. Photo Techniques    3. Photography    4. Subjects & Themes - Travel - General    5. Travel - General    6. Hong Kong    7. Photographs: collections    8. Photography / General    9. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (3)

very disappointing
The cover of this map has the nerve to use the word "extensive." Ha!This map is seriously lacking in detail. The fold-out maps inside the "Top 10 Hong Kong" book I ordered were *much* more detailed. I don't think I will even bother taking this with me to HK.A huge waste of money.

nice maps, but get the book instead
This is a nice map (actually set of maps of tourist areas and overview), but is is essentially the same as the maps that come inside the Lonely Planet Hong Kong condensed guidebook (inside the front and back covers). As I always had with me the condensed guidebook while in HK, the maps were superfluous.

good tourist map
I bought this map expecting a street map for the whole of Hong Kong, as I will be moving there in the near future. The map only shows streets & tourist attractions for Kowloon, Central, Wan Chai & Causeway Bay. It doesnt cover the west, east or south side of Hong Kong Island at all, so is of very little use to me.Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - China    2. Asia - Southeast    3. Maps & Road Atlases    4. Travel    5. Travel - Foreign    6. Hong Kong    7. Travel / road maps & atlases   

Subjects:  1. Asia - China    2. HotelsInnsetc.    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign    5. Hong Kong    6. Travel & holiday guides   

Subjects:  1. Asia - China    2. Etiquette    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign    5. Travel Guides    6. Hong Kong    7. Travel & holiday guides    8. Travel / Asia / China   

Subjects:  1. Asia - Central    2. Asia - China    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign    5. Travel Guides    6. Hong Kong    7. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (1)

Old Hong Kong - Some great historic Pictures
I have read the book and it has many intereting pictures especially if you know what Hong Kong looks like now. Also it depicts what life was like. In all a high quality interesting book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - China    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign   

Subjects:  1. Asia - China    2. Maps & Road Atlases    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign