Beware of the Lonely Planet China

I own the 8th edition, August 2002 copy of the Lonely Planet (LP), China guide. I hate it. The only reason I haven't thrown it out yet is, well, for sentimental value I guess.

The newest edition of the LP China guide is coming out in the next 2 weeks to a month, depending on where you live.

As a relatively seasoned China traveller, I urge my readers NOT to buy it. Why would I say such a nasty thing after the LP China guide has provided me hundreds of hours of reading entertainment and guided me the wild Chinese landscape?

Let me give you a few reasons, using the Dalian portion of the LP guide (since I'm most familiar with Dalian)as examples:

1. I have found that a lot of the information in LP is simply not true.

Ex: LP China states that there is the #801 bus in Dalian that costs 20RMB and takes you on a 2 hour tour of the city.

Reality: Of course, this is not true nor was it ever true. There is a #801 bus but it just runs from ZhongShan Square 中上广场 down to Hei Shi Jiao 黑石礁area close to the seaside.

2.I've found that a lot of the information is inaccurate or out of date.

Ex: Prices of train/plane/bus/ship tickets as well as hotel rooms and entrance fees to tourist sites are way off.

Reality: China is rapidly developing, not only in the cities but also on the beaten tourist path. Some tourist sites that were free even 1 or 2 years ago are charging fees now (just ask China traveler extraordinaire, Wayne) and some sites are charging 2-5 times more what they charged 3 years ago (when the last LP was published).

3. At a whopping 992 pages, the book is 2 inches thick and weighs about a pound and a half (I'm guessing...whatever it is, it's bloody heavy)

4. Many western tourists I see wander around with their LP in hand and only go to the hotels/restaurants/bars/sites that are prescribed in their LP. They overlook or ignore many places that aren't in the guide.

Ex: In Harbin, I was at a Russian cafe early for lunch and proceeded to watch as streams of foreigners walked in with their LPs in tow. The street had quite a few good restaurants but all the foreigners went to this particular restaurant.

I was in this restaurant not because I found it in the LP (I don't even bother reading their restaurant recommendations, see #4) but because I stumbled across it while walking along Centre Street 中央大街.

5. Don't even bother going to the restaurant recommendations, the restaurants either don't exist anymore, they've moved, or the food they recommend stinks.

Let's face it, foreigners going to another country probably don't know the best places to eat. Whatever you eat in Beijing, NEVER go eat Beijing roast duck at Quan Ju De 全聚德 franchise restaurants. They are the 'most famous' establishment in Beijing for roast duck but I have no clue why. I went with my parents last summer and the duck was pitiful (as well as the other dishes we ordered) and double the price of some other Beijing duck places. I've also been to the Dalian Quan Ju De restaurant (I had no choice in the matter) and it was better than the Beijing one but still not that great. I can get much better Beijing duck in Toronto!


To cut LP some slack, I realise that China is a place that is growing fast, economically and socially. My beloved Chinese history professor Falkenheim at the University of Toronto once told us that he would visit China two or three times a year and every time he returned to Beijing, his favourite restaurant would either have moved or the building it was in was demolished. It was hard to believe at the time, but I wouldn't doubt it now that I've stayed in China awhile.

So if you can't buy the LP, what should you buy? In a word, nothing! The internet is a rich resource for travel planning. Best of all it's free and weighs nothing in the backpack! I can't speak for other countries, but even the smallest most remote town with any kind of electricity and telephony capability will have internet access.

Don't mind the shameless self promotion, but this website is a good source of Dalian travel info (hey, I didn't say that, others have told me!) as well as the "Go Travel!" links I have on the bottom right side of this site. I use all of the sites I've linked to below when I travel, so it is kind of like my 'bookmark folder' away from home.

The best resource I've found is the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree website. It's basically a BBS for travelers looking for information on anything and everything related to travel. Lots of very knowledgeable folks living in China who probably live in or have traveled to your intended destination. They can provide the latest, greatest and probably most accurate information available. Oh you will definitely get better restaurant, night club and pub reviews and information. Best of all, it's free. Just remember to say, please and thank you.