The Rough Guide to
Southeast
     Asia

Ah, the Rough Guide.

So far, fairly helpful as guides go. I didn't want to get one at all, but fortunately Kath did. The map of Hanoi is mostly correct, though we have trekked a bit to find that the market, or the restaurant, we were looking for didn't exist. One quick note: we bought the most recent travel guide we could find in the condensed (11 countries in less than 1300 very thin pages) SE Asia format. In fact we special ordered it. We wanted the pricing and location information to be as up to date as possible. That said, I fully expect information to be dated by the time a travel book goes to press. People and economies move faster than corporations and editors...

I'll add to this as we go if we find more, and make corrections myself as I become more familiar with the book's system.

Just a small list of possible corrections and suggestions....

Corrections...
Specific areas of the guide that are incorrect for whatever reason. I won't bother with typo's if I find any, I'll leave that up to F7. I'm sure most of this is due to changes in the local landscape of these rapidly developing and changing economies.

1. The detail map of Hanoi on page 1244. The Hom Market, if it exists, is not where indicated on the map (shown on the corner of Nguyen Du and Pho Hue). We walked around the entire block, looked carefully up every narrow hallway and alley, and nothing but a bunch of plumbing, glass shelves and some electronics. OK, not that there aren't plenty of eager buskers around dying to sell us maps, but really this map has been pretty good (good enough if you don't mind the occasionally getting lost, which we don't) and I haven't felt like buying a separate map of Hanoi to go around on for 3 days anyway. If maps are your thing, go for it. I like them too, but I'm looking to pack the condensed version and travel around with that. I don't need a souvenir version in my pack from every city. The first day we were here we cut the Map out of the binding and folded it up to carry with us, and that's how we've gotten around. Of course, we had to keep the thin map in Kath's hand bag so my sweaty pocket didn't soak it through. Small lines indicating where streets exist would be helpful, particularly in the Old Quarter, even if there isn't room for naming all the streets.
   
2. Restaurants: This is one area where noting that restaurants go in and out of business, please pick up a local paper listing current restaurants in English would be nice (although we followed to the address of one from the local paper only to find that it was also out of business). We did try to go to one restaurant I was rather excited about called Hoa Sua on page 1250. I was really eager to see this place because the write up was good in the guide, but also because of what it said. "Hoa Sua is part of a non-profit-making vocational training school giving disadvantaged children a start in the restaurant trade." This sounds like the same sort of thing Fare Start in Seattle does. Good stuff, right? Let's support it! I guess Hoa Sua wasn't making enough profit to keep training, and now no sign of it remains. Hopefully the restaurant's trainees did learn to make profit while they were there and their future restaurant endeavors have higher survival rates.
   
    UPDATE: Hoa Sua is found!
   It turns out that Hoa Sua did not go belly up, as previously feared, but that it has indeed flourished and prospered. The school has relocated about two blocks away. They are now at 28A Ha Hoi St, Ha Noi. Tel: (84-4) 9.436.707. They also offer a couple of other outlets, one bakery and catering called Croissant (very near the restaurant and the French Embassy), another restaurant with café and bakery called Baguette & Chocolat. There is another Baguette & Chocolat in Sapa as well. For more information visit there website at www.hoasuaschool.com. The food was wonderful and fairly priced with great, friendly (though definitely trainee for 3 star standards) service and a comfortable environment.
   
   
3. Page 1219. We went in search of the sea-kayaking and trekking tours around Nha Phu Bay, as they sounded absolutely wonderful. The Baan Thai Restaurant, 19b Biet Thu, no longer exists, and the Lotus Tourist Company is also gone. A new café is going in.... The next door neighbors, and the people that remembered the woman that ran the place knew what we were talking about but said the woman had moved to Saigon and no one had made a go of the kayak tours at all. We were able to find, through TM Brothers, that kayak tours could be had for $30/pax minimum 10 people or $200/pax including overnight and guide. Since it's just the two of us we didn't pursue the 'custom' option any further than the price...

Suggestions...
This section will point out information that might have been helpful if it were to have been included in the guide.

1. I know most backpackers are notoriously cheap, but as a former U.S. restaurant worker I was a bit disappointed to see that there was not a word about tipping. Normally I know that it is not customary to tip much if at all, but I've also had the experience in Bangkok that a small tip (3-5%) is generally expected. So traveling between countries it would be nice to know what was expected. Perhaps the paradox I live, cheap backpacker & great tipper, is relatively unique, but it puts me in a bit of a conundrum to have to guess. Do I tip and waste my money? Or do I save my money and piss off the staff? So, to share, my experience in Vietnam has been that when I did tip 10% on a meal, the waitress was grateful but not ecstatic. Not tipping also seems to be perfectly acceptable. I will tip the staff at the Guest House for all their help in making arrangements for us, but not the normal astronomical rates we pay (or expect, depending on which side of the tip you're on) in the States.

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