Both these publications ‐ now published by Footprint ‐ were once part of the larger South‐East Asia Handbook published by Trade & Travel. They are now published as separate volumes and are all the better for it. It is always a pleasure to review these excellent handbooks ‐ attractively bound, concise, clearly written by authors familiar with the area, and competitively priced. A must for good reference travel shelves as both give very good histories and overviews of the countries concerned. They are now one of the best travel series available for both backpackers and older travellers alike.
Both volumes have introductory chapters on how and where to go, and then deal with the history, culture and architecture. The sections on modern Thailand and Vietnam are helpful, and by reading them, the reader can gain good background knowledge to both countries and get an idea of what is worth exploring further.
In the case of the handbook on Thailand, there follows an excellent section on the capital Bankok, with suggestions for tours, excursions, festivals and major events worth seeing. Bankok has a wealth of history with its temples, khlongs (canals), and wats (monaste ries). Despite being noisy, overcrowded, polluted and having terrific traffic problems, the city is still wonderful to explore. Mind you, after Bankok, crossing the road in London seems positively civilized. After Bankok, the remainder of Thailand is dealt with area by area, followed by two useful sections on “getting there”, health precautions, where to stay, food and drink, communications, travel and entertainment. The handbook on Vietnam follows a similar pattern: after the introductory chapters, there is a section covering the capital Hanoi, the North and central regions, Saigon and lastly the South and the Mekong delta.
Both handbooks contain good maps of tourist attractions and of larger towns and cities, glossaries and lists of useful words and phrases. The indexes are comprehensive and include references to what the authors call “tinted boxes” ‐ a feature of all Footprint handbooks ‐ and which contain useful information in résumé form on such varied topics as (in the case of the Thailand handbook), Siamese twins, rice cultivation, the spread of AIDS, Thai silk, opium poppies and birds nest soup! Vietnam has some interesting examples including Miss Saigon (a story of pure love corrupted by greed and power), the Vietnamese habit of killing, cooking and eating dogs, the battle of Dien Bien Phu and Vietnamese art. Both these handbooks are highly commended and as well as being good travel guides are mini‐encyclopaedias of the countries concerned. They can be used as reference books as well as travel guides.
