Hi. I'd like to be able to rate all your answers to this post, so....

Well, it seems as if those of us who try to help answer people's questions most of the time when we go on line---as opposed to those mainly asking questions---can now have our reply be "rated" by the poster! If they don;t like what we say---even if it answers their Q, they just don't LIKE the answer!---then they give us a thumbs down and say it is still "Not answered", with a red flag at the top, so to speak.

So, I'd like to experience what it is like to be in the driver's seat and rate all of you :) .

My question is thus:

What is the best guidebook to a South Pacific country that has ever been written??

I can not answer that question Raro, on the basis that I may have a bias. :)

Papa Mike
www.mikehollywood.com

I am so nervous to be in the spotlight of your rating now ... I did not know that TT$ (no error) is turned into a quiz site now where the one who does not know (therefore asking a question) can rate which is the correct answer. I love that!

Was this answer helpful to you?

BTW, I could only tell you which guide book is certainly NOT the best ...

"Official" results so far, in the true spirit of TT4:

PapaMike---"Beep, WRONG!!!"

Wksamoa---"Beep, WRONG!!!"

[This is really fun! You should try it. What power!!!]

[See my other new post we "Is TT4 the worst bulletin board on the internet?]

Happy Isles of Oceania. Paul Theroux.

trick question ... ?

David Stanley's Moon Guide(s).

And to make that extra effort towards the 'helpful' rating, here's the link!!

I'll go with the Moon Guide too - although if you go back about 12 years Lonely Planet wasn't too bad, it's the recent ones that are not so helpful.
Paul Theroux - you're kidding, right? Have you ever read anything he's written about a place you know really well - for comparison?

Oh oh!!!

islandboi runs and hides behind coconut palm

Hahaha!

Anyways, I found the "Rough Guide" to Thailand to be just about the best guidebook in my experience... It lists, esp accommodations, that that the LP doesn't and hence are not so sought after.

Temakin---I asked for the BEST, not the WORST! (See TaiMarilyn's reply)

David Stanley's are good.

As Marilyn said, LP USED to be good, until they went to "re-write by committees of people who had never traveled to those places".

So, if you buy an LP guide, and there are more than a couple of authors listed, it is usually not very consistent throughout. What one author originally called "cheap and a good value", later re-writers (who wrote the updated edition) might say it's too expensive, etc., even though prices are relatively the same. That's why it's good to buy a book that is updated by the same author, like David Stanley, you always know they have the same bias, values, eye for things as before. you may not agree with them, but they are not bouncing all over the place with different recommendations in every subsequent edition, as many LP guides do.

islandboi---have another cup of coffee! I asked about the best guide " to a South Pacific country". While the guide you mentioned might be good, unless Thailand gets annexed by Samoa in the near future (or maybe Fiji will invade it to take the pressure off internal Fiji politics?) I think we will continue to assume it is not (yet) considered as part of the South Pacific!

Whoops!! More coffee indeed. I guess that's what happens when you're hiding behind coconuts and not paying attention. ;)

1 more vote for David Stanley in that case.... Good Pacific coverage.

It's David Stanley of course!

And you know why it is so good?

Because David always tries to mix with people (tourists and local community) who don't know who he is, he does not announce his visit - so he gets the real stories and the real life.

The LP on the contrary always announces their visit - and everyone prepares!!! I remember one specific writer visiting an island - and loved his lobster and his beer FOC , but he would not bother to talk to anyone else apart from the manager. Anyway the island had the best write up (and that happened on more than one occassion).

BTW: have you people seen all the responses to the TT4 ("Posting Feedback, Suggestions & Ideas" by CarolBatLP ) 16 pages long so far!

My vote is for the original LP guide to Solomon Islands, which was my constant companion in the years 1991 to 1994 when I lived there.
Can anyone tell me if there are Moon or Stanley guides to Solomon Islands - I have never seen any?

This is in reply to Ozziegiraffe ( I don't know how to change it from Raro to ozziegiraffe).

As far as I know, Solomons are covered in the South Pacific Organizer. Here a link.

http://www.southpacific.org/text/finding_solomons.html

OK, whoever answers "Cook Islands Companion" will get the green star!

{quote:title=Ozziegiraffe wrote:}{quote}
My vote is for the original LP guide to Solomon Islands, which was my constant companion in the years 1991 to 1994 when I lived there.
Can anyone tell me if there are Moon or Stanley guides to Solomon Islands - I have never seen any?

There is not, according to his website. For information on the Solomons you'd have to buy his comprehensive South Pacific guidebook.

Thanks for the Link Bulabear - in fact I had alreadyy looked there, and found the information only barely scratched the surface, and the links are very limited, and not really much help.
If this is the sort of information on Solomon Islands in his South Pacific guide, then it owuld not really be worth buying.
Even the latest LP guide, which nonsensically linked Solomons and PNG, is far more useful.

Ozzie, the coverage of the Solomnons in the South Pacific Handbook is MUCH more comprehensive than in LP's "PNG & Solomon Islands" guide. It covers ALL provinces on 80+ pages. The website is not meant to mirror or substitute the handbook, so it just provides enough info for "tasters".
The Handbook is still no match for the old, single country Solomon Islands LP guides though - they are great.

Jan Prince's Tahiti & French Polynesia guide
I enjoyed Papa Mike's Cook Island guide too

islandboi's two part series posted here on TT: Tonga "The Land of the Golden Teeth".

islandboi - you should look into doing an ebook (which you could sell) on Samoa.

I want a guidebook with some life and personaility, the current LP Guide to Samoa & Tonga has none.