Showing Read This First: Asia & India by Pete Cruttenden

"Too late you realise that your newest friend is a panpipe enthusiast", warns Read This First of a less obvious travel hazard--other travellers. Types who will test your sanity include the "bludger" (short of cash, but expecting a cheque in the next city); the "whinger" (dislikes anything foreign, especially food); and the old hippy (too many years in Goa). Then there is "the freshly minted ingenue, who chatters for days without drawing breath". This could be you. If you like the idea of travelling Asia but have no idea where to begin, this book gives you clues.

Read This Firstis roughly divided into two. The first half stretches the basic guidelines you find in every LP guide to over 200 pages--planning, packing, money, immunisations, insurance, dress, loneliness, culture shock, broken hearts, arguments and so on. Each is illustrated with anecdotes and tips. It even goes right back to such simple basics as collecting your baggage from the carousel. Covering an entire continent, the advice is inevitably general (and seems to duplicate material from Lonely Planet's South-East Asia on a Shoestring, India, China and Healthy Travel: Asia & India.

The second half is more inspiring, giving fundamental details of 21 Asian countries, including colour maps suggesting routes and itineraries that set the imagination racing--perhaps you could take the Karakoram highway from Pakistan for Xinjiang in North East China? Or climb one of the Philippines' 37 volcanoes? Or camp with yaks in Mongolia's Gobi desert? Of course, for first-time travellers just getting out of the airport is new and so Read This First advises, "Your bag may take a while to appear: be patient and don't panic..." --Sarah Champion