One for the Road – China: Restaurant Ordering Guides

by Kelly Amabile on

As a sidebar to this month’s Chinese Buffet series, throughout August, One for the Road will highlight travel guides, reference books and other recommended reads related to life or travel in China.

The final two books from the True Run Media team that I’d like to mention this week are their brand new restaurant ordering guides: Healthy Chinese Cuisine and Spicy Chinese Cuisine are compact glossy flip books that are handy for making sure you order what you really want to eat. Each book includes color photos of popular dishes, and is accompanied by the name of entrees in Chinese and Pinyin, as well as an English, Russian and French translation of all the meals.

A variety of culinary regions are represented — Sichuan, Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Xinjiang. Ingredients for each featured dish are also included, so you know exactly what is supposed to be in what you are ordering. No guarantees, of course — but a book like this might be especially useful for folks with food allergies. The spicy book has dishes like sour lotus root, Kung Pao chicken, spicy cucumber and all kinds of hot stir fry. These guys love their spicy food so much that they also host a Chili Pepper Eating Contest each summer. Is your mouth watering yet?

One for the Road – China: Unofficial Guide to the Beijing Games

by Kelly Amabile on

As a sidebar to this month’s Chinese Buffet series, throughout August, One for the Road will highlight travel guides, reference books and other recommended reads related to life or travel in China.

This week we are highlighting several titles by the True Run Media team, a guidebook and magazine publisher based out of Beijing. In addition to a special 2008 version of their Insider’s Guide that they will update and publish shortly before the Olympics begin, the Immersion Guides team will also produce a separate book all about the Games:

The Unofficial Guide to the Beijing Games is a forthcoming title that will cover the Olympics from an insider’s perspective. In addition to schedules, maps and ticket info, the guide will list the best venues for enjoying the city during the Games. And since these guys will be on the ground in Beijing monitoring the very latest restaurant, club and bar openings up to the last possible minute, this guide will most definitely have the most updated information. It will be a must-have for anyone visiting Beijing during the Olympics. Check the Immersion Guides website to find out when this handy reference will be available — I’m sure they are hard at work on it as we speak!

.

One for the Road – China: Insider’s Guide to Beijing

by Kelly Amabile on

As a sidebar to this month’s Chinese Buffet series, throughout August, One for the Road will highlight travel guides, reference books and other recommended reads related to life or travel in China.

I know most travelers don’t want to be weighed down with heavy books while on the road, but if you’re ever going to be based in Beijing for at least a week or so, I’ve got to recommend the hefty Insider’s Guide to Beijing, produced by the Immersion Guides team at True Run Media.

It’s a tome,” says True Run General Manager Michael Wester. But he sees that as one of the primary characteristics that distinguishes this guidebook from the rest. “We don’t skimp.” Just lift the 750+ page soft cover book and you’ll see — it’s hard to believe they’ve left anything out! This “Bible to Beijing”, written entirely by folks living in the city, is primarily produced for the English speaking population residing in Beijing. But travelers will surely find this glossy color guide to be a valuable reference as well.

Although it does cover sightseeing, nightlife and the arts scene in detail, the real value lies in all the other “daily life” data it provides: information on renting a home, finding a summer camp for your kid, navigating the health care system and buying the perfect Chinese furniture. If you’re heading to Beijing for an extended period of time — to teach, study abroad or work during the Olympics — definitely consider this comprehensive super-guide to the city.

The fourth edition — the 2008 version — will be available in September of this year. And there are plans to do another update prior to the Olympics, that should be available (only in Beijing) about two months before the Games begin. Right now, the easiest place to purchase the 2007 edition (outside of China) is on Amazon, or directly from True Run Media. The company hopes to have international distribution of the book within the year.

I’ve got more from the Immersion Guides team coming up later today and throughout the week.

One for the Road – China: Top 10 Beijing

by Kelly Amabile on

As a sidebar to this month’s Chinese Buffet series, throughout August, One for the Road will highlight travel guides, reference books and other recommended reads related to life or travel in China.

One of guides I used frequently during my week in the ‘jing was DK Eyewitness Travel’s Top 10 Beijing, a new title in their popular series that was released in Spring 2007. I’ve never really used DK guides before but decided to bring this one along since it wouldn’t take up much room. I also usually steer clear of glossy guidebooks with lots of photos, as they can often lack the detailed content I’m looking for in a travel guide. But if you have done your detailed research ahead of time with the heftier guides, this might be the best traveling companion to throw in your pack. It’s a slim and sleek overview to the city, loaded with practical and useful content.

Because of its compact size, I carried the Top 10 Beijing with me almost very day. The “Around Town” section was most useful to me — there are six suggested walks for different sections of the city, and although I didn’t follow any of them exactly, each served as a handy reference tool when mapping out daily itineraries. In addition to DK’s featured ten must-see Beijing sights (I only visited six of their top suggestions) there are a variety of other creative top ten lists throughout the book — things like music bars, parks, socialist monuments, Chinese movies, teahouses, galleries and street food. The 128-page guide also includes decent mini flip-out maps in the front and rear covers. It’s definitely a guide to consider, especially if you’ll only have limited time in the city.

One for the Road – China: Oracle Bones

by Kelly Amabile on

As a sidebar to this month’s Chinese Buffet series, throughout August, One for the Road will highlight travel guides, reference books and other recommended reads related to life or travel in China.

The one book I knew I had to read before I left for China was Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China. I had read countless rave reviews about Peter Hessler’s narrative non-fiction about life in modern day China, and I had a feeling it would be the perfect crash course book for me to read. My hunch was right — it’s a gem that reads like a novel, weaving a well-told background of ancient history with tales of what life is like for a variety of Chinese living today in cities like Beijing and Shenzhen. The story of Hessler’s friendship with a Uighur named Polat is especially captivating, revealing details of what life is like for a Chinese alien living in the U.S.

I’m glad I waited to read it until the paperback copy came out in early May — it’s still a thick book at just under 500 pages, but the lightweight version worked well reading on the go. I intend to re-read Oracle Bones, as well as Hessler’s first book, River Town, an earlier memoir which chronicles his two years of Peace Corps service in Fuling, along the Yangtze. I highly recommend Oracle Bones to anyone visiting China for the first time — it gave me the perfect framework of what life is like in China, and made it easier to learn more once I began traveling through the country.