Let's Go Vietnam (2nd ed)

Completely revised and updated for 2007, "Let's Go Vietnam" is researched and compiled entirely by students who know first-hand how to see the world on the cheap.

This guide has insider tips and information for the socially conscious traveller and is more useful and opinionated than ever.

Vietnam has hallucinogenic limestone landscapes, dense forests sprawling across chocolate river deltas and insane high-pitched motorbike traffic.

Travel here is subject to extremes: endless, comically crowded bus rides blaring the same four Vietpop songs without cease; hours spent negotiating the price of absolutely everything; waves of mind-overthrowing heat and 48-hour batteries of rain.

But what you pay in time, sweat, and energy, you get back a thousandfold.

The natural beauty of the country is legendary and spectacularly varied, encompassing brilliant white beaches and lonely mountain passes that pierce the clouds.

Jagged monoliths shoot up from mirror-bright bays in the far north; intricate lattices of canals run under mangrove canopies in the far south.

The whole landscape resonates, too, with a history both chaotic and profound. This title includes: detailed maps listings at all price levels for accommodation, food, attractions and more; information on working, studying and volunteering in the region; and, time and money saving tips. 'Guides that penetrate the veneer of holiday brochures and mine the grit of real life' - "Economist". '[The] ideal companion for the independent traveller' - "Sydney Sunday Telegraph".