A culturally rich island of friendly people, highly theatrical ceremonies and magnificent temples — an "anthropology’s Shakespeare" - the Indonesian island of Bali has been a tourist mecca since the 1930s.
The publication of this attractive, large-format, sumptuously-illustrated volume is the end product of labor of a whole team of specialist authors, photographers and illustrators, making it a knowledgeable and valuable companion to all of Bali.
At the outset it must be said that page for page this book is a carbon copy of the Knopf guide to Bali which have also published guides to Amsterdam, Paris, San Francisco and a dozen other of the world’s great cities, countries or regions.
The oblong-shaped, highly portable series of redoubtable guides broke new ground in the publishing world because the list took the full-color illustrated guidebook to a new level.All the printed pages, or signatures, have been simply reprinted to create The Companion. The pagination even remains the same, though two pages of Knopf guide take up one page of The Companion. Once you understand the page numbering system, it doesn’t affect in the least the usefulness of the guide. Elle magazine wrote that the Knopf guides are "...simply the most luxurious travel guides going...jewel-toned and gorgeously laid out. Practically the only thing they can’t do is call you a cab." Though the publisher claims that each guide "provides more information than a whole shelf of conventional guides," that’s pushing it. The Rough Guides series, for example, are scintillatingly written and packed with information, whereas Moon’s and Lonely Planet’s guides remain unequalled in delivering practical information and highly user-friendly maps.
There is no question, though, that Bali: A Traveller’s Companion contains in abundance what every visitor will want - and need — to learn about the island’s history, its current life and natural environment, its literature, arts and unique architecture, even about its plants, birds and animals, as well as fascinating insights and portrayals by painters and writers.
Although a tad unwieldy, you could even use this large format coffee-table version of the Knopf guide as a cultural guidebook as a thorough discussion of the highlights of all of Bali’s most important destinations and attractions are found within its pages.
The Traveller’s Companion is divided into two main sections: background reference and itineraries. In the itineraries section, complete with maps and three-dimensional illustrations, carefully devised tour routes will enable travellers to plan their stay in Bali for maximum enjoyment.
Unlike the smaller guidebook version, there are no listings of accommodations, restaurants, shopping, opening hours, transportation, etc. However, the Companion’s advertisements are a good source for information on high quality accommodations, restaurants, tour companies, spas and boutiques.
It’s essential to first learn how to use the guide and a page is given over to showing you how. The fastest way to master these clever reader-friendly tools is to take the book into the field.
Quite helpful are such graphic devices as symbols alongside a title or within the body of the text itself which provide cross-references to a subject or place discussed in more detail elsewhere in the guide.
A star symbol signifies that a particular site has been singled out by the editors for its special beauty, atmosphere or cultural interest or uniqueness, of particular use for readers using the book as a guide.
On page 181, for example, mention is made of the painter Cokok of Jati, the first sculptor to carve phantasmagoric figures into the natural forms of tree roots, cross referencing the reader to page number 73 where you can actually see an picture of his carving.
Different colored symbols at the top of a page refer to the different parts of the guide. Itinerary maps show the main points of interest along the way, meant to help you find your bearings. Mini-maps locate the particular itinerary within a wider area covered by the guide.
However, the book is not without flaws. It would’ve helped that the page numbers containing the main treatment of a given destination or subject be indicated in boldface in the index.
More fun to use than a conventional travel guide, skillfully laid out and written, Bali: A Traveller’s Companion offers visitors, residents and armchair travellers the scope of an encyclopedia but with all the fascination and color-richness of a museum exhibit.
Bali: A Traveller’s Companion, Archipelago Guides, Editions Didier Millet Pte Ltd, Singapore, www.edmbooks.com, 2000, ISBN 981-3018-4-6. Available for Rp160,000 at Periplus Bookshops in the Bali Galeria in Kuta, Warung Made in Seminyak, Ngurah Rai Airport, in Gramedia bookstores and in the Matahari in Kuta Square.
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