Lonely Planet Liars
I have been telling people for years that as soon as you hit Cambodia throw your Lonely Planet away as they are always way behind in South East Asia. Speaking of behinds I also said that if you felt bad about how much you paid for it and wanted to get some value from it to keep it as emergency ass wipe or papers for splifs should you run out of either of those important commodities!
The writer for Lonely Planet Cambodia never even bothered to come to see me or call me the entire time that I have lived here, yet he was seen in Phnom Penh on many different occasions mostly in bars I’ve been told, on a regular basis, which is only 220 KM down the road from Sihanoukville. I know for a fact that he was given my phone number and told that we would give him or provide any assistance that he needed so that he could get the information correct any time that he wanted.
It always burned my ass that the Lonely Planet Cambodia Guide said that the beaches in Thailand were better than Cambodia beaches! To that I say to anyone come on out and I will show you Cambodian beaches that are magnificent and there is not another human being for miles around, which is most peoples ideal of a tropical beach, a place where you and your favorite squeeze can get some naked water sports and advanced wrestling in.
Scuba diving in Cambodia is probably the single most expensive thing that a backpacker will do in Cambodia. In Cambodia we have had thousands of backpackers & budget travelers coming through doing dive courses; discover scuba diving and fun dives. We were charging from the day we opened in 2001 between $55 and $70 for a 2 dive day. If you did a SSI or PADI course with us the min for a 3 day course was $199, and Scuba Nation our worthy & esteemed competitor was charging $350 since they opened also in 2001.
If you go to Seim Reap Angkor Wat a 2-3 day pass which is what most people that come to Cambodia who read the Lonely Planet Guide’s will do, was only $40 for 3 days. You could also go for a balloon ride at Angkor Wat and an elephant ride and you still would have spent less than a PADI Dive course or a SSI dive certificate in Sihanoukville. One would think that this would be a priority item to investigate for a travel guide that is geared mainly towards budget travelers & backpackers.
I was told but can’t substantiate that the Lonely Planet Travel Writer for Cambodia took the information for Sihanoukville out of the Canby Guide written by Ken Canby and staff. Now Ken I see in Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh on a regular basis. Ken always has a few minutes to talk even though he is always busy and when you tell him new information that travelers will want to know, he writes it down and you will see in print in the next issue. The information on Cambodia from the Canby Guides for Sihanoukville, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap are being updated regularly; I know this to be true as there was somebody in my office at least twice a year.
The other Cambodia Travel Guide, The Cambodia Pocket Guide is also regularly updated every two months now that they have 6 publications for Phnom Penh and Siem Reap and you see Dean and Tim the owner publishers all over Cambodia as well. I have seen and talked to Tim in Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville over the years while he is out getting new, and refreshing old Cambodia travel information. Everybody that is in the tourism business in Cambodia knows who these guys are, and like Ken they always have time to talk, and they listen and follow up to make sure that their Cambodia travel guide information is fresh.
I have spent the day well into the night showing and being interviewed by the New York Times travel writer Seridan Prasso Simon from The Bangkok Post Spent 4 days in Sihanoukville and did two full page articles on EcoSea and a full page on the Sokha Resort in Sihanoukville.
I meet Charley Agar from Frommers in Bangkok, I invited him to Cambodia and as it turns out he was on his way anyway and we spent 4 days in Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville going around and seeing the sites. Charley knew stuff I didn’t know and I had been coming and living here in Cambodia for a few years already when I met him. I stayed in contact off and on over the years with Charley and he is in Cambodia for months at a time and been back a few times for updates since our first adventure.
Matt (Jake) Jacobson, the writer of the very popular and extremely useful and in-depth Cambodia travel book Adventure Cambodia and I have spent many sessions over the years talking about Cambodia. Congratulations are due on Adventure Cambodia’s 4th edition just out and available on Amazon books.
Anytime anyone came into my office and said I am a travel writer I would stop what I was doing and focus on making sure that they were getting accurate and the most up to date information. I have meet and talked at length with Rough Guides, a Japanese guide book, Russian, German, Indian, French, Swiss, Brits, Americans news people, magazine writers and travel writers and many others that I can’t remember but never once did I meet or speak with anyone from Lonely Planet in all of those years.
Now had the Lonely Planet done a minimum they would have called to verify their information on EcoSea and I could have giving them the accurate information on EcoSea. It is a real shame as many people got wrong information and made decisions based out of date and wrong information and the big loser was Cambodia and people who spent good money to buy the LP guides for Cambodia.
EcoSea for the years 2003, 2004 2005 was the largest scuba diving operator using whatever measuring stick you like doing over half the PADI certifications and nearly 60% of all the fun diving in Cambodia. EcoSea success was based on being the least expensive and the only dive shop in Cambodia that ran year round for all of those years from 2001 to 2006. We were also the only dive center in Cambodia that owned and operated their own dive boats from day 1, yet during those years to today the LP guide said that we were the new guys in scuba diving in Cambodia not ever mentioning those very pertinent fact to a backpackers & budget travelers in Cambodia.
Now I am looking forward to a phone call, not from the Lonely Planet, but from some lawyer smart enough to see a law suit in the making! However in case some one from Lonely Planet decides finally to try to get a hold of me. I want to make sure that they know exactly where to find me, so I can tell them personally where to go!
Fred Tittle.
Managing Director
EcoSea Adventures South East Asia LTD. &
Cheap Charlies Hotels Asia
Guesthouses, Budget Accommodations & Asian Discount Flights
#9, Street 75, Wat Phnom
Phnom Penh Cambodia
(855) 02 178 6146 in country call 012 178 6146
Fred@EcoSea.com or EcoSea@gmail.com
“Get in over your head and Smile, Smile, Smile!”
The writer for Lonely Planet Cambodia never even bothered to come to see me or call me the entire time that I have lived here, yet he was seen in Phnom Penh on many different occasions mostly in bars I’ve been told, on a regular basis, which is only 220 KM down the road from Sihanoukville. I know for a fact that he was given my phone number and told that we would give him or provide any assistance that he needed so that he could get the information correct any time that he wanted.
It always burned my ass that the Lonely Planet Cambodia Guide said that the beaches in Thailand were better than Cambodia beaches! To that I say to anyone come on out and I will show you Cambodian beaches that are magnificent and there is not another human being for miles around, which is most peoples ideal of a tropical beach, a place where you and your favorite squeeze can get some naked water sports and advanced wrestling in.
Scuba diving in Cambodia is probably the single most expensive thing that a backpacker will do in Cambodia. In Cambodia we have had thousands of backpackers & budget travelers coming through doing dive courses; discover scuba diving and fun dives. We were charging from the day we opened in 2001 between $55 and $70 for a 2 dive day. If you did a SSI or PADI course with us the min for a 3 day course was $199, and Scuba Nation our worthy & esteemed competitor was charging $350 since they opened also in 2001.
If you go to Seim Reap Angkor Wat a 2-3 day pass which is what most people that come to Cambodia who read the Lonely Planet Guide’s will do, was only $40 for 3 days. You could also go for a balloon ride at Angkor Wat and an elephant ride and you still would have spent less than a PADI Dive course or a SSI dive certificate in Sihanoukville. One would think that this would be a priority item to investigate for a travel guide that is geared mainly towards budget travelers & backpackers.
I was told but can’t substantiate that the Lonely Planet Travel Writer for Cambodia took the information for Sihanoukville out of the Canby Guide written by Ken Canby and staff. Now Ken I see in Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh on a regular basis. Ken always has a few minutes to talk even though he is always busy and when you tell him new information that travelers will want to know, he writes it down and you will see in print in the next issue. The information on Cambodia from the Canby Guides for Sihanoukville, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap are being updated regularly; I know this to be true as there was somebody in my office at least twice a year.
The other Cambodia Travel Guide, The Cambodia Pocket Guide is also regularly updated every two months now that they have 6 publications for Phnom Penh and Siem Reap and you see Dean and Tim the owner publishers all over Cambodia as well. I have seen and talked to Tim in Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville over the years while he is out getting new, and refreshing old Cambodia travel information. Everybody that is in the tourism business in Cambodia knows who these guys are, and like Ken they always have time to talk, and they listen and follow up to make sure that their Cambodia travel guide information is fresh.
I have spent the day well into the night showing and being interviewed by the New York Times travel writer Seridan Prasso Simon from The Bangkok Post Spent 4 days in Sihanoukville and did two full page articles on EcoSea and a full page on the Sokha Resort in Sihanoukville.
I meet Charley Agar from Frommers in Bangkok, I invited him to Cambodia and as it turns out he was on his way anyway and we spent 4 days in Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville going around and seeing the sites. Charley knew stuff I didn’t know and I had been coming and living here in Cambodia for a few years already when I met him. I stayed in contact off and on over the years with Charley and he is in Cambodia for months at a time and been back a few times for updates since our first adventure.
Matt (Jake) Jacobson, the writer of the very popular and extremely useful and in-depth Cambodia travel book Adventure Cambodia and I have spent many sessions over the years talking about Cambodia. Congratulations are due on Adventure Cambodia’s 4th edition just out and available on Amazon books.
Anytime anyone came into my office and said I am a travel writer I would stop what I was doing and focus on making sure that they were getting accurate and the most up to date information. I have meet and talked at length with Rough Guides, a Japanese guide book, Russian, German, Indian, French, Swiss, Brits, Americans news people, magazine writers and travel writers and many others that I can’t remember but never once did I meet or speak with anyone from Lonely Planet in all of those years.
Now had the Lonely Planet done a minimum they would have called to verify their information on EcoSea and I could have giving them the accurate information on EcoSea. It is a real shame as many people got wrong information and made decisions based out of date and wrong information and the big loser was Cambodia and people who spent good money to buy the LP guides for Cambodia.
EcoSea for the years 2003, 2004 2005 was the largest scuba diving operator using whatever measuring stick you like doing over half the PADI certifications and nearly 60% of all the fun diving in Cambodia. EcoSea success was based on being the least expensive and the only dive shop in Cambodia that ran year round for all of those years from 2001 to 2006. We were also the only dive center in Cambodia that owned and operated their own dive boats from day 1, yet during those years to today the LP guide said that we were the new guys in scuba diving in Cambodia not ever mentioning those very pertinent fact to a backpackers & budget travelers in Cambodia.
Now I am looking forward to a phone call, not from the Lonely Planet, but from some lawyer smart enough to see a law suit in the making! However in case some one from Lonely Planet decides finally to try to get a hold of me. I want to make sure that they know exactly where to find me, so I can tell them personally where to go!
Fred Tittle.
Managing Director
EcoSea Adventures South East Asia LTD. &
Cheap Charlies Hotels Asia
Guesthouses, Budget Accommodations & Asian Discount Flights
#9, Street 75, Wat Phnom
Phnom Penh Cambodia
(855) 02 178 6146 in country call 012 178 6146
Fred@EcoSea.com or EcoSea@gmail.com
“Get in over your head and Smile, Smile, Smile!”
posted by Chuck Miser at
7:12 AM
1 Comments:
you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about Fred. stick to swimming with the fishes.
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