“I have seen many publications gulung tikar because they are too glossy and only interested in splashing the pages with hotel and tour adverts. Not enough content. Publishers pulak are old gits who use Queen’s English and spend most of their time dreaming in the office. They are not travellers. Writers wise, worst. Many are green horns who can’t find proper jobs and ended up writing just to make ends meet. There’s no passion. Nowadays, guidebooks buyers are very educated”

I was talking to Casey Ng, Take The Path Less Ordinary. Casey is right. Many of them create a guidebook for the sake of having one, not to help. Earlier, we have collected a lot of guidebooks both printed and online version, many of them are flashy guides which provide little information but only putting up more weight to your backpack. I even came across one from Tourism Board of Malaysia with 200 over pages, glossy and full of advertisement and expecting travelers to bring it on their trip… OMG!

Casey’s Blog has a collection of what they see and experience during their community work. Check it out.