Bumpattabumpah
Written: Jun 10 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Very funny follow up...
Cons: ...like most sequels, not as good as the original.
The Bottom Line: Still very funny, but not the gut-buster that was Molvania.
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| munkus's Full Review: Phaic Tan (Jetlag Travel Guide) Books |
Phaic Tan- Sunstroke on a Shoestring is the follow up to the monstrously successful Molvania- A Land Untouched by Modern Dentistry, by the legendary Australian comic trio of Santo Cilauro, Rob Stitch and Tom Gleisner. What Molvania did for Eastern European tourism, Phaic Tan does for South East Asia, with more than a few stabs at both eco-tourism and luxury travel, with more or less constant ribbing of the Lonely Planet guidebooks.
Phaic Tan is a SE Asian country, a hybrid of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, and is the birthplace of the trouser press and irritable bowel syndrome. Like all guide books, this, the first published effort supporting Phaic Tan's growing tourism industry, covers all the basics. This includes arriving at Phlat Chat airport (or if winds are strong, in a rice paddy within several kilometres of it), through to dining (a fiery combination of chilli, garlic and pepper to which food is occasionally added). Stitch, Cilauro and Gleisner have a few foibles they focus on such as auspicious numbers (of which 3 and 6 are unlucky, alas) and there is a running joke about the girth of Her Majesty Suahm Luprang. Common setbacks of SE Asia travel- reactions to food, civil unrest and bargaining are taken to extreme lengths in the name of satire.
A small country but with a surprisingly diverse range of natural landscapes, the guide covers them all, in addition to an introductory section which takes up half the book about the history and culture of Phaic Tan (they love kung fu, their top export is MSG and language- Drong tay bprap hua kwang boh means 'I require a strictly therapeutic non-sexual massage'). The bustling capital city Bangk- I mean Bumpattabumpah where it is recommended anyone with asthma refrain from breathing between 8am and 6pm on weekdays. To the west is Thong On, an idyllic paradise of beaches and overloaded passenger ferries capsizing (one of many running themes at some least savoury aspects of SE Asia- along with sex tourism). Then there are the jungles of Pha Phlung, known for rainforests and mudslides and where it is illegal to bring in opium, to ensure the purity of the local crops. Finally, there is Sukkondat, Phaic Tan's final frontier, the only province of Phaic Tan never to have been colonised- not that any foreign power has ever expressed a wish to do so.
One of the highlights of this, like Molvania, is the restaurant and hotel reviews in each section. Unlike Molvania, luxury hotels seem to be quite a business here in Phaic Tan with one Pha Phlung spa resort having a staff ration of 4000 to eight guests. Restaurants are the usual hilarity of a Jet Lag travel guide.
Fans of Molvania will recall the wonderful Philippe Miseree- the satirical embodiment of those travellers who were there in the 70s and can't wait to tell you how much its changed for the worse since. Opening a page at random reveals this gem about haggling-
I laugh at western tourists who get a small discount after five minutes... I once rented a room opposite an antique shop in Sloh Phan for a month just so I could get an extra 5% off a jade umbrella handle. And I succeeded.
However Jet Lag have added some new comrades to add sidebar comments throughout the guide. Tina Payne had her wallet stolen on a backpacking trip in Europe twenty years ago and regularly offers security advice, here, on pickpockets-
I see so many tourists...flashing video cameras and jewellery. In contrast, I dress as a destitute or cripple with a hacking cough... in particularly dangerous places I may even visibly wet my pants.
Joining Tina are Sven Teitarssen (say it out loud), as the penny-pinching Nordic backpacker stereotype and Jonathan Quibble, who is the traveller de-lux. See if you can guess who has said what-
I returned from a stunning petit dejeuner of lobster bisque to find the lavatory paper had not been folded into a symmetrical triangular tip. I insisted that a mathematician be brought in to teach the staff the proper proportions.
The cost of vaccinations can be pretty high...but if you're prepared to sign a waiver many travel clinics will prescribe cheaper medication. Find a friendly veterinarian and negotiate further discounts.
Whilst admittedly larger than their first book, you do get the impression that the editing of Phaic Tan was a little hurried- for example, sentences will repeat themselves over a line break for example sentences will repeat themselves over a line break (and so on). However what irks me the most, is that they insist on using 'discretely', when they actually mean 'discreetly'. Like their/they're/there, this is a grammatical quirk that gives me the craps.
The other flaw is the reading on the snort-o-meter. In Molvania, I regularly had tears pouring down my cheeks and cramps in the corners of my mouth from chortling, belly-laughing and giggling to excess. In Phaic Tan, it is more a regular chuckle. Or perhaps I just knew what to expect.
So, in finishing, the traditional farewell of the Phaic Tanese people-
Come with Open Mind
Stay with Open Heart
Depart with No More than 1.5 Litres of Duty Free Spirits
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
munkus
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Location: Ruritania
Reviews written: 205
Trusted by: 113 members
About Me:
Munkus now lives in America. He is the size of a house.
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