28 — Friday, April 16, 1999 —- North S Photo James Wistart LONELY Planet founder Tony Wheeler: 400 tities and $60-million in annual sales from popular guide books. Lonely Planet best way to g David Wishart Contributing Writer MELBOURNE: Back in 1972, when Europe on $5 a day was a golden memory, Tony Wheeler and his wife Maureen went overland from Britain to Australia. Although a well-travelled road pioneered by young Australians trekking to and from Europe, when the Wheelers set out, it was very much a word of mouth experience. There was not a convenient guide book to recommend the best way to go, where to stay, how to find decent restaurants and do it all on a modest budget. As the world now knows, they collected information along the way and on arrival in Australia did the now classic thing and produced a travel guide on their kitchen table. It was called Across Asia on the Cheap and sold 8,500 copies in Australia and New Zealand. Today their imprint, Lonely Planet, is the most respected. name in the guidebook business with 400 titles and annual sales of around $60 million. They have offices in London, Paris, Oakland (California) and Melbourne, where they live with their teenage children. - Ie was in Melbourne that J tracked down Tony Wheeler after an exchange of e-mails. Wheeler, a youthful-looking 52- " year-old with an easy manner, bounded into the lobby of the Windsor Hotel and said, “What a coincidence. Just this morn- ing I got an e-mail from a reader searching for a Lonely Planet city guide to Vancouver. “He was upset that there was one for Seattle, but not for Vancouver which he thought was a much superior place!” - Although che’ Windsor Hotel was our rendezvous because it was the best known place in the city and therefore easiest to find, I had a nagging feeling that a more appropriate spot would have been Global! Gossip, a popular Internet location and the modern equivalent of the Thorn Tree Cafe in Nairobi, where travellers still pin notes on the tree with messages like “see you on Bondi Beach Christmas Day.” Lonely Planet owes its success to using writers who have been this route, usuaily well-educated people like Wheeler (he is a qualified engineer) who would rather travel and write than Vane guide for this sixth edition. A new section on urban spas, an expanded shopping section, and increased information on adventure activitics distinguishes this effort. commute and bow to the parental refrain of “getting a real job.” They get to the soul of desti- nations and give readers more than a list of must-sees, hotels and restaurants. Information is presented intelligently and with humour, and often includes the kind of stuff your travel agent, might not know such as how to get a Myanmar visa in Bangkok. You will also be able to read about the pros and cons of what to wear under your longhi, which is the sarong worn by most of the men in Myanmar. Canadians with an affection for the kilt will study this section carefully. This practical, commonsense approach has won readers who fly not just cconomy, but business and first class as well, who know that the best experiences in travel will be found not in a Hard Pock Cafe in London (unless you are an American desperate for an over-priced hamburger) but in places like the Coliseum Bar in Kuala Lumpur, where the walls breathe atmosphere. In addition, many a traveller likes a comfy bed in a Hilton but wants to know where the cheap eats are. More often than not that’s where the fun is tco. For example, on assignment in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I stayed at the superb Regent, but one of the best nights out I had was at the Riverside bar and restaurant where the prices, setting and band made up for the menu's shortcomings. Earlier, at the Oriental in Bangkok, a concierge produced an LP guide to Bangkok saying it was a useful source for regu- lar visitors to the hotel who had exhausted all the usual excur- sions. If LPs are seen in the best places these days, so is Tony Wheeler. He likes hotels with history, Raffles in Singapore and Penang’s E & O, and when he’s travelling enjoys a contrast such as a recent visit to Bangkok when he stayed at a favourite hostel, Sawatdee (room rate $5 a night) in the backpackers’ haunt of Banglamphu, then paid a nickel to hop on the Chao Phraya riverboat for a 15-minute ride to the Oriental (room rates starting at $400). He enjoys researching and contributing to LP books, of late walking and scuba-diving in Corsica, he spent five weeks in Tibet and he was on a Russian icebreaker in the Pacific. Coming up, we can assume, is that city guide to Vancouver. uver guide updated & Vancouver: The Ultimate Guide by Judi Lees and Terri Wersh, Greystone Books 1999, 240 pages, 15 maps, $17.95. LOCAL writers Judi Lees and Terri Wersh have completely revised and updated their They aiso have added new photographs and sidebars to provide background on the areas mentioned. North Shore locations featured include: The Tomahawk restaurant; Savary Island Pie Company; The Beach House at Dundarave Pier; Salmon House on the Hill; West Vancouver playgrounds; and Deep Cave Canoe and Rentals. — John Goodinan ORIENT