Backpacking is an art form. It requires some meticulous Tetris skills to get everything to fit in a single bag and an unwavering willingness to be flexible. It can be stressful, you will smell like ass at least half of the time, and you’ll likely be exhausted by the end of it. But in my opinion, there is no more fulfilling, exciting, or affordable way to travel.
I think I may have been made to be a backpacker. I have always been a light packer, and love keeping everything to one bag. I’m serious though. In 8th grade, my girl scout troop took a trip to Philadelphia for the weekend. Everyone in my troop and their mother brought at least a rolling suitcase and a duffel bag, while I showed up carrying a single plastic grocery bag, containing nothing but a change of clothes and a toothbrush. I got some concerned looks, but at least I wasn’t dragging 85 pounds worth of shit behind me.
Backpacking through Southeast Asia taught me a lot. I learned I may be a light packer, but I am not necessarily an efficient or smart packer. I may be easy-going, but I could work on rolling more effortlessly with the punches. I may think that after 25 years on Earth that I know how to properly use the bathroom, but one unfortunate evening proved me completely wrong. Here are all my lessons from the road. These tips are what I gathered from my time in Vietnam, but most apply to all countries in Southeast Asia.
Packing
1. Pack a rain jacket
This is especially important if you go during the rainy season, which is from May to October. From personal experience, you can be out and about, snapping photos, and enjoying your day when all of a sudden you are drowning in torrential downpour. Carrying a light rain jacket
2. Pack light, quick drying clothes
I don’t even say this because of the rain. I say this because you will be sweating your ass off. Nothing is worse than being sweaty and wearing thick, bulky clothing on which the pit stains never dry. Southeast
Asia is planted smack dab on the equator, and you don’t want your body and skin to suffocate in the sun. That’ll really put a DAMPer on things (get it? Because you will be damp. And smelly).
3. Pack a light jacket, even in the summer
Throwing a light jacket in with my stuff was a last-minute decision for me, due to aforementioned equatorial heat. However, especially if you’re going to be traveling into northern Vietnam or the mountains, a little extra can keep you warm at night.
4. Pack light in general
This is a no-brainer. Do you really need that tenth top? Or that fourth pair of shoes? Chances are no. I was lucky to not have too much of a problem with keeping it light. Keeping your stuff confined to one bag also forces you to throw out some of your more unnecessary items. In general, it is best to pack between 3-4 shirts, 2-3 shorts, a couple of dresses for women, a week’s worth of socks and underwear, good walking or hiking shoes, and sensible walking sandals, like Birkenstocks
As far as make-up went, I only brought one stick of eyeliner and one tube of mascara, and didn’t use them once. I am not saying that you shouldn’t wear makeup your entire trip, but I can personally say that living as a free-spirit for several weeks was utterly liberating. Travel-sized shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, and face wash turned out to be the perfect amount of toiletries.
5. If you’re a female, carry a scarf with you
Asia is big on respect. Actually, a lot of countries are big on respect, outside the United States of course. It is almost a culture shock to grow up in America and travel, because other countries are far less “anything goes.” If you want to enter a temple, you can’t be wearing booty shorts. You should probably tuck the girls away, at least for a little bit. I’m all for women owning their sexuality, but a place of worship in another country is neither the time nor the place. Carrying a simple scarf on you can cover up your naughty bits in times like these. I was denied entry to a temple in Hanoi for wearing a t-shirt and sports shorts. I looked my very frumpiest, but still regretted not having a way to cover up.
6. Wear a money belt
Money belts are hands-down the best way to prevent your money and passport from getting stolen. It’s impossible to grab it off of you unless someone is going into your pants, and at that point you have a bigger problem.
Here is my favorite money belt on Amazon
7. Pack compression socks
In typical old-lady fashion, my ankles were swollen almost to the point of explosion when I was in Vietnam. The humidity and heat was relentless, and my ankles did not handle it well. Compression socks are a great way to manage that swelling. They are also great for long plane rides to keep the blood circulating in your legs while you travel.
I may look happy in this photo at my cooking class in Hoi An, but my ankles were actually so swollen that I was contemplating death. Southeast Asia is hot, people. Compression socks are the cure.
Here are my favorite compression socks on Amazon
8. Pack extra contacts
I’ve been doing this for forever, no matter how far from home I go. There is nothing worse than losing a contact or ripping a contact and having no way to call in reinforcements. I don’t mind wearing my glasses every once in a while, but not while zip lining into a river in central Vietnam.
9. Don’t forget sunscreen
Remember when I said Southeast Asia is on the equator? The sun is a bitch. Sunscreen can get pricey. Throw a travel-sized bottle or two in with your toiletries.
10. Leave your jeans at home
This includes denim shorts. Idiotically, half the shorts I brought to Vietnam were denim, and trying to peel them off my sweaty body every time I went to pee was more than mildly unpleasant. Denim takes forever to dry, and certainly doesn’t mix well with unanticipated rain storms or sweaty, sticky legs. Long denim is also hot as hell. Leave your denim at home, and opt for lighter, easier to dry fabric.
11. Pack a separate bag for wet shoes, clothes, or bathing suits
When you’re backpacking, you’re on the move a lot. You may only stay in one place for a night or two. It can sometimes be not enough time for your swimming suit or your laundry to dry. Pack a separate bag to throw your wet stuff into to keep the rest of your clothes from getting wet as well. Also pack a separate shoe bag
12. You can always buy super cheap clothes once you get there
If you find yourself out of clean clothes and you’re in a pinch, keep in mind that you can buy more clothes for a couple of dollars. I bought a pair of light, breezy shorts for $2, and wore them several times over the weeks.
13. Regardless of how long your trip will be, your backpack should always be the same size
This is something I read online before my trip and it turned out to be completely true. My trip was only for a few weeks, but I met other travelers who were traveling for 6 months or more, and their backpacks were no bigger than mine. A good rule of thumb is no more than 40 liters for one person, but it depends on your height. Maybe 60 liters, MAYBE, if you plan to hoist a lot of camera equipment around. The goal is not to pack an outfit for every day, but rather a few versatile pieces that are easy to wash and that you won’t mind wearing for a while.
Shop one of the most popular all-purpose traveling backpacks on Amazon
14. Also bring a smaller day pack for day trips and exploring
CURSES to me for not knowing anything about backpacking prior to leaving, because this is something that is actually extremely practical and intuitive. BRING A SMALLER BACKPACK IN ADDITION TO YOUR BIG BACKPACK. If you look at other travelers, the hip thing to do is wear it on your front like a baby bjorn as you’re traveling between places, and to take it with you when you go on day trips or on shorter overnight excursions. Trust me, you don’t want to be lugging your huge backpack with you everywhere you go, but you still want to have a big enough bag to hold your camera, phone, rain jacket, and water bottle.
Eating
14. Eat street food or at holes in the wall
I cannot stress this enough. I had acquaintances prior to my trip express concern for my health in ways they had never before and urge me not to eat street food in Asia unless I wanted an extended bout of diarrhea. Well guess what, buckos? I went to Peru in college, ate nothing but the best cooking my aunts had to offer, drank solely out of sealed disposable water bottles, and still got an extended bout of diarrhea. Sometimes it is unavoidable because your stomach just isn’t used to the foreign novelty of the food and water. But don’t let it stop you from eating like the locals do.
I had some of the best food of my life in a random little hole in the wall in Hue, sitting on a tiny little stool and watching rats run along the wall, with not a tourist in sight and not a word of English on the menu. This food is going to be the best and most authentic because it isn’t catering to western tourists, and it is going to be cheaper because it isn’t trying to take advantage of westernized tourists. Trust me on this. This is the most important point I’ll probably make in this entire post.
15. Don’t buy food at rest stops
Similar to my previous point, food at rest stops, which you will be tempted by if you take any long bus trips, is insanely overpriced. I was starving on the way back from Halong Bay and got a bag of Goldfish for $4, which could have bought me four entire meals.
16. Don’t drink out of the tap
As with a lot of less developed countries, you don’t want to be drinking out of the tap. It can lead to yellow fever, typhoid, and plenty of other stuff you don’t want to get, much less while abroad.
17. But stay hydrated!
Luckily, there are vendors selling bottles of water everywhere you turn. I always opted for the big ones, which have little plastic handles on them for easy carrying. If they don’t have plastic handles, ask.
Accommodations
18. Socialize in your hostels
I am someone who is naturally a little more shy, so I was naturally a little more nervous about going to the other side of the world completely on my own. I stayed predominantly in hostels, and tended to seek out the more social ones, which offer a free beer or two for happy hour every evening. It is a great way to meet other travelers and feel a little bit less alone. The people I met in my hostels became my bar buddies, my day trip friends, and excellent sources of information on what not to miss in the places I hadn’t yet been.
19. Bring a lock for when you leave your room
Not every hostel has a way to lock your stuff up when you leave, and not every person staying in the hostel is good and honest. It is always a good idea to have a padlock with you to keep your belongings safe.
20. Your hotel or hostel generally can organize transportation for you
The staff at your hostel are actually an excellent resource for anything, from pointing out the best places to eat, to helping you find great deals on day trips, to helping you find the cheapest, fastest transportation. On my way out of Ho Chi Minh, I asked the girl at my hostel how best to get to the airport, originally just planning on getting a motorbike ride through Uber. She suggested a bus that was leaving in 10 minutes and cost less than $1. AN ANGEL AMONG MORTALS.
21. Stay in a homestay whenever possible
Hostels are cheap and an incredible way to meet other travelers, but don’t sleep on sleeping at a homestay. I stayed in one, the home of a young couple and their two year old daughter in Sapa, and enjoyed a delicious home-cooked meal, a look into the life of a local family, and some really amazing conversations and memories. If you want to really do Southeast Asia right, you have to sleep in at least one stranger’s home. It is mandatory.
Excursions and Tours
22. Shop around for tours
This is something I learned on my trip to Halong Bay. I ended up booking through my hostel in Hanoi (Old Quarter View Hostel, the best hostel in the entire world), and got a pretty good deal. I met some boys on the trip who stayed in a hostel about a mile down the road, and they paid TWICE as much as I did for the exact same trip. LOL boys. It pays to check with your hotel, but also with the dozens of travel agents up and down the block.
23. Expect tour buses to stop off and try to get you to buy stuff
This is not even something that is unique to Southeast Asia, as I dealt with this while traveling through Costa Rica as well. If you’re on a bus going somewhere as part of an organized excursion, you will, without a doubt, be stopping somewhere for the sole purpose of, they hope, buying ceramics, or pottery, or stained glass. They do it to all tourists to make money, and while it isn’t my favorite use of time, I do understand that it comes with the territory.
General Travel Tips
24. Travel overnight
If you’re on a time crunch and want to do as much as possible, the best way to travel is by overnight bus or train. The overnight buses in Vietnam are BOMB, with everyone getting their own little pod, and it is actually incredibly comfortable. On my way to Sapa I slept for six hours straight on one of these babies, and got to the mountain town refreshed and not having lost any time for activities.
My favorite website to book overnight transportation was www.baolau.com. www.seat61.com is also a good one. It makes it easy to get tickets in advance and not have to worry. I loved my overnight train ride to Hanoi and got an amazing night’s sleep, but woke up with a pimple the size of a large grape in the middle of my forehead, so I made a mental note to pack a pillowcase next time for situations like this. You don’t know where that pillow has been.
25. Have plenty of cash on you
It is a cash economy in this part of the world, and so don’t expect to be whipping out your credit card everywhere you go. More often than not, you won’t pay the price on the tag (if you’re a smooth talker and know how to haggle, which I certainly do not) and you’ll be paying in cash. Don’t let yourself run out of cash, because you may find yourself in a pickle.
26. Bring US dollars
A lot of places will take US dollars in lieu of the local currency, and for a Vietnam visa-on-arrival at the airport, you can only pay in US dollars.
27. Laundry is cheap
For a couple dollars, your hotel or hostel will generally take your dirty laundry, wash it, and dry it, all in about 24 hours. I did this twice in 3 weeks and it didn’t cost me more than $5.
28. But bring a small bottle of detergent for emergencies
Because laundry does take a bit of time, however, you may not always have the bandwidth to get your stuff clean before you have to depart for your next destination. I bought a travel-sized shampoo bottle from Target for $1 before I left and filled it with detergent, and used that to wash underwear and other things that got dirty but that I didn’t have time to get washed. Just hang it up to try overnight and viola. You’ll be offending fewer people with your stench.
29. Expect the worst humidity of your life
Seriously. Have I not pounded this into your thick heads enough yet? It is hot.
30. Souvenirs are similar everywhere, so shop around
Once you get to Southeast Asia, you’ll see what I’m talking about. Everyone has those airy, printed, bohemian pants, not only because they are ideal for moving around in the heat, but also because they are sold LITERALLY EVERYWHERE. If you want a souvenir, keep in mind that they sell the same ones all over the place, so there’s no rush to fill your backpack in your first few days.
31. You’ll be doing a lot of squatting when you pee
Here begins possibly one of the more disgusting stories you’ll have to read on the Internet today. Take a good, hard look at this hole in the ground, because it will be your toilet a whole lot of the time while you’re in Southeast Asia.
32. Always have toilet paper on you (and baby wipes)
As I mentioned earlier, it is entirely possible that you will get bouts of diarrhea, as you are not used to the food and water. And that’s fine. My pack of baby wipes were my saving grace. However, at a rest stop during a 4 hour bus trip, I squatted over my hole to pee and got a little more than I bargained for. Because very few public bathrooms have toilet paper (some have people selling it outside for a few cents, but not all), if you accidentally poop, you’re shit out of luck. Literally. I had to use the bucket sitting in the corner of my stall to splash myself and clean myself up as best as I could, but let me tell you, it was humiliating, and it was gross.
33. Always have hand sanitizer on you
Did I mention public bathrooms also never have soap in them? Yeah. It made my lack of toilet paper/poop situation even more panic-inducing. I climbed back aboard the bus, my hands extended in front of me, hovering in the air, refusing to touch anything for the next two hours. Bring hand sanitizer. It’s a good idea, regardless of if you accidentally shit in a hole or not.
34. Maybe don’t wear thongs every day
Because having a piece of fabric between your incredibly sweaty buttcheeks when you are pooping constantly is just a recipe for disaster. Just trust me on this one.
35. Hold onto your stuff while walking down the street
With the prevalence of motorbikes in Southeast Asia, it is incredibly common for motorbikers to ride by and snatch your bag right off your shoulder. They may also have a knife and cut the strap as you pass. Hearing this alarmed me, understandably, and I don’t think my bag left my firm little grip the entire time I was there.
36. Research reputable cab companies
One of the biggest scams in Southeast Asia stems from cabbies ripping you off and taking more money than they should. This is certainly a somewhat nerve-wracking situation to be in, especially as a young female traveling alone. Be sure to research what the reputable cab companies are, and only take cabs from those companies. In Vietnam, the two cab companies you should use are Mai Linh and Vinasun.
37. But take a bus whenever possible to save money
There might be some instances where you’re pressed for time and taking a cab will be necessary. If you’re feeling a little more leisurely, though, look into using the bus system. The staff at your hotel can point you in the right direction.
If you’re flying into Ho Chi Minh City, take public city bus number 152. It’s on the right side when you come out of the arrivals entrance. It’ll take you downtown across the street from Ben Thanh Market, and will literally only cost you 25 cents.
38. Don’t wait for a break in traffic, because there probably won’t be one
The drivers may be insane, but the pedestrians are even more so. One thing that took a lot of getting used to was watching local pedestrians walk into the road as motorbikes hurled towards them, no sign of stopping or even slowing, and weaved between the bikes to the other side of the road. UNPHASED. I started by following them across the street and trying to copy their technique, and after a while, you too will be unphased as a bike comes within one millimeter of running over your body.
39. Sort out visas ahead of time
Visa on arrival is a really good option for getting a visa for Vietnam (and will save you a buttload of money compared to going to the embassy). Basically, you pay $20 online to get approved, print out your confirmation, get a passport photo taken, and bring everything with you. When you land, you’ll go to the visa on arrival kiosk and walk out with your visa in less than 15 minutes. Careful though, since there are a lot of scams on the Internet and you REALLY don’t want to be turned away the minute you arrive. I had a great experience with vietnam-visa.com and would highly recommend their service.
40. Avoid hopping on strangers’ motorcycles
It is impossible to get more than a few blocks in any major Vietnamese city without hearing “Motorbike? Hey girl, motorbike?” No, I do not want to straddle the back of your goddamn motorbike. I may be a naive young baby but I know better than to do that. Men wait on the corners and try to get you to take a ride with them for cash, which I’m sure is fine 9 times out of 10, but I, as a solo female traveler whose own mother didn’t even know where I was at any given time, wasn’t willing to risk it.
41. Get a universal adapter
I found that most outlets in Vietnam allowed me to plug my North American plugs in straight into them. But you don’t want to rely on that. Get a universal adapter before you leave like this one
42. Go with the flow, and don’t plan too much
I love, love, LOVE planning. I write every, single thing I do in my planner, color-coded. But there really isn’t a place for that kind of intense planning in Southeast Asia, with a backpack strapped to you everywhere you go. A strict itinerary will only make you miss out on experiences that you didn’t even know were possible. And if you can’t do everything you wanted to do, then you can’t. If you can’t shower for three days, then you can’t. The best way to enjoy your time backpacking is to live in the moment, go where the wind takes you, and be free.
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