Asia Pacific in 88 Days (aka Oreo Adventures^†)

Introduction

Between January 29 and April 27, 2013, I will be traveling traveled nearly 30,000 miles across Asia and Oceania (specifically, New Zealand). I carried a GPS tracker called BadElf that let me track exactly where I've been with very minimal effort, though it doesn't upload the details automatically. I offloaded these periodically here using a script I made. My estimated daily budget was $25. I carried a 30L Eagle Creek duffel bag and a Timbuktu messenger bag.

My BadElf GPS tracker by the window on the sleeper bus between Nha Trang and Dalat, Vietnam.

View GPS tracks by individual location (number of nights):

• South Korea (7) - Seoul, DMZ
• Taiwan (5) - Taipei, Pingxi
• Hong Kong (9)
• Macau (2)
• New Zealand (20) - Christchurch - Lake Tekapo - Mt. Cook - Queenstown - Te Anau - Lake Wanaka - Franz Josef - Punakaiki - Nelson - Golden Bay - Wellington - National Park - Taupo - Rotorua - Auckland
• Thailand (9) - Bangkok, Chiang Mai
• Vietnam (12) - Hanoi - Ha Long Bay - Hue - Hoi An - Nha Trang - Dalat - Ho Chi Minh City
• India (22) - Mumbai - Aurangabad - Panaji - Madgaon - Hampi - Mysore - Munnar - Ft. Kochi

View by travel method: Flight | Train | Boat

View All (300MB)

Below is the planned itinerary

Packing list

I was confident I could keep everything I needed to what I could fit into carry-on. Only one airline (Air Asia) gave me grief about the weight (it had to be less than 7kg) but all I did was take out my jacket and sweater and wear it, which brought down the weight, and once past security I just packed it all back in.

1. Polo shirt and long-sleeved shirts
2. 2 jeans, 1 short, 1 trainer for rainy days
3. Thin shirts (4)
4. Socks and underwear
5. ES Cargo Eagle Creek duffle bag
6. Canon 5D Mark II (810g), 24-70mm (803g) and 17-40mm lens (473g)
7. iPad 3 (650g) and keyboard (333g) - for reservations and reading up on LonelyPlanet while in flight, backing up photos and the GPS tracks
8. Gorillapod SLR Zoom tripod (241g)
9. Bridgestone wire lock for a little piece of mind - useful when you have to check out early but you want to leave your luggage in a common storage room
10. BadElf GPS Pro, car to usb charger, electrical tape, lock
11. Raincoat used once
12. Charger unit I ended up using the small extension cord and taping the 3 chargers I needed every day around it. The portable chargers were less useful.
13. Travel poncho
14. Heat Reflective Emergency Blanket - because I hate being cold, but I never ended up using it, and good thing too.
15. Travel plug adapter useful, but it didn't have Hong Kong compatible plugs, which would have been nice at the airport
16. Toileteries
17. DryLite towel half the weight (145g) of a standard towel but dries ultra fast.
18. Pillowcase
19. Bandanna, handkerchief - Really useful for the dusty air in Aurangabad or the hot days where you could just soak it in water and wrap it around your neck

Not pictured

• Flip-flops (not yet purchased in HK) - for the grungy shower stall or a walk on the beach
• Ultralight Down jacket - packs a punch with no weight (206g) at all and comes with a little bag to stuff it in.
• International driver's permit for driving through NZ
• Maglite flashlight
• Timbuktu Messenger bag the two clasps made it really hard to pickpocket, but it also screamed "I have valuables inside"
• Nalgene waterbottle less useful than I thought it would be, as I bought bottles of water along the way, but it was useful as a rigid container that could hang outside my duffle

Things I ended up buying along the way

• 500GB Seagate external hard-drive for backing up photos, as my iPad was clearly not enough (at Fortune Town in Bangkok for 1500 THB). Also grabbed a SD card reader.
• A camera bag - the messenger bag was just too inconvenient to carry around as I'd have to dump all the stuff inside just to reduce the weight. I just bought a shoulder bag in Chiang Mai and repurposed it.
• Silk sleeping bag - 80,000 VND on the streets of Hanoi. Best purchase ever; helped during the nights on the sleeper trains or at hotels where they didn't give you sheets.

Mid-trip shipping

In Chiang Mai, Thailand, I shipped home 3.568kg of stuff for about 1000 THB, including the sweater, jeans, jacket. Traveling from a cold country (16cm of snow in Seoul when I started) to hot (a high of 37°C in Chiang Mai) was therefore a blessing, because I would rather not buy things to wear if I can help it, and I bundled a few souvenirs too.

Photography

I uploaded selected photos by connecting my 5D Mark II to my iPad. Before the trip was over, I selected 88 photos with the only caveat that they be photos that I've imported onto the iPad, and no more or less, and that they be the best photos I have to share my trip with. View all 88 pictures (high res | low res)

I started my trip with a brand new camera. By the end of the trip, I had 22,000 actuations (25,068 shutter presses and 3315 live views, which don't count as shutter presses per se).

Flight information

Hotels and hostels

Most of the places I stayed I reviewed on TripAdvisor. I've had to have one journal sent to the United States, so I cannot update the New Zealand section for a couple of weeks as I wrote my notes in there.

• 5: would definitely return and recommend to others.
• 4: a great stay, with some points that could be improved.
• 3: not bad, but pricey, mediocre room or inattentive staff.
• 2: would avoid and not recommend.
• 1: had to leave the hotel.

^†Why Oreo Adventures?

I collected Oreo wrappers and Oreo-lookalikes during my trip (hence the name, Oreo Adventures). I'm curious about comparing the ingredients with the ones made in the United States and Europe (I'll be in both within the next month).

1. India. Note it has the Cadbury logo instead of the Kraft one, even though Cadbury owns Kraft. There's a green square stating it's a vegetarian snack on the back (or see #8) 120g and 25 rupees. Manufactured in Punjab, India.
2. Thailand, Oreo, 137g, Kraft logo. Anywhere from 25-30 baht. Manufactured in Indonesia.
3. Vietnam, Okie, 110g. 10,000~15,000 dong. Manufactured in Hanoi.
4. South Korea, 50g. 700 KRW. Least tasty of the knock-offs.
5. Hong Kong, 4HKD, 30g. Bought while at the Dialogue in the Dark store. Manufactured in Indonesia.
6. Thailand, Cream-O, manufactured in Thailand by a company called Jack 'n Jill. 10 baht with 10% extra.
7. Vietnam, Cream-O, manufactured in Vietnam, 93g. 15,000 dong.
8. India, Treat-O. 75g, 12 rupees. Manufactured in Gwalior, India.
9. India, 20g. 5 rupees and 2 cookies inside. Manufactured in Punjab, India.

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