While I do not think one should be unduly worried about the items to bring, one should definitely pay more attention to items that cannot be purchased easily (if they can be bought in the first place) in the destination countries. Some of these items are passport, money, credit card, phone, medicine, camera and chargers.  Other items such as clothings and tolietries are usually easy to find.

I also do not think it is necessary to invest in specialised travel products if one does not travel often. A normal cotton towel works just as well as a microfibre towel even if it takes up more space.  A pair of sport shoes are enough for normal walkabouts and a pair of hiking shoes might not be necessary. If you are on a guided tour with vehicles, you might even want to bring along a luggage instead of a backpack.

For my upcoming trip to China (Sichuan, Tibet and Yunan) in November, I would be bringing warmer clothings and here is my packing list with photos.

Backpack:

• Osprey Stratos 34 Litre

Clothings:

• 1 x beanie
• 1 x gloves
• 1 x long sleeve tshirt
• 1 x short sleeve tshirt
• 1 x light sweater
• 1 x socks
• 3 x underwears
• 1 x thermal set
• 1 x pants (convertible to bermudas)
• 1 x fleece pants

Clothings packed into an Eagle Creek’s pack-it bag.

Slippers, thermos and umbrella

All going into the backpack

Tolietries and medical pouch:

• Shower Foam
• Facial Wash
• Shampoo
• Scrub
• Toothbrush and toothpaste
• Sunblock
• Flu, diarrhoea, altitude sickness and other medicines
• Thermometer
• Plasters
• Shaver
• Towel

Electronics and miscellaneous items pouch:

• Ebook Reader
• Notepad and pens
• International travel adaptors
• Power chargers
• Power cables
• Flashdrive
• Locks and keys
• Travel chopsticks
• Torchlight
• Spare spectacles

Adding both to the backpack

Items for front pouch of the backpack:

• Tissues
• Small cloth
• Tea sachets/sweets/nuts
• Plastic bags
• Hand warmers
• Bike lock
• Locks and keys
• Travel Chopsticks
• Torchlight

Adding them all into the front pouch

Items I usually carry in my sling bag:

• Travel papers
• Small bottle of water
• Small pouch of tissues, small change, pen, note pad, keys, compass, mobile phone, earphones
• Camera

Jacket (I might need to buy a heavier jacket if it’s too cold in China)

Both the sling bag and jacket are packed into my backpack for flights. When on the move, these items are usually out of my backpack.

My backpack has a waterbag slot at the back but I use it to carry my backpack’s raincover and a poncho.

Money belt:

• Passport
• Money

Items I carry on my body, outside the backpack:

• Set of clothings and shoes
• Money belt
• Watch
• Wallet
• A packet of tissues

Putting it all together.

The backpack with its contents but without any water weigh around 8kg.

Here, an Ebook reader would come in useful.  Such devices are light-weight, capable of storing hundreds of books and often come with the ability to purchase books directly via internet.  Other common features are web browsing and music playing. While the Ebook reader’s screen might not  fully duplicate the feel and look of an actual book, most of the popular Ebook readers actually comes with a display technology called E Ink. This is different from the LCD screen we see in iPad or laptops which is not conducive for long hours reading because of the glare and reflection.

Watch the Amazon Kindle advertisement below which shows the difference between an E Ink and LCD screen.

Personally, I own the Sony PRS-350 Ebook reader.  It is one of the smallest Ebook readers around and unlike the more popular Amazon Kindle, it supports ePub which is a free and open format used in E-Libraries and online bookstores.

Borrowing an ebook might sound like an exotic concept. But it works rather well. Just like a normal library book, the borrowed ebook would automatically expire after a certain number of days set by your library. Here is a quick guide from the online library which I usually borrow my books from.

But my experience has not been great. Here’s my 1 month saga.

12/11/2010

After filling many details at quickremit site, I transferred money to their bank account.

Received an email from quickremit@timesofmoney.com for a soft copy of my passport. I sent the copy.

Received a call from quickremit to verify my details.

Received another call from quickremit that my beneficiary’s contact number is not working and they need to perform verification with the beneficiary as well.

I told them I need to check and they told me to send the details to quickremit@timesofmoney.com.

First I tried to update the contact numbers on my own at quickremit website but I found that my account was barred from making changes as my account is not verified. So I just send the updated contacts to quickremit@timesofmoney.com.

15/11/2010

I dropped an email to quickremit@timesofmoney.com requesting for an update of status.

No response.

16/11/2010

I dropped another email to quickremit@timesofmoney.com requesting for an update of status.

No response.

17/11/2010

Tried to call their US hotline but I could not get through. Then I googled and found many similar complaints. I posted at http://www.consumercourtforum.in/f33/hdfc-bank-quickremit-20347/ and also dropped an email to support@hdfcbank.com.

18/11/2010

Divya Palai from support@hdfcbank.com responded to my email and requested for more information.

I sent them the following information:

- My user ID at quickremit

- Copy of my remittance (I saved a copy)

- My beneficiary’s contact numbers

- My contact number if they need to call me

20/11/2010

As I have received no response, I requested for an update from support@hdfcbank.com.

23/11/2010

Divya Palai from support@hdfcbank.com informed me that they have forwarded the case to quickremit@timesofmoney.com.

I sent a terse email to both support@hdfcbank.com and quickremit@timesofmoney.com to express my disappointment with their service.

24/11/2010

Yasmin Koli from quickremit@timesofmoney.com acknowledged my email and requested for a copy of my passport.

Fine, even though I have already sent a copy on 12/11/2010, I sent again on the same day. I also reminded them of the update of my beneficiary’s contact numbers.

26/11/2010

I dropped an email to quickremit@timesofmoney.com requesting for an update of status.

No response.

29/11/2010

I dropped another email to quickremit@timesofmoney.com requesting to cancel the transaction and refund my money.

No response.

08/12/2010

I sent another terse email to both quickremit@timesofmoney.com and support@hdfcbank.com.

09/12/2010

Akhlaque Khan from quickremit@timesofmoney.com responded. Again, I was asked for a soft copy of my passport.

Being such a patient guy, I sent them a copy of my passport again and reminded them that this is the third time I have done so. I also requested for an acknowledge of receipt.

Within a few hours, Anupam Guria from quickremit@timesofmoney.com acknowledged my email and assured me that they are following up.

Received another email later in the day from Rajesh Kavade who informed me that my account has been activated. I logged in and found that my transaction is under “Money Awaited”. This means “We have not yet received the money from your Bank account. In case you have not initiated a transfer through your bank, we request you to please do so at the earliest”.

But I did the transfer on 12 Nov 2010.

So I dropped another email to quickremit@timesofmoney.com explaining the situation and gave them the transaction reference.

10/12/2010

Anupam Guria from quickremit@timesofmoney.com responded that they have taken note of my query

A few hours later, Anupam Guria informed me that my transaction was processed and my beneficiary would receive the money with 48 hours.

My beneficiary informed me that he has received the money in his HDFC bank account. The amount he received is 6 rupees more than the indicative amount given by HDFC quickremit when I first submitted the remittance.

I sent a thank you message to quickremit.

Comments

Overall, I feel it’s an interesting pre-trip experience. I guess it is also because the amount I transferred is small so I was not very worried. And I am lucky that my beneficiary is patient enough to wait almost a month for the money.

I am still unsure of the reasons which might have caused the long delay. The following are some guesses:

- I gave the wrong beneficiary contact numbers

- I sent too many emails

- I am a foreigner sending money to a foreigner in India and have go to through additional checks

- Indian authorities are checking if this is a tax-evading transaction

Do note that my Indian colleagues who used the same HDFC Quickremit service managed to get their money transferred within a week to their relatives . They underwent the same type of phone verifications as me. Anyway, hope you would have better luck if you are using HDFC Quickremit service.

The ride so far has been great. Besides the obvious advantages of scooters (e.g. storage, leg protection against rain, no gears to change means no ruining of leather shoes), the Vespa LX150 feels zippy despite its small 150CC engine. I have tried going up to 110km/l on the speedometer but I doubt it can go much faster than that. Anyhow, the speed is more than adequate for city riding. The Vespa also attracts a fair bit of attention. Friends remarked about its cuteness and uncles at parking lots struck up conversations and reminisced their racing days on manual Vespas.

If there is something I do not like about the bike, it’s the compartments. Don’t get me wrong, the Vespa LX150 offers plenty of useful storage spaces which is almost non-existent in other motorcycles. However, the under-seat storage and box could be a tad bigger to accommodate full-sized helmets. My Zeus flip-up is a tight fit but my MFizz Evolution II open-face helmet just could not fit. Many other helmets do not fit as well. An extra 1-2 centimeters in height would make all the difference. Well, no biggies. I would just stick to my Zeus for the time being. Saves me some dollars.  

That’s all for the quick review. As always, here are more photos to share:

But to make things easier for the new traveler, I have written a short packing guide. As you can see from the article, I do not carry a lot of specialty traveler items. I carry a small backpack (34 litre Osprey Stratos) but I did squeeze (too) many items in it.

Please note that these photos were taken when I was half-way through my East Asia trip (China, South Korea and Japan), a 6 weeks long trip.

For this trip, besides the clothings I am wearing, I brought along another 2 pairs of convertible pants, 3 tshirts, 1 small towel, 1 light jacket, 3 pairs of underwears and 2 pairs of socks.

Roll the clothings into a pack-it bag.

Maps, name cards, brochures and magazines I have collected during the trip. A good hiding place for money is between the pages of the magazines.

Adding the clothings and papers packs into my backpack.

A small pack of poncho, elastic hooks and trash bag. They are mainly for my riding use.

A pair of slippers.

Adding them to the sides of the backpack.

Showering and medical pouch. It contains the usual suspects – facial wash, tooth brush, toothpaste, face towel, shower foam, shampoo, deodorant, sunblock, nail clippers, scrub, thermometer, paracetamol, charcoal pills, flu pills and plasters. Note that the liquids are stored in 100ml transparent bottles. This is required by some airports.

Zipped up to a compact pouch.

My electronics pack. Included are my chargers, power adapters, converters, mouse, cables, batteries, torch light, spare spectacles, external hard disk, stationery and souvenirs I have picked up along the way.

Adding the new packs into my backpack. It might look full but there is actually space for more.

My laptop and thick Japan Lonely Planet Guide into a helmet bag.

Adding the final pack inside the Osprey.

Some items I keep inside the front pouch of the backpack. Tissue papers, bike lock and plastic bags are kept here for quick access.

You never know when you are going to find water again. I try to keep at least 1 litre in my backpack.

My stuffed Osprey. But there’s more.

Besides a main backpack, I carry a sling bag for frequently used items. These includes food, more water, camera, mini tripod, travel guide, notepad, pen, umbrella and a small pouch containing money, mobile phone, spare batteries and camera lens.

I use a bike helmet sling bag for the purpose.

A money belt to keep cash, license and passport.

My packs.

If you are packing for a riding trip, you might find the motorcycle trip packing checklist useful.

Do read my updated Packing Guide 2!