Bag Lady: Packing light for Laos!

Tomorrow, Lara and I will be leaving for a few days to handle some visa business along with a mix of pleasure at a few touristy destinations in Laos (Viene Tienne, Luang Prabang and Vang Vienne). We're especially excited because this is seriously the first time we're actually leaving to unknown territory without guidance from any outside sources [i.e. Ming & Kirk]. I usually get neurotic and weary about exploring without appropriately preparing myself about remote destinations through extensive research, but Lara grounds me by reminding me that, "thousands of travelers do it everyday, we can too!" and she often reminds me that our friend Josh has managed to survive SE Asia by himself-- we can too! Additionally... and thankfully, both Kirk and Ming prefaced us with information dealing with logistics at the Thai Embassy, efficient Laotian words that will aid in getting us around and potential scams that might come our way. It was kind of funny too because Kirk drew us this drawing. If you see long arrows, that's our queue to run away from tuk-tuk drivers and scammers. Thanks, Kirk and Ming! We'll be back soon. So yanno... meet us at the Thai border! Also, during this crash course we saw a huge moth outside our door. We also saw a monstrous butterfly earlier in the day, but I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it.


Kirk's diagram on how to get a Thai visa when in Laos. Haha.


Massive!

Since the duration of our stay in Laos will be short, we're packing extra light. I'm bringing the following:

• Bottoms: 2 pairs of shorts (1 for outdoors & 1 for bed)
• Tops: 1 long tank top, 1 V-neck tee, Daily Breads shirt and 1 undershirt
• Bandana to wipe off the profuse sweat from my body...gah
  
• 1 bathing suit I've recently purchased for $6 (one that I wouldn't mind getting dirty from the mud wrestling in Vang Vienne)
  
• 1 Tek towel
• 1 Sleep sack, since I've heard that some guesthouses do not provide sheets
  

• Toiletries and such
• Medication: Dramamine for the long hour tour guide drive back from Luang Prabang, T(hai)lenol (in red) for potential hang overs from Vang Vienne and Airborne
  

• Sunnies from H & M
  
• Passport, credit card, passport photos for the visa we are applying for
• Wallet from Nihon =)
• Red leather bound journal
• Small notebooks
  
• Halloway stickers to stick up in Laos
  

And there you have it!

We'll be back soon and legally to stay in this country for a few more months! Haha. See yah.

Bag Lady: Packing light for Thailand

The process of packing always seems to be emotionally unsatisfying to me. There is a constant battle between bringing along and leaving behind "valuable necessities" that have been so tightly glued to me. How do you go about packing your life into an allotted space that will provide comfort for 4-5 months? That, is what I am going to find out.

I did a bit of research about what to bring on extended trips and came to the conclusion that no matter how light you anticipate your luggage to be, it never turns out that way. I suppose to alleviate that thought and pain, I bought a few items of clothing (cheap!) along with some disposable goods that I hope during this trip will eventually be thrown out.

I've often found it difficult to identify myself with a physical space in which I called "home" for the past few years as I have constantly been moving around city to city and even country to city when I studied abroad in Australia. Growing up with friends and family have fittingly replaced this space. Sometimes the smell of people make me feel the essence/idea of being 'at home' or even being hugged by someone you love just makes you feel that exact comfort. But for this entry, material goods will serve as my "home".

In my bag:

• Jansport Utility backpack
• DSLR Camera bag
• Weekender bag for short trips
• Small backpack

• Bottoms: 2 pairs of jeans, 1 pair of slacks (for when we teach at schools and/or interviews), 2 pairs of shorts, 1 high-waisted pencil skirt, 1 pair of leggings for yoga!, 1 pair of jogging pants
  
• Tops: 5 tank tops, 3 white under shirts, 1 tube top, 5 tee shirts = all of which are very light and easy to dry
• 1 light black H & M scarf
• 1 Bathing suit
• 1 Halloway hat
• 1 Daily Breads T-shirt Bryan gave me
  
• Crown Royale pouch has 7 days worth of under wear/ 3 bras & 3 pairs of socks... no alcohol contained in here (I wish, jk).

• Tek towel- a super absorbant multi-use towel
• Sleep sack- a thin sleeping bag that Lara made for me

• Adidas Sambas (with additional sole inserts for comfort)
• Perforated Brown flats
• Sandals (I may change these once I find my comfy ones)
  

• The typical toiletries
• Make-up goods, small Pochacco tin to hold my jewelry
• Large pouch of baby wipes... these will come in handy
• Tide pen... tehe
• Medication
• Just a bunch of girly goods
  

• Acer Net book (video diaries will come soon!)
• Nikon D40 + Opteka Aspherical Fish-eye + Nikon DX 18-55mm
  
• Cannon Powershot SD750
• 2 gig USB
• Various memory cards
• 30 gig Ipod video + earphones
• Outlet converter
  
• 160 gig External

• 3 pens: 1 ballpoint, 1 paint pen (cause I'm gonna tag.. jk), 1 permanent marker
• Glue stick
• Multi-utensils + case
• 2 books: The Art of Happiness, Dalai Lama & Miss Universe, Ruby Verdiano-Ching (a collection of poems)
• Red leather bound journal, small homemade notebook
• 1 Small box of incense (sakura scent) for meditation
• 1 card holder
• 1 passport holder + CC's
• $1000 worth of Traveler's Checks
• 1 Bear brick Hello Kitty... iono, just cause. =)

I haven't weighed everything just yet, but I'm shooting for less than 30 lbs. These items are subject to more editing as I'm still continuing to find things I "might need"


AH!! IT'S SOO SOOOOOOON!!

Bag lady: Packing Light for Tokyo, Japan

1 Jansport Utility Backpack
1 Nike Duffle Bag
1 Vintage YSL Shoulder Bag
Superfuture's Tokyo Guide

All in good company.