Recent Posts

Although a little dated now the Michael Palin series are well worth a watch, Aound the world in 80 days, Full Circle etc etc.  Also try and see A Map for Saturday.

My feeling is that your not going to decide anything sitting at home reading websites, watching videos—you should go and hit the road, travel to some countries that interest you, taste the food, smell the air, meet the people and see how it feels and your gut should do the rest 

I know that i should travel around to see all the places, but I have no money.
I will need a lot of money to see all the world so I think its better to see allready from home which countries I should concentrate on, and then I can visit just a few of them and see if its something for me..

Hey man,

I've been running around the remote parts of Southeast Asia for 7 years and never even met another traveler who had contracted malaria [knock on wood].

Africa is a slightly different story: I have met travelers who had malaria several times there. But never in Asia.

I took Doxycycline for the first week in Laos, didn't know better, and the side affects were way worse than risking malaria, in my opinion. It's a strong antibiotic, made for short runs, not sustained use. It destroyed my stomach biotics and made me sunburn in sheer minutes. Not something you have to worry about, but I've met three different female travelers now whom became pregnant because they didn't realize that doxycycline was an antibiotic and that it interfered with birth control!

I stopped taking antimalarials and never looked back. Malarone and Larium, your other choices, are just as bad.

The sad news is that even taking an antimalarial doesn't totally protect you; the new strains in Southeast Asia are largely resistant to prophylaxis.

I certainly wouldn't avoid any countries for fear of malaria. Getting dengue fever is more realistically a threat to travelers there, but both malaria and dengue can be avoided just by doing your best not to be bitten by mosquitoes.

http://goasia.about.com/od/healthandsafety/a/What-is-Dengue-Fever.htm
http://goasia.about.com/od/healthandsafety/a/How-to-Avoid-Mosquito-Bites.htm

Just like anything else, you make decisions at your own risk...but I can share my experience with you. One of those blue doxycycline pills isn't going down my throat again unless I actually get malaria (that's what they give to you when you get it!).

True enough. Giving time back is always a great way to reciprocate someone's kindness. Goes further than a material gift probably (and doesn't weight as much to carry around). 

Totally agree...you can get some ideas, but you'll get 10x the ideas by meeting people and talking to people who are already doing what you want to do.

Cambodia is a fantastic country to visit, but it is also rife with corruption. As a foreigner, you would inevitably have to bribe someone somewhere to live there 'off the grid' and not be bothered. Friend of mine there now is in trouble for teaching English after they told him that he could do so. The local police seized the opportunity and are demanding an exorbitant fine.

Also, all joking aside, land mines are still quite a serious problem in Cambodia, especially if you want to garden or live remotely.

But...anything is possible. With more than 15,000 islands, I always daydreamed about setting up a permaculture cabin/farm in Indonesia somewhere.

What do you recommend for Malaria pills?  I will be travelliing throughout Thailand, then on through Malaysia to Singapore.

As its my first time i'm avoiding going to Cambodia & Laos due to the worry of Malaria so trying to keep it simple.

I'm told that there is little risk in Thailand apart from the borders and Malaysia (medium risk) so I have to work out how many weeks supply I will be best taking (malarone).  I plan on going from Bangkok to Singapore over the course of 2 months or 3 depending on how it goes.

So any advice from Greg or someone with experience in these lands will be very helpful, cheers  

Cheers for the tip Graefyl, I checked those poncho's out and not sure I like the look of them but i'll keep it in mind though 

Although a little dated now the Michael Palin series are well worth a watch, Aound the world in 80 days, Full Circle etc etc.  Also try and see A Map for Saturday.

My feeling is that your not going to decide anything sitting at home reading websites, watching videos—you should go and hit the road, travel to some countries that interest you, taste the food, smell the air, meet the people and see how it feels and your gut should do the rest 

Go for it Brad, I start my RTW trip in June after being inspired from A Map for Saturday.

Like Greg says, if not now then when?  You have time though if you want to clear some debt though and save up first, but deffo have a plan/goal and work towards it.

I wish you the best, keep that dream alive 

Hey..

I know it's not about backpacking but it's still about escaping the rat race and find peace in my mind..

So my plan is to go living somewhere peaceful where I can grow my own vagetables and have animals and so on.
And my girlfriend want to come also but only on one condition, which is that she can be an English teacher.

so I am searching a place where the ground is cheap and good and where there is not too many rules or taxes and so on.
And there should be some kind of school. Doesn't matter if it's small local or a school in a big city nearby..

I have thought about Cambodia because it should be very easy to get citizenship, and there are not so many rules and so on, and then is very cheap to live there and buy some ground and they have request for English teachers there.

Any other suggestions?

I would like also to look some documentaries about different countries for compare which is better, so is there someone that know a good travel serie or documentary serie about all the countries? most of all countries in Asia and other countries similar: this is important that they are mentioned in the serie.
any ideas?
I tried already "Globe trekker/pilot guides" which I didn't like so much. it seems old and bad quality and there was no information about the countries that i needed. There was more turistic information just.

Awesome, the guitar is something I've been really wanting to work on, and this will give me a god excuse to torture my roomie lol.

I actually ran across some card tricks that looked really simple and since a deck of cards is always useful and easy enough to carry around, I think I can def work on a couple of those!

And I definitely could never fathom 'using' a host, but at the same time I always feel the necessity to sort of reciprocate/pay back any services ever offered to me. Hah, I couldn't imagine NOT making friends and hanging out with anyone I stayed with, so that's certainly easy enough. I'm just the sort of house guest that even now at 27, if a friend invites me to their house for dinner, I will wash their dishes and clean up the kitchen. I guess I feel like actions speak louder than words, and I use helping out around the house or such as a way to say thanks.