What to pack - matnkat.com

Hopefully you've got enough sense to pack your passport, 'plane tickets and travel insurance... if not then you should think twice before leaving the house let alone cycling in SE Asia. But what else to take?

When I went on holiday...
click to see what we packed

Mat's panniers

Kat's panniers

Clothes

Take at least one long-sleeved top and trousers in case you really need to keep out of the sun and to keep the mosquitoes at bay in the evenings (light colours are supposed to deter them). Otherwise, take as little as possible. If you're planning to go to mountainous areas you'll need a jumper and maybe even a hat and gloves, but remember you can buy (and discard) clothes as you need them. It's nice to have a different pair of shoes for the evenings; lightweight ones like Crocs are ideal. A lightweight raincoat is handy for windy boat rides or cool, rainy days which do happen even in the dry season, particularly in the north of Vietnam.

Sunscreen

Good, high SPF sunscreen is generally only available in tourist centres, so stock up whenever possible. The more you cover up, the less sunscreen you need.

Medical kit

A travel doctor can give you a kit containing prescription drugs for traveller's diarrhoea, a general purpose anti-biotic, drugs for giardia, drugs for nausea and vomiting, counter drugs for stomach cramps/pain relief and counter drugs for general diarrhoea. Don't forget the basics as well: plasters, bandages, tiger balm, paracetamol, ibuprofen + codeine. Cortisone cream is good for cases of heat rash.

Anti-malarial drugs

They're expensive and not good for your health but malaria's pretty nasty too. Doxycycline should be taken 3 days prior and 4 weeks after being in an affected area, for a maximum of 4 months. If you travel in and out of malarial areas you may end up taking it the whole trip. Kat had no side-effects whereas Mat got bloating after a month and a stomach ulcer after two months. Neither of us was aware of photosensitivity.

Mosquito net

We had one which took up valuable space in the panniers but didn't use it. If the room needed one, there was usually one provided. When we did want to use it, there weren't hooks to hang it from. Also, because it was a travel net, it was too small to be useful.

Silk sleeping bag liners

Taking a mattress with you might be excessive

Liners impregnated with insect-repellent were one of the most useful things in our panniers. They are compact and lightweight and let you sleep easy if the beds are grim or have no sheets. They keep you cool in hot weather and help insulate in cool weather. The insect-repellent keeps mosquitoes and bed bugs away. You can buy wash-in packs of permethrin from camping shops.

Towels

Travel towels are handy to have for the few occasions when they're not provided.

Maps

A map with a scale of at least 1:1.5 million is essential; 1:1 million or less is ideal. There's not a wide selection in SE Asia, although Thailand has some good regional maps. The best one of Laos is the 1:1.6 million GT rider map which can be bought in Luang Prabang and Vientiane. It has street plans of several towns but is not topographic. For Vietnam we bought a 1:1 million Fauna & Flora map from The Map Shop in Hanoi which has enlargements of national parks. For Cambodia, the California 2 guesthouse in Phnom Penh sold us a Country Maps 1:750,000 scale mapwhich includes street plans of the major towns. Downloading good quality maps onto a GPS is a possibility.

Guidebooks

We took the Lonely Planet SE Asia on a Shoestring (minus the countries we weren't visiting!) but found that it didn't cover each country in enough depth to be useful; take a guide for each country, or just the current one you're in and exchange it when you cross the border.

Phrasebook

Very handy! Get one covering each country or all of SE Asia. As a last resort you can point to a phrase in a book, but bear in mind the other person might not be able to read. When you arrive in a country, learn some key phrases from a native speaker as soon as you can.

Passport photos

Take several for visas and the Angkor pass.