Inventory for India

This might be a bit boring, or interesting, who knows. I'm getting pre-flight jitters and it helps me to type stuff.

On my first outing I took a 50L Quechua rucksack, which was packed with mostly outdoors stuff for New Zealand:
2 shirts (including one quick-drying one)
1 pair quick drying walking trousers
1 pair running shorts (mainly for doing yoga)
1 sunhat
2 pairs of pants
3 pairs socks, including 2 thick walking socks
1 pair North Face sandals
1 mountain hardware jacket
1 Peter Storm rain coat
1 Quechua lightweight sleeping bag
1 silk sleeping sack
1 micro fibre fleece
1 large micro fibre towel and one small one (I cut the large one in half, I lost the small one)
camera, mp3 player, phone, and the various leads and adaptors to plug them into computers and wall sockets
A four-section toiletries bag (one of the ones that can be hung one the wall) with shower gel, razors, malaria tablets, water purifying solutions, plasters, toothpaste, travel toothbrush, mosquito repellant (50% DEET), sunblock
sketchbook, notepad, pens, pencils
New Zealand and South East Asia guidebooks
1 canvas shoulder bag to use as a day bag
Plastic cup and camping cutlery set
Wind-up torch and head lamp
Spare glasses (never used) and a shitload of contact lenses (hardly used them, ended up throwing most of them away)
Compass (it now does not point north but south - not much use, although it came in handy several times for orientation)

It all came to about 20kg

And I was wearing a shirt, underwear, socks, quick drying walking trousers and some Merrel hiking shoes

Well eventually I abandoned all the shirts in favour of t-shirts which I picked up along the way. I just couldn't be arsed trying to look smart. T-shirts just feel a lot more comfortable against the skinI find in hot weather than shirts. Also one of the trousers went in favour of shorts, all the thick socks went, I went through several hats, swapped the guidebooks for novels, never used the purification tablets, the sandals broke so I got some flip flops and wore them most of the time, the other shoes really hurt my feet after a while and I went through three pairs of other shoes. I also bought a small backpack for going on day hikes, as the canvas bag didn't last five minutes, although I used my main bag for big walks in New Zealand. The silk sleeping sack was supposed to protect me from bed bugs but I hardly used it, it wasn't that comfy to sleep in and got ripped easily, it was most useful as a sleeping bag liner when staying in huts in NZ as my main sleeping bag was woefully under powered. I ahd to buy some other stuff for hiking in NZ as well, such as a warm hat, gloves, camping stove attachment and a set of pots. I hardly used the fleece outside of NZ, except on buses/trains/planes with crazy AC on, and in the north of Thailand. The travel toothbrush went mouldy so I bought a new one in a 7-eleven in Saigon. The head lamp got broken in my bag, however the wind-up torch I used a few times. I also came back with a yoga mat which I bought in Indonesiam, and an umbrella which I picked up in Japan.

The most important thing for clothes is to wear stuff which is comfortable and which dries quickly, it really sucked in Japan having wet clothes from the rain and not being able to dry stuff due to the humidity.

As I'm just going to Asia this time I'm taking a lot less, got it all in a 28L Tofana bag.
2 t-shirts, both quite thin so they'll dry quickly
1 slightly smarter polo-type t-shirt for hanging around in bars
1 shirt, a very thin O'Neill one
the same yoga shorts and fleece as before
2 pairs shorts
2 pairs pants
2 pairs thin socks
1 pair flip flops
1 pair North Face trekking shoes (in case I go up to the Himalayas - anything else I need I'll have to buy/rent up there)
yoga mat
camera, alarm clock
note book, pens, Goa guidebook (probably the first thing to get chucked), copy of Midnights Children by Salman Rushdie
umbrella, emergency poncho, torch
travel toothpaste, toothbrush (a normal one!), mossie repellant, sunblock, water purification tablets

The main things which have gone are the jackets and the sleeping bag. I'm quite happy that I've got enough stuff to wear and survive (not that I need a yoga mat to survive... well it helps my mental survival) and yet can carry my bag for long distances if needs be.

I'll probably think of something else to write in a minute...