South East Asia packing tips: 11 things you should bring from home

Packing for a trip to South East Asia

Packing for South East Asia sounds easy when you first think about it – just throw some shorts, t-shirts, bikinis and sandals in a backpack and you are pretty much good to go ! I travelled around South East Asia for two months with a typically packed 12 kilo/22 pound backpack. I generally had everything I needed, and I was able to purchase most missing items upon arrival in Asia. 

However, there were a few things that were surprisingly hard or inconvenient to find, were expensive, or that I wished I had brought from home, so I am sharing my list here to help you get prepared for your next trip to South East Asia.

Keep reading to find out the 11 things I wish I had packed on my first trip to South East Asia ! 

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1.One set of warm clothing 

South East Asia is certainly known for hot and humid temperatures, and you will probably spend the majority of your trip in shorts and T-shirts or other light and loose-fitting clothing.

However, I would recommend bringing at least one properly warm pair of trousers/pants, a sweater and good socks. I found the air conditioning on some night buses and ferries could be freezing cold and its hard to sleep when you can’t stop shivering! I also used my warm clothing for hiking in Sa Pa in Northern Vietnam where temperatures regularly dropped below 10 degrees Celsius and also at night in Taiwan when it could get chilly.

2.Clothing for very tall people and plus sizes 

The size range of commonly available clothing will be more limited in Asia, and while you can probably find an extra-large T-shirt just about anywhere, it can be quite hard to find properly fitted trousers, sportswear and items like coats and jackets to suit very tall people or plus size people, especially in the upper ranges of that sizing.

For example, I had to buy a light winter jacket in Taipei in size XXXL when I only take a women’s medium/large at home in North America – it took a triple extra-large to find a jacket I could zip across my chest. To avoid being uncomfortable or frustrated with the selection, bring whatever you need from home if you have these sizing requirements.  

3. Surf or swim shirt with SPF protection 

I actually managed to make it through my entire South East Asia trip without getting a single sunburn, but I definitely saw other backpackers in Bali and Thailand with terrible and sometimes painful sunburns. One of the easiest ways to get burned is during outdoor activities, especially snorkelling for a while with your back and shoulders up to the sun.

I ended up purchasing a surf shirt at a store on Koh Tao halfway through my trip, and I wished I had brought one from home because I spent a lot of time trying to stay out of the sun in Bali, Vietnam and Cambodia earlier in the trip and I was worried about getting burned during some outdoor activities, which made them less enjoyable. Consider bringing a surf shirt or SPF shirt from home if you burn easily!

4. Large size women’s footwear

If you are going to spend your entire trip on the beach in flip flops, you can ignore this one, but I needed hiking boots for a 3 day visit to the rice terrace hills in Sa Pa, Vietnam, and hadn’t brought them from home. I wear a USA size 10 women’s shoe and stores were not selling women’s shoes that large anywhere I could find in Vietnam. If you have larger sized feet in both men’s and women’s sizes, bring your footwear from home as options will be more limited in Asia.

 5. Supportive or plus sized swimwear 

If you require a more supportive swimwear top (for a larger chest), it is easiest to bring one from home. There will be millions of string bikinis in the markets and you can certainly find standard swimwear in chain stores in the bigger cities, but any kind of specialty swimwear will be very limited if not impossible to find out on the islands and in remote places.

I didn’t bring a proper bathing suit to Bali and I couldn’t find anything particularly nice or supportive for a larger chest out on the islands, you don’t want to be uncomfortable or miss out on water activities, so bring one from home! 

6. Sleeping eye mask

You would think that the lights would always be turned off in night buses and overnight trains. While this was usually the case, in Thailand we took a bus from Bangkok down to the ferry port to reach Koh Tao and the lights were not even dimmed in the coach. Another time, on a night train to Kanchanaburi, the curtains on the top bunk didn’t block any light at all which made it hard to sleep.

Sleep masks take up almost no room in your luggage and can also be useful in multi share hostels where people may turn on the lights at odd hours. The good news is that these should be easy enough to pick up in the airport if you forget one! 

7. Rolling backpack

This might be a controversial suggestion, but I actually wished I had brought a rolling backpack instead of a regular backpack as my luggage in Asia. There are definitely advantages to being able to carry your luggage around easily on public transit and through busy cities and keeping the weight under 20kg/40 pounds.

But for the amount of time I spent waiting around in airports, standing in lines and waiting for subways and taxis, I wished I had chosen something that I could also easily roll along with me when needed and not always have to take it on and off when it got too heavy. Also consider backpacks that fully unzip around one side, rather than simply top loading, because it will be much easier to access items at the bottom without fully unpacking !

8. Products for less common hair colours or textures 

After using what I thought was a hair mask treatment in Malaysia, I turned my blonde hair orange, and I was desperately searching around Bali for a purple toning treatment to correct it. I could not find one anywhere I looked, in pharmacies, beauty stores or grocery stores. There was an extremely limited selection or no options at all for products specifically for blonde and red hair at most average shops.

While I eventually sourced some from a high-end salon in a big shopping mall, I would suggest bringing hair products from home if you use specialized formulas for hair colours or hair types that aren’t common in Asia. 

9. Makeup products in less common shades 

Many people may not care about wearing makeup while they travel, but I do like to at least wear a tinted sunscreen powder and draw on some darker eyebrows as a person with fairly light blonde eyebrows. I ran out of blonde eyebrow pencils in Cambodia, and couldn’t find replacements anywhere, and there was especially limited selection outside the big cities.

Department stores and makeup specialty stores in big cities should stock a better shade range, but I recommend you bring what you like from home, if you use shades that aren’t as common in Asia. 

10. Face treatments for acne or other issues 

So many people I travelled with suffered from skin issues, especially in Thailand, I think from the constant humidity and sweating. It can also be hard to identify what is actually in acne treatment products in Asia, since the ingredient list may not be in a language you understand, and the products may contain chemicals that wouldn’t be allowed at home. 

Be careful of products that mention ‘brightening’ (or ‘lightening’/’whitening’) which could be quite harsh. My face was stinging for an entire morning in Thailand after using what I thought was just a glycolic treatment at night and then a sunscreen with a different active ingredient later the next day. If you struggle with skin issues, bring enough of your tried and tested products from home to use for the whole trip to not risk a reaction.

11. Your preferred brand of sunscreen 

For whatever reason, sunscreen can be very expensive and the selection can be quite limited in more isolated or remote areas, like out on the islands in Bali, Cambodia and Thailand. It is possible to find reasonably priced sunscreen in large supermarkets or pharmacies in cities, but I often saw sunscreen priced at 3-4 four times more expensive than the equivalent product I could have brought from Canada.

I am not suggesting that you fill your backpack full of sunscreen, especially if you are not checking luggage, but it might be worth packing an extra bottle, particularly if you have any sensitivities or concerns about certain ingredients or prefer to use a certain brand. 

Consider whether you need to pack any of these 11 items for South East Asia

While many products are readily available in South East Asia if you do forget something at home, these are 11 items you may want to consider packing so that you are comfortable and prepared when you start your trip to this part of the world !

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