T-minus 2 days – test pack

Whoa….two days to go Seems pretty unreal still to imagine in a little over two days I’ll be relaxing in the Thai heat….now if I could just get all this packing nonsense out of the way. Still working on packing away all of my possessions. Fortunately have gotten rid of over half of the things I had, many just given for free on Craigslist or to friends, simple and easy and hopefully someone else can get happy use out of the stuff.

Put together last night all of the things so far that I plan on bringing and then did a test fit into my panniers. REALLY glad I chose to only take two panniers (plus a handlebar bag) and not the more standard four; I will still have space to spare with only the two. Here’s the picture of (most) everything:

And here’s the packing list:

• Canon SD700 point and shoot + charger
• Underwater camera housing, for SD700
• SD memory cards, 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB
• Nikon D80 DSLR with Nikkor 18-105 VR lens and Nikkor 50 1.8 + 3 batteries
• Joby Gorillapod flexible tripod, I bought the knockoff version of this off eBay but as expected it was subpar so I bought the real one
• 67mm circular polarizer
• Blackberry 8830 world phone [not pictured], will buy a SIM when I arrive to use this is a phone abroad. It will also serve as my music player for the plane and my device for entering daily logs. Bringing 5 batteries (they were surprisingly cheap and light)
• ThinkOutside Shasta bluetooth keyboard for Blackberry. For log entries. Can then load the entries onto a computer to post to the internet.
• Sennheiser PXC300 noise canceling headphones
• LED headlamp
• AAA batteries, for headphones, bluetooth keyboard and LED headlamp
• Katadyn water filter, supposed to filter to .2 micron, haven’t seen many people take them but it seems possibly useful and far less wasteful than buying new bottled water
• Compass and analog thermometer
• Nylon webbing with buckles, for lashing things together and securing to the rack, etc
• Passport
• Southeast Asia graphic guide, Sudoku book, two other books for general reading [not pictured]
• Thailand and Bagkok maps free from the tourism authority, Reise Know-How Laos map, Rough Guide Thailand map
• Sunblock with non-DEET insect repellent
• Two pairs of quick drying socks, one pair of neoprene socks
• Bike shorts
• Tights
• Swimwear
• Waterproofed windbreaker
• Regular shorts
• Regular pants
• Nike tight short sleeve base layer, Nike tight long sleeve base layer
• Bike jersey
• Synthetic t-shirt, 50/50 blend shirt
• Smartwool longsleeve warmth layer, may prove useful at higher elevations in the north
• 1st Class Sleeper [not pictured], airplane “pillow”, we’ll see how this thing works, hopefully allows me to sleep!
• 2lb tent without rainfly for emergency shelter and also mosquito tent if I somehow happen to not have one in a room. Still debating bringing this a little though…
• First aid kit [not pictured]
• Toiletries [not pictured]

Here are all the bike related things I’m bringing:

Bike stuff included is:

• TriFlow lubricant, for chain, pivots, etc, pretty useful stuff
• Topeak Alien II huge multitool, has everything
• Tire levers, fancy new ones I got from REI on Bike to Work day (my normal choice for levers are Pedros yellow ones but these REI ones seem oddly similar…)
• Zip ties, have to be ready for some McGyver action
• Rubber bands, also tend to be pretty useful
• Velcro straps, again, useful
• Extra bolts and nuts and such, just in case
• Plastic case containing sandpaper, glue and a bunch of Rema patches
• Park glueless patch kit, nice to use when you dont feel like using glue on the road
• Small LED headlmap, just in case
• PlanetBike Superflash tail light [not pictured], just in case
• Loctite blue, another just in case, this stuff is gold when you need it
• 700C presta tube
• Hypercracker cassette remover [not pictured]
• 3 spokes for front wheel, 3 spokes for rear

Packs are fairly heavy with all this stuff but hey, it could be worse. I just really can’t imagine needing panniers up front; maybe Im just packing too light? Nah. If anyone has any suggestions though let me know

Also, a very important addition to the bike:

California pride

12.Jan.09 South East Asia 2009