Asia’s rich culture and unique cuisine are sure to please any traveler. As an avid prepper, as much as I enjoy travel, I read about political issues around the world and can’t help but wonder if you can ever be truly ready to properly face an emergency so far away from home. You may disagree, but I still think that this should not stop us from seeing interesting places and meeting new people.
When you go to Asia, you need to account for unique differences between countries, expectations that locals have of you, common poisonous critters, current diseases, political climates, areas of unrest and other factors that may affect your safety.
Below are a few tips to ensure that you travel safely.
- Stay healthy. As always before traveling, visit a doctor to obtain certain immunizations that apply to the country or countries that you plan to visit. Certain parts of Asia are very wet and feature jungles and lush forests. While these beautiful natural landmarks are very fun to visit, they feature a variety of insects, including malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
- Prepare to pay bribes. Unfortunately, corruption in many Asian countries is basically a part f the legal system. This means that you should accept bribes as a part of life and be prepared to pay them whenever asked. By the way, not arguing about bribes is an actual safety measure. Refusing to pay or not haggling properly can not only result in a huge fine, but in jail time and bodily injury. One of the wort things you can do to yourself is get involved in the legal system while traveling and get stuck in a third world country jail.
- Protect your valuables to avoid petty theft. As I mentioned in my previous travel safety e-mails, petty theft is very common in many countries where westerners are perceived as rich. So, there are 5 steps you can take to avoid becoming a victim:
- Leave your valuables under lock and key in a hotel
- Do not wear flashy expensive clothes and jewelry
- Buy a wallet that you can wear on your belt (you know, the kind that farmers use when they sell at a farmers’ market)
- Pay very close attention to your belongings when using public transportation or walking on busy streets (thieves have adopted and use various concealed knives and sharpened objects to cut your backpack, purse or shopping bag and extract wallets, valuables and other items. A guy I know had fruit stolen from him.)
- Find out beforehand how much things cost. Sometimes when you buy from street vendors, you will be overcharged as much as 500% because they know you are a foreigner. A confident response to their offer will usually put them in their place.
- Watch out for border crossings. Border crossings, especially those in rural areas can be dangerous for various reasons, primarily unfair bribes to exit or enter a country, security checks that go above and beyond the level of authority that the government officials were granted or even unnecessary detentions.
I found that two of the greatest resources for up-to-date travel information are www.tripadvisor.com and the US Department of State travel website. Trip Advisor is great because real travelers there share real experiences about their visits to different countries and you can find a ton of raw information.
To your survival,
Joseph Wilkinson
