Need help on camping supplies to poor areas!

[kchen8898]

Hello everyone!

This summer, I am traveling to Yunnan, China. It is by the Himalayas. I will be visiting a few villages, which are very poor. I need everyone's help creating a supply list that I will need, assuming that I have no camping supplies and the villages have no electricity, running water, etc. I have to be able to camp independently with the supplies I bring (trying not to bother the villages and to make sure I don't get sick from eating or drinking what they have).


Also, I would like to hear tips on how to camp in impoverished areas!



Thank you all!

[tplife]

Re: Need help on camping supplies to poor areas!

I urge you to buy a copy of Colin Fletcher's "The Complete Walker" for this trip! It is likely to get you equipped without throwing money away...

[Mike]

Re: Need help on camping supplies to poor areas!

I have done what you plan to do. I will give you the same advice that other gave me..... But which I did not heed and wish I had

Don't bother lugging camping gear. Camping is highly restricted and fires of any kind in the wilderness are often illegal. Even small towns have lodges. If you are really remote, stay with the natives in their homes. Most times the natives will invite you to stay with them but if not, you can always find someone who will let you stay with them for two bucks. This will be a lot safer than sleeping outside somewhere in a tent. I have to disagree with hogsnapper's advise about hammocks. Western Yunnan has very few trees to hang hammocks. I think you would quickly find hammocks useless in yunnan.

Bring food to share. I made pancakes which was easy with local ingredients. The maple syrup was the thrill - especially when you explain that it is sugar from a tree

Bring a good first aid kit. You probably won't need it for yourself, but you will use it for the natives who will lack basic first aid items and who will lack the most basic understanding of first aid. You are sure to find somebody in every village with a rip-roaring infection of some kind that would benefit from a good cleaning, some anti-biotic ointment, and a bandage. Tell people right away that you are only a guy wit soap and a bandage and that YOU ARE NOT A DOCTOR. If they think you are a doctor, they will drag you around the village to whitness some of the most appalling diseases and afflictions you could ever imagine!

Bring bags of candy you can share with the natives like mini tootsie rolls. Always give candy to the parents so they can give to their kids if they choose. Never hand out candy directly to children. If you don't understand why, ask any mother how she would feel about some foreign stranger walking into your neighborhood handing out things to eat to the children

Bring a sleeping bag or blanket roll so you don't have to use the local filthy bedding

Bring a bar of soap and one of those highly absorbent lightweight towels that dry fast like a shamwow.

Bring halogen tablets. You will rarely use them because you will drink boiled tea and boiled water mostly, but if in doubt and in a pinch, you have them. Don't bother lugging around a filter and pump. No Chinese drink raw water from a well or tap or river so boiled water is usually available. If you ask a Chinese for drinking water, they will understand it to mean boiled water. The only time I was concerned was visiting an ox herder's shack. He only had dried dung for fuel and his tea water was only warm and not rolling boiled. I knew that was trouble. If you don't visit with guys like that you can avoid that risk

If you are going to really remote locations, salt is hard to get and is a good gift, but you would have to be very very remote. If you really are remote, few gifts are as appreciated as good clean salt

You will get sick in your stomach. This is something you simply cannot avoid. The best medicine I have found is Seirogan tablets from Japan. They stink to high-heaven of creosote, but nothing works as good as seirogan. They knock out the bug, stop diarrhea and work fast. Otherwise, you can get stomach medicine at any Chinese pharmacy when you get there. Chinese stuff is pretty good too, but Japanese seirogan is the all time best

Bring your own chopsticks. When somebody hands you a worn out pair of chopsticks with ends so fuzzy they look like paint brushes, you will appreciate my advice

Bring anti-bacterial wipes which are refreshing and useful on the dusty trip

Bring a couple of handkerchiefs that you can wash and dry quickly (not cotton)

Bring good tea to share. Every place has tea, but not everybody can afford good tea. Many villages don't have good tea, but everybody recognizes and appreciates good tea. Imagine sitting around the table with the natives and you offer to supply the special tea! It is always welcome

When you get to China, open an account at the China postal office and deposit money. They have offices throughout china in even small towns so you can get money along the way. Don't carry a lot of cash. Your credit card will be almost useless in most of China unless you use a Chinese credit card.

Smile and be courteous

Have fun and tell us how it goes

[kchen8898]

Re: Need help on camping supplies to poor areas!

Thanks for the advice everyone! I have found it interesting reading everyone's tips!! Please keep the tips and advice coming!!

[Mike]

Re: Need help on camping supplies to poor areas!

Hogsnapper's, I understand where you are coming from. You know I respect you excellent experience, advice, and suggestions

Probably our approaches are different because we go to different parts of the world. I do a lot of adventuring in China, Tibet, and other parts of Asia. These places we much different from central or South America or Africa

I do agree with you that traveling with a local guide is a good idea... As long as that person is not a wet hair shirt, of course. The guide has to be as much of an adventurer as you are

Many of the places I go have no possibility of plan B or escape route. Even with med vac insurance, if something goes wrong I am so far away from anything that there is no chance for helecopter rescue. I have the resolve that I have to rely on the crude abilities of the locals. I know that death is a possibility and I accept it as the risk of the adventure. So I tend not to bring too much stuff

My recommendations on his thread are specific for Yunnan, China which is unique in geography, environment, and culture even from the rest of China