Gear and equipment forum

Thanks for the great advice lisa.
I go back & forth on mailing the hikers to Bhutan. My concern is that it may be colder & wetter. The package doesn't have to be mailed until May, so I can tell her to omit the hikers if I am doing fine without them.

Yes, Tevas and flipflops are all you will need. In my 5 months of travel, I never felt the need for closed toes. Bring one pair of tennis socks that you could always wear with your teva's if you really had to (I can feel Mac cringing now!) but you'll probably find you won't need to.
And I found the Teva's were more than adequate for hiking, etc as well - not that I did anything too serious in that regards. Teva's aren't the most glamorous, and they will yell out 'I'm a tourist' - but that's OK. because you ARE a tourist!

I confess to also taking a 3rd pair of dressier flipflop-style sandals that I used to wear out. It was extravagant when you are trying to keep pack weight down, but I didn't really regret it as it was my only means of 'dressing up'. Maybe I could have even used them to go dancing with MadMac! You could always buy a cheap 'disposable' pair over there if you found you wanted something for dress-up.

Question - Is there any real need to post your hikers to Bhutan? Would the teva's not do? (Asked without any experience or knowledge of that area...)

Good luck - and enjoy! Over to you now, Mac!

To each his own - I'll never wear open toed footwear. Ever. I find it inherently uncomfortable - just like shorts. No protection from anything, from stubbing your toe to righting your bike (which I get the feeling you won't be riding anyway though). And mosquitos...

My backpack is almost twice the size of yours (65L) and I've got thongs/flip flops and a pair of Colorado shoes. When it's moving time, I don the shoes since they'd take up more room in the bag.

I prefer shoes in the rain, or when I've rented a crappy motorbike that has to be kick started every time. Trying to kick start with thongs just sucks out loud. Also, you can easily break /thongs when you're clambering over rocks on the beach. I'd say my thong to shoe ratio is about 80/20.

A quirky Frenchman staying in the bungalow next to mine said some drunk stole his thongs outside a shop this morning, so there's a reason to just wear the cheap ones. Buy them here why not? (Thailand)

I don't know what's going on with Madmac's vulnerable calves and dainty feet. I zoom around the windy roads of many a Thai isle with nout but thongs and shorts on and rarely have any issues (except the kick starting). It's too damn hot for pants!

That does it, the hikers are staying home! I do have quick drying tevas & I'm sure my flip flops will need to be replaced at some point (I bought them in Bolivia for less than a USD and can't seem to part with them)
I think cranky knows a thing or two about a nasty muffler burn

Sometimes I wear jeans, if it's over 35, then I tend to wear something in rip stop kind of fabrics. If I am dancing I wear cotton pants. Something loose fitting.

I don't mean blowing out the tire, I mean you are taking a corner at speed and your back tire slides out and you have to push your foot down to right the bike. This also can happen if you hit a sand patch while taking a corner. Of course, I suspect you probably aren't driving very fast, but that doesn't preclude sand or oil on the road...

Hey, I think I'm actually wearing rip-stop as we speak! I have a pair of black billabong shorts I picked up for 300 with that little box style stitching. How about that.

I can't find the video - what's the name of the thread?