Pack for Asia or buy there?

You are going to Asia and you know there will be lots of cheap clothes.   Should you pack hardly anything and buy new clothes there?

The answer is yes or no. 

If you are travelling independently you can hit the markets as soon as you arrive so that would be a yes.   However do some research about what’s available first.

If you are a larger Western woman, you may find that all the clothes are for smaller Asian women and you may not find anything that fits.    

If you are going on a tour the answer is no.  Don’t assume you will have free time to shop. The tour activities might have you kept busy on a very full schedule.

That’s what happened to me on a trip to India. 

Assuming I would soon be decked out in new Indian clothes, I didn’t take much with me and I regretted it.

We arrived late at night and early the next morning, without enough sleep, we were on a bus that spent days trundling around amidst overladen trucks, cows and camels, on endless roads, while I recycled my scant wardrobe, rinsing stuff out at a different hotel each night. 

It wasn’t until later in the tour that there was a chance to buy clothes. 

Then there was bliss.  Not just the chance to buy clothes but the chance to have clothes tailor made for me in just a few hours.

And what a fabulous joy it was to choose your fabric from amongst a glorious display of silks.

But I wish I had packed more clothes.