South East Asia (Malaysia) Diary 14 November 2001
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All sorts of people go traveling, but the conversation is always the same.

Guide to traveling conversations

The thing is that you only meet people for on average 1 - 2 days in anyone's company, and you've only got a limited amount in common with them - traveling. So the conversation is generally fairly similar:

Day 1 conversation

  • Q1. How long have you been here?
  • Q2. Where've you come from?
  • Q3. Where're you going?
  • General recommendations on places to go, hostels, etc. based on above.
  • Complaints about places, hostels and other general travel horror stories

Day 2 Conversation

  • Discussion about tickets. Round The World vs single tickets
  • Discussion about equipment. Packs, stuff to bring, stuff to lose. Compare weights and makes
  • Possibly this is time to inquire about family, jobs etc. back home.

Day 3 Conversation

  • Day 3 is naked day.

Optional Questions

Don't forget to ask for people's names, just make sure that you ask at the end of a conversation and that you ask for their email address first.

I'm wandering up the coast to the island of Penang just off the north west coast of Malaysia.

To tomorrow...

Created by Dan Leigh 15/11/01