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TWO GREEN BACKPACKS

Travel blog on traveling South-East Asia on a budget!

  • Countries
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Laos
    • Cambodia
    • Indonesia
    • Malaysia
    • Singapore
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Countries
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Laos
    • Cambodia
    • Indonesia
    • Malaysia
    • Singapore
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Ponderings,  Pre-Travel

    Image Size Management

    October 18, 2013

    For the first few months of our blog, we used to upload images in their native size, which is 4K. This is rather insane and I have now decided that it is not something we want to do for several reasons: 1. Upload & download bandwidth cost 2. Upload time 3. Readers really don’t need 4K images The first step was to stop the madness. So, since late August we have been batch re-sizing our images using the Photo Editor app for Android. We copy the images we have selected to add to the blog into an upload/ folder. Then we batch process them to a maximum width or height…

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    lionel 3 Comments

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    Australian Open in Thailand

    January 23, 2014

    Who Am I?

    June 30, 2013

    A Plastic World

    February 12, 2016
  • Ponderings,  Pre-Travel,  Travel Guide

    Data Management – Photo Backup While Traveling

    October 2, 2013

    When we set off on our several months long trip to south-east Asia, I always expected us to take A LOT of photos. I had heard horror stories of people that lose or have their SD cards stolen during the last week of traveling, loosing all of their photos. This was not a risk I was willing to take, so I planned for some redundancy. After just over 5 months, naturally the megabytes are mounting up and we are getting low storage warnings on our TF700 Asus tablet, Emma’s iPhone and sometimes even the camera’s SD cards. In total that is 16GB (iPhone), 64GB (tablet) and 64GB (2x 32GB SD…

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    lionel 2 Comments

    Related Posts

    Cooking? Now I’m Homesick

    February 10, 2014
    A beer on the beach, Thailand

    Goodbye Island Life….

    September 23, 2018

    The Rich, The Poor And The Confused

    June 21, 2013
  • Ponderings

    Land Borders Fascinate Me

    September 3, 2013

    I find it amazing that we can cross so easily from country to country here in South East Asia. Right now we’re in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, and across the river sits Thailand. When we were in Lao Cai (the city before Sapa in Vietnam) we were taken to the bridge that acts as a border crossing into China. China was so close we could even see their billboards plastered with Chinese advertisements! I guess I’m so amazed by it since Australia has no land borders and for us to travel to another country we have to fly! What else fascinates me is the border between China and Russia.…

    Read More
    emma No Comments

    Related Posts

    Not Missing Home Yet (even after 3 years)

    January 21, 2016
    Tips For A Long Haul Flight

    Tips for a Long Haul Flight; What To Take, and What To Do!

    September 24, 2018

    The Motivation to Blog…

    June 23, 2013
  • Motorbiking,  Ponderings,  Vietnam

    Broke

    July 16, 2013

    Not money broke yet, but I am broken and I currently feel like a leper. Every man, woman, child and stray dog looks at me weird with or without my bandages on my face. They even point and stare. We also discovered there’s a crack in our camera’s flash unit, caused by the motorbike accident. Luckily it works fine though I do wish I brought some gaffer tape with us. My kindle is also broken. Discovered this when I settled in on the beach in Dong Hoi, ready to read some trashy book. It’s currently half frozen with a weird, pale stain on the screen. I looked it up and…

    Read More
    emma 4 Comments

    Related Posts

    The Best Road in Cambodia – Bokor Hill Station

    June 10, 2013

    Playing Just Cause 2 – Motorbiking Around Georgetown

    May 7, 2013
    Secret Lake Kampot

    Secret Lake Kampot. Exploring Cambodia’s Secrets

    June 9, 2013
  • Ponderings

    Who Am I?

    June 30, 2013

    I’ve now been told by various Vietnamese people that I look Vietnamese, Cambodian, or even Thai. Cambodians think I might be Cambodian, Vietnamese, Thai, Korean or Chinese. Thai people have asked if I’m Vietnamese, Cambodian or Chinese. Either way, locals end up chatting to me in their language before realising I’m just some bogany foreigner. Then they laugh.

    Read More
    emma 2 Comments

    Related Posts

    So Far, So Good

    May 28, 2013
    Tips For A Long Haul Flight

    Tips for a Long Haul Flight; What To Take, and What To Do!

    September 24, 2018

    Cooking? Now I’m Homesick

    February 10, 2014
  • Ponderings,  Vietnam

    A Traveler On Travelling

    June 25, 2013

    It has now been just over two months of being on the road and I find myself battling with some unexpected emotions. We set out with the goal of traveling “off the beaten track” and failed to explain to some that we are not simply going on a six month holiday. We packed very light, got a bunch of vaccines, have a tight budget and are taking Malaria prophylactics. So how is it that I have just seen World War Z and am comfortably blogging from an air conditioned cafe of which I had earlier read Trip Advisor reviews from my air conditioned room? Before leaving, I had this idea…

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    lionel 1 Comment

    Related Posts

    Children in Cambodia

    June 20, 2013

    Excuses To Not Travel

    November 20, 2014

    Australian Open in Thailand

    January 23, 2014
  • Cambodia,  Ponderings,  Vietnam

    The Motivation to Blog…

    June 23, 2013

    … Has all but disappeared. We have much to catch up on. We went on a trek with an elephant, a leech sucked my blood, we got involved in elephant politics, I accidentally let a baby drop on its head, we traveled from Cambodia to Vietnam, and now we think Lionel has malaria. More to come.

    Read More
    emma 1 Comment

    Related Posts

    Training Day – On A Semi Auto Motorbike

    June 14, 2013

    Don’t Be That Guy and Run Out of Cash (After You’ve Had The Drinks)

    June 2, 2013

    So Far, So Good

    May 28, 2013
  • Cambodia,  Ponderings

    The Ever Present Issue Of Money

    June 21, 2013

    The elephant trek was largely a great experience, despite me constantly wondering if I’m yet again funding the extinction of a species. Mr. Tree had convinced us to get a guide for an additional US$20. He was supposed to speak fluent English, explain everything about the elephant and the jungle and take us to meet some local villagers, living deeper inside the jungle. Fact is, he barely spoke to us at all. Emma tried about four times to engage him in a conversation. He didn’t know how old the elephant is, how many elephants belong to his village and barely got the name of the elephant out. Suddenly he vanished…

    Read More
    lionel 1 Comment

    Related Posts

    War Museum – Siem Reap

    May 30, 2013

    Kampot Accommodation

    June 9, 2013

    Elephant Trek in Sen Monorom, Mondulkiri

    June 19, 2013
  • Cambodia,  Ponderings

    The Rich, The Poor And The Confused

    June 21, 2013

    Playing candy crush in an air conditioned bus on a ferry, eating a chocolate croissant while two hungry children knock on the window pointing at our food is not a situation I expected to be in and I didn’t like it. I wondered who is more helpless, the one helping or the one being helped? Sure, I can give these girls my bread, that woman $5, this boy my shorts until I am naked with no money, begging myself. I won’t have ended their suffering and now there is one more beggar on the streets. I find that giving money is a lazy way of helping, because it is impersonal…

    Read More
    lionel No Comments

    Related Posts

    Pain is Good for the Soul, right? Getting a Blind Massage

    May 26, 2013

    Koh Rong – Kayaking through a Village & a Storm

    June 4, 2013

    War Museum – Siem Reap

    May 30, 2013
  • Cambodia,  Ponderings

    Elephant Politics In Mondulkiri

    June 20, 2013

    Hellbent on visiting the Elephant Valley Project, we ended up deciding against it and opted for a local elephant trek. We were met with very passionate anti-EVP opinions and stories by the locals and even after the trek with the locals, I left Sen Monorom with mixed emotions and concern for its future. I wonder if anyone has any true welfare thoughts for the region and its elephants or if it is all a battle for coin. Elephant tourism brings a lot of money to the region, so naturally, whether you are a local trying to make a living or a Western business man, you are going to want a…

    Read More
    lionel 4 Comments

    Related Posts

    Crab Carnage

    June 10, 2013

    Children in Cambodia

    June 20, 2013

    Top 10 Things To Do In Cambodia

    August 3, 2013
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Hey! It’s Emma & Lionel

Two Green Backpacks

We quit our jobs in 2013 to travel South East Asia on a budget for 3 months. This turned into 5 years. Now we are scuba diving instructors on a tiny island in Thailand… with no plan to go home.

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We quit our jobs in 2013 to travel South East Asia on a budget for 3 months. This turned into 5 years. Now we are scuba diving instructors on a tiny island in Thailand… with no plan to go home.
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