It's important to be a real adult before you travel to Asia

 Why?

Because you will face things in all the countries of Asia that you never had to face here likely even once.

A good example, is what my family and I experienced in India and Nepal. We expected to be able to "Camp Out" but then soon we talked to people and that said " you should never do that" because you will always wake up (especially in India) with about 100 people staring at you because that is a part of the culture there. People are curious everywhere about westerners with lighter eyes and lighter hair and skin often than them. So, they want to touch you to see what your skin feels like and touch your hair to see what it feels like.

So, generally speaking (at least this was true in the 1980s you don't want to be camping out somewhere because most people couldn't deal with this at all. However, what we did find is that at that time 1985 and 1986 it was very reasonable to travel and a room for the night was then about $5 to $10 a night that would accommodate my whole family (5 of us) but that doesn't mean it has air conditioning or a heater which can be difficult if it is very hot or cold when you are there. But, often it has water but not usually a bathtub and often the shower is over the open pit toilet in the floor which is often cement (once again this is almost everywhere in India in 1985 and 1986). And I usually took along my Dragon Carpet from dharamshala and put it on the bed and then slept in my north Face Sleeping bag on top of that because I didn't usually trust the blankets and sheets on the bed most places. We traveled like this from December 1985 to Early April 1986 when we flew back to Bangkok, Thailand, then Narito airport near Tokyo then to SFO or San Francisco International Airport in California.

The other thing that might still be true is there is no set price for anything you want to buy so you have to bargain for everything. And if you aren't used to this it can be difficult. What was funny to me is that I wasn't good at this at all but my 10 year old son was great at this. So, I don't know if they cut the kid slack or he was a really good bargainer. Not sure still at this point.

So, I often hired locals to bargain for food for me or things I wanted just because the locals knew what everything was actually worth in their money and I didn't. Bhats in Thailand and Rupees in India and Nepal. However, Indian Rupees are usually worth a lot more than Nepal Rupees but that's something you have to get used to as well depending upon when you go there.

Often all the toilets in India and Nepal (at least this was true in 1985 and 1986) were Arabic toilets where you squat over a hole in the floor and often there is a button on the floor or wall to flush it. And above this squat toilet is often a shower and maybe there is a sink. But, if you drink the water you could die. So, you ONLY flush toilets with the water and wash yourself with that water because you usually have to boil any water you use anywhere before even brushing your teeth or drinking it for at least 5 to 10 minutes time to kill anything that is in it. Also, bring your own toilet paper or other wise you only will have water to clean your behind with. So, often in remote places they would have a can of water but no toilet paper and this is hard to get used to especially if you don't have clean water to wash your hands with.

Also, women travel in groups there so they won't be raped as people in the lower classes are not self disciplined because many have never even been to school one day in their entire lives. This is especially true out in the country away from major cities but is somewhat of a problem everywhere.

So, I wouldn't recommend traveling alone if you are a woman in most of India because of this.

Even if you are a black belt woman in Karate or Judo you might not be safe traveling alone there.

But, it is also sort of like the United States there to in that it's all where you choose to go. If you don't know where it is safe to go even here in the U.S. you will never be safe.

So, it is almost safer to hire someone to guide you away from problems in 3rd world countries that you can trust. Because you are a stranger there and often it isn't expensive to hire a college student to help you in these countries because they don't have any money and need some and might enjoy traveling a while with you. We did this at times both in Thailand and also in India to hire someone to bargain for us so we weren't ripped off because we didn't know what the actual price of things should be as travelers.