(Image courtesy and Photographed by Leizel Avila; 2 Solo travellers in Krabi)
In spite of the freedom you get travelling alone, you Asian women travelling solo should be aware of this!!! That we, Asian female species are stereotyped by male travellers out there as subject of their ‘having fun’. Blame it on the porn sites they were exposed to, or whatever stories they read or heard about Asian women before they came over backpacking Southeast Asia but some of them are mad, believe me!
My point is, you don’t know what they are thinking and they don’t know you as you are to them. I met a German guy in Cambodia who said, “This is why its called Thailand!”. It took me awhile before I realized what he meant, and even though I have a hint I do not want to generalize people wherever I go. Although it was not meant for me, it is such a bad thinking. There are women out there like what they thought, but they do not know that it is not you until you let them know. Here are some of my few encounters of mad men…
The Spanky Spanish Monkey
I won’t forget the 2 worst people I met travelling, the first one was a Spanish guy who claimed to be a ‘Foot Volley Player’ who approached me and Leizel on our first day in Railay Beach, Krabi (Thailand). Well, I told the Team SRC (Sticky Rice & Chicken) the whole story but I will skip telling you here and I won’t forget what he said, “We are in Thailand!… That’s not what I heard about Filipinos!”. I was like, Whaaaat?! Stereotyping Filipinos? Does he know what we can stereotype him under? Does he know Philippine history? If my Spanish friend that used to live here in the Philippines, Chus, heard this, he might want to orient his fella about Filipinos. Good thing, Team Canada was there to accidentally rescue me from that awkward situation! Kudos to Team Canada, specially Doug and Nick! By the way, this very moment I’m writing this, this guy is bugging my buddy through Facebook (good thing its just on FB)! hahaha! Such a sleaze!
Mr. Unpolished Polish Guy
Another one is a young Polish self-centered man I met in Bangkok dorm room, who said to me… “So, this is your dream hey? To be around western guys?”. WHOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! WTF, was he talking about? Dude, I was traveling solo and I wasn’t talking to anyone without them talking to me first (especially when I’m alone )and he coming up to me like that when I was walking with them in Sukhumvit just pissed me off and immediately got me walking out of his pursuit of clubs for his ‘glow in the dark’ performance (which I heard was terrible) and slept early instead (he’s too full of himself , very much an A**Hole!).
TAKE NOTE: Don’t take a shit from anyone when you’re travelling! Know what to do in cases like this. Don’t waste your time to a place or with people you think will ruin your day. You don’t want to prolong the soon-to-be bad memories of your trip. Follow your instinct all the time. Women, you should be good at this!
Still, that will not stop me to travel solo again but I know where I stand and how to choose the right company, and you better be the same.
Lyndsay is the person behind this blog. Yep, the Discount Travel Blogger who loves traveling the cheapest way possible, her goal is to explore life and the world breaking the stereotype, 'travelling needs lot of money'. Traveled, lived, worked, and visited different countries with and without job, she survived 16 countries and still counting.
Lyndsay wants to share 
Makes me so angry when I hear about this stuff (which I mostly don’t see for myself).
The worst people I’ve met when travelling have mostly been English guys in their 20s (which obviously makes me feel great). But I’ve heard of East Asian girls’ bad experiences in India and Egypt too, which might be among the more dangerous countries to travel solo.
I think I told you these stories before, so you know the details. Actually, I’ve never met great English people before until you, Olly, Dave(the other Dave), and other 2 British girls I met in Cambodia which changed my view on British people (that there are still cool and good British people out there, which you guys proved). Don’t worry I am not planning to travel India alone(although kudos to Mary who’ve done it there alone, wow!) but I didn’t think Egypt is the same, I’ll keep that in mind, thanks.