Packing list for Vietnam trip (March 2015)

I'll be going to Hanoi, Vietnam from 7-14 March 2015 for holiday. Don't worry, I've written several reviews in advance waiting to be published while I'm away -- you won't even know I'm gone. If you want to keep track of what I'm up to in Vietnam, just follow my Twitter page.

As with every trip I make, I would draw my packing list so that I can have a reference in the future to look back to when packing for another trip.

Duke 209 fountain pen with Fude nib
This will be my main drawing pen for the trip. This is one of the best Fude nib pens that I've used. The ink flow is generous making the lines really dark even though I'm using the lighter-than-black Noodler's ink

Pelikan M200 fountain pen (fine nib)
This will serve as a backup. It's a smooth sketching pen with large capacity ink reservoir built in.

Uni-ball Eye rollerball pen
Another trusty pen as a backup. I love that they use pigment ink.

Da Vinci Maestro Travel Pocket Brush
I'm choosing the Maestro pocket brush rather than the Maestro Voyage pocket brush this time because I want the brush to fit inside the watercolour box.

Pentel and Sakura waterbrushes
These two are for backup. I rarely use waterbrushes nowadays.

Lens cleaner
That's for the camera.

Daniel Smith watercolours
That's my workhorse selection of Daniel Smith watercolours that I always bring. I really love their pigments.

Noodler's ink
I expect to refill the Duke 209 many times for this trip judging from the number of pages I'm going to fill.

Small Nutella bottle
For washing brushes.

Global Art Materials A5 watercolour sketchbook
This is the 60-page watercolour sketchbook from Global Art Materials. The paper's 200gsm. It feels quite close to Moleskine watercolour sketchbooks but the paper is whiter and has slightly more texture. I'm not sure about the cotton content but I can feel that it won't take many layers. I'm going to challenge myself to fill up all 60 pages for this trip.

After the trip, I'll compile all my sketches and publish them as an ebook for sale. It will be a travelogue with some tips on location drawing. I've always wanted to publish my own travelogue but it always seems so daunting. I'll start with Vietnam first, then I'll work backwards to my Cambodia and Bali trips. Then I'll create one for Singapore as well. That's 4 ebooks I've planned. Each ebook should be around 20 or more pages.

Manhattan Portage Urban Bag
Instead of my usual big messenger bag that I always bring around for sketching. This time I'll bring a much smaller bag that's just big enough to hold my A5 sketchbook and a few of the pens, watercolour box, ink and waterbottle. I'll have to hand carry the Walkstool this time.

Walkstool
Having a portable stool means that you'll have more choices of places to sketch from. This is heavy though, relatively speaking.

600ml metal water bottle
That's the same water bottle I've been using for a long time. If you look back at the Cambodia trip packing list, you can see how much of the paint has peeled off since.

Fujifilm XPro1
This is a very discreet camera. It's just a piece of black. I'll not be making any videos this time so there's no need to bring a video camera. While I like to make travel videos, I also like to sketch more. Sometimes I wish I can split myself into two, or just stay for twice the duration I plan to stay.

The only drawing tool here of note is the Duke Confucius Compound Art Pen with Fude nib. I did not plan to bring this but after sketching these two pages, I was left with a rather large space to fill so I decided to bring this pen along. It's heavy so it's going to be a backup. It's a really nice pen.

No pencils this time round.

And I forgot to draw in my big hat.