Must admit I always thought travel umbrellas a waste of space. Take a lightweight raincoat, I thought, and in Asia you can buy umbrellas cheap if you need one. Then, 2 weeks ago in Bangkok I got caught in a downpour on my way back to the hotel. I sheltered in a bar for a while but then made a run for it and got what can only be said as… very damp.
So for my visit to China this week I took a Sea to Summit Trekking Umbrella. I went walking along the Great Wall very early in the morning before anybody else was about and rain and mist rolled around me…. Magic Experience!
The umbrella worked a treat. We had climbed heaps of steps in high humidity and I would have otherwise cooked in a raincoat!
That umbrella made the experience.
The Walk along the Great Wall of China
Damn straight, I am a regular tramper and outdoors guy. When I was in NZ I would never dream of taking an umbrella tramping (too many obstacles, too windy to be effective, generally useless in NZ conditions). However, while travelling in the tropics, it makes a little more sense. A raincoat will make you very sweaty and hence very damp UNDER the coat when its that hot. An umbrella will keep the rain off but still allow cool breeze through. I even took one trekking in Malaysia – it got snagged a few times on stuff, but I stayed so cool compared to my companions that I was getting jealous looks by the end of the day… it also helped to keep leaches off me that fall off low hanging branches!