Traveling Solo as an Asian Female Traveler

At the beginning of 2019, I made it my personal goal to start promoting fellow Asian travelers as a way to help normalize, inform, and inspire the global travel community with the "Top 10 Kick-Ass Asian Travel Bloggers To Follow" article.

To continue my work on that, today I'd like to introduce Pashmina Binwani, a Malaysian-based solo female traveler, storyteller, and adventurer from The Gone Goat travel blog.

In early 2019, I decided to fly to Kuala Lumpur to do a micro-adventure trip and meet people. While there, I had a chance to meet up with Pashmina in person, and she was kind enough to let me interview her.

I listened to her extraordinary stories as she showed me around the wonderful Kuala Lumpur. Here is her story on what it's like to travel the world as an Asian solo female traveler, and how you can start traveling solo too.

Table of Contents

Tell Us About Yourself
How Did You Get into Travel Writing?
Where Did the Idea of Starting the Gone Goat Come About?
Why Did You Decide to Travel Alone?
What Do Your Peers Think When You Tell Them You Travel Solo?
What are the Challenges Faced as a Solo Asian Woman Traveler?
What Was the Best Experience You Had Traveling Solo?
What Was the Worst Cautionary Tale from Your Years of Solo Traveling?
What Advice Do You Want to Give to Fellow Asian Travelers Who Are Looking to Start a Solo Journey of Their Own?
What Is Your Favorite Hiking Trail That You Have Done so Far?
Where Would You like to Go Next?
Further Reading for Inspiration

Tell Us About Yourself

I am a visual storyteller and writer who blogs and documents stories to inspire people to take part in adventures they never thought they could be a part of. Writing and photography are my ways of understanding the world and capturing the beauty that I see in the simplest moments. I am particularly drawn to remote places, mountains, and instances of humanity in challenging terrain.

I am constantly on the hunt for adventures, human connection, and the outdoors. Raw dirt under my feet is always welcomed, and I feel happiest and most excited when I am carrying all that I need on my back.

How Did You Get into Travel Writing?

Journalism and documenting adventure stories was something into which I accidentally fell. I studied journalism ironically but did not get to pursue it and ended up becoming a PR and digital media consultant.

Jaded and wearied by the corporate world, I quit my job in 2016 and traveled to the Indian Himalayas for 3 months to explore the mountain ranges in this part of the world. It was the raw and undiscovered India I wanted to see – the rugged landscapes and the people who live in their shadows. Not the India that I remembered visiting as a teen, where you are ferried in comfortable taxis, heading to witness your cousin’s next big fat wedding.

The people, culture, and landscapes inspired me to come back and share these stories via The Gone Goat.

Where Did the Idea of Starting the Gone Goat Come About?

As I got closer to the mountains that ranged between 4,000m - 5,000m, I was reminded of the past routine that I had dreamt of leaving for so many years. It was a stark contrast from the dull routine of the corporate world.

I was finally taking control of the life I wanted, and it was a reminder of what it takes to reconnect with every fiber of your body, compared to the meaningless tasks we are assigned to do on a day-to-day basis.

I vowed that day to try to turn around my life, and it started with a travel website where I slowly started writing all these stories of climbing mountains and bicycle touring as a way to look back and remind myself (and others too) of our strength and the beauty of things when we need them the most.

Why Did You Decide to Travel Alone?

It was a no-brainer to travel alone because there's no way somebody will come with me for a long trip to the Indian mountains. The media had always been on India's case when I chose India as my first long solo trip - it was never truly safe for female travelers to travel there (but it can be!) and I couldn't convince other people to join me when I was trying to put up a brave front and go alone to India for 3 months anyway.

But beyond that, I wanted to do it alone and never believed in writing off a country because "it is not safe." Other affluent and supposedly safe nations have been more violent in the past than it is today, and that never stopped people from visiting these places. Thus, there is no reason for thinking that chaos is just around the corner.

If you look at the 2019 crime index by country: The US ranks 45th and India ranks 63rd. The United Kingdom ranks at 62nd, almost at the same level in terms of overall crime as India. The US, in fact, ranks higher in crime rate compared to other supposedly dangerous countries like Pakistan and Iran.

The stories of what we hear vs the crime statistics don't add up, and violence is always going to be an issue, but what's important is how you choose to approach it.

Beyond that, I personally feel it is empowering to set out on your own, and it is even more empowering when you're on your own on a mission to hike, cycle, or do something outside of your comfort zone.

What Do Your Peers Think When You Tell Them You Travel Solo?

When I used to travel solo, many of my peers were indifferent to it. Traveling solo has become a trend, and Instagram has normalized it, while other millennial websites have always pushed the "quit your job" theme, in which the next obvious step after quitting your job is to travel solo. This has made it very much the norm rather than the exception.

However, traveling solo in other new ways, such as hiking or bicycle touring, or even traveling solo in unfamiliar terrains, tends to be met with curiosity. For them, the solo part of traveling is not the mystery, but rather they want to understand how one undergoes unusual feats alone in worlds that are steeped in patriarchy, war, and cultural differences.

What are the Challenges Faced as a Solo Asian Woman Traveler?

The constant need to justify my marital status and purpose on why I am doing this. It feels like the tide might be changing in some cities, but if you go to remote places or rural villages, it can be hard.

In Georgia, Mestia, to evade constant speculation, I told them that I was on assignment and had a family of my own back home. In India, Sikkim, I wore a fake ring to avoid being followed and pretended that my partner was waiting for me somewhere around the corner.

What Was the Best Experience You Had Traveling Solo?

One of the best experiences traveling solo was in Slovenia, in Bovec, the alpine region. Traveling in Europe in the summer made it hard for me to find a place to stay as everything was booked and exorbitantly priced, from dorm rooms to even mid-size budget hotels. I was in the Soca Valley, where The Chronicles of Narnia was shot, and it was a magical place to be in the summer.

I tried Couchsurfing to connect with local hosts, and that's how I met Tomaz and Mojca, two Slovenians who hosted me. I was inspired by their willingness to host solo travelers and how they found a modicum of peace in doing things on their own terms.

They were vegans, and we bonded over food, travels, documentaries, and hiking. I ended up staying with them for one whole week, and they took me to some hidden lakes in Slovenia, which would not have been possible if I hadn't stayed with them.

What Was the Worst Cautionary Tale from Your Years of Solo Traveling?

I don't have entirely unpleasant stories as they all had a silver lining to them. But one that stood out was when I traveled in Ladakh, India 3 years ago to do a trek.

At the end of the trek, all the people I met went their own ways. It was winter in Leh, and the towns were unusually quiet, considering that the mercury dropped to -30 degrees.

However, I had befriended some locals and returned to my guesthouse at 11.00pm after spending the day getting to know their families and being treated with local hospitality. The doors of the guesthouse were shut, and there was no way the staff could hear me until I continued knocking on the doors for a good 10 minutes.

Minutes later, the owner of the hotel appeared crossed when he opened the door. He was angry that I had returned late without informing them. I wasn't aware that I had to inform them, considering it was winter. Moreover, because I was traveling alone, the owner felt it was his duty to look after my safety. Additionally, it was almost unheard of for people to return to the guesthouse at 11.00pm - their cut-off time is usually 9.00pm.

They had lodged a police report and even hired a search crew and spent the last 4 hours looking for me, and had thought the worst: that I was "dead and chopped into pieces", according to his vivid statements.

Perhaps the best advice would be to not stay out too late at night, especially in mountain towns and remote places, and to pay special attention to the locals' or owners' rules.

What Advice Do You Want to Give to Fellow Asian Travelers Who Are Looking to Start a Solo Journey of Their Own?

The best advice is to focus on one place that fills you with excitement and one that signals a strong desire to explore. When you think of these places, fear automatically becomes secondary.

It could be the history of the place, the people, or the landscapes that draw you the most. Whatever the reason, it won't be hard to figure out that traveling solo to these places is the only way you can form unique experiences to come back and share with the people you love most.

The other best place is also to read and draw inspiration from other solo travelers or writers who have documented and written about these places.

What Is Your Favorite Hiking Trail That You Have Done so Far?

I have a huge problem with picking favorites because every experience was equally memorable and beautiful in their own way. But if I had to choose one that blew me away, it was probably some of the mountains I climbed in India.

It was not a difficult trek, and it took me to the highest Shiv temple in the world. The trek was called Chandrashilla, and it stood at 3,680m above sea level.

It was more than just the picture-perfect landscapes. There were small, unassuming villages with jaw-dropping backdrops and hours spent in the company of the locals.

While trekking, we were surrounded by some of the highest Indian mountains, such as Nanda Devi (the 23rd highest mountain in the world) and Chaukamba, which forms the head of the Gangotri glacier, all standing at approximately 7,000 meters above sea level.

It was surreal to be this close to the stratosphere and experience not only one mountain but thousands of other magical massifs that surrounded me.

Where Would You like to Go Next?

I would really love to visit Central Asia and use bicycle touring as a means to slow travel and see these places. I read somewhere that a woman was so fed up with being in a car in Central Asia because it boxed her up, and all these wonderful landscapes were often sped past.

So what she did instead was walk across Tajikistan alone with zero prep. She was done being in a box and missing out on beautiful people and landscapes, and just hopped out of a car.

If you want to hear more about Pashmina's solo travel, visit her travel blog, The Gone Goat, or follow her on Instagram.