i don't believe in money pouches too. usually i stay safe by making myself a less appealing target. when i do carry a larger amount of cash, i stash it in a jacket pocket, underneath other clothes, in a dry sack, at the bottom of my backpack.
with a top loading backpack i then knot the closure (army bootlace style) with a proper knot at the end so that you have to unknot that first before pulling to release it. but that's just extra because you have to be pretty tall and have long arms to reach in when i'm standing cos it's a 65l backpack and the opening is around my neck even when not fully packed and before that, you need a find a way to remove everything on top of the dry sack first...
with a zippered backpack, i just use a locking carabiner to attach the zips together. my friend has a slighly better solution. he uses something like this to attach his zips together. without the 'lobster claw' of course. the one he is using needs a twist/pull to open and the mechanism is hidden, so it is not immediately obvious what to do. he passed me his backpack to try and i couldn't figure it out.
edit: there are some magnetic and screw types, his isn't. it's blardy cheap and light too.
Can ask him?
i would certainly not advise anyone to travel to places where backpacks are stolen/slashed, but to each their own.
on a more serious note, my first major solo backpacking trip was in south america where (almost) everyone gets robbed and a money pouch doesn't keep you safe. if you're unlucky enough, other than checking for a money pouch, the robber makes you remove your shoes cos under the soles is a great place to hide money. it's really about balancing comfort vs security and when i do head back to south america, i suspect comfort will win.
when i was a toddler, my mom had to un-stitch all the tags on my clothes, so you can imagine...
i can't.
the reason being, all he remembers is whatever i have mentioned so far and english isn't his native language, so it wouldn't be helpful to make him give me keywords to google. "bracelet clasp" yielded some potential results for me and i'm curious about what you can find. perhaps it will be even better than what he is using at the moment. research skills is a very big part of solo traveling to me afterall.
while it is possible to misplace my wallet, i think losing my backpack has a negligible probability. the one time i've seen it happen was when the taxi drove away with someone's main pack, so i've learnt never to put it in the boot. the way i stash i my money rules out pickpocketing too. it takes quite a bit of effort to get my money even with the knowledge of where i've packed it.
i'm quite senstive to anything worn under my pants. i would go without underwear when possible.
in quite a number of countries, the largest denomination of banknote you can get is the equivalent of 20sgd. that would but quite a thick stack to have to stashed in my pants. i don't disagree that a money pouch is slightly safer than what i do, but at that point, i'm more than willing to take a small risk for comfort.
Oic, think of getting these liao, at first I thought is used to hook on bag with a pair of shoes
do you know anything about the bus arcade? if so, do you think it is viable to get off the train, take a tuk tuk over and just hop onto the first bus out?
