I've been pretty much absent from the forums for the past year or so, but I'm going traveling (backpacking) in February for a few months through South-East Asia and the surrounding countries and I've been going back and forth about what kit to bring. Photography is not the purpose of the trip, but obviously I want to take many photos and there will be many amazing photographic opportunities that I'll likely never get again. I have read weewillo's recent 7D travel kit thread (I find the fact that he posted so recently about going to the same area at the exact same time pretty funny), but since I have a bunch of gear already and want to figure out a second camera I thought I'd start my own.

I need to make decisions on the following subjects: DSLR travel kit (subset of my current kit, but I'm also open to some new purchases), P&S camera, Snorkel/Scuba camera, Tripod, Bag.

I'll be living out of a backpack and moving around a lot for several months. I'm a young and strong enough guy, but I still want to keep weight and bulk down so I need to be picky with which lenses to bring. My current kit is: 5DII, Sigma 12-24, 24-105L, 70-200 F4L, 100-400L, 50 1.4, 85 1.8, 100 2.8 Macro (non-L), 430 EXII. Obviously this is way way way too much to bring, as much as I'd love to bring it all it's just far too impractical.

To help clarify, I want to shoot anything and everything, but I think I'll mostly be focused on landscape and nature/wildlife. I hardly ever use my 5DII for video, but I wouldn't mind learning to do some time lapses before I go.

Right now I'm leaning towards the following: 5DII, 24-105, 100-400L, 50 1.4.

I would much rather be lugging around the 70-200 instead of the 400, or no telephoto at all, but I'm worried that I'd be kicking myself for it pretty often with all of the nature and wildlife opportunities that will come up. I'm spoiled on the 400's reach now and everything other than wildlife will probably be fine with the 24-105 so I don't need to worry about having it on at other times. I'm also happy to consider buying something else, as I've bought and sold my share of gear so I'm happy to buy something specifically for the trip if it's going to be better than what I already have. I'm leaning against bringing the 430 because it's just another piece of kit and I also don't want to have to deal with AAs. I prefer shooting low light and party situations with the 50 1.4 anyway. Can anyone sell me on a need to bring it that I'm not thinking of?

I never shoot with a tripod, but I recognize that I'll want one on this trip for landscapes, night shots and video/time lapses. I'll probably go for one of the smaller carbon manfrottos. My only concern with this is that I'd like to keep my gear concealed (theft being a concern) and a carbon tripod strapped to the back of the backpack isn't exactly stealth. Will a compact tripod or Joby do the job well enough and keep the size way down so they're inside the bag rather than outside?

On to the second camera. I traveled to Brazil a couple of years ago with just a cheap P&S (decided not to bring my SLR). I learned on that trip that I was able to get a significant number of photos I otherwise wouldn't have gotten if I'd only had a SLR with me. Sometimes this was because I knew I wouldn't have felt comfortable taking my SLR out in the current area/crowd, but mostly because I tried not to carry a bag except when moving to a new city (again concerns over mugging/theft) and I never knew that I'd be safe carrying a SLR out openly where I'd be going, because I had no idea where I'd be going :P I think this was more of a concern for Brazil than Asia, but it's still something I need to consider.

While the SLR will serve most of my photography needs, I know I want to have a P&S that I can bring everywhere, even when I'm not thinking about photography. Also, we are going to get advance open water PADI dive certified in Thailand at the start of the trip and be diving all along the way. So I want to be able to take photos/video on dives (30m). Preferable the P&S will serve both needs. This made me think of getting one of the new GoPro2s. I know that there is an issue with their focusing underwater, but I've researched some solutions to that and the idea of having such a rugged, wearable camera in my kit for such a reasonable price is very appealing to me. Obviously as a camera it has some serious disadvantages against a traditional P&S, like not having a screen or viewfinder! However, like I said, in most cases where the photography was a priority, I'd be using my SLR anyway. I'm also much more likely to enjoy the GoPro when I get back because it can do things and go places that my 5D can't.

As for bag I'm pulling a bit of a Gollum on this one too. I love traveling with my Lowerpro rover, and it would take all the gear I'm talking about and most accessories in the bottom compartment, but do I want such a large day-pack as a separate bag to my main backpack to lug everywhere? I consider the lowerpro to be pretty stealth given that it is a very practical photo bag that is good to walk all day with. However, I'm first to admit that I'm not an experienced backpacker, so any advice here would be much appreciated. I could also keep the lenses in lens cases in my main bag and keep my 5D and the lens of the moment wrapped up and inside or on my shoulder at all times.

Sorry for the long post and thank you for reading everything. Any advice from you, the community, would be really very much appreciated.

Cheers,
-Yoni