Joan Gates and her husband Arthur have taken all their grandchildren backpacking in Asia in a bid to teach them about other cultures and how to travel safely.

Children, travel and education are major interests of mine and I hatched a plan to combine all three when our older grandchildren were halfway through primary school. I rashly promised I would take them on an overseas trip, in cousin pairs, before they commenced secondary school.

My husband and I have travelled independently quite a lot - to Europe, South Africa, Turkey, Syria, South America and so on - and we've met lots of young backpackers. I had the feeling our grandchildren might want to do the same travel one day, but there are many risks some backpackers take that I'd like to see our grandkids avoid. We wanted to show them how to travel sensibly and, also, to not feel it was out of their reach.

We hoped to give the children the opportunity to see another culture - one different from ours - and to better appreciate their own country, Australia. Our aim was not to take package tours or 'soft option' holidays but to see a realistic view of the countries and people we visited.

We chose Asian countries because the flights were short and it's not expensive. For our grandchildren the plane trip was the first thrill as most of them hadn't flown before. At the destinations, we stayed in small hotels or village home-stays, dining with local people whenever possible - adventure and education before five-star luxury!

The children carried light backpacks, their own passports, money, cameras, diaries and snacks, and they washed their own clothes. We were very particular about health, safety and security, and the kids were quick to learn not to touch things, not to drink the tap water, and not to pull out money on the street.

The plan unfolds
Our first trip was with Amber and Eliza to Vietnam. We flew to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and joined a multicultural group touring the Mekong Delta. Enlightenment was immediate. Amber commented: "I thought Australia was a poor country."

After two days exploring Saigon we embarked on a flexible, seven-day bus journey to historic Hue. An embroidery workshop in Dalat, charming Hoi An, and Dalang's ancient sculpture museum were highlights. Hanoi next, where Halong Bay and water puppets were popular. Our girls enjoyed socialising with Vietnamese children, occasionally conversing in English, playing cards and village games.

On our second trip we took Larissa and Tara to Thailand, starting at Bangkok. The girls were enchanted by the decorative architecture and glitzy temples, and the River Kwai provoked a WWII history lesson. Arthur returned home, so the girls and I bussed north to Thaton, near the Myanmar (Burma) border, to canoe down the Maekok River to Chang Rai.

Exotic night markets, river rafting, elephant rides and a hill-tribe trek challenged us, finishing with a midnight train back to Bangkok.

The third trip was to Indonesia with Lachlan and Mitchell and they wanted adventure. We explored Bali and then bussed and ferried to Java.

The belching volcano at Bromo at sunrise was great boys' stuff; then in Solo they painted batik T-shirts - dragons and volcanoes! A pony-cart village tour included gamelan factories, an arak ditillery and traditional village bakery.

Next, Yogyakarta, where we marvelled at Borobudur and Prambanan temples. Dieng Plateau's thermal, bubbling mud pools and vast terraced fields were spectacular. Finally, in Ubud, back in Bali, we visited nature parks and a monkey sanctuary.
Drought on the farm back at home meant I alone took Sam and Nicole to Borneo/Malaysia alone. Kuching was home base, complete with orang-outangs, tribal longhouses, cultural villages and Bako National Park, where we walked alongside proboscis monkeys, vipers and huge scorpions.

We boated to Sibu, took a bus to Niah Caves (bats, birds and more walking), then headed to Sabah. Traditional markets, a stilt water village and the superb museum were memorable. Kuala Lumpur completed our journey, with mosques, a cultural concert and the Petronas Twin Towers.

Mission complete
Touchdown - with a sigh of relief and satisfaction. Each of the four holidays was wonderful and we had no problems. There was never a dull moment, never a complaint, never anyone saying they were too tired or not interested. I'd recommend it to anybody who is lucky enough to have grandchildren and is fit enough to do it.

It's a whole different way to travel when you travel with kids. Arthur and I are a fairly active couple but we probably did some things we wouldn't have done on our own, like elephant riding and bamboo rafting and detouring to take photos of buffalo in the river.

People's reactions to you are so different and they are really keen to interact with the children. It's also interesting to watch the local children's reactions - we only ever met one other Australian child; it seems few Aussies take their young kids to Asia. It's a real shame more people don't travel with their grandchildren, but they could - it's so easy and rewarding.

Research, flexible planning and safety - this is my recipe for successful travel, and it applies particularly when accompanying children to unknown places. We didn't organise anything before we left - only the plane trips, but no accommodation or tours because we wanted to do it just like any backpacker would.

We all kept diaries to keep track of it all, and I wrote the stories into a book for members of our family, and which I hope to publish properly one day. As for the kids, they have the travel bug already and they're all very keen to go back to Asia. Maybe one day they'll take us with them!