Where To?

Back in Bangkok, I chanced upon a streetside hawker selling flag patches from various countries. I suppose various would be an understatement because he had practically the whole United Nations stable in his little caboodle. Even Hong Kong, which technically is not a country, was well represented in the pile.

Four days and a 60% price reduction later, I wind up helping myself to 6 flags - Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Japan – all of which represented the different countries that have had the dubious honor to call me guest. Missing from the team was the USA (I actually forgot to buy it) and South Korea (I was only there for 3 hours so I was not exactly sure if it counted).


By no means is this a list for any traveler to be proud of - most backpackers do that many countries or more in one trip alone. It did however, start me thinking about where exactly in the world I’ve been aiming my feet at. The first obvious item on the list would be to finish up Southeast Asia. Third-world cost of living aside, Southeast Asia is probably the only area in the world I can visit without a pre-procured visa. On this list, the only unchecked boxes are Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

Of course, I'm taking a little detour and passing by Brazil. How can you be there and not go to Brazil?

Another adventure I've always wanted to have was a modified Che Guevara route. That basically entails going from the southernmost tip of Argentina all the way up to Mexico, preferably on a motorcycle, while trying to avoid all the small squabbles between countries and drug shootouts. I’d probably have an easier time too with the locals than what I’ve experienced so far as Spanish is a lot less foreign to me than say, Thai.

Of course, I’d be hard pressed to leave the European experience out of this listing.  The big history geek that I am, the call to personally visit the lands of the world empires I grew up studying is just to great to resist.  To stand where Cicero stood in the Temple of Jupiter Stator, giving the first of the famous Catiline Orations, to stroll purposefully down the coastline of Thermopylae remembering Leonidas, to pass through the Arc de Triomphe with the Marcia Trionfale resounding firmly in my head, for a chance to experience these moments I would gladly give my left kidney.

Many other pipe dream destinations are still swimming in the back of my head, Batanes, Gen San Tuna Boat Fishing and hunting with the Cagayan Valley locals among others.  Many more flags are destined to adorn my walls, many more ambitions borne out of childhood reading to be realized.  Only God knows where I shall turn up next. The world is amazing, and I am determined to see as much of it as I can before I leave.