Top Twenty Countries I Want to Visit

Here is a list of the top twenty countries I want to visit. I know the list is very quixotic, so if I had all the time and money at my disposal:

1. Nepal

This little kingdom in the Himalayas still has living goddesses called "Kumaris". Kathmandu looks like a magnificent old city.

2. Bhutan

This tiny kingdom only accepts a few thousand visitors every year. The flora and fauna are very exotic. It is a very traditional country.

3. South Africa

I have met up with many South Africans in Korea. I had three roommates from SA. I hear about the country a lot, so I am interested in going there.

4. Hong Kong

I met up with a world traveler and he told me Hong Kong was his favourite country. Hong Kong means "fragrant harbour" in Chinese.

5. North Korea

Having lived in South Korea for a total of two and a half years, I wonder what is in the neighbouring country. I have heard of Geumgangsan (Gold River Mountain), which is supposed to be beautiful and Baekdusan on the Chinese/NK border. Pyongyang seems interesting and Kaesong as well.

6. Kazakhstan

Central Asia is a place I know little about. I do know that the Silk Road ran through there, and the USSR used to be there. Kazakhstan, Tajikstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrzygstan, and Uzbekistan are all nestled together. I think that area is alluring. I have heard good things about Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan. I know there are more openings for teaching English there.

7. Yemen

This little country next to Saudi Arabia is the legendary home of the Queen of Sheba. Sana'a is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities on Earth. (Damascus in Syria is THE oldest). Unfortunately, the country is collapsing on itself because of the problem of qat chewing, which is making zombies out of the populace and is using up a lot of land and water. The place looks intereresting though.

8. United Arab Emirates

DUBAI!!! Dubai has awesome hotels, a replica of Venice, good shopping, great restaurants, etc etc etc. There is the Palm Project, where an extension of land was made to stick out into the ocean and have hotels, golf courses, and shops built there. Abu Dhabi will eventually have branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim.

9. Vietnam

This country has the famous boat people. It also has nice mountains and rain forest.

10. India

India is a subcontinent with many different cultures in it. There are rhododendron forests, the Taj Mahal, the Tamil region with its nice cuisine...

11. Australia

It's its own continent. I want to visit every continent.

12. Argentina

Argentina is known as the Europe of South America. It has a lot of German and Italian culture. Patagonia is a backpacker's paradise. Tierra del Fuego has the southernmost town in the world.

13. Greece

When I was an undergraduate student of English literature, I studied A.E. Stallings. She is an American poet who moved to Greece with her Greek husband. She said that while studying ancient Greek poetry, she read about flowers from different stages of spring blooming at the same time. She thought that it was about a "golden era" that the poems were mentioning. When she visited Greece however, she saw all those flowers blooming at one time in the alpine climate. That would be nice to see.

14. Iceland

This land has little crime, lots of history, the land of Sigur Ros and Bjork, and has many hot springs!

15. New Zealand

The land of Lord of the Rings! I want to see the unwasted pristine beauty of its great mountains and beaches. I would really like to go to the Catlins, a nice national park there.

16. Lithuania

Vilnius is a bohemian enclave now. I had the privilege of touring a convalecent home that had many Lithuanians. The place was filled with Lithuanian art made from straw. There were many pictures made of straw.

17. Poland

I have ancestors from there. My mother's father's side of the family was Polish. I lived in an old Polish enclave in Webster, Massachusetts.

18. Peru

I want to go to Macchu Picchu, the ancient Incan civilisation.

19. Madagascar

When I was in high school I took a class in botany. For a project, I had to pick three countries and write about the flora there. I had to choose a few plants that were native to each country and resesarch them. I chose Grenada, India, and Madagascar. The rain forests on that island nation intrigued me because of its abundance of medicinal plants and orchids. The "Star of David" orchid has the longest nectar tube of any flower, and it is pollinated by a moth with the longest proboscis in the world.

Some other places I think would be nice to visit are:

1. Provence and Alsace in France. Provence has fields of lavender and Alsace has mountains.


2. Saaremaa in Estonia. This little island has an interesting terrain with craters.


3. Pompeii. I got enamored with this place after reading a May 1984 edition of "National Geographic". I used to look at that issue a lot in church school.


4. Aleutian Islands. Thousands of native Aleuts still live there and Kodiak Island is famous for its wildlife.


5. Petra. This ancient city is made out of rose-coloured rock.


6. Antarctica. There are Antarctic cruises out there (probably mostly for people who want to visit every continent). Penguins, whales, seals, krill--there is some life in that place.