Places to Go or Not to Go

Being in Nigeria, on the way back and forth from our camp to the office, there were some times that I could do some thinking. This morning, it came to my mind the subject of places I would want to go to, or even not want to go to.

First things first, the place where I currently am now, Nigeria. Unfortunately, due to the security situation, I'm not allowed to get out of the office or the camp. Whenever we travel between camp and office, there's armed escort with our car or bus. Well, that's for another story! So, even if the countryside looks quite interesting from the air, I'd consider this as one of the places not to go to for a while.

Lets start from Asia, on the positive side, I'd love to see (in no particular order, and these are the places I have not been to) Laos, Japan, Bhutan and Tibet. I've been to Cambodia and Viet Nam, so to complete the triangle of indo china, Laos will be the place to go. Besides, having to read about the highlands around Luang Prabang, it sounds like a relatively tranquil place to go. In Japan, I'd love to see the Honda museum and probably Suzuka circuit (preferably during F1 or Super GT races!).

Other places I'd love to visit again are Cambodia and north part of Viet Nam. Having visited Angkor temples a few years back, I'd love to explore the area again (Walking in one of the smaller Angkor temples one early morning, with only a few people and tourists around was an eye opening experience!). As for north Viet Nam, I've always wanted to see Ha Long bay and the highlands of the north like Sa Pa.

On the negative side, I don't think I'd like to go to Pakistan or Srilanka at this time for obvious security reason.

Moving on to Middle East & Africa, I'd love to go to Oman and Morocco. Marrakech and Casablanca are 2 places I'd love to visit in Morocco. Ever since watching 'Casablanca' years back, I'd always wanted to see the real city. Marrakech is the result of listening to Loreena McKennitt's songs, and by reading Lonely Planet travel books. (That's the power of persuasion there!)

A few years back, I'd scoff at the notion of going to middle east. But after 2 trips to the area, I found myself more open to the idea. While there, heard that Oman is quite nice in a way that it's not as modern as Dubai or Abu Dhabi, but also quite modern.

I don't think I should mention other places I would not want to go in the Middle East. I think I have plenty of places to avoid there. But there are places I'd like to go to, like Libya or even Egypt.

Europe, hmm .. so many choices but one thing I'd love to do there is to go to Nurburgring and drive that famous track! Apart from that, Spain will be my first choice of visiting. Tapas and paellas .. here I come!

Back to the americas now, that's another hard choice. Definitely Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador (again!), Cuba and some exotic carribean places like Bonnaire, St. Lucia and the likes. I've been to Rio, but only seing that tiny part of Brazil is not enough in my books. Definitely the amazons will be a place I'd like to see at least once in a lifetime!

Buenos Aires is one of the cities I'd like to see. For the Wong Kar Wai fans out there, remember the movie 'Happy Together'? Well, that's not the reason I'd like to see the city, but that's just one of the many movies set in Buenos Aires.

Cuba is one of those places that seems to be frozen in time. Having great food and great music is definitely a big plus, if only it's easy to get to, which unfortunately it is not these days.

With that looney Chavez in power in Venezuela, I don't think I'd visit there this time. Maybe some other time, when it's peaceful enough to have arepas and rum in peace without listening to the Chavez monologues.

As of the good ol' US of A .. definitely there are places I'd like to see ... and not.
But .. I'd leave y'all to your imagination at this time. I think I've done enough rambling and rolling .. and if you did read all the way to this point, I'd like to thank you for entertaining my thoughts. And definitely your thoughts are more than welcome as well.

Ciao! Bye! See ya! Sampai jumpa! Daag!