I’ve spent the last two weeks choosing where to travel next.
I considered Taiwan, Papua New Guinea, and Brazil. Taiwan is easy because it’s
near and I no longer have to apply for a visa to go there. But after going to
Japan last year and to Hong Kong and Macau last month, I don’t want to go to
another East Asian country. Papua New Guinea, touted as “the last frontier,” seems
captivating, but from what I read, it’s not easy to explore the country
independently. So I ended up with
Brazil.
After making an initial budget estimate for three weeks in
Brazil, I proceeded with the itinerary. The plan was to enter through Sao
Paulo, spend a few days in Rio de Janeiro, then onward to Salvador de Bahia and
the rest of the northeast coast.
Everything’s set until I read horror stories that changed my mind and
made me discard the entire plan. Personal accounts of travelers who were taken
advantage of, assaulted, and robbed at gun point in broad daylight at major
tourist destinations freaked me out.
Where do I want to go anyway? Somewhere exotic yet safe, unusual
but accessible; a place where nobody I know has gone to and where it’s
relatively easy to get a visa. My search for that perfect place that meets those standards led me
to Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka fits the bill, I think, perhaps except for the “safe” part. There has been a spate of communal violence in Kandy, a major tourist hub in the country’s Central Province, in the past days and the government had already declared a state of emergency to halt the rioting.
Sri Lanka fits the bill, I think, perhaps except for the “safe” part. There has been a spate of communal violence in Kandy, a major tourist hub in the country’s Central Province, in the past days and the government had already declared a state of emergency to halt the rioting.
So where do I go now? I still don’t know.
1 comments:
Planning is the fun part. I hope you'll find your next adventure soon.
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