40 countries in 40 years

a friend of mine had this goal of visiting 40 countries by her 40th birthday. i thought this an awesome idea.

well, i'm only at... 11? and that includes canada and mexico, unfortunately.

• japan - 2006 and 2002-ish (go snowboarding in niseko. you'll be glad you did.)
• korea - 2004 (um, half my peeps originated here, but i found the local custom of running into people to be jarring. and you can only eat barbequed squid so many times a day.)
• china - 2004, 1991, 1987. see xiao long bao on the left. good shit.
• brazil - 2004 (incredible incredible. be prepared to be mugged if you're in rio. carry only small amounts of cash and lip gloss. ladies, butt crack is an accessory. the pic on the right is of me in rio. i like the blurry look.)
• thailand - 2003 (you need to go diving if you haven't already. get custom-made clothes in bankok. try not to cry when a 12-year old bar girl walks off with a 75-year old tourist.)
• france - 1998
• holland - 1998 (people seriously ride bikes here. i got passed up constantly by grandmas toting their grandkids. also, the dutch are tall and have big feet, which made me feel pretty good whilst shopping for shoes.)
• spain - 1998 (hard time with racial shit here, especially in madrid. i hear it's better, but we were ready to throw down at one point.)

ok, so that was only 10. maybe i'll remember another one later. my passport is at the chinese consulate, alas.

top-5 anticipatory-country list:

• costa rica - surfing and coffee? hells yeah.
• italy - i work with lots of italians and find their schedules appealing. not as a business partner, but for myself. espresso all day long? wine and a nap? why not?
• australia - great barrier reef. i like fish and moray eels and leopard sharks. plus i met some very nice aussies in japan. i'd been nonplussed on the subject before then. you know, you hear stories about racism and shit, which is not a friendly subject.
• vietnam
• hmm. a toss up between peru and laos. i think machu picchu wins.