Geography

I was trying to figure out what would be a good place for a 2 week vacation (the jury is still out, after having considered Bali and Indonesia, Maldives, Greece and Sri Lanka, I seem to be deciding on good ol' Andaman and Nicobar islands right here in India!), when I tried to recall the places I've been to and what I've liked about them.

As far as I can remember, I have been to 16 countries apart from India (my ambition is to visit 24, then I will call it a day!!) - vis -
Europe: Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, the UK, Belgium (in passing)
Middle East: Kuwait
Asia: China (Hong Kong), Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Bhutan, Malaysia
Australia
Africa: Mauritius

I think the big ones I've missed (and should definitely visit sometime in the next 5 years) would be the US, Switzerland, Indonesia (i.e. Bali), South Africa / Sri Lanka. That leaves me with 4 more countries to be visited. The Caribbean islands would figure on the list, and so would a South American country (maybe Brazil, though my buddy Mahender strongly recommends Peru, which seems too radical to a guy like me). But who knows what spin of dice life may play, so we will see when it actually happens!

But this post was about what I liked in the places I've visited.
Without exception, Europe has the most beautiful places (London is lovely, as is Munich, and Amsterdam is delightfully bohemian - but I think Florence wins hands down). What I really like about European cities is their smallness - you can walk about for a day or two, and you find that you have seen most of the city already. I did not like Paris because it seemed to me to be too big, and I thought Venice was overhyped. In addition to small size, I seem to like old, beautifully architected grand buildings. Cobbled streets are another favourite. Its places like Pisa or Florence or Salzburg that really get me going.

However, when it comes to comfort, I find Asia much more welcoming. Japan is relentlessly efficient and painfully polite. Singapore is too artificial for me. Hong Kong was refreshing. But Thailand is what I loved. It has the right amount of chaos, beauty, commerce and activity to make it very very relaxing.

Australia is also very nice (esp Sydney - the Harbour Bridge walk was amazing, as was the Opera House cruise), but good only for a week's vacation.
Mauritius had possibilities - nice friendly people, laissez faire attitudes, beautiful beaches, unique experiences (i.e. the artificial ship building industry, sugarcane fields) but again possibly would get tedious after a week.

For the Andamans, I'm looking forward to three things - one is a scuba dive (after some half day training course apparently), the other is a visit to tribal forests (the tribes still live in aboriginal times, according to whatever I've been able to read), and the third is an active mud volcano and limestone caves. Added to sights of the 'Kaala Paani' or the jail which had tales of terror from the freedom movement. All doped with days of doing nothing on the beach (beach no. 7 on Havelock island was rated the 2nd best beach in the world by Time magazine - thought it beats me how you can have a definite rating for a subjective thing like this!!)

I hope I get tickets!!