What’s a country that’s at the top of your bucket list?

I have personally traveled a lot by myself, and visiting China is number one on my “bucket list”.

This is daunting, unlike visiting Nepal or India where I know that they have had a lot of British influence.

Chinese streets don’t typically have English signs- at least not in pictures I’ve seen. Their history with the British came to ~bad ends. So I imagine they don’t have much respect for those who look similar.

I would have to depend on a guide of course and give up my autonomy.

But China’s fascinating. And there’s so much myth about it. Mostly I’m interested in the real China- not just guide book places. But they would be worth seeing too- I’d go for at least two or three weeks.

I would like to see the terra-cotta warriors for sure, but more I would like to just visit the markets, eat at a busy family restaurant and walk up and down streets -see what people are up to and listen to their musical language.

For me it’s fun to gauge (?) the tone of every day society -granted it’s only a very small proportion.

having lived isolated for as long as they have – and hiding from all their authorities- be they emperors or now AI, and after their heartbreaking sacrifices during Mao era, they’ve developed all kinds of ways of solving problems in the world that are completely unique to the western mind.

And today they’re my biggest fan base. So I’m guessing I’ll find a lot in common in ways I’ve yet to understand. Could be that my Venus (values and sense of flow) is on their countries ascendant(the People’s Republic’s personality) and my sun was high in the sky – not buried, when I was born. Only time will tell.

In the 90s, I got to live overseas for four years and visit many European countries repeatedly. What a treat!!! being able to jump on a train and be in any number of places was awesome- I did that first before attempting Nepal and India (which I of course recommend). It helped to fathom the degrees of our differences. Though people look similar, their values are quite different and yet we share the needs of friends and family. This helped before traveling to even more exotic destinations.

I’ve got my Pimsleur tapes (mandarin) already and need to commit to them again.