🌍193 at Last – Basra, Iraq 🇮🇶
Today, in Basra, I have reached my final United Nations member state. Iraq is my 193rd country, and with it, a lifelong dream comes full circle. ✨
It all began in 1977, when as an 8-year-old I first crossed into Malaysia with family. In 1993, I backpacked to Western Europe with friends, and two years later, I travelled solo through Eastern Europe and Turkey. In 1999, at a hostel in Lithuania, I met a Spanish traveller celebrating his 100th country — a spark that stayed with me - and soon prompted me to take my first full year career break to travel. By 2005, Oman became my 100th UN member country, and I realised I could truly work towards completing all 193 while holding a job almost full-time.
By December 2015, Algeria marked my 181st country. Life, however, intervened. In 2016, a sudden stroke caused by a rare ailment that I was unaware of till then forced a year of recovery. Soon after, my father became bedridden, and I spent his final days caring for him. Then came the pandemic of 2020. For 7 years, no new country stamps entered my passport. Yet through it all, the dream never faded. 💛
It wasn’t until December 2022, in Saudi Arabia, that I resumed travelling. In any case, my travel style and rhythm had evolved: Since the 2010s. I aim to spend 7 to 20 days per country, immersing myself fully in culture, history, cuisine, art, and heritage. And today, at last, I have reached 193. 🌏
Iraq was chosen deliberately as the finale: For decades, the nation has been plaqued with war and instability, but finally sanity seems to have prevailed. Visas are now available as well. For me, visiting here means a symbolic closing of one chapter and the start of another.
Yet 193 is not an end. Ahead lie three remaining Chinese provinces, the inhabited UN Geoscheme territories and de facto states (234 of 248 completed), and deeper explorations of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Australia, Japan, Russia, Brazil, Canada, the US, India and beyond. Festivals, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and revisiting parts of Europe I did not explored properly — the list grows longer every year.
I am profoundly grateful to my family for their support and tolerating my absence, to friends who inspired me, and to fellow travellers who shared stories along the way, and the many people who have fed and housed me, as well as taught me about the kindness and diversity that exist in our world. Without them, this journey would have been far lonelier and far less rich. 💫
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