Bucket Lists

Way back when I was a kid, and travelling to exotic and not so exotic places, I had dreams of travelling on my own, as an adult, and seeing some of the last remaining wonders of the world. I made a bucket list of places I wanted to visit long before there was even such a thing as bucket lists. Sadly, a lot of those places which I have yet to visit, are no longer safe places to go, or even all that desirable given how time and man (in his infinite stupidity) has marched on. Places like, Ulan Bator (Ulaan Baator, meaning Red Hero), in central Mongolia. The fabled centre of a continent that inspired my childhood imagination of war lords and warriors on horseback roaming the wild plains. It was still on my list up until a few years ago and then, after reading a National Geographic article on what had become of the once beautiful, wild, and pristine area, my heart broke into a thousand tiny pieces. Pollution from factories spewing unregulated toxins into the atmosphere, and the spread of…