China and North Korea bought my country count up to 102. The next “country” is debatable though. I am going there because the Travellers Century Club counts it as a country rather than because it is a recognised country in it’s own right. The reason for this is that it is disputed territory.

Hainan is an island off the coast of China close to Vietnam. In the same way that China believes it owns Taiwan, China lays claim to Hainan. Regardless of this Travellers Century Club recognises it as a separate country so… Here comes “country” number 103.

Hainan – off the coast of China

As an aside, the UK government doesnt recognise Taiwan (to them it’s China) or Myanmar (that’s Burma) just to mention a couple. It’s a little bizarre when you try and determine the number of countries in the world. TCC recognises 321 but Puerto Rica, Bermuda, Greenland, Palestine, Western Sahara and are not officially countries. Neither are a number of Caribbean Islands. I guess for the sake of what I am doing, I have to count the TCC list as being correct because I have seen numbers vary from 196 to 321. The World Atlas basically says there isnt a correct number. In effect it all depends on how you define a country!

Anyway kiddies, off to Hainan tomorrow where I have a serviced apartment. I really need to sort my bags and laundry out so a serviced apartment is perfect. No doubt though it is serviced by China’s draconian internet laws which will mean I still wont be able to easily post photos and I have piles of them to post.

See ya later…

KC