So, let's go back a thousand years ...

Upon completion of a trip around the world, a key factor comes to mind ... language.

     This question came up often upon our return: How did you manage to speak and communicate in so many countries?  Do you speak a bunch of languages?  How in the world (pardon the pun) did you talk to people and get around?

     Well, it's not as hard as you might think.  Most places where frequent travelers go and visit, like airports and hotels, have someone who can speak English.  We are lucky and blessed coming from America that most of the "modern" world is familiar with English. 

     You don't need to speak a lot of foreign languages to get around - although it doesn't hurt.  And speaking a foreign language can make things fun, like a little Spanish or French, talking to someone in India or Cambodia.  

     But the modern world is not the point of this blog post.  The ancient world is a lot more interesting.  

     
     For example, what language did Marco Polo use to communicate when he went across the Middle East and Asia in the year 1200 or so?  How did ancient explorers communicate, such as intrepid sailors like Magellan?
     Did Sir Walter Raleigh just consult the app on his iPhone to talk with Indians and Hawaiians four hundred years ago?  Probably not.  

     I am completely mystified by the ancient world of language.  For starters, there were a lot more languages back in the old days.  
     Scholars tell us that we are losing a lot of languages.  
     Languages are dropping like flies.  They are going away and will become extinct, and bumper stickers remind us that extinct ... means ... forever.   

     
     But beyond that, how did anyone communicate with the next village, let alone the other side of the world?   It's a puzzle to me. 

     As a matter of fact, in Biblical times, the Apostle Paul sailed around the Mediterranean, to places like Malta (we were there recently) and all the way to Spain.  How did he get his point across to hostile people who spoke in a different tongue?  He often got beaten to a pulp for his trouble. 

     
     Okay, time to stop asking questions and come up with some answers.  How did people communicate in ancient times?

1.  Interpreters - they would  befriend or capture a local who had a mother and father from different cultures, not unlike today, who could speak two languages.  They would entice (or force) this person to come with them.

2.  They didn't bother with language, they just conquered the place and took over.  A good example of this was Alexander the Great, who conquered most of the known world at the time and made everyone speak Greek.  He was a very powerful man, and he was pretty mean, so you didn't argue.  You just gave your best effort to speak Greek.  

3.  There were a few universal "super languages", things like Latin or Chinese, or Arabic, or Greek, and now in the modern day maybe even English.  Latin is still used in this day, and is the root of many languages.  And there are so darn many Chinese that they can influence things on their own.  

---------------  A side note:  The sheer number of people is not a guarantee that a major language will be standard.  Consider India, a nation of 1.25 billion people.  They have 22 official languages, plus a whole lot more local dialects.  -------------------------

4.  Writing had something to do with it.  Characters that were written down, or carved in wood, carved in stone, parchment, etc. could convey concepts that spoken words could not.  
     In fact, in this modern day, iconic symbols still work.  Ever buy something from IKEA?  All their stuff is designed so that you can look at an illustration and figure out how to put it together. 
     Most airports in the world use a standard symbol to indicate the basic functions, like where are the bathrooms?

5.  Business had a lot to do with it.  Many of the early explorers, and even the ancient traders, didn't need to know a lot of language, they just needed to know numbers in order to negotiate.  If I have spices or silk - all I want to know is how much gold or rum you will give me in return.  
     The ancient merchants were great communicators, even if it was all about the money.

     Traveling around the modern world is still full of challenges, but it's nothing compared to Marco Polo and Vasco de Gama and Sir Francis Drake and the others.  We have it pretty easy in comparison.  
          
     For one thing, people are not constantly trying to kill us.  Well, maybe some of them are.  Watch out for bombs in Egypt.
   
    Secondly, when Marco Polo came home from his years in Asia, he was imprisoned.  Welcome home, Marco!  
     Apparently he told his fabulous stories to a cell mate when he was in jail in Genoa Italy.  I can sort of identify with that myself, being held in jail in a foreign country ...   
     Hey, the more things change, the more they remain the same.  And traveling the world with limited language skills ... is a whole lot easier than it used to be. 

     As an example, I can picture the old days and Marco Polo might have gotten lost and asked a local "pardon me old chap, can you point me toward the silk road?"
     And the answer came back:  "ljfome wovds mtedhi odsvls dfmelj mcdiekt hjsopds jkelsdos" 
     And Marco looks off into the distance and mutters: "easy for you to say ..."

So you think you know how to travel? So did we ....

We learned a lot on our Trip Around the World

Travel Plans might sound easy, but you need to be at your best.

Written by Fiona: 

     A lot of people have asked us about what is involved in the planning of a round the world trip.
     So I thought I would be a guest blogger and do a post on the planning and logistics of going around the world in Eighty Days.
     Kevin has been the writer from the beginning of the odyssey and, although my name comes up now and then, my sole contribution up until now has been proof reading!

     I remember the exact date the planning began - April 9th, 2014. The reason I remember is that April 8th is my birthday and Kevin gave me this trip as a gift!  Can you believe it?
     The worlds’ best husband/gift giver!

The fun begins!

     So this trip actually took about nine months to plan.  It doesn’t need to take that long obviously, but I thoroughly enjoyed the planning process so much that this was (in some ways) one of the best parts of the gift - dreaming and researching different destinations.
     Let me begin by saying there are endless ways to approach an around the world trip.  Some people want to do it in three weeks and hit six cities.  Others want to travel for two years and poke around thirty countries. 

     At the outset we agreed on a timeline of about 80 days.  But there were so many places to go!  We knew several places that were on our "always wanted to go" list - Cambodia, Sri Lanka, the Taj Mahal, the Pyramids. 

     So after we made a list of about twenty-five destinations, we moved on to researching airline tickets ...

     I discovered that you can purchase a wonderful thing called a Round The World (RTW) ticket.  They are available through major airlines and they use partner airlines to coordinate different parts of the journey. 

     We flew with Star Alliance, which is the United Airlines option. but surprisingly, never actually flew on United!  Their partners include Air Canada, South African, Turkish, IcelandAir, Ethiopian, Alitalia, British Airways, Philippine, Kenyan, etc.  

     We flew on all of these and many more.

     We ended up actually booking our tickets through a company that specializes in RTW tickets.  It’s possible to buy all these tickets on your own .... but we preferred to dialogue with a consultant - and it worked out well.  Their advice was invaluable.

     I highly recommend airtreks.com - they had great suggestions and were quick to answer all our questions. We ended up with 19 stops on our RTW ticket and visited 24 countries in all.

     Of course, there are rules about these kinds of tickets.  For example, you have to keep heading in one direction (in our case, West).   You can make changes after you start (but it will possibly cost a small change fee). You can travel overland in places and pick up your ticket in another country (we did this in Europe, arriving in Rome and picking up our RTW in Dublin).

     Next up - where to stay?  This took several months and I worked on one country at a time for a few hours each week.  We stayed in a huge variety of places from friends’ houses, to youth hostels, to guest houses, apartments, hotels (anywhere from one to five star).    We even stayed in a tent in Kenya - it was a rather nice tent! 

    I mostly used airbnb.com, booking.com, and orbitz.com for booking accommodations and room reservations.

 

  

There were several criteria I used when looking for places to stay. 

     Number one?  How do we get from the airport to the hotel?  Bus, subway, shuttle, taxi, or ...? 

     This is one of the more complicated pieces of travel because many airports are far away from city centers and if you arrive unprepared you can be faced with a $75 taxi ride. Some hotels have free pick up so they would go to the top of the list.

     Side note: This was probably our biggest hassle of the entire trip - arranging travel to and from the airport.  It's really important to arrange ground transportation!

     Number Two - is breakfast included?  Having breakfast at your hotel simplifies the beginning of your day, and (depending on the breakfast) you can get by with only one other meal that day.  This is something we did often, and it fit our "hunger" patterns!
     Number three - does the hotel have free wifi?  This was our primary means of communication with friends and family and the "outside world", so this was vital for us.  Online broadband was critical, including constant updates on travel changes and airplane connections. 

Sometimes you have to wing it ... 

     We did not have reservations for every place we went, because we wanted to have some flexibility.  So there were some evenings spent planning for the following few days, often in a cafe with wifi, but it always seemed to work out well.

 

Hello, do you have permission to enter our country?     

     One other aspect of world wide travel is researching which countries require a visa.  This could be a real pain.  Do you need to have a visa before you get there? or can you get it at the border? And how much does it cost?  You can get this information at travel.state.gov. 

     Getting a visa at the border is usually relatively easy, but you have to make sure you have the fee in the right currency. (They often want US dollars).  

     Sometimes they want a passport size photo too. Some countries (China and India, for instance) require you to get it ahead of time AND require you to send your passport to their embassy in the U.S. to have it inserted in your passport. This can be very problematic when you use your passport often, so you do need to plan ahead.

     There are some visa services who will do this for you for a fee and we have used them. The one we use and have always been happy with is travisa.com.

            

     We made a spreadsheet to leave with family so they could track us down if needed.

     We were really happy with the results of our planning.       

     Everything worked out well.  Perhaps the only change we might make would be to spend a little more time in each place and have some ‘do nothing’ days built in.

     Guess we’re going to have to keep doing this ‘til we get it right!

Amazing Pictures ... well, interesting anyway ...

These are mannequins, taken from a window display in Italy

     Sometimes, a picture opportunity just calls out to you, and I couldn't pass this one up.  This was a shop in Rome, Italy, and we were just walking down the street and this was so cool and striking and looked so realistic. 

     The variety of faces and clothing obviously took a lot of work for someone to produce or set up.  Fiona went inside to have a look (shopping?) and I whipped out my iPhone and snapped this photo. 

     The prices are in Euros, the currency of the European Community - they use comma's instead of a decimal point. 

How would you like to face this in a bathroom?

     Sorry, another mention of plumbing in this blog.  I went into a bathroom in Europe and when I went to wash my hands, I was met with this challenge.  I didn't know what to do. 

     There was no faucet handle, and what the heck are those grab bar things sticking out to the side? 

     Turns out that you put your hands under the center bar and the water comes on.  Then some soap comes out.  Then the side bars start to blow air super intense, like a tropical hurricane, and it's loud!  

     So you wash your hands, with soap, and dry them, all at the same time.  Kinda confusing and a wee bit intimidating ...

This was a garden spot in London, near the Tower Bridge

     I felt like there were a bunch of little purple creatures hiding in the flowers, looking at me ...

The symmetrical ancient Library at Trinity College in Dublin,  where they keep the Book of Kells

     This was such a spectacular building that I had to include another picture.  The Book of Kells is a masterwork of Western Calligraphy and is widely regarded as Ireland's finest national treasure.  It is housed in this centuries old wood paneled library which is very picturesque. 

Walking around Colombo Sri Lanka, beside a lake in a park

     Sometimes beauty just waits for you to show up.  

     These were two birds, each sitting on a pole in the lake.  The reflection was pretty cool.  Couldn't resist snapping a picture. 

I was rather amazed to see the scene in these last pictures.   

I didn't think large jet airplanes passed under anything

     We were getting ready to depart from Gatwick Airport in London, when we were walking toward our gate and I saw this massive bridge over the runway.  It was gigantic.  I'd never seen anything like it.  

     We made our way up to the top and passed over the bridge on our way to our departure gate. 

     As we walked over the runway, an airplane passed underneath us.  

     It was a unique feeling to be looking over the side of a bridge and a big jet airliner passes below you on it's way out to take off. 

 

     I've been to a lot of airports, but I've never seen a bridge that airplanes pass underneath.  And I've never seen an airplane from this angle, looking down on it from above. 

     Most of the time, airports build underground subway type train shuttles to get you to your gate.  These folks thought of a different way to get you where you needed to go, and still let planes pass through. 

Survived to tell the story ... wanna buy a watch? how about some blood?

Okay, so this blog post goes way back ...

     There have been a lot of stories conveyed on this blog, mostly about the recent past.  Our trip around the world was fun and exciting and amazing, and still fresh in our minds, but I wanted to tell a story about a time long ago ... early 1970's ...

Travel runs deep in my blood 

     I was a young man, twenty years old, and had been in Aberdeen Scotland for about a year, working on the oil rigs.  I had already met my future wife Fiona, a story that was relayed in this earlier blog post: How-Italy-changed-my-life.html.
     After a long British winter of cold gray, overcast skies, rain and (dare I say) gloom - I was ready to head south to warmer temperatures.
     I had saved a little money from my employment in the oil business, and I bought a ticket to Athens Greece.  Fiona was still studying in school at the University, so I was going on my own.  I had always wanted to see the Greek isles, the sun and the Aegean sea, I pictured an idyllic vacation.

     I set off on the train which would take me all the way to Greece.
     I passed through Europe, met some cool people on the way, and eventually traveled through the final country before Greece, which was Yugoslavia.  It's no longer a country.  It broke apart with a resulting horrendously brutal civil war.  
     I passed through Zagreb (Croatia) and Belgrade (Serbia), and stopped to observe the scenes, which were frankly kind of depressing.  It was the zenith of the communist era in those places.
     Travel can be a tremendous education. 
     I eventually arrived in Athens Greece, late in the evening and found my way to a youth hostel, and promptly crashed on the nearest available bed, exhausted.

Then things began to go seriously wrong 

     I hid my important documents and critical papers and money under my pillow and was immediately sound asleep.  It had been a long trip from Scotland and even as an energetic young man, I was worn out. 
     When I woke up in the morning, the satchel containing my critical documents was gone.  All my stuff - and most importantly my passport - had been snatched during the night.  What a shock!  
     Even back in those days, an American passport was a valuable document, something that could fetch a few thousand dollars on the black market. 
     I spoke to the proprietor of the hostel and ... let's just say he reacted with a lack of compassion or understanding: "hey, you don't protect your stuff, somebody take it."  I thought I had taken the right precautions. 

The formative years?

     I was in yet another predicament.  I have been in a few tight spots in the past, but being stuck in Athens, Greece without a passport, money, or any other identification was a severe crisis for a twenty year old kid - especially without any way to communicate with anyone. 
     The proprietor of the youth hostel threw me out.  I had to sleep in doorways for a week.  It was a very rough time.  

    I went to the American Embassy to see if I could get a new passport, but they wouldn't let me in.  They said "You can't come in if you don't have a passport" and my response was - "that's why I'm here!"
     They said you have to go the the police department and wait a week to get a "certificate" that says your passport has been stolen.
   

How to live on the streets of a foreign country for a week or more

     So I went to the police department in Athens and they were not friendly.  In fact, it was a rather traumatic experience, as they were in the next room interrogating someone and beating the hell out of him - for reasons I was not entirely clear about - and they told me to come back in a week. 
     They said if my passport didn't turn up, they would give me a certificate that said it was stolen, and then maybe I might get into the American Embassy and get a replacement. 
     I can still recall the sounds of the police smacking someone around and yelling at him in Greek and the guy was hollering and they were threatening him and I was hoping they wouldn't do the same to me ... this is some years ago (1974), and times were different then and the due course of law was brutal and very severe. 

     In the meantime, I was living on the streets, and had no money and no place to stay.  There was some dude that "took pity" on me and told me that I could make some money selling watches ... yeah, right ... it was a scam.
     But I was so desperate that I fell for this idiotic scheme and I went from cafe to cafe telling a made up sob story and trying to get a Greek to buy this cheap knock-off watch.  I pulled my pockets inside out to show I didn't have any money (which was true) ... "please buy my watch so I can go home to America to see my mama and papa."
     It was a lame bogus story and most people could see through it, although I did sell one watch ... but it was so disheartening that after a couple days I gave the watches back to the ring leader.  I couldn't do it anymore. 
     I sat down on the steps of a church and began to cry.  I wept.  I was alone and broke and stranded in a far way land with no friends and no options.  I have seldom felt so rock bottom and lonely in my life. 

Eventually things began to look up  

     So I tried to get back in the game.  I had to be innovative.  One thing I discovered is that I could sell my blood to a sort of Red Cross blood bank, and get some money.  This worked for a while until I became anemic and weak, and ran out of blood and they wouldn't let me in anymore.  
     Also, I sold my prized Levi jacket.  This was a time when genuine Levi stuff was in high demand overseas, and I was able to eat for a few days. 
     In addition, I kinda hung around the spots where visitors would congregate and I would eavesdrop, and when the time seemed right I offered to help them find the Parthenon, or the Acropolis, or the Olympic Stadium, and "oh, by the way, you wouldn't possibly care to buy me a sandwich would you?" 
     So I got by for a few days as a amateur tour guide in Athens, and eventually after a few more days, the youth hostel guy felt guilty and let me stay there.  
     I made a few friends of fellow travelers and they were sensitive to my plight and some of them befriended me and ... well, life goes on.  
     Even under the most extreme circumstances, you just have to try to keep moving forward.  

I get a new Passport in Athens, Greece

     So after a week and a half of this hand-to-mouth existence, I go to the Police department and they give me a "certificate" which is a minor miracle in itself, and I then proceed to the American Embassy - and low and behold, they issue me a new passport!   Hallelujah!
     For the purposes of credibility, I decided to include a couple pictures from that provisional passport, shown below.  The passport photo is hilarious, although at the time I was not amused. 

  
      I feel like I have a new lease on life!  I'm gonna survive! ... if I can just lay my hands on some money and a train ticket back to the UK ... 
     These arrangements turn out to be rather complicated, and any further thought of a vacation on the Greek isles is long gone.
     At this point, I just want to get back to Scotland and see Fiona and get back to work and have a place to sleep and a roof over my head.  Some decent food would be nice, too. 

Not so fast there, cowboy 

     So I obtain a railroad ticket back to Great Britain and I make my way there subsisting on bread and cheese and sleeping on the train.  It's a long damn ways, and it takes a long time.  
     Why is it that when you are starting out on a journey, everything is exciting and time slows down and you savor every moment - and yet when you are trying to get home, it seems like it takes forever?
     I feel like I have been delivered from the far side of the moon, but we are not done yet ...

     So I get to the border station inside Britain after crossing the English channel, and I am detained.  
     They see my fresh passport issued in Athens and they are suspicious - I look (and smell) like a thug. 
     They put me in a holding cell and tell me they need someone in the UK who will vouch for me.  This is back in the primitive old days; there is no email, or internet, or cell phones, or even fax machines.  
     The only person I can suggest is Fiona, but I don't have a phone number.  I eventually convince them to call the university, and they try to call her.  "this guy says he knows you and he looks like hell,"  and of course she is in class at school.  
     So I have to cool my heels while they take several hours to find Fiona (imagine trying to phone a large university and ask to talk to a student).  They are busy with other stuff, and they are not terribly motivated to do this. 
     They won't let me in the country, even though my previous passport (which was stolen in Athens, I tell them) contained an unlimited work permit for the UK.  Now I am an unwanted alien trying to sneak into their country.  Life is not fair.

     They finally reach Fiona by phone and ... let me enter the country.  They give me a temporary travel visa that states I can't work or stay very long ... which I promptly ignore.  
     Of course, I still don't have any money so I have to hitchhike a thousand kilometers up to Scotland. There are several more stories contained in that hitchhiking trip  


     These kind of adventures tend to stay with you and become part of who you are.  When I encountered difficulties later on in life ... well, I won't say I was prepared, but I did have some experience in dealing with rather hopeless situations.  

One Place I Will Never Visit

Most people can come up with a list of the places they would like to visit, but what about the Places You Never Want To Go?

     I am fairly adventurous when it comes to travel and I am generally ready for any kind of journey, especially to out-of-the-way places off the beaten path.  

     But there are a few places I have no desire to go.  For example, everybody is different, but obviously nobody in their right mind would want to visit Syria these days, or Iraq, or Pakistan for that matter.  Way too dangerous and hostile, even to their own citizens.  

     Actually, let me modify that statement.  I would love to go to Syria to see the country - someday - but certainly not right now.  

      
     So what about places you would never want to go, even if you had the time and money?  My list is pretty short, but there are some places I just don't want to go.  

     First on my list is Mount Everest.  To some people, it may sound like an exciting challenge to climb the world's tallest mountain.  But I have no interest in going there.  Sure, I would like to see it, to lay eyes on it, but I just really don't want to go there.  

     Even before the latest news about the horrible earthquakes in Nepal that ended up killing many people on Everest, the place had no appeal to me. 

     Why?  Because you have fairly good odds of dying there even without an earthquake.  At one point, one out of every four climbers who attempted to summit Everest died.  And even if you don't die, you can easily lose fingers and feet to frostbite, and beyond that, you probably won't make it to the top.  Very few people do.  (I wanted to post some archive pictures of frozen climbers on Everest, but they were just far too gruesome)
     And you can't breathe half the time, the air at the top will not sustain human life, and you can spend months just sitting around in the cold base camp trying to acclimate your body to the conditions in order to climb further.  

     That all adds up to a big "No Thanks" for going to Mt Everest. 

     What about some other spots?  Well, I am also not interested in going to Antarctica.  In fact, if you are not a scientist or geologist or some such thing, why would you want to go there?  Frankly, no good reason comes to mind. 

     I've already been sort of close (the southern tip of South America, at Tierra del Fuego) and saw Penguins and Ice.  That's good enough for me.  I don't see myself ever going to Antarctica.

     Oh, and one more.  I don't want to go to Siberia.  I mean as a traveler.  The Russians sent a lot of people there against their will, and the purpose was isolation and punishment.  I don't want to go someplace like that, unless maybe I'm passing through on a train, and even that is not terribly appealing. 

You want to come to America and go ... where?

     So I'm talking to my nephew in the UK recently on our trip and he said he was looking forward to someday going to the United States for an extended tour.  He has been a couple times, but pretty quick visits. 
     So we talked about some of the great spots that America has to offer.  And the conversation went something like this:

Me: "The Grand Canyon is pretty awesome."
Him:  "And someday I'd like to see Detroit."
Me (laughing): "Ha, Ha, ... I thought you said Detroit"
Him: "I did"
Me (incredulous):  "Hunh?  You want to go to Detroit?  Like Detroit, Michigan?"
Him: "Yeah, it sounds like a really interesting place..."
Me: "Wow, ... I can't think of anyone who wants to go to Detroit!  It's kind of a decaying post-apocalyptic vacated city in a irreversible permanent downhill slide."  
Him (excitedly): "yeah that sounds so cool!"

     Not sure I track with this travel ambition.  I certainly would not want to be walking around there at night.  
     But he wants to see how the city is re-inventing itself.  There are things like urban gardens, cornfields where there used to be large apartment buildings.  They have cleared out entire city blocks and huge neighborhoods, and they have been replaced with vegetables and wheat fields. 

     It is a compelling point of view.  But I'm still not sure I want to go see it. 
     

If you're making a list of do's and don'ts ... 

     Ultimately for me, I think it's best to focus on the positive.  Even though I might mention a few spots I don't want to visit, there are a whole lot more places on a list of things I want to see.  

Where on Earth did you get that Chocolate?

A Universal Truth of Travel is that everyone, everywhere, loves Chocolate

     While visiting numerous countries in every corner of the globe, you can't help but notice that one food custom is common to all peoples - the love of chocolate.  This is a flavor that transcends culture and diet and eating habits and frankly, it is something that most human beings find irresistible.

Wherever you go ... there is chocolate.  

Where does it come from?  And why is it so popular?

     Let's take those questions one at at time - Answering the first question is a challenge.  Where does chocolate come from?
     Okay, does that mean - where is it made?  ... or where is it grown?

     These are two very different things.  Let's start with where is it grown.  That's a fairly short list.

     Here are the top five countries that grow cocoa, from which chocolate is made -
1. Ivory Coast
2. Indonesia
3. Ghana
4. Nigeria
5. Cameroon
     These five countries listed account for almost 80% of the entire worldwide cocoa bean harvest.
     Four out of the five are in West Africa, and Ivory Coast is the major player in the world, with over a third of global cocoa production - they are the Saudi Arabia of cocoa/chocolate!
     Interesting note for geography aficionados:  Ivory Coast is the English translation of the official name for the country which is Cote d'Ivoire (French).
     Another interesting note: Cocoa was "discovered" in South American and was grown by the Incas, Aztecs, and Mayans.  These people groups ... don't appear on the list above.

Okay, so where do they make chocolate?  

     Do these same countries that grow cocoa beans convert it to chocolate?  A resounding "NO" would be the correct answer.  Chocolate is essentially made in northern climates because it is very temperature sensitive.
     Okay, ... pray tell, who makes "chocolate" as we know it?   This shows which countries manufacture chocolate products.
1. United States
2. Germany
3. Switzerland
4. Belgium
5. Japan or Italy (depending on who's list you use)

     Interesting note:  I was somewhat surprised to be eating M&M's in Cape Town, South Africa and noticed they were made in the USA.
     Chocolate melts easily and is not viable to make in the warm tropical climates where the cocoa beans are grown.  Plus, there is a lot of milk used in the process and you need a bunch of cows and dairies to produce chocolate.

     So - Why is it so popular?  And who eats the most chocolate?
Here are the Top countries based on per capita chocolate consumption:

Switzerland
Ireland
UK
Austria
Belgium
Germany
Norway
Denmark
Canada
France
Poland
Russia
Australia

     Good old America eats a lot of chocolate, but we also have a lot of people.  When it comes to the average annual chocolate devoured by the average citizen, we can't hold a candy bar to Switzerland (the Gold Metal winners) or even Russia for that matter.  C'mon America - we are a competitive country - eat more chocolate!  Tiny Switzerland eats more than twice as much chocolate per capita as the US!
     Hey, didn't they just publish an article stating that Swiss people are the happiest in the world?
     Must be from eating all that chocolate!

Why is it so popular?  Why does everyone love chocolate?

     Well, this gets a little more complicated.  There is a whole bunch of psychological and emotional analysis that goes into this, that would frankly would exceed the limits of this blog.  For example, one medical source explains that chocolate contains opiate like substances, which makes us feel good.  In other words, we get high when we eat chocolate ... hey, I'm just sayin' ...
     The simple answer to why we like chocolate is that it tastes so good, and has a wonderful texture, and really hits the spot if you have a craving, and contains antioxidants, and so on.  The worldwide chocolate business is estimated at 98 billion dollars!

So where on Earth did that chocolate come from?  

All over the globe!

     The world is a complicated place.  Cocoa/Chocolate was discovered in Peru, grows in tropical West Africa, is manufactured in cold places, and is eaten by mostly Europeans who get high while consuming this wonderful concoction.
     How's that for a simple summary?  Ha!

The Killing Fields of Cambodia - and a story

One of the more interesting places we went on our trip was  Cambodia

     On our recently completed Round the World trip, we made many interesting stops and visits, and none were more fascinating than Cambodia in Southeast Asia.  The current day lives of the people, interlaced with the dramatic ancient history of the Angkor Wat ruins, made for a very compelling contrast. 

     It is a large country about the size of Colorado, with a current population of 15 million.  

The not-so-recent History of Cambodia has been Brutal

     Lost in the shadow of the Vietnam War was Cambodia's heinous civil war that lasted twenty years and cost 3 million lives.  This was in large part because of Pol Pot, the evil dictator who essentially embarked on a policy of genocide that nearly destroyed the country. 
     This guy, who has to be on the top ten list of the the worst people in history, began a systematic annihilation of almost 25% of the the population of Cambodia.  Some may remember the story was told in books and movies and was tagged with the title of The Killing Fields.  
     Eventually the country collapsed.  That ushered in a period of chaos that finally ended in the early 2000's with peaceful elections.
     A telling statistic is that well over half the population is under the age of 24 years old.  What this means is that not a lot of people lived through the genocide, war, and chaos to reach even middle age.    

     In light of the utter near extinction of the country, the current condition of the place is amazing.  There is peace and growing (if modest) prosperity.  They are rebuilding Cambodia at what seems like a rapid rate. 

     We flew into Siem Riep, a place that has become somewhat of a touristic town because of the spectacular nearby ruins.  The capital of the country, Phnom Penh, is about a hundred miles to the south. 

     **** Interesting fact about Cambodia - they use the dollar as their currency.  Like greenbacks, Benjamin Franklin, American dollars.  It's kinda weird, but it works for them.  They don't have any coins, so everything costs a dollar.  The original dollar store, only it's a dollar country.  

Across the Rice fields on a Bike 

     I wanted to rent bikes and get out into the country in Cambodia and have a look around, but I couldn't convince Fiona to go with me.
     So I rented a bike at a nearby shop, which are all over and only cost a dollar a day, and I set out on my own.  I had a vague idea of where I wanted to go, and it was fairly early in the morning and the weather was good.  I took some pictures. 
     

     Like I said, things have gotten better in Cambodia, and I passed through some small villages like the one in the picture above.  Interesting that the cows were laying around in the yard and the road. 
     I was riding through such a village when I heard a woman calling out.  I realized she was speaking English.  In fact, as I meandered past on my bike, I realized she was calling my name!   "Hallo, Kevin!  Mister Kevin!"
     I stopped and much to my surprise, it was the wife of the guesthouse manager where we were staying.  I could only do my best with her name, which was close to Lilly in English.  
     "Oh Hi, Lilly!"  I was pretty surprised.  What are the odds that you will encounter someone you know in such a remote village?
     "It is so good to see you here, Mister Kevin!  You have come to visit my village?!"  It was a statement and a question at the same time.  "How did you find us?"  She asked.
     "Well ... I was just riding my bike and wanted to go into the country side.  Do you live here?"  I said.
     "This is my home town, and I have just come to visit my family.  I bought some property here and want to build a house here some day!  I am so delighted to see you here!"  She was very excited and did her best to communicate in broken English.
     So I talked with her for a while, and I asked her to take my picture.  

     
     I rode on, and began to get further into the countryside.  It was very peaceful and there were rice paddies, and it was very pleasant.  I rode for miles. 

   
     But it struck me as I got out of town that I was riding through the very Killing Fields that were the painful legacy of years of turmoil. 
     
     Thank God that time passes and ... pain and grief heal.  

     
     Cambodia has made great strides and progress toward a better future.  The country has been through things far worse than most of us will ever experience
     They are all so young.  Anyone with any intelligence or wisdom was cut down by the murderous Pol Pot.
     But they are at the dawn of a new day. 
     I loved it there. 
     

Two Weeks Home - back to "Normal"?

We arrived home exactly two weeks ago from our trip Around the World. 

    Going around the world in one continuous non-stop journey was extraordinary, resulting in many adventures and stories to tell.     
    Upon our return, one thing that was somewhat of a surprise was how many people were following the trip on ... this blog. 

    Frankly, I miss writing updates and sharing all the wondertul events that took place every day.  It was fun to relay the description of so many places and people.  We were pretty busy every day and there was a lot to talk about.  
    So, we've been home for a couple weeks, and we've really enjoyed catching up with everyone.. People are curious (as I would be) with questions like: "how does it feel to be home?"  or  "what are you going to do next?"

    It's been an adjustment after being on the go for three months. 
At times, we've been a little stir crazy.  Fiona and I were used to going somewhere and doing something new every day, and now, well, we aren't doing that anymore.
    One major adjustment is not getting the exercise that we became accustomed to while traveling.  We regularly walked miles every day, and that's been a challenge since coming home.
    You really have to work at it here.  It takes a serious commitment to walk up to eight miles a day here in Oregon.  Most people drive.  
    Special note:  Today, between jogging and walking, I managed to cover more than nine miles of distance.  For you statistical freaks out there, that's more than 15,500 steps.  

Back to the routine, back to the grind

    Actually, that's not a fair statement.  We love seeing everyone again, our kids and grand kids and friends and colleagues.  It's not a "grind", but it is different.  
    For example, last year after I semi-retired, I went to work at a local nearby winery.  Sass Vineyards is close to our house in the South Salem hills, and I can literally walk to work there. 
So once I got caught up with sleep and laundry, and the mail and all the other stuff that piled up - I went back to work. 
    Calling it work is a slight misnomer.  My kids describe my position there as an "intern".  I am learning everthing there is to know about the wine industry.  It's been interesting. 

    This time of year, we are trimming the vines.  It's springtime and the work consists of grooming the vines to produce fruit during the upcoming season.  
    Much to our delight, it's been unseasonably warm too.  There is no finer place to be than Oregon when the weather is this sunny and warm in the bright green spring sunshine.  
    And this sunshine makes the grape vines spring into action, pardon the pun.  

It was a blessing to be out of touch with the news

    Most of the time while we were gone we were out of touch with the news.  
    For most Americans, most of the time, we are bombarded with news, much of it bad, unpleasant, and often disturbing.  It's not a bad thing to be unaware of all the trouble in the world.  
    We weren't trying to hide our head in the sand.  In fact, we often encountered first hand some of the bad things going on in the world.  Travel can bring you front-and-center to things that seem like distant issues from here at home 
    It is easy to become consumed by the news events around you.  We generally didn't have that problem.  But every where we went, the locals were consumed by the events that related to them. 

    
    I already miss the times we were "off the grid" and we didn't know about the crummy stuff going on.
     And it helps to keep things in perspective - what seems like a really big deal here can be trivial to others far away.