What Do you think when you hear this country? (airport, ferry)

[Trimac20]

Originally Posted by natethegreatforlife

Mosques, desert, camels, turbans, belly dancing, cliffs


Next: Russia

Colourful domes, vodka, borscht, Red Square, sinister looking Soviet spies, beautiful women, ballet, tundra, pine trees, wooden houses


Malaysia

[Mooseketeer]

Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Sarawak, Penang,East India Company, Negritos,Mount Kinabalu ( ?? spelling),Amazing Eco System, Islam, Malay, Batik, Multicultural and Multinational region, Humid and Hot, Poisonous Snakes, Lovely food.

Next Benin :

[the troubadour]

BENIN

Old name Dahomey
Former French Colony
Agricultural products is the mainstay
Military Ruled until recent years
Mixed Religions..Christian...Islam.....Traditonal
Witchcraft Voodoo found there
Many Tribes

Next country
Timor East

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Colourful domes, vodka, borscht, Red Square, sinister looking Soviet spies, beautiful women, ballet, tundra, pine trees, wooden houses

For Russia I would also add:

The largest country in the world based on geographic size, but it doesn’t seem that is the situation.

The surprisingly large metropolis of Moscow has 11.5 million people.

Saint Petersburg, the other prominent Russian city has 5 million people.

Russian part of the Caucasus mountains.

Black Sea and Caspian Sea coastline nearby from the Caucasus, especially during the summer.

The city of Sochi, a coastal Black Sea summer resort that is rather tropical/subtropical for Russia.

A lot of people say Moscow/Saint Petersburg/Sochi is very different from most of the rest of Russia, but at the same time still feels similar. That paradox does exist.

Moscow’s subway system is a good role model for that form of public transportation, it looks better and is so much more elegant than most of New York City’s ugly nasty sewer subway system.

Russia has a bad negative reputation with xenophobia/racism and really should try to get rid of that soon. However, most Russians are not racist, especially the ones that live abroad.

Russia can get more cosmopolitan/diverse while still keeping a lot of its original character and qualities.

Russia’s extensive, well-known, and vibrant history.

My Mom’s grandparents are from Russia before they immigrated to Romania, so very surprisingly I am 10% Russian with heritage. Definitely does not feel like that, even if I know all of this about Russia. It also does not feel like I have 90% Romanian heritage from my parents but that is a different story.

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Malaysia

For Malaysia:

In Southeast Asia, between Thailand and Singapore.

Most people don’t seem to know much if anything about Malaysia’s history and how it came into existence, so that aspect about Malaysia is very obscure and enigmatic.

Has a certain form of multiculturalism such as with a lot of Malays, Chinese, and Indians, and other forms of multiculturalism with that too.

One of the best cuisines/type of foods from there in the world. (Also true for Thai, Indian, Chinese, Italian, French, Japanese, Vietnamese, Mexican etc.).

Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur were the tallest buildings in the world 1998 to 2004 and was replaced by Taipei 101 in Taiwan during 2004. Taipei 101 was then replaced in 2010 by Burj Khalifa in Dubai UAE. However, Petronas Twin Towers remain the tallest twin buildings ever built for that separate category.

Outside of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia has other large major cities too such as Malacca, Ipoh, Georgetown, Johor Bahru, and Kuching.

Mostly lush tropical jungle nature scenery. Cameron highlands and scenic tropical beaches in the Penang area.

Has very not expected/unprecedented religious demographics. A lot of Malaysia is Muslim but with a very different version of that from the Middle East such as being more progressive and secular. However, Malaysia still has mixed religious demographics since Kuala Lumpur has an even mix of Buddhists and Muslims, and some of Malaysia is majority Christian.

Other than mainland Malaysia, there is also the Sarawak and Sabah regions on Borneo island that is also part of that country.

Originally Posted by the troubadour

Next country
Timor East

Also known as East Timor (Timor-Leste):

Used to be part of Indonesia for a long time.

East Timor is the 3rd most recent new country that was formed in the world in the year 2002. The 2nd most recent new country is Montenegro in the year 2006, and the most recent South Sudan in 2011.

For visiting, Bali and Java Indonesia a few islands away offers more, is more stable, is more tourist friendly, and seems a lot better than East Timor.

It is ironic that is the only part of Indonesia that separated to become a new country because Indonesia literally has 17,508 islands with more than 900 of those islands inhabited with people, and areas of Indonesia has very strong regional provincial identity.


Next country: Israel

[MaggieZ]

Israel: war, oranges, kibbutz, desert, hot, middle east


next:Madagascar

[tinkerbell030681]

Madagascar: monkeys that I studied in Anthropology several, several years back. LOL, LOL, LOL

next: Nepal

[MaggieZ]

Nepal: mountains, Buddist monks, dust, bad roads,



next: Luxemburg

[Mooseketeer]

Tax Avoidance, Tax Cheats,Banking, Boring, Forests, Tiny, Ardennes, Grand Duchy, wish bloody tax havens would be closed for good. Bordered by France, Belgium and Germany.

Next : Tuvalu