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Even if India has some flaws/weaknesses it still has plenty of good intriguing qualities about it and seems like such an intellectually stimulating fun place to at least visit.
For Slovakia:
Used to be part of Czech Republic for a long time.
Plenty of people say Slovakia is the lower class, less cosmopolitan/less diverse, more rural version of Czech Republic, but still with some charm, especially in Bratislava.
The area around Bratislava in Slovakia is only 40 miles/less than one hour away from Vienna Austria. It is around 100 miles/2 hours away from Budapest Hungary and 250 miles/5 hours away from Prague area of Czech Republic. That is unprecedented/not expected for that area of Slovakia being closer to Vienna Austria and Budapest Hungary in geographic distance than to Prague.
Most of Slovakia a lot of people say actually has more Poland cultural influence than Austrian cultural influence. Czech, Hungarian, and Poland influence is evenly distributed.
Next country: Laos
LAOS one of my favourite South East Asian counties
Known as PDR LAOS (People's Demorcratic Republic)
Always refered to as LAO the S is silent as in French.
Vientiane is a lovely smallish capital city
Best Beer in Asia....BEER LAO.......
French influence strong
Eat French breakfast...baguettes etc
Coffee to die for
Liang Prabang , is a world heritage city...beautiful place
Van Vieng famous for backpackers riding down the Mekong River on tubes..often while drunk
Had more bombs dropped on it than anywhere in the 2nd World War by the Americans
Mountainous nation
Communist...The Hammer and Sickle flag flies beside the Lao national flag
People shyer than neighbours
From the capital a short distance across the Mekong is Thailand
Laos provides energy to Thailand as a major source of revenue
Short trip across Friendship Bridge to nearest city in Thailand..to stock up on foods etc....
Hmong are a minority group in the country where issues still exist with government but armed conflict largely abated.
Was the smallest Republic in the world at one time
Only export Phosphate depleted now and gone from rich to very poor
High number of poor lifestyle illnesses due to poor diet
Rather unattractive island
Home to Australia's re established detention centre for asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australian waters
For most countries in the world, there is a lot of thoughtful, specific, and informative opinions and impressions that can form and be expressed.
The country of Nauru is so small, but there was still a lot to say, even for Nauru.
Quote:
Originally Posted by the troubadour
LAOS one of my favourite South East Asian counties
Known as PDR LAOS (People's Demorcratic Republic)
Always refered to as LAO the S is silent as in French.
Vientiane is a lovely smallish capital city
Best Beer in Asia....BEER LAO.......
French influence strong
Eat French breakfast...baguettes etc
Coffee to die for
Liang Prabang , is a world heritage city...beautiful place
Van Vieng famous for backpackers riding down the Mekong River on tubes..often while drunk
Had more bombs dropped on it than anywhere in the 2nd World War by the Americans
Mountainous nation
Communist...The Hammer and Sickle flag flies beside the Lao national flag
People shyer than neighbours
From the capital a short distance across the Mekong is Thailand
Laos provides energy to Thailand as a major source of revenue
Short trip across Friendship Bridge to nearest city in Thailand..to stock up on foods etc....
Hmong are a minority group in the country where issues still exist with government but armed conflict largely abated.
I used to ignore Laos and did not realize that it does still have plenty to offer for tourists and is interesting.
My opinions for Laos is becoming more positive/optimistic and not as negative/discouraging.
However, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, and Malaysia come way before Laos for me.
08-26-2012, 07:42 AM
4,640 posts, read 13,968,889 times
Reputation: 4052
Quote:
Originally Posted by portlanderinOC
Next country: Croatia
Croatia:
Has a fascinating location in Europe between Western, Eastern, and Southern Europe, and the Romance, Latin, Germanic, Slavic, and Balkan European regions.
Becoming more popular with foreign tourists recently, especially for the Mediterranean/Adriatic Sea coastline scenery. The city of Zagreb should also not be forgotten.
Croatia is going from being very underrated to very overrated faster than almost any other country in the world based on my impressions for this country.
I don’t see most of the appeal/intrigue with Croatia, but I still see a tiny bit of the appeal and intrigue, mostly just because of the exact geographic location and coastline. I easily prefer a lot of other European countries (France, UK/England, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Norway, Czech Republic etc.) before Croatia.
Used to be part of Yugoslavia/Serbia until the early 1990s, but Croatia/Croatian people seem to pretend it never was part of that region, that it became completely separate, and alienated from that time in history and with Serbia. Similar situation with Slovenia.
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