A local's guide to Copenhagen

July 20, 2025

This is my guide to living in Copenhagen. After seven years here as a foreigner, I often get asked for tips, so I’ve put them together for visitors. The guide is always changing and I’ll keep updating it with new discoveries. It focuses mainly on Vesterbro, where I live, and shares my personal favourites.

🥨 Bakeries

Copenhagen is famous for its legendary baking, so you can’t leave without trying some of the city’s treats. Don’t forget to sample both sweet and savoury options.

Hart Baggeri - Hart is popping up everywhere, but absolutely one of the best places for pastries and the typical Danish breakfast, boller med ost (bread roll with cheese). Maybe we’re now reaching peak Hart. Having said that, the baking is still good.
Juno bakery - you’ll line up, but it’s worth it for the cardamom buns. The pistachio is croissant is the real star of the show though.
Andersen & Maillard have three stores - in Nørrebro, the City Centre and one in Nordhavn. Highly recommended for their square croissants.
Brød - a cute neighbourhood bakery in Enghave Plads. I love their almond croissant and cardamom bun.
Bonus souvenir pick - pick up a loaf of rugbrød from Lagkagehuset at the airport on your way home. It’ll keep well for a week.

🥪 Lunch / brunch

If you need sustenance other than baked goods, here are some options.

Torvehallerne - a covered market near Nørreport station. It contains a plethora of snack and lunch spots. My pick is Hav a fishmonger where you can build your own delicious fish salad platter. It’s not cheap, but it is delicious.
Admiralgade 26’s in the city centre serves a Japanese inspired brunch on the weekends. Book ahead. It’s simply spectacular.
Cadence - a solid brunch spot in Carlsberg Byen
Mad & Kaffe - a solid choice for a hungover brunch in Vesterbro
Palæ Bar - central but not on the tourist trail. Palæ Bar serves a truly unique smørrebrød (open sandwiches) experience. You walk into their kitchen and serve yourself. The smørrebrød is authentic, inexpensive and the service is warm.

🦐 Dinner

There are so many recommendations online, and most mid-scale Copenhagen restaurants offer a solid 5-7 tasting menu in some approximation of New Nordic. Anyway, these are everywhere, so I’ll focus on some of the more unusual picks:

Old School Danish - If you want an old-school Danish experience, check out Restaurant Kronborg, 1733 (bizarrely Copenhagen’s only gay restaurant), or Restaurant Schønnemann. Make sure to try the sild (herring), flæskesteg (roast pork) is recommended and it’s bad luck to say no to some schnapps! Note, Schønnemann is only open for lunch and always booked up. If this is the case, try Restaurant Kronborg.
Fancy pick - reservation required - Kin Kin is the only Michelin-starred Thai restaurant outside of Thailand. One of the best places I’ve ever eaten.
Local’s experience in Vesterbro - grab a cheap (but delicious) pizza from Itzi Pitzi Pizza and a couple of to-go drinks from Kihoskh’s extensive selection and enjoy your dinner in the park running down the middle of Sønder Boulevard.
Sushi - Yes, Sticks and Sushi is a chain, but it’s consistently excellent. Go with friends, have cocktails and try one of their sharing menus.
Burgers - the best burger spots in town are Gasoline Grill (multiple locations, started out in a gas station) and Tommy’s Burger Joint (Icelandic burger place in Kødbyen).
Budget dinner pick - Danes love to feel a little fancy. They also like to spend wisely. Restaurant Bouillon aces this brief. It’s a French bistro serving classics quickly and consistently well - or at least well enough for the price.
French Bistro - If you don’t mind spending a little more, I recommend Grimal, my absolute favourite bistro. They also serve a decent scotch egg. Not sure how this item made it onto the menu, but I’m so happy it did.

🍺 Bars & nightlife

There are a million bars in Copenhagen - but here are a few loosely themed picks.

An evening in Vesterbro

Riga in Vesterbro has the absolute best vibe if the sun is out. I recommend their custom Pilsner or Spritz on tap.
Fermentoren also in Vesterbro has an almost unbeatable selection of beers and a slightly grungy vibe. The bar is candle lit - and the reason for this is the owner had decision paralysis about what lighting to choose, so just stuck with candles.
Other beer picks in Vesterbro are Warpigs Brewpub (also serving authentic BBQ). Åben a decent brewery with an industrial vibe. Mesteren & Lærlingen an energetic student bar with a great vibe.
For cocktails, try JoJo, Lidkoeb and Bambi

Bodegas

Bodegas, or brown bars are small smokey bars untouched by the polished aesthetic spreading through much of the city. Stepping into one feels like stepping decades. In these places I recommend ordering beer by the bottle (aka flaske)

Kanal bodega - one of the few bodegas where most of the drinking happens outside by the canal
Eiffel Bar - allegedly originally opened by a French immigrant in the 50s. This place has a quirky vibe and hasn’t changed much since it opened
Bo-Bi Bar - possibly my favourite bodega - they sell boiled eggs. And taking photos is banned.
Cafe Intime - gay, or at least gay friendly bodega. A really cosy spot with retro maximalist decor. You’ll feel like you’re back in the 1920s.

🏳️‍🌈 Gay Copenhagen

Oscar Bar & Café - the best place to start any night out and my favourite gay venue. Good food - I recommend the chicken Caesar salad. Wonderful, welcoming staff. Happy hour before 9 p.m. Lovely outdoor terrace in the summer.
Centre Stage - a relatively new bar. Solid gin and tonics, friendly staff. Classic music, photos of gay icons on the walls. Karaoke on Tuesdays. Drag on the weekends at 2 a.m.
Jailhouse - jail-themed basement bar. Recently non-smoking and all the better for it.
Centralhjørnet - allegedly the world’s oldest gay bar. Still smokey. Great vibes and always featuring over-the-top seasonal decor.

☀️ Summer sun spots

There’s genuinely no place like Copenhagen when the sun is out. Because it’s such a rare phenomenon, everyone is in a great mood and people will drop everything to relax in the sun. If you’re lucky enough to be in Copenhagen when it’s sunny these are my top experiences.

Any sunny harbour spot. It’s legal to drink on the street in Copenhagen, so grab some drinks and snacks and chill out at a harbour spot. This is a quintessential local experience. Grab a cold 6 pack of Tuborg Grøn from any supermarket and sit on the harbour watching people swim. I’d recommend doing this in Islands Brygge, Kalvebod Brygge, Ophelia Plads or Krøyers Plads.
Sonder Boulevard in Vesterbro is a great place to chill out. It’s a boulevard with a grassy park running down the middle surrounded by lots of local bars and food spots.
Oscar Bar & Cafe - my favourite gay cafe has a wonderful terrace on Regnbuepladsen (rainbow square).
Rosforth & Rosforth - a wine reseller based under a Knippelsbro bridge sells wine by the glass or bottle. It’s the perfect place to sip wine and watch the harbour
Kayak Bar - On the opposite side of Knippelsbor is Kayak Bar - a half floating bar with great spots in the sun, kayak rental and seafood.
Reffen (Refshaleøen) - perfect for combining with a visit to La Banchina. At Refshaleøen you’ll find Reffen “the largest street food market in the Nordic region” Thing lots of street food vendors in containers by the water in an old industrial area. The food might be a little overpriced for what you get, but it’s a wonderful vibe in the summer. While you’re here check out Mikkeller Baghaven has the best evening vibes as the sun sets.
La Banchina - right next to Reffen, La Banchina is one of the best places to go in the summer to sunbathe, swim, have a drink and a bite to eat. Just bear in mind this spot has been discovered so it’s likely to be packed.

Tourist tips

🚣‍♂️ Explore by boat. Rent a boat from Friendships or Go boat to have a self-guided tour of Copenhagen’s waterways. If you want a cheaper option, the touristy canal tours are surprisingly good.
🚲 Explore by bike - If you can, experience Copenhagen by bike. Make sure to stick to the right hand side of bike paths to avoid crashing with overtaking locals. To rent a bike, the Donkey Republic app is a good option.
🖼️ Museums - The Danish Design Museum is worth a visit, as is Louisiana a world-class museum of modern art on the coast north of Copenhagen. The Thorvaldsens Museum is a gem hidden in plain sight right next to parliament.
🗼Views - Other than the ubiquitous Rundetarn, visit The Christiansborg's Tower for an expansive (and free) view of Copenhagen’s skyline. Alternatively head to Copenhill (aka Amagerbakke) for a free view of Copenhagen from the roof of a power station moonlighting as a dry ski slope.

Danish Design

Perfect for a little window shopping (in the city centre, Mon-Sat)

Hay House - furniture brand’s flagship store
Normann Copenhagen - furniture brand’s flagship store
Illums Bolighus - a design department store
Paustian - a high end furniture store in an old bank
Studio Arhoj - unique playful Danish ceramics perfect for gifts or souvenirs

Copenhagen calendar

My favourite events not to miss in Copenhagen:

February - Copenhagen Light Festival - art installations and creative lighting illuminate the city’s winter nights.

May - Copenhagen Distortion - street parties and electronic music across different neighborhoods for several days.
June - 3 Days of Design - Exhibitions and events showcasing Danish and international design.
June/July - Roskilde Festival - Denmarks biggest music festival is a thirty minute train ride from Copenhagen.
July - Copenhagen Jazz Festival - a ten-day jazz festival featuring concerts and performances throughout the city.
August - Copenhagen Pride - Scandinavia’s largest Pride event with parades, performances, and a wild street party.
October - Culture Night (Kulturnatten) - annual night-time event where museums, galleries, and historical buildings open late across the city.

I wrote about every country in the world – here’s what I learned

December 31, 2021

Looking for the full list of countries and posts?

In 2021, I embarked on a journey unlike any other. In the dark, depressing, depths of winter, and during our second lock-down I decided I would compensate for the lack of travel in my life by virtually visiting every country in the world. This was spurred on by an evening of watching Youtube drone videos and guessing the destination with our neighbours. We call it the “drone game.”

It didn’t take long for this kernel of an idea to snowball into a commitment to write a short blog post about a different country each day. The rules were simple. I listed every country recognised by the UN, then wrote about one country each day until I had written about all 195. Starting in January with Afghanistan and ending in August with Zimbabwe. How hard could it be?

A frozen, locked-down Copenhagen, where this project started

I didn’t have a set plan of what I’d cover, but often countries took me in completely unexpected directions. For example, in Libya, I ended up obsessing over the tale of a Danish train nefariously acquired by Colonel Gadaffi. In Sudan, I became a detective in my search to get to the bottom of the fate of a social club visited by Michael Palin in the 1980s and ended up talking to a past member, Ruth.

I learned about the discipline required to write every day for 195 days. For the first time in my life, I genuinely found my voice as a writer. I also learned an uncountable number of facts about our world.

What follows is my attempt to distil everything I learned on this virtual journey over the past year.

The world is changing way faster than I could ever imagine

So much has changed in the past year since I started this journey. Afghanistan, the first country I wrote about has seen perhaps the most dramatic change this year with the withdrawal of American troops, and the sweeping rise of the Taliban. The videos and pictures of Afghan’s desperately leaving the country will haunt me for the rest of my life. Back last January, these events would have seemed like an absurd impossibility.

In the past year, so many governments have changed. There were at least 51 elections in the time I was writing. Civil war broke out, a president was murdered, and there was an attempted assassination of another. My own country lost its beloved, yet somewhat gaffe-prone elder statesman, Prince Phillip.

On a personal level, I tragically and unexpectedly lost an uncle who was in the prime of his life and in the centre of many other people’s lives. For me, this has really reinforced that however stable our lives may seem, life can be upended without any notice and we need to make the most of now.

We explored new ways of working out at home…

The world is way more complicated than I can comprehend

Maybe this isn’t surprising, but it’s something I constantly forget. Time and time again, I find myself realising it’s always more complicated than I ever give it credit for. It might be obvious that an hour is simply not enough to get under the surface of a country. Maybe this was why I generally found it easier and sometimes more enjoyable to write about a country I already have a little knowledge of.

Even the definition of what constitutes a country is complex. I’ve written about 195 countries on this journey, but this is by no means the most complete list of countries on the world.

Why should a country be defined by UN recognition? What about Taiwan, Transnistria or Somaliland. Don’t these countries and their citizens deserve some kind of recognition? Also, aren’t these places all the more interesting due to their stories and their existence as dotted lines on a map.

I’ve ended this project with a desire to explore and write about all of these states with limited recognition, or overseas territories like The Falklands or Reunion.

They all have their own stories to tell.

A big highlight of 2021 was getting my vaccination

I learned how to write

Writing is tough. For my whole life, I’ve always struggled to write. Call it writer’s block or procrastination, but I’d rewrite sentences a thousand times. I’d agonise over whether I was choosing the right word. Making progress was slow-going and tough. If I can claim anything from this project, is it’s that I’ve become a more confident, comfortable writer. By getting into the habit of writing something for others to read every day, I’ve loosened my writing muscles. It’s so much easier for me to write.

Along the way I identified two common mistakes that I’d slip into.

The first I call the Google Paradox. Google is an incredible means of exposing the world’s information, but in practice I found search engines often do the absolute opposite, limiting what we’re exposed to and showing everyone the same limited information.

As a writer, I learned Google is not my friend. Searching for interesting facts about a country will always find pages with almost identical, uninteresting, and often inaccurate rubbish. None of these facts are interesting because they’re often commonly known things. This really didn’t help when it’s 11 pm and I had under an hour to write an article! Eventually, I learned that reading about a country with no particular aim in mind was the best way of unearthing interesting stories.

The second mistake I kept making was rising expectations. If you’ve read any of the posts you’ll notice that some are short, while others are much longer and elaborate. I had a constant battle with rising expectations for myself. Posts would get longer, more detailed and intricate and then I’d need to remind myself of why I was writing in the first place. I wasn’t even planning for this to be read by anyone other than me. I went through this cycle so many times.

Despite my yo-yoing self-expectations, I enjoyed developing the discipline of writing each day. The exercise of daily writing took me back to my school days. I relearned, that by forcing myself to be disciplined and do the same thing every day, then over time it will get easier and I’ll get better at it. I should really try to apply this to other areas in my life. Learning Danish in the New Year perhaps?

Writing on a daily basis also forced me to explore ways of being more efficient. I set up macOS Automator to prepare and optimise images. I created HTML snippets to save time with common blocks, and I bulk created draft blog posts. All of this meant I could use more of my limited mental energy on writing rather than admin.

Throughout 2021 much of the world gradually opened up. I got to return to the UK and meet my new cousin

Hiking along the coast near San Sebastian

Separating people from politics

Writing about countries with terrible governments is always a challenge. (Actually, writing about countries with mediocre governments is even a challenge). Often it’s the dysfunctional regime that makes the country fascinating from the outside. North Korea is a classic example of this. Yet these villainous regimes directly lead to billions of people living worse lives than they otherwise would. I genuinely struggled to avoid dedicating entire posts to criticising these countries based on their governments.

But I didn’t set out to write about politics. A country is so much more than its government, and all regimes are ultimately temporary. Personally, I often struggle to persuade non-British people that the UK’s right-wing mouth-frothing anti-European government doesn’t represent the views of the majority of Brits. Maybe this is why Boris Johnson’s government is currently collapsing like a house of cards. Either way, whatever becomes of Boris Johnson, us Brits have far more pressing matters on our hands, such as keeping up with explosive parish council politics.

Wrapping it up

This project was a tough slog at times, but I couldn’t be happier that I stuck with it. It gave me a glimmer of hope during the grim, dark winter lock-down months and gave me a way of exploring the world while stuck in my apartment.

Writing also gave me a sense of continuity and made me realise how quickly things can shift for the better. Despite it seeming like there were no prospects of travel in January, we’ve managed to visit Greece, Germany, The UK, Italy, Spain and Sweden this year. And Andorra became my 50th country in September. Right now with the tsunami of Omicron (and somehow personally managing to get covid twice in a month), things look bleak. However as this blog has taught me, soon enough the sun will be shining and we can hopefully all dust off our backpacks again.

There’s an incredible world out there. Go and explore it, even if you can’t be there physically, it’s still worth it.

Epilogue

A few surprises from my journey

Cameroon has exploding lakes, Dominica has boiling lakes and Bolivia has pink lakes.
Learning about unexpected things like musical movements whether it’s Zambian Zamrock, or Guinean jazz.
There’s only one country starting with the letter O. Who knew?
In the Philippines, the island of Luzon is home to a lake with an island with its very own lake. Do I talk about lakes too much?

The countries I really want to visit next:

This journey has not been good for quelling my wanderlust. There are so many new places that I now want to visit (in no particular order).

Guatemala
Georgia
Bhutan
Ireland - I’m embarrassed I haven’t been!
Kazakhstan
South Korea
Japan
Romania
Argentina
Russia
Venezuela

Day 195 - Zimbabwe 🇿🇼

August 24, 2021

Well, here we are. Our final country of this journey! Zimbabwe has one hell of a tale to tell.

Zimbabwe began the twentieth century as a British colony called “Rhodesia”. Named after the notoriously racist mining magnate Cecil Rhodes. Cecil was also a friend of Dorothy, in love with his private secretary Neville Pickering. Sadly for gay people in Zimbabwe, Cecil and Neville kept their relationship private. Rhodesia outlawed homosexuality in 1891. Modern-day Zimbabwe is a country where 50% of gay people have been physically assaulted. That is if they haven’t already been sent to prison for 14 years just for being true to who they are. Cecil, great work sister.

Zimbabwe has been an independent country since 1980. At this point, we enter the Robert Mugabe chapter of Zimbabwe’s story. Mugabe’s rule is synonymous with ethnic cleansing, corruption and the worst monetary policy known to humankind. Under Mugabe’s leadership, hyperinflation reached levels of 79,600,000,000% per month in 2008. This beats Venezuela’s shocking hyperinflation hands-down. Inflation was so rife that Zimbabwe printed a Z$100,000,000,000,000 (one hundred trillion dollars) banknote. All of which featured Zimbabwe’s now-infamous balancing rocks. They certainly proved a lot more stable than the Zimbabwean currency. Luckily for Zimbabwe Mugabe was deposed of his duties in 2017.

Despite Zimbabwe’s misfortune with its past leaders, Zimbabwe is known for being a country of superlatives, thanks to its rich farmlands and plentiful gold and diamond reserves. Zimbabwe is also home to Victoria Falls (the largest waterfall in the world) and Lake Kariba (the largest man-made lake in terms of volume). Wait, isn’t that Zambia? Well yes, but both of these mammoth landmarks actually span both countries.

Anyway, enough of the geography lesson. Realising that this was my last country of this journey, I thought it was fitting to include the perspective of someone who knows far more about Zimbabwe than I do.

I reached out to a close friend Wadzi to interview her about Zimbabwe. Wadzi is Zimbabwean, but lives in Germany. If this experience taught me anything, it’s that I might be able to write regularly, but my interviewing skills are very lacking…

Q - What is one thing that might surprise people about Zimbabwe?

A - “The US Dollar is a widely accepted and preferred currency”.

This answer doesn’t surprise me at all knowing Wadzi. Of all of the people I know, Wadzi is the master of commerce. I’ve never seen anyone with the ability to get through the Zalando checkout faster than Wadzi. If only it was an Olympic sport.

Q - What’s do you miss most about Zimbabwe?

A - “The SUN and thunderstorms lol.”

I find this astonishing. After living with Wadzi in Coventry for a year, I never once heard her complain about the weather. Well, other than every single time we stepped outside.

Q - What is the one thing a visitor must do when going to Zim?

A - “Definitely visit the Victoria Falls”.

I’m buying my tickets now. My Zambian tour guide will be so sorely disappointed.

Left with the feeling that this interview didn’t quite provide the David Frost level of insight I was aiming for I scoured my memories and the internet to unearth two final facts about Zimbabwe.

Firstly, from nights out with Wadzi I know the Zimbabwean driving license is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen in a wallet. It’s guaranteed to get its owner ejected just about any nightclub, bar or airport. The reason for this is the Zimbabwean driving license is made from solid metal with oxidised lettering. A unique, and hardwearing approach to driving licenses.

A genuine Zimbabwe driving license. Just try convincing the bouncer…

The second morsel I present for you is that Zimbabwe’s biggest tree, the imaginatively named “The Big Tree” in Chirinda Forest is a whopping 65m tall and measures 4.5m in diameter. It’s estimated to be over 1000 years old is now a national monument in Zimbabwe.

The big tree isn’t the only natural wonder in Zimbabwe - the country is endowed with a vast wealth of wildlife in its ten national parks filled with all of the big five and 685 species of bird.

Right, I think this wraps up today’s post and this whole series for that matter. I really need a cold Zambezi.

I’m going to take a bit of a break now. After writing 198 blog posts this year it’s time for me to do something else. There have been times it’s been tough writing every day. Some days I genuinely felt like throwing in the towel.

Try knocking out a blog post at 11:43 on a Friday night after a day’s work, three beers and a shot of aquavit. You’ll know what I mean.

As for today’s destination Zimbabwe, there could have been no finer country to finish this project. It’s unlikely to be a fast transformation, but I genuinely hope Zimbabwe’s fortunes improve now Mugabe’s reign is over.

Anyway, if you’ve read these posts I hope you’ve enjoyed them, and like me learned something along the way. I’m going to write one final post delving into what I’ve learned on this journey.

I'm writing about every country in the world. One a day for 195 days. Learn more

Day 194 - Zambia 🇿🇲

August 23, 2021

Tonight we’re almost at the end of our journey. We’ve reached Zambia, our penultimate destination. I can’t believe we’re almost there!

Zambia is a landlocked country spanning central and Southern Africa bordering eight other countries, including our final destination, Zimbabwe. Zambia is home to 73 ethnic groups, and one of only two only places in the world where the currency is named the “kwacha”. (The other country is Malawi. Thanks Norma for pointing this out!) Kwacha translates to "dawn”, and the name was picked following Zambia’s independence from Britain in 1964.

From 1972 to 1991 Zambia was a one-party state, but has now transitioned peacefully to a multiparty democracy. Last week Zambia saw successful elections and a new Zambian president, Hakainde Hichilema was elected on the back of policies promising to expand copper production.

Why expand copper production? Well, Zambia is one of the world’s largest exporters of copper making up at least 75% of Zambia’s exports. Even though this is a gigantic amount of copper, Zambia’s copper production has stagnated over the past few decades. This is not ideal in a world addicted to electronics.

The Victoria Falls Bridge spanning the Zambezi in Zambia

Other than a uniquely named currency and copper mines, Zambia is known for its namesake river, the River Zambezi. The Zambezi provides water, power and food for Zambia. The Zambezi is dammed to form Lake Kariba, the world’s largest man-made lake by volume. It’s 223 km long.

The Zambezi is also massively popular with tourists in Zambia, most notably for the world-famous Victoria Falls on the border with Zimbabwe. The Victoria Falls are the largest single sheet falling waterfall in the world. Other Zambezi river highlights include a sedate cruise or, if you’re completely insane and want to join the likes of Will Smith and Ewan McGregor, you can bungee jumping from the Victoria Falls bridge. At 111 metres high, let’s hope the rope is well maintained.

Zambia is one of the few places in the world where you’ll find termite hills the size of houses and is also, unrelatedly the birthplace of Zamrock. Zamrock, often described as the combined sound of Jimi Hendrix and James Brown is a genre of psychedelic rock that emerged from Zambia in the 1970s. It’s really rather good.

See you tomorrow, for our trip over the border into Zimbabwe.

I'm writing about every country in the world. One a day for 195 days. Learn more

Day 193 - Yemen 🇾🇪

August 22, 2021

Today we head to Yemen, the most untouched corner of Arabia. Yemen as an official country formed relatively recently in 1990 from the unification of North Yemen, the Yemen Arab Republic and South Yemen, the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen.

Yemen is a lot older than this though, Yemen’s capital Sana’a is one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities at over 2500 years old. This is evident as Yemen is filled with beautiful traditional buildings built from sun-dried mud bricks. Yemen’s architecture is simply breathtaking, and from what I can see much of Yemen looks like it’s been untouched in centuries.

Sadly this is where the good news ends on our visit to Yemen. Yemen has the lowest Human Development Index out of all non-African countries and since the Aran Spring in 2011 Yemen has been in perpetual crisis. With large parts of the country under Houthi rebel control and other groups opposing the Yemeni government, the country is effectively in a brutal civil war.

What’s worse is Yemen is experiencing the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Famine, cholera outbreaks and drought have killed more than 85,000 children. Sana’a is currently at risk of becoming the first capital in the world to run out of a viable water supply as Yemen's natural water sources are depleted.

Things really change in Yemen fast enough - I genuinely hope peace is restored quickly. Hopefully one day Yemen can once again regain its nickname - Arabia Felix or “Happy Arabia”.

If you want to learn more about Yemen, or specifically the isolated Yemeni island of Socotra, I recommend watching Wendover’s documentary about Socotra:

I'm writing about every country in the world. One a day for 195 days. Learn more

Day 192 - Vietnam 🇻🇳

August 21, 2021

Today’s post is going to be a photo overload.

I visited Vietnam back in 2014. Vietnam is a truly mind-blowing country changing at a frenetic pace. Today I’ll let the photos do most of the talking, but I have listed my favourite things I did in Vietnam, and a few things you might want to consider avoiding.

My favourite experiences in Vietnam

Drinking lots of Vietnamese coffee - served with condensed milk it’s sublime
Having my preconceptions about communism challenged by seeing first-hand how Vietnam is thriving. Also reading Vietnam Rising Dragon by Bill Hayton helped nuance my understanding.
Learning to ride and ride pillion on a motorbike. And escaping with my life
Enjoying the spectacular, and utterly tropical beaches around Hoi An
Street food!
Travelling from Hoi An to Hue by motorbike on the spectacular Hai Van Pass
Learning the Vietnamese perspective on the Vietnamese war by visiting the fascinating War Remnants Museum, Independence Palace and Củ Chi tunnels
Having my tastebuds explode with flavour during almost every meal, and especially table barbecue
Travelling North on the sleeper train from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang
Drinking as much bia hoi as possible while sitting on tiny plastic chairs
Taking a motorbike and visiting the Mỹ Sơn ruins at sunrise

Two things I would skip in Vietnam

Hạ Long Bay - this precious, fragile natural wonder already has enough tourists. It was painful to see pollution and too much tourism spoil this spectacular place.
Buying a tailor-made suit - it was a bizarre experience to be fitted for a suit, but ultimately the quality of what I bought wasn’t great and I didn’t wear it, so it felt like a waste.

I'm writing about every country in the world. One a day for 195 days. Learn more

Day 191 - Venezuela 🇻🇪

August 20, 2021

My first encounter with Venezuela was when I was a child and my grandparents visited and brought me home some spare Venezuelan bolívars as a souvenir. Sadly the days of newly retired pensioners taking Caribbean cruises to Venezuela are long gone. Venezuela has been in a state of perpetual crisis since Nicolás Maduro’s rise to power in 2013. The BBC has a really good, succinct summary of the crisis in Venezuela.

Venezuela has really weathered a lot over the past decade with civil unrest, attempted coups and hyperinflation peaking at 2,000,000%. This is without mentioning that Venezuela has the second-highest number of gun-related deaths in the world and Caracas having the highest murder rate of any major city in the world.

While Venezuela may have some of the highest murder rates anywhere in the world, it does boast the lowest petrol price anywhere on the planet. Venezuela’s oil reserves are so large that the government massively subsides fuel prices to the point where fuel is practically free. A litre of petrol costs $0.02 USD.

For years the low price of fuel has helped many car-owning Venezuelan’s survive. The business model is essentially comprised of filling up your car with cheap government subsidised fuel and driving it over the border to sell illegally to Colombians. However, as the situation in Venezuela has worsened the fuel is now being smuggled the opposite way across the border.

Venezuelans are clearly pretty heroic in their efforts to survive the country’s current predicament. One example of this is the Centro Financiero Confinanzas in Caracas. the Centro Financiero Confinanzas is an abandoned, partly constructed skyscraper abandoned since the early 1990s after the Venezuelan banking crisis. It’s since become home to over 2500 squatters who have turned it into an arguably thriving, makeshift community with shops, barbers and even a dentist. Even so, life here is still dangerous. The tower was damaged significantly in 2018 by an earthquake and several floors collapsed.

Despite Venezuela’s problems, its geography and biodiversity are still remarkable. For example, Venezuela is home to the world’s heaviest and longest snake, the Green anaconda. The Green anaconda can reach over 5 metres in length and weigh almost 100 kilograms. I really hate snakes. If like me you don’t like snakes, then how about the fact Venezuela is home to the world’s largest rodent, the capybara.

Rodents not your thing? Well, Venezuela has the world’s highest waterfalls, Angel Falls which have an uninterrupted fall of 979 metres in the Gran Sabana region. Not to mention South America’s largest lake - Lake Maracaibo, an inlet of the Caribbean, but is still considered a lake.

The thing I most want to see in Venezuela though is its jaw-dropping tepuis or tabletop mountains. There are 115 tepuis in the incredible Gran Sabana plateau which is over 1.5km above the surrounding landscape in some areas and hosts a diverse range of flora and fauna. Honestly, it’s one of the places in the world I’d most like to hike. Even if there are snakes!

Venezuela is a truly spectacular country - I can only hope that its fortunes improve. One day I would absolutely love to visit!

I'm writing about every country in the world. One a day for 195 days. Learn more

Day 190 - Vatican City 🇻🇦

August 19, 2021

The Vatican City is a weird anomaly of a country - it’s the smallest country in the world at under half a square kilometre in size, but is home to the Home to the world’s largest church, St Peter’s Basilica.

The Vatican City is also surprisingly new in country-terms as it was only established as an independent country in 1929 and was signed into existence by Benito Mussolini with the Lateran Pacts.

Anyway, along with my holiday photos here are a few Vatican themed facts:

Vatican City has no formally enacted language. The Swiss guards work in Swiss German though
Unlike citizenship of every other country in the world, citizenship is based on an individuals appointment to a role in the Vatican and is usually temporary, lapsing when the person leaves
There is a single bar and restaurant in the Vatican Museums which closes at 4:00 pm. Its reviews aren’t great, so maybe this is one is only for the devout.
The Vatican population is only 453 people

I'm writing about every country in the world. One a day for 195 days. Learn more

Day 189 - Vanuatu 🇻🇺

August 18, 2021

Today we head to the final Pacific island nation of our journey, and it’s an absolute gem of a country to write about. Vanuatu is a chain of 83 volcanic islands in the South Pacific between Fiji and New Caledonia.

Similarly, to neighbouring Fiji, Vanuatu has a history of practicing cannibalism, although in Vanuatu it was reportedly practiced as recently as 1969. At this point, Vanuatu was known as the New Hebrides and in a very unusual turn of events jointly administered by both France and Britain before finally gaining independence in 1980.

Vanuatu was recently recognised as the most dangerous country in the world in terms of risk of natural disaster. Vanuatu is subjected to frequent earthquakes, cyclones and volcanic eruptions. Not to mention being home to 3 or possibly 4 saltwater crocodiles. The crocodiles that live in Vanuatu’s mangroves most likely arrived on the islands from New Guinea after cyclones. They are exceptionally well-travelled crocs as New Guinea is around 3000km away.

Other things lurking in Vanuatu’s waters include the luxury liner SS President Coolidge. The SS President Coolidge sunk during World War II after being hit by a mine and now provides for impressive wreck diving. You also may also be lucky enough to see a Dugong or sea cow when you’re driving.

Now for Vanuatu’s contributions to world culture - Vanuatu has produced more than a hundred indigenous languages - all in a country a similar size to Montenegro. This must be some kind of record.

Vanuatu’s other claim to fame is that it invented bungee jumping, or “land diving” apparently to begin with without even using a bungee rope. This is definitely one of those hobbies where it’s best to be a late-adopter.

I'm writing about every country in the world. One a day for 195 days. Learn more

Day 188 - Uzbekistan 🇺🇿

August 17, 2021

Today we head to Uzbekistan, the world’s largest double-landlocked country. Actually, there are only two double-landlocked countries. The other is Liechtenstein. Uzbekistan is however the only country though that shares borders with all five of the other ‘Stans.

Since gaining independence in 1991 after nearly 200 years of Russian rule, Uzbekistan has been led by authoritarian governments. While Uzbekistan has isolated itself from the rest of the world, stories of its extreme national cotton harvest have seeped into international consciousness.

Cotton is a really important crop in Uzbekistan. So important in fact that the government enacts forced labour to harvest the cotton crop each year. Almost every citizen is expected to help with the cotton harvest. The cotton is then sold to the government for a low price before being sold on for a mark-up. This makes up one of the largest sources of government revenue. There are apparently very few exceptions the mandatory cotton picking labour and the cotton harvest has been known to even cause shortages of doctors and other essential workers. There have also been frequent accusations of child labour, although Uzbekistan is finally taking steps to stamp out child labour.

While cotton is Uzbekistan’s most controversial export, its largest export (financially at least) is gold. Uzbekistan mines roughly 80 tons of gold each year and has the world’s second largest gold reserves.

Uzbekistan launched Central Asia’s first high-speed railway in September 2011 linking Tashkent with Samarkand. The railway has recently lost its unique position as Central Asia’s only high-speed railway.

Today’s final Uzbek trivia tidbit is that none of Uzbekistan’s rivers make it to the sea as all of its drainage basins drain inwards. I know you’ll miss this kind of hard hitting geographic reporting next week when this project is complete!