Day 99 - Liberia 🇱🇷

Today’s destination is Liberia, a small West African nation with a flag that looks suspiciously close to the US flag. There is actually a connection here. Liberia was founded by the United States back in 1847 to be a place to repatriate former slaves. 

The country was modelled on the US. The official language is even English. The capital city is called Monrovia named after the former US president James Monroe.

Even today Liberian culture is heavily influenced by American culture, even down to the number plates on cars. Liberia is one of only two African nations to use the US size number plate. Oh and there’s a Liberian county named Maryland.

Like many people, the first I learned of Liberia was seeing its flag and name on ships around the world. Liberia is a shipping powerhouse with the Second-Largest Ship Registry in the World acting as a flag of convenience. 3,726 ships are registered in this tiny nation. Registration fees constitute 6% of the Liberian government’s income. Despite this Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world with a formal employment rate of only 15%.

The Liberian ship registry isn’t even based in Monrovia, or even Liberia. The Liberian ship registry is headquartered in the rather mundane Dulles, Virginia in the United States. This is very convenient for shipping businesses. Who wants to fly all the way to an obscure West African nation to register your ship? In fact, this arrangement is so agreeable, that a Liberian registration is known as a “flag of convenience”. 

The underlying reason so many ships are registered in Liberia is that it’s a tax haven for ship registration and has arrangements with various countries like China to reduce tariffs. It also has very low worker and environmental standards allowing ship owners to save even more money. Oh and don’t forget the benefit of using Liberian ship registration to conceal your ownership of a particular ship.

If you are interested in learning more about Liberia, VisualPolitik has a great deep-dive on how Liberia became a flag of convenience. 

Anyway, I’m off for a cycle ride around the Danish coast to spot a few Liberian flagged vessels. 

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Day 98 - Lesotho 🇱🇸

Lesotho is a small completely landlocked within South Africa. It’s one of only three enclave nations in the world and is a similar size to Belgium.

The entire country of Lesotho lies above a 1400 metres of elevation hence its nickname “kingdom of the sky”. 

Lesotho’s climate is surprisingly cool for it’s latitude and it’s even home to one out of the only two skiing areas in Sub-Saharan Africa. If end up visiting Lesotho in the winter, make sure to visit Afriski.

Lesotho is also home to Africa’s highest pub, the Sani Mountain Lodge. Perched at 2874 metres on the South African Lesotho border, it is at the high-point of the only mountain pass linking the Eastern Side of Lesotho with South Africa.

Anyway, Africa’s highest pub is the perfect place to imagine being today because I’m finishing with a mini celebration… 

This post on Lesotho marks the half-way point of my journey writing about every country in the world! I’m half way done. So far I haven’t missed a day! Only 97 days to go.

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Day 97 - Lebanon 🇱🇧

Today brings us to Lebanon. A country with one of the most memorable flags, featuring the Lebanese cedar.

Tonight I’m very tight on time, so I’m going to share a few links. 

Lebanon has had a disastrous few years and has descended into crisis following the catastrophic explosion in Beruit last August. The economy is in free-fall, there have been widespread protests and the government has resigned.

BBC World Service, Real Story - Lebanon on the Brink provides a great account of the worsening situation in Lebanon before the 2020 explosion.

The Guardian, Beirut explosion, six months on – in pictures is a chilling account of the aftermath of last year’s mammoth explosion.

I’ll leave you with one final Lebanese pick from my friend Udi. He’s a big fan of Mashrou' Leila, a controversial Lebanese indie band that aims to shine a light on Lebanese society.

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Day 96 - Latvia 🇱🇻

Tonight, after what seems like an age, we’re back in Europe, and in the Baltic nation of Latvia. We’ve already visited neighbouring Estonia, but I don’t know much at all about Latvia.

Latvia is known for its dune-lined shores, remote Forrests and Riga, the largest city in the Baltics. The Latvian flag is also the third oldest in the world. However, I think Latvia’s demographics tell a much more fascinating story.

Latvia is smaller than I realised with a population of just under two million. Unlike most other countries in the world, Latvia’s population is shrinking rapidly. In 1990 when Latvia broke free of the Soviet Union, Latvia had a population of almost 2.7 million people. Latvia’s population has shrunk every single year since 1990 and in 2021 stands at 1.8 million.

A large driver of this population decline is economic migration to other European nations. There is however one group of residents in Latvia who are a lot less likely to be able to make a life in a new country. That is Latvia’s “non-citizens”.

Daugavas loki, Naujene Parish, Latvia

Roughly 209,000 people who live in Latvia classify as non-citizens. I’d never heard of this term before, but non-citizens are people who are not citizens of Latvia or any other country. People with no passport or nationality. Many of these people are Ethnic Russians who were originally citizens of the USSR but never became Latvian. 

While both of these stories may not be the most upbeat, Latvia is flourishing within the EU and has greatly improved its press freedom and human rights. One area where Latvia is doing especially, well and is gender equality. In the Latvian workplace, women hold more than 56% of leadership positions. This ranks first in Europe, and most likely the world. Good job Latvia!

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Day 95 - Laos 🇱🇦

Today’s destination is Laos. Let’s get stuck in.

What I knew about Laos before today

Surprisingly little, other than it’s landlocked and is one of Southeast Asia’s least-known countries. It’s also Laos is one of the poorest countries in the region and similarly to Vietnam is a Communist country.

What’s Laos’s top tourist attraction?

Laos is a far less popular tourist destination than many of its neighbours such as Vietnam and Thailand. According to my quick research, Laos capital Vientiane is its most popular destination with the Patuxay (or victory gate) Monument being the most visited attraction

What was the last war or conflict Laos took part in?

Laos was severely affected by the Vietnam War and still is to this day while at the same time enduring its own interconnected civil war.

During the Vietnam War Laos was bombed by America for nine years during which hundreds of millions of bombs were dropped on the country. Since 1964 more than 50,000 Lao have been killed or injured by American bombs.

A Bizarre fact about Laos

Despite officially being neutral during the Vietnam war, Laos has been bombed more than any other country. 

Was Laos a former colony?

Yes, it was a French colony until 1953.

What are Laos’s main exports?

Laos’s closest export partner is Thailand and its largest export is “wood products”. Sounds unspecific.

What’s Laos’s National dish?

Apparently, laab (or larb) is Laos’s most popular dish. If you haven’t had laab before it’s a surprisingly tasty meat salad. Goes great with a Beerlao.

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Day 94 - Kyrgyzstan 🇰🇬

Kyrgyzstan is a Central Asian country that I knew almost nothing about until today. Kyrgyzstan is neighboured by China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. It also shares some seriously messy borders with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan including multiple enclaves and exclaves.

Kyrgyzstan is traditionally part of the Silk Road and is a highly mountainous country with its highest peak Jengish Chokusu reaching a truly impressive 7,439 metres. Kyrgyzstan is also home to Issyk-Kul, the seventh deepest lake in the world with a maximum depth of 668 metres.

The lake has no current outlet, and until recently continued to get deeper and deeper. It’s estimated that it’s 8 metres higher than it was during medieval times. 

When Kyrgyzstan was part of the Soviet Union Issyk-Kul depth made it an ideal test site for submarine torpedo technology. As of 2008 an area around the lake is being leased by the Russian and Indian navies for testing purposes.

Kyrgyzstan’s capital is Bishkek and it still has a “Lenin” district. Perhaps this is because the end of the Soviet Union was particularly tough on Kyrgyzstan as 98% of its exports were to the Soviet Union. Nowadays Kyrgyzstan’s largest export is gold making up 43% of its exports.

The World Nomad games

Kyrgyzstan is traditionally a nation of Nomads and started the World Nomad Games in 2014 and then went on to host the subsequent two games.

Even though Kyrgyzstan’s nomadic traditions continue, it’s more common to live in yurts only during the summer months. Despite this nomadic families apparently still spend as much time as possible outside, performing daily chores like preparing food or washing dishes in front of the yurt.

Kind of like my childhood caravan holidays.

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Day 93 - Kuwait 🇰🇼

Today’s destination is Kuwait, a small country in the  Middle East bordering Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran.

Kuwait is tiny. It’s smaller than Fiji, but despite its diminutive size, it reportedly holds 8% of the world’s oil reserves. It’s unsurprising to learn then, that the majority of Kuwait’s exports are oil or oil-based products.

The income from Kuwait’s oil income has been better managed than many other countries. Back in 1953, the Kuwait Investment Authority was set up as the world's first sovereign wealth fund.

Kuwaitis are a minority in their own country with 3.4m million expatriates living in Kuwait constituting 70% of the population.

I’ll leave you with one final tidbit about Kuwait. Camel racing is a very popular sport in Kuwait and human jockeys are being rapidly replaced by robot jockeys. This beats the practice of using young children to jockey camels in the searing desert heat.

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Day 92 - South Korea 🇰🇷

Today we make the tense journey across (not under) the Korean Demilitarised Zone to the other half of Korea: South Korea.

The contrast between the two Koreas cannot be starker. While North Korea has languished in over half a century of stunted economic growth, South Korea has thrived to become one of the world's most advanced economies. Between 1962 and 1994 the South Korean economy grew an average of 10% per year.

South Korea is now the largest shipbuilding nation in the world and has grown huge corporate giants such as LG, Samsung and Hyundai.

Despite South Korea’s economic transformation, the two Korea’s are technically still at war and have been since war broke out in 1950. The demilitarised zone, just north of Seoul is a striking reminder that despite all of South Korea’s progress, there is still a potent flashpoint for all-out conflict on the Korean peninsular.

Mungyeong-si, South Korea

Almost one-fifth of South Korea’s population lives in Seoul, however, the South Korean government has recently been emphasising growth outside of Seoul. South Korea even has two capitals as of 2012. While Seoul remains the official capital and the economic and cultural centre of the country, Sejong City is now the administrative capital and home to many South Korean government agencies.

South Korea is another place I really want to visit - to me, it has much of the appeal of Japan, but is less travelled, even though the “Korean wave” is growing rapidly.

I can’t wait to plan that trip, there will certainly be lots of bulgogi, bi bit pap, kimchi and soju.

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Day 91 - North Korea 🇰🇵

North Korea or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to use its full name is undoubtedly one of the worlds most secretive and cut off societies. However, paradoxically, North Korea’s extreme isolationism has generated a huge amount of fascination and coverage of North Korea around the world.

For today’s post, I’ll share a few things I find fascinating about North Korea.

North Korea is home to what world’s most fascinating airline. Due to decades of trade sanctions and embargoes, North Korea’s national airline is reliant on a fleet of aged Soviet aircraft. Air Koryo is the last airline to operate multiple types of the 1950s and 60s era Soviet-built aircraft such as the Ilyushin Il-62M, Tupolev Tu-134 and Tupolev Tu-154B. North Korea is an aviation geeks dream.

While Air Koryo’s business class probably won’t live up to the standards of the global elite, North Korea has more in common with their hangouts like Monaco, the Cayman Islands and UAE than you might think.

North Korea is one of the few countries in the world whose residents pay no taxes. Taxation was abolished in 1974. Only individuals who make money outside of North Korea pay taxes.

Other things you might want to check out about North Korea include:

• Pyongyang’s immaculate metro - one of the world’s deepest and most elaborately decorated metro systems

• The Ryugyong hotel - an unfinished skyscraper that has been under construction since 1987

• The Rungrado 1st of May Stadium - the world’s largest stadium

• The Kijong-dong or “Peace Village" on the Border of North and South Korea

Reading the paper on a Metro station, Pyongyang, North Korea metro station, Pyongyang, North Korea

North Korea is a fascinating country. One day I’d love to visit, although I wonder if writing this blog post bars me from entry? Either way, North Korea has ambitions to change. Kim Jong Un has big plans to grow and partially liberalise the North Korean economy. So far though, these plans have been hindered by economic sanctions and a reduction in trade with China due to the coronavirus pandemic. On a related note, the recent video of Russian diplomats leaving North Korea on a hand-powered train rail trolley was simply astonishing.

North Korean’s love a good drink, and North Korea has dozens of breweries. The most popular beer is Taedonggang lager. Unsurprisingly they don’t stock this in my local Netto, so I’ll have to substitute with a locally brewed Tuborg this evening. Geonbae!

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Day 90 - Kiribati 🇰🇮

Today’s visit to Kiribati may be a little shorter than usual. There is a glorious reason for this - Denmark has now left total lockdown and bars and restaurants have reopened for the first time since December. Tonight was out of this world. Beer, people, and food I didn’t cook myself.

Anyway, back to the reason we’re here - Kiribati. The only thing I know about Kiribati at this point is that Kiribati is a collection of pacific islands that until 1995 spanned the international date line. Now they enjoy ringing-in the New Year before anywhere else in the world at GMT+14. 

Kiribati is tiny, but ever so slightly larger than Bahrain and made up of 33 coral islands, 32 of them being atolls barely a meter above sea level. This means Kiribati is existentially threatened by climate change.

Kiribati was a British colony until it grained independence from the UK sour toddy (or Palm wine).

A beautiful retro map of Kiribati

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