Day 167 - Sudan 🇸🇩

Today takes us to Sudan. A fascinating country with a turbulent past. 

Sudan was one of the reasons I started this project. I know that sounds absurd, but during the deep, dark depths of this winter’s lockdown, I rewatched Michael Palin’s Pole to Pole. It was a show I enjoyed on Sunday nights as a young child, and Palin’s adventure left a lasting impression on me.

I was particularly taken by Palin’s experiences in Khartoum where he visited the dwindling British presence epitomised by the faded grandeur of the Sudan Club. Sudan was part of the British Empire as Anglo-Egyptian Sudan until 1956. In Khartoum’s blistering heat Palin interviewed an aged Professor Woodruff who scorned the waiting staff and warned him from eating the salad if he wanted to avoid dysentery. Apparently, the Sudan Club served a mean pool-side scotch egg though. 

Palin visits the Sudan Club at 24:50

This led me down a lockdown-driven rabbit hole. Where was the Sudan Club? Did it still exist? Were the salads safe to eat? Does it still serve scotch eggs? If not, what had become of it and of the former members? 

I started researching the history of the Sudan Club. Frustratingly the internet has almost no traces of the existence of this once opulent oasis. I eventually discovered a Facebook group organising a reunion for past members. I eventually ended up talking to a past member, Ruth. She was incredibly kind and indulged my curiosity.

Ruth didn’t know exactly what had happened to the Sudan Club, but she explained The New Sudan Club (the site Michael visited) wasn’t actually the original Sudan Club. It was created when the government decided to requisition the original club. In exchange, the government confiscated the home of a wealthy Greek family and given to British ex-pats as a replacement club. Eventually, the property was returned to its rightful owners. Ruth wasn’t sure if another site was ever found for the club. Khartoum is now home to a “Greek Club”. Could this be the same club? Does it now serve souvlaki instead of scotch eggs? I guess we’ll never know.

Courtesy of Khartoum's Sudan Club Reunion

One detail I can fill in though is that Professor Woodruff, who died in 1992 was incidentally was a professor of tropical medicine. So perhaps his advice on the salads was worth taking.

Before I go, I wanted to share one other story about Sudan. Sudan is in a special minority of countries as it is actively denying a territorial claim. The area in question is Bir Tawil, a 2060 square km stretch of land that both Egypt and Sudan deny is theirs. Why, because both countries have their eye on a much larger piece of land named the Halaib Triangle. In this treacherous game of geopolitics, the loser gets stuck with the tiny, almost worthless Bir Tawil. This was the perfect opportunity for the American Jack Shenker to step in and attempt to claim it for his daughter back in 2014. Unsurprisingly for everyone other than Jack Shenker, this scheme didn’t go so well… 

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

Day 166 - Sri Lanka 🇱🇰

Today we’re in Sri Lanka, an island nation in the Indian Ocean once desired as “the finest island in the world” by Marco Polo. Sri Lanka is a touch bigger than Lithuania and is known for its Ceylon tea.

Sri Lanka was the first country in the world to have a female Prime Minister. In July 1960, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the leader of Sri Lanka Freedom Party, won the victory in the general election and became the first woman prime minister. She then went on to serve for three terms until retiring shortly before her death in 2000.

Sri Lanka and India are connected by Adam’s Bridge a 48 km long series of limestone shoals and shallows which once provided a land connection between Sri Lanka and India. I’m kind of surprised that India and Sri Lanka have not already taken advantage of Adams Bridge to build an actual bridge connecting the two countries.

Sigiriya, Dambulla, Sri Lanka

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

Day 165 - Spain 🇪🇸

Today we’re dispensing with the facts. Spain is a country I feel I should know far better than I do. It was the place I took my first ever independent holiday as a teenager. Seven days in the sun in the garish resort town of Benedorm. It was messy.

View fullsize

Camera technology has come a long way…

View fullsize

Cocktail time

I returned to Spain again two years later to visit Ibiza. It was a relaxing if not spectacular trip with an ex. We stayed in the family orientated town of Santa Eulària and mostly sat on the beach. Don’t most people go to Ibiza for the clubbing? I suppose I hadn’t yet figured out what kind of travel, or men suited me. 

View fullsize

The sunrise over Ibiza

The third and most recent I’ve visited Spain was back in 2016. Madrid was the perfect starting point for our sabbatical that kicked off properly in Cuba. Two nights of late-summer Madrid was wonderful, but sadly probably constitutes as my only real experience of Spain. We ate our way around Madrid taking in its sights and atmosphere. We just weren’t there for long enough to truly get the feel of the place.

Picking out tapas is serious business

Refugees welcome

This brings us back to the present. I’m hoping to visit Spain again next month. Provided travel is still possible in August - this time I’m hoping to really get to know Spain. The rough plan in my head is to start in Valencia (I’ve heard it likened to a less touristy Barcelona), and then head out on a mostly unplanned road trip north. Maybe we’ll stop off at a few coastal towns for some beaches before heading north. We may even have time to take in a little of the Pyrenees before ending up in San Sebastian or Bilbao. I’ll let you know how it goes.

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

Day 164 - South Sudan 🇸🇸

We’ve finally made it to the World’s newest, officially recognised country - South Sudan! South Sudan was created in 2011 following a referendum where 98.83% reportedly voted for independence. South Sudan is arguably also one of the world’s most elusive countries. It has so far proved very hard to research.

Since independence, South Sudan has been engulfed in the South Sudanese Civil war that raged for seven years from 2013 until 2020. An estimated 400,000 people are thought to have been killed before a peace deal was signed. Since the civil war very little has been done to improve the lives of South Sudanese people. For example, only  1.9% of children complete primary school. Unsurprisingly, South Sudan is one of the poorest countries in the world. 

View fullsize

As I said, South Sudan is one of those countries that it’s really hard to research - there are very few pictures on the internet, even of its national parks and wildlife reserves. One thing that is pretty well documented though is that South Sudan is the setting for one of the worlds greatest wildlife migrations. Each year roughly two million kobs, gazelle and other antelope species move from the Sudds and Bandingilo National Park to Boma National Park and then to Ethiopia.

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

Day 163 - South Africa 🇿🇦

Today we’re staying in Africa and heading due-south to a place I’ve wanted to visit for a very long time: South Africa.

Given there’s so much to say about South Africa, we’re going to keep this post nutrient-dense and kick things off with some facts before veering off into holiday plans. This is another one of those posts that will act more as a to-do list for when I eventually get to visit South Africa.

View fullsize

Let’s start off with our daily dose of facts. South Africa is the largest country in Southern Africa. Talking of largest, South Africa hosts the largest cycle race in the world, the Cape Town cycle tour. The tour involves put to 35,000 across a 109 km route. If they’re lucky they’ll see some penguins on their journey, even if it seems a little ridiculous to find Penguins in a country as warm as South Africa. South Africa is the only country in the entire African continent where same-sex marriage is legal. It’s also home to many pairs of gay penguins.

South Africa believes in distribution when it comes to spreading out seats of power with its three capital cities, Pretoria, Cape Town and Bloemfontein. However this doesn’t apply to income equality as South Africa has the world's highest level of income inequality, according to the World Bank.

Bo-Kaap, Cape Town, South Africa

That’s enough education for one day. On to the holiday planning. Here is a rough list of things I’d like to do in South Africa:

• Visit Cape Town and hopefully stay in The Silo. I’d also want to take in the sights including the V&A Waterfront, Boulders Beach Bo-Kaap and tour Chapman’s Peak

• Climb Table Mountain and take in the views

• Visit the Robben Island Museum, the island prison where Nelson Mandela was held captive off the coast of Cape Town

• Visit the Cape of Good Hope

• Go on a vineyard tour, perhaps in the Stellenbosch and Franschoek region

• Visit the Big Hole diamond mine

• Go hiking in the Drakensberg Mountains

• Go on safari and take in South Africa’s incredible wildlife - there are so many amazing places to do this - perhaps I’d start with the Pilanesberg Game Reserve or maybe the iconic sights of the Kruger National Park

• Visit the Mandela House and Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg

There’s simply so much to do in South Africa. This calls for a Castle Lager. Who am I kidding, it’s going to be a Carlsberg.

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

Day 162 - Somalia 🇸🇴

Today we take a nerve-wracking trip to Somalia. Somalia is a similar size to France and has the longest coast on Africa’s mainland at a vast 3,333 km in length. This isn’t what Somalia is most known for though.

Recently Somalia has been mostly known for Somali pirates that have terrorised and looted ships off the coast of Somalia in exchange for kidnap ransoms. Somalia is also well known as the home of the terrorist militant group Al-Shabaab. 

These problems stem from Somalia’s turbulent past that includes multiple civil wars, becoming a failed state and terrorist attacks. It’s unsurprising then that Somalia is one of the poorest countries in the world.

Recently the US has provided supports to the Somali government in fighting Al-Shabaab and a whole host of states have supported Somalia in attempts to stamp out piracy.

Somalia technically also includes the un-recognised state of Somaliland that has been independently governed since 1991 and is seeking international representation. Sadly for Somaliland, it hasn’t yet been recognised by any other country or international organisation.

Let’s hope Somalia and Somaliland’s futures are brighter than their recent past. Somalia has a wealth of beautiful beaches and national parks. One day Somalia will be a fantastic place to visit!

Mogadishu, Somalia

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

Day 161 - Solomon Islands 🇸🇧

Today we head to the Solomon Islands, a small nation of over 900 islands East of Papua New Guinea and northwest of Vanuatu.

The Solomon Islands are surprisingly much larger than I imagined. I imagined the Solomon Islands to be tiny, but it’s actually larger than Albania. Yes, I know Albania isn’t known for its great size, but this is still kind of surprising to me.

Apparently, The Solomon Islands receive almost no tourists despite looking completely idyllic. This may be partly due to the fact that in the early 2000s the Solomon Islands were plagued by economic crisis, political unrest and conflict. Australia deployed over 2000 peacekeeping troops. The situation is now more stable, but there are apparently lingering ethnic tensions.

Talking of tensions, the Solomon Islands are known for their skull caves. Essentially these are displays of human skulls collected by people who had killed and then decapitated their enemies. Now I really understand why tourism hasn’t taken off in the Solomon Islands!

I’ll round off today’s post with the fact that US President John F Kennedy was once marooned in The Solomon Islands in 1943 after his boat sank during World War II.

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

Day 160 - Slovenia 🇸🇮

Today we visit Slovenia. The country almost everyone confuses with Slovakia. Or is it the other way round? Unlike landlocked Slovakia, Slovenia has Europe’s third shortest coastline. This consists of a tiny stretch of coast between Italy and Croatia of around 47 km dubbed as the “Slovene Riviera”.

Joe and I visited Slovenia back in 2013 and getting there was certainly an adventure.

View fullsize

Entering Slovenia at the Nova Gorica border

We were staying in Venice and wanted to cross into Slovenia and explore Lake Bled and Ljubljana. The plan was to take the train from Venice to Slovenia, except there were absolutely no trains going from Italy to Slovenia. This is despite the fact there is clearly a rail line crossing the border, and I’d already crossed the border the other way on a night train back in 2008.

It just turns out that Slovenia and Italy don’t want to be connected by train. What followed was taking a train to the Italian border town of Gorizia and sprinting across the border to the Slovenian town of Nova Goricia. Is this the only land border I’ve ever crossed by foot before, other than perhaps the Vatican City?

View fullsize

Our train waiting to depart

View fullsize

Halting in a station on our way to Bled

It was worth it though, the train journey on the other side of the border was spectacular. The all-but-abandoned Bohinj railway heads north over Europe’s second-largest stone bridge into the mountains. We were practically the only people on the ancient rattling train for the entire journey. For lunch we snacked on Italian cheeses and salami we picked up from a deli before crossing the border. The scenery became increasingly wintery and snowy until we were up in the mountains in deep snow cover. The Bohinj Railway is probably one of the most scenic rail journeys I’ve ever taken.

View fullsize

Enjoying Lake Bled

After an afternoon exploring the snowy Lake Bled, we took the train to Ljubljana, a tiny, but wonderful capital city crowned with a picture perfect castle. 

I’d certainly love to return to Slovenia one day.

View fullsize

Lake Bled

View fullsize

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

Day 159 - Slovakia 🇸🇰

Today we head to Slovakia. It’s going to be a super, short stop as the weather is beautiful, Beth is visiting from Zurich and we’re lucky enough to be joining some friends on their boat this afternoon! 

Keep this post short is kind of apt though. I haven’t been to Slovakia, but I been through it on a night train from Prague to Budapest. Other than shadowy glimpses of the countryside whizzing past I’ve really seen very little of Slovakia. My friend did possibly have her phone stolen in Slovakia on that train. That’s another story though.

Slovakia is a relatively small country and is a little larger than Denmark and Estonia, and has a population of around five million people.

Car production makes up almost 50% of Slovakia’s industrial production.

The second most watched sport in Slovakia is ice hockey. Slovakia is also very good at ice hockey and is currently ranked 9th best in the world, but in the early 2000s made it as high as 3rd best in the world.

Slovakia reportedly boasts the highest number of castles and chateaux per capita in the world with over 6000 in existence.

I’ll leave you with one final, small fact about Slovakia - the largest meteor ever to hit Europe landed in Slovakia in the town of Zboj in 1866.

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

Day 158 - Singapore 🇸🇬

Singapore is the only place I’ve ever been where chewing gum is illegal. I didn’t know this as I innocently chewed some gum on the immaculate Singapore MRT. Luckily I got away with it.

I’ve visited Singapore twice, both times while travelling to and from Australia. It’s the perfect place to break up the trip to Australia, and the mix of cultures makes Singapore a really fun place to spend 24 hours. You can be transported from Little Delhi to the Buddha Tooth Relic temple in minutes. Every imaginable type of cuisine is on offer and the mix of Chinese, Malay and Indian cultures lends Singapore a feeling unlike any other city on earth.

I spent the rest of my time in Singapore eating delicious chicken and rice and sipping refreshing Singapore Slings at Raffles. I even got to enjoy the sunset from the top of the dazzling Marina Bay Sands skyscraper.

Singapore is a great place to spend a few days, but I was really surprised to learn about its politics. The People’s Action Party has been in power for six consecutive decades and Singapore is often described simultaneously as a technocratic dream state and a thinly veiled dictatorship.

I really recommend taking a look at this Polymatter video exploring the political situation in Singapore.