Djibouti is a tiny country in the Horn of Africa, mostly consisting of stony semidesert, with a population of less than a million. It used to belong to France and still maintains close relations to France. French is the official language and the currency is known as the Djibouti Franc. It is, however, also an [...]

Côte d’Ivoire is a country in West Africa, also known as Ivory Coast. As the name suggests it is a former colony of France and French remains the official language. Religion-wise it is quite heterogenous, with large populations practicing Christianity, Islam and their mixtures with local religions. In the past 15 years it has experienced [...]

Serbia is a landlocked country located in Central/Southeast Europe, formerly a part of the state of Yugoslavia. Over 30% of the country is covered by forest and it also has significant mountainous area. The river Danube also runs through Serbia. Spas, festivals, river cruises and mountain resorts are the main tourist attractions. The country has [...]

South Africa is a large country in Southern Africa (well, duh), unfortunately perhaps best known for its apartheid policy. About 80% of the people are of black origin, showing that yes, you can discriminate against the majority. It is also infamous for some other things, like the mind-blowingly high number of rapes and the horribly [...]

Greece is not hugely popular at the moment thanks to its severe money problems. It’s a shame, considering the rich history and culture of this Mediterranean country, being the Western birthplace of many arts, sciences, ideas and traditions, including the Olympic games. Apparently the Greek healthcare system remains one of the best in the world [...]

Vietnam is a quite long but mostly very narrow country located in the Indochina peninsula in Southeast Asia. A former colony of France, the country suffered a a war from the 1950s/1960s until 1975, which killed millions of people, also many in the neighbouring countries. (For some reasons, many Americans think the U.S. “won” the [...]

Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa, unfortunately mostly known for negative things like the past dictator Idi Amin, recent not-so-fair elections, and the current ban on homosexuality, with even plans to introduce death penalty for it. Even now gays are shunned in the media and often killed. Despite these atrocities, Uganda has been [...]

Moldova is a small country in Eastern Europe, a former Soviet state. It is located near the Black Sea, but landlocked. Most of the people are of Moldovan ethnicity, Orthodox and speak Moldovan, though there is dispute whether they are a separate group from Romanians or not. Moldova is not known for much, except for [...]

First I have to mention that I recently got Bryanna Clark Grogan’s World Vegan Feast. What a lovely cookbook! I’ll probably use it to make something for Vegventures. I still don’t understand why she put yeast in a “Finnish” pancake as no Finn ever does that, but I’ll forgive her. She’s a great cookbook author [...]

Korea is located in the Korean peninsula in East Asia, near Japan. The area has a rich culture and history dating back thousands of years. Traditionally Confucianism was the main religion and taekwondo the most popular sport. After the second world war the country was divided into two politically and socially very different states, South [...]