Argentina

Last weekend Sandra and I spent 4 days in Warsaw, Poland. Poland has had one of the toughest histories of any country due to its central position in Europe with difficult to defend land borders. From the 17th to 19th centuries, Poland was invaded by Sweden, Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Russia & Prussia (this time together). Finally in 1919 they get their independence only to be invaded by Nazi Germany in 1939. Finally, in 1944 Poland is liberated! Hooray! Wait, who liberated them? Oh, the Soviet Union. Goodbye Hitler, Hello Stalin. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990, the Polish economy collapses by 40%. Everything seemed to go okay after that until 2010 when a Polish plane crashed in Russia killing all 96 people on board, including the president and former president, the chief of the Polish General Staff, the president of the Bank of Poland, Poland's deputy foreign minister, 15 members of parliament and senior members of ...

Bangkok shows much more of the Thai culture than the tourist bubble of Phuket. This was not a surprise, which is why we included both destinations in order to have a blend of vacation and travel. Vacation is when you relax and get massages, and travel is when you learn about new cultures, food, and language. First a little orientation on Thailand.  History: Thailand is the only SE Asian country not to have been colonized. That's pretty impressive. Did they manage it with a massive army? According to my new German boss who lived in Thailand for 10 years, Thai people are unsuspectingly sneaky. On the surface they are very kind and friendly and unthreatening, but he says they are very clever. This is demonstrated by how Thailand avoided being colonized. They played the colonial rivalries and tensions against each other, mostly the British, French, and Germans in such a way as to avoid being colonized. Pretty impressive. Politically, Thailand became a democracy in 1973 with br...