Just One More Thing...

Mr. Secretary,

Colombo. Wasn’t there a 70’s TV detective by (almost) the same name? If so, he’d doubtless be able to put me at the Taj Hotel in Colombo in the attached photo. But he’d probably have known that that glass I’m holding isn’t really an alcoholic beverage. Nor is it a purple Japanese fighting fish. It’s just the floral decoration from table where I’m sitting. You couldn’t get a drink on the day that picture was taken because of the full-moon festival. Luckily for me, I’d taken a Lion beer in my hotel room the night before.

Mr B

Viva CdW!

Mr Secretary,

It is with great pleasure that at long last I share new country news.

Revolution! I have broken away from the dictatorship of travel to already visited countries and at long last conquer my 63rd country - Cuba. What better liberation can there be than the land of rum, sugar cane, 1950ies Buicks, Che and Castro with its infectious music, warm hearted people and beautiful countryside. Needless to say, libation of Cristal beer and mojitos accompanied our visit. May country number 64 be not far away and just as fun.

With much respect and salutations to you, Mr. Secretary, and all my fellow club members.

Caryn de Walden

Bonne Anniversaire!

Mr. Secretary,

Ms. Ridley and I report a first visit for us both to Morocco – we went for an early celebration of the 25^th anniversary of an event which 3 other of our esteemed members attended: our wedding! [sec'y's note: those would be our Honorary Past President, Mr Hovig, Mr Brady and yrs truly].

In fulfillment of article 3.1 we sampled local beer, Flag, wine, see attached as well as numerous G&Ts as we explored the medina in Marrekech and the rugged Atlas mountains.

Cheers!

Yours faithfully,

Duncan & Robin

Ukraine a go-go!

I am pleased to report my visit to Ukraine.

In addition to visiting Kiev, I visited Crimea, which is an autonomous republic (but may NOT be counted as a new country, as per instructions from our Secretary, alas)

While on my visit, I did the needful with, among others, Lvivske beer (delicious).

Balkanized

Yr sec'y traveled nearly 6000 kilometers from Amsterdam to Albania on his BMW R1200 GS and visited Albania, Macedonia and Serbia for the first time while observing naturally Article 3.1 requirements along the way.

Dalai Dublin

Your secretary visited Ireland earlier this week. The conference I was in grew absolutely electric when word went around that the Dalai Lama had walked into the hotel lobby and chatted up people there. Others reported seeing him multiple times in the lift. I could find him nowhere, and made my way back to my room, only to pass him in the hall; he was sharing a giggle with another saffron robed monk. Beats a Guinness. Here's a link to what he was doing there.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0413/dalailama.html

An Outlet Survey

Mr Secretary,

As you can see from the photos I combined some spiced rum tasting with an condom outlet check in St. Lucia (a new country for me).
Each bar has its own recipe, some much better than others.
What I tasted was quite the concoction as you can see from the expression on my face.

Here is a more conventional recipie if you want to move past Captain Morgan.

• whole star anise
• 1/2 3-inch cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
• 2 whole cloves
• 2 allspice berries
• 2 cardamom pods
• 1/4 ounce (1/2 tablespoon) freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 liter light rum
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• Strips of peel from 1 whole orange
  & lemon

Rock Bottom?

Mr Secretary,

Since my induction as the 18th member of The Country Club in February 2010, I have planned with little success to visit a new country. Most recently, a December snow storm thwarted my plans to spend my 50th birthday with Mr Earle in Livingstone, Zambia (and neighboring Zimbabwe which would increase my country scorecard by two). See first attached photo - doesn't Mr Earle look a bit off?.

Finally, in early March, I had the opportunity to visit New Delhi, India for the first time. I was surprised by the many green spaces in Delhi - tree lined boulevards, parks and gardens. The second photo was taken at the Imperial Hotel with my UNDP colleague Andrea P. who then dragged me off to our real destination [See email for the rest of the story!]

Sincerely yours from the rock bottom rung,

Ms Ridley

Mr W Suggests a Competition

As you know, the world will welcome its newest country in July when Sudan splits in two. I request a clarification re how the Club will treat this split. Will those who have visited Sudan receive credit for North Sudan, and will South Sudan be the new country? Or have you and the Governors made other provisions? However you plan to approach it, I suggest we launch a contest to challenge our members to see who will be the first to visit the new country. A prize should be offered. I have suggestions. [Sec'y's note. Students of the By-Laws of our fine Club will cite Chapter 3 "Definition of a Country Visited" and Article 3.4, which states "A Visited Country that, subsequent to the qualifying visit, splits into two or more countries, can only be counted as a single Visited Country. The Member will elect which of the issuing countries shall be recorded as a Visited Country."].

Shaken but Not Stirred

Mr Sempliner writes:

I was waiting in the lounge here at Narita Airport (Tokyo) yesterday afternoon for my connecting flight to San Francisco when the earth literally moved, windows swayed and things began to drop from the ceiling. Women began crying, lights flickered and it was like being in a bad movie. All pretty dramatic and the worst earthquake I've ever experienced. Needless to say my flight, in fact all flights, were cancelled as we continued to have aftershocks all afternoon. At first we were asked to leave the terminal for a few hours on the tarmac. Once back inside disorder reigned... well, as much as it is going to in Japan, and I slept on an airport bench for the first time in years.

This morning I found that the office had re-booked me on today’s flight. A good thing too, people (foreigners really) are beginning to get petulant. On reflection I’m glad I was in Japan when this happened. If this sort of thing had happened in New York or LA it would have been even more of a nightmare.

Shaken but not stirred,

Sandy

Our Beloved Founder Comes to Dinner

Ms v/H cooked, our Founder regaled, and yours truly took a picture. :)

No Cooler in Finland

Mr Secretary,

Hello from freezing Helsinki! The word arctic has a new meaning for me since walking around in a city with -3F temperatures. Had an Italian red wine over a business dinner last night and a German white with lunch. This is probably the one country where a wine cellar needs a heater. The red, although nice, was served at room temperature and was still too cold! There is so much snow that one simply has to believe in the existence of the abominable snowman!

Ms v/H

Mr. Warshauer visits DRC

I spent most of last week enjoying Kinshasa and did the needful there with several Primus beers. I believe this visit further extends my lead over other club members for visits on the continent, although I'm sure our esteemed Secretary can confirm. The city is one big construction site and the central boulevard has been widened to be 8 lanes (at the cost of all the trees that used to line it, alas), creating some rather amazing pedestrian crossing challenges. I had a great visit, my only regret being that I left on the day that Papa Wemba was giving a big concert in town. Prochaine fois!

Metaphoric in Manila

Mr Secretary,

Here in the dank underworld of the Country Club cellar, where mirth and happiness are unknown, we still have our pride. We dream of one day toppling the masters of the universe who rule so capriciously from above in their all expenses paid business class seats. I'm proud to report having removed one more brick from the wall of oppression by arriving in Manila and drinking deeply from the river of golden San Miguel that flows so powerfully here.

Respectfully yours,

J.A. Sempliner

Mao-tini

Dear Sir,

I write to you from Peking where the heroes of the risibly named Peoples Liberation Army seem to have developed a prodigious taste for Gucci, Burberry, Maserati, Rolex, Louis Vuitton and every other conceivable sort of western consumer goods. I have consumed a martini.

Unsure whether my previous visits to Hong Kong and Macau count as China visits or otherwise I write to confirm presence in the heart of the beast . Those of us in the cellar of the country club always identify with the proletarian struggle!

The East is red,

Sandy

[Secretary's note: Mr Sempliner has indeed already visited China when he traveled to Hong Kong and Macau]

A White Nile

Mr Secretary,

Having a white “Chateau du jardin Nil” while overlooking the Nile River from the Four Seasons Hotel bar. Not a bad way to start my first visit to Egypt!

Ms v/H

KyleManDu

Mr Secretary,

Our fellow traveller, Andrew Boner, is one blessed boy. I thought Turkey and Morocco were the best places to visit, until I experienced Nepal. Maury, six- year old son, Finn, and I trekked in the Himalaya and safaried on elephant back in the Nepal jungle. All of this was part of Maury and my sabbaticals. Along the way, we drank a few Everest beers and sipped millet "Roxie."

Hope everyone has a great holiday and look forward to adding a few more countries to the list next year!

Namaste

Kyle

Sophia is (not only) the Capital of Bulgaria

Mr Secretary,

I hope that our newly born, Sophia, will also become a great traveller.
She is in good hands though, so we foresee the best for her.

Meanwhile, for the short term I hope this change in life will not
affect my new countries record too much...

Cheers,

Mr v/d Z

The Real Country Club

Mr Secretary,

Like the real IRA I sometimes wonder if there should not be a “real” Country Club. The qualifying criteria would be that you paid for your own ticket and did not claim that beer on expenses. Now that would truly clear the hard core travellers from the expense account boys.

With humble respect,

Mr J.A. (Sandy) Sempliner

For the List of Counties Re-Visited

I have been meaning to update you on recent ‘re-visits’ and ‘expanded’ visits -
In October I went to Zanzibar for the first time and while Tanzania has been on my circuit for some time, the magic of the legendary island did not disappoint … nor did the Safari beers and South African wines.
Also in October I made my first ever legal visit to Ghana … yes, I have been to and imbibed of local nectars, bottled and not, but never before having transited a legal border with a visa …
It was hardly a visit as it was largely spent in the Airport Holiday Inn in a meeting – the Accra Airport Holiday Inn is still very much more Accra, West Africa than Holiday Inn, Generica. We did manage to fit in – no exaggeration – the most harrowing, scary, holy-shit-we-are-all-gonna-die taxi ride of my life! One of our local hosts decided to have a bunch of us – five taxis worth, plus one lost taxi – over to his house for dinner. His very nice house, deep in an Accra neighborhood, a la quartier ouest-africaine, would have taken us 90 minutes to 2 hours to reach had we labored through the absurd rush hour. Instead, a scene out of Too Fast Too Furious ensued in which these guys decided we would emulate a VIP motorcade – lights flashing, horns blaring, high speed overtaking with a game of chicken with each oncoming lorry – we are talking West African long-haul semis – as one of the drivers put it, with 5 cars, even the cops are afraid to stop us in case there really is a VIP in the group! It was 25 minutes of dusty, wrong-way around-the-roundabout, who can cut it closer, scariness followed by a delightful peanut stew with cold beers, wine and Talisker, and a much quieter trip home.
So no new countries, but memorable nonetheless!
Best,
Duncan