What are some myths about countries that are wrong?

 China is the most populous country

The majority of the world's population lives in China, but China is not the most densely populated country. For example, Germany and Italy are more densely populated.

The problem is, despite its large population, the People's Republic of China has one of the largest land areas in the world. But about two-thirds of this area is mountains and desert.

Myth #10

Sumo is the most popular sport in Japan

In recent years, this traditional sport has become even more popular. However, sumo is less popular than baseball. Half of all people there who play sports prefer baseball .

Myth #9

Italians eat as much as they want and don't get fat.

Of course, this is not the most burning issue in Italy, but it is not true that all Italians eat a big bowl of pasta and drink a bottle of wine a day, and still stay slim.

According to statistics, 1 in 5 Italians suffers from obesity. And childhood obesity is a real problem in the Apennines, compared to other parts of Europe.

Myth #8

Great Britain is a rainy country

The UK isn't the driest place, but it does experience excessive rainfall. Although some areas have a truly humid climate, London receives less rainfall per year than Moscow.

Myth #7

All citizens of the United Arab Emirates are very rich

The indigenous people are actually wealthy. But about 85% of the population there are immigrants. In fact, about two-thirds of Arabs living in the UAE come from neighboring countries.

Of course, an IT specialist and a top manager can afford a good quality of life, but ordinary blue- and white-collar workers live in very poor conditions in this very expensive country.

Myth #6

Rio de Janeiro is the capital of Brazil

Rio de Janeiro was the capital for almost 200 years, but in 1960, the capital was moved to Brasília, a city founded for this purpose. Today, Rio isn't even the largest city; São Paulo is much larger.

Myth #5

In Germany, people are very punctual and everything goes according to schedule.

Punctuality is part of German culture, but as is the case worldwide, old cultural boundaries and traditions are disappearing. Many projects fail to meet deadlines, and according to statistics, about one-third of all trains in Germany are late.

Myth #4

Bullfighting is the most popular entertainment in Spain

Bullfighting is still held in many Spanish cities, but its popularity is not as high. Most visitors are tourists. Under pressure from activists, the Catalan Parliament banned bullfighting in the region, including Barcelona.

Myth #3

Australia is a land of eternal summer

Most people live in the Southern Hemisphere, in cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, and Adelaide. For example, in winter, temperatures can reach 32°F (0°C) in Canberra. Furthermore, much of the continent is mountainous, covered in snow in the winter.

Myth #2

Romania is a Gypsy country

Which countries, when visited, end up not being what was expected?

 📝 “ Bali: Between Digital Dream and Tropical Reality”

I always dreamed of visiting Bali 🌴🌅. It was my dream destination, the kind you put on your mood board with palm trees, sunsets, and women in bikinis doing yoga 🧘‍♀️ on cinematic cliffs. My Instagram feed sold it as a paradise for the free spirit ✨, for self-discovery, and for dragon fruit smoothies 🥭. And I, an incurable romantic who collects passport stamps ✈️, went.

I arrived in Denpasar with my heart pounding 💓, already imagining my photos at the Lempuyang temple 🏯, the one with the gate that seems to float on the water. The first disappointment came right there: the famous "reflection" is done with a small hand mirror 🪞 that the local photographer holds under the lens. Yes, the effect is literally fake — an optical illusion sold as sacred mysticism 🧙‍♂️. And they even charge for it! 💸 I paid to take a photo with a mirror. It hit me when I saw the making-of video of my own disappointment 😅. I laughed nervously.

The island's natural beauty is undeniable 🍃, but it shares space with a harsh reality: trash everywhere 🚯. The much-dreamed-of beaches 🏖️ were often covered in plastic brought in by the sea and left by the excess of tourists 🧍‍♂️🧍‍♀️🧍. It was sad to see a landscape that should be untouched, so saturated 💔. The "peace and love" vibe from Instagram disappeared every time I dodged a styrofoam cup floating in the water 🫠.

And the traffic? A chaos worthy of Rio on a game day at the Maracanã 🚗🏍️🚙. There's no such thing as "relaxing" when it takes you an hour to walk two kilometers in Ubud 🥴, with motorbikes honking beside you and drivers offering "private tours" every five steps 🙄. Everything was so geared towards tourists that it seemed like the island had lost its own soul 🥀.

But it wasn't all a disaster, of course 🫶. I met kind people with huge hearts 🤝. I got lost in beautiful rice paddies 🌾, with a golden light that seemed magical ✨. I had a massage overlooking the forest for five dollars 💆‍♀️🌿, and saw a sunset in Uluwatu that reminded me why I travel 🌇: for these small, real moments that don't fit on Instagram 📸❌.

In the end, Bali wasn't the paradise they promised 🏝️🚫. It was beautiful, yes, but it was also chaotic, tiring, and, at many moments, sad 😔. I felt cheated by the digital packaging 🎁📱. But maybe that's also part of the journey 🛤️: learning to separate the filter from real life 🧠, and continuing to explore with an open heart 💖 — and much more attentive eyes 👀.

Which country can manufacture jet engines?

 Six countries. The US, the UK, France, Russia, Ukraine and China. The most successful manufacturer in the world is Rolls‑Royce of the UK, and the manufacturer of the most high‑end jet engine in the world for fighter jets is Pratt & Whitney of the US.

GE is not as good as Pratt & Whitney in the high‑end engine market, but it is ranked second in both military and civilian markets, and it has Saffron, a joint venture with French Snecma, as its subsidiary. French Snecma seems to have great technology in both civilian and military markets.

Ukraine has the ability to design and manufacture jet engines for very large aircraft. Russia is particularly famous for its durability, although its turbine blade durability is inferior to that of the US and UK. I don't have much information on China. I know that it is a country where the people are very interested in jet engines.

Many dozens of countries can manufacture jet engines, keep in mind jet engines can be built with WWII era fabrication technology using materials that is not even the best available during the 1930s and 1940s. But those jet engines, while still functional jet engines, would be beneath absolute crap by contemporary standard of durability, efficiency, and reliability. If the goal is to manufacture technologically reasonably competitive military or civil engines, the list drastically shortens to just a handful.

Several countries license produce engines designed by others, and probably can build competitive engines of their own given additional investment. These might include Japan and India.

engines designed by others, and probably can build competitive engines of their own given additional investment. These might include Japan and India.

My friend, one of the build supervisors for the first Trent engines at the Rolls‑Royce factory at Ansty, used to put a half‑pence coin on the edge of one of the turbine blades and this micro weight was sufficient to turn the blades. “We didn’t build engines for Rolls‑Royce — we built them for us and they were the best in the world.”

What are some interesting facts about the least known countries in the world?

 Nauru

• Nauru has the world’s highest level of type 2 diabetes, with more than 40% of the population (10,084 in a 2011 census) being affected.
  [1]

• It’s believed that Nauru’s phosphate deposits come from the droppings of seabirds.
  [2]

• John Fearn, the first Western to visit Nauru, named it “Pleasant Island”.

Tajikistan

• Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe means Monday in Tajik, so named because it grew from a village originally having a popular market on Mondays.
  [3]

• Tajikistan has the largest glacier in the world, except for polar areas. The glacier is Fedchenko Glacier.

Azerbaijan

• The first known fireplace and construction in human history was found in Azikh Cave, dating back from 700,000–500,000 years ago.
  [4]

• Neft Dashlar is the first and largest town on stilts to be constructed at sea.

Timor-Leste (East Timor)

• The primary staple food is corn, not rice.
  [5]

• People sending mail to East Timor should include “via Darwin, Australia”, else it may never reach its destination.

Brunei

• Brunei was discovered by Awang Alak Betatar. He said “Baru nah!” which led to the word Brunei.
  [6]

• The 29th Sultan of Brunei was the world’s richest man in 1993.

Kyrgyzstan

• Kyrgyz comes from the Turkic word for “forty”, a reference to the 40 clans of the great Manas. The country’s flag has a 40 ray Sun.
  [7]

• Kyrgyzstan is worth 30 points in Scrabble.

Footnotes

[1] 

Nauru - Wikipedia

[2] 

Nauru Facts - FactsKing.com

[3] 

Interesting facts about Tajikistan

[4] 

10 interesting facts about Azerbaijan!

[5] 

Interesting facts about East Timor - TravelingEast

[6] 

Interesting And Fun Facts About Brunei

[7] 

25 amazing facts about Kyrgyzstan

What are some interesting facts about the least known countries in the world?

 Albania & Kosovo

Albania

• Albanian Flag is one of 5 most interesting flags in the world.

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• Mother Teresa (Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu) is generally celebrated as the only Albanian to win a Nobel Prize, though born in Skopje in 1910 (now in Macedonia but then in the Ottoman Empire)
• But:
• The other Nobel Prize winner of Albanian origin was Ferid Murad (USA) who won the 1998 prize for Medicine. His father was Albanian.

Update: This is a 'gift' from Google, on 28th November 2015, for celebrating Albania's 103rd Birthday.

• The Tirana International airport was named after Mother Teresa in 2001.
• Albania is one of the most rare countries that is almost totally surrounded by its ethnic population: Albanians.

• John Belushi (star of the film The Blues Brothers) and Jim Belushi, also had an Albanian father.
• Albania, Armenia and Vatican City are the only European countries without a McDonald’s branch.
• Albanian Language is a branch by itself in Indo-European languages.
• There are 36 letters in its alphabet, so there's almost no sound we can't articulate. (Yes, dh, th, xh, gj, rr.. all are included)

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• Albanians in Albania (but not Albanians in Kosovo, Macedonia and so on) nod their head up and down to mean ‘no’, and shake it from side to side for ‘yes’.
• During Hoxha's regime, approximately 700.000 bunkers were built all over the country, just in case "the enemies attacked the country, everyone had somewhere to hide in"..
• -Did 'enemies' ever attack it?
• -Which enemies? (They never appeared. So 700.000 bunkers.. were just a waste of money!)

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• For about 10 years (1968-1978), Albania’s only ally in the world was China. After China, Albania had no allies and was basically a more isolated European North Korea until 1991. Today Albania is a parliamentary republic and a member of the United Nations, NATO, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe and the World Trade Organization. It is one of the founding members of the Energy Community, Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation and the Union for the Mediterranean. It is also an official candidate for membership in the European Union.

Some of the Communist regime statues:

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Geography:

KOSOVO (KOSOVA)

• Kosovo or Kosova, is the youngest country in Europe, both by it's 'birthyear' and its population! More than half of whom are aged 25 or under! http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31967471

• South Sudan and Kosovo are the youngest countries in the world!
• It declared unilaterally independence from Serbia in February, 2008 and today is recognized by:
• 111 countries of United Nations,
• 23 out of 28 countries of European Union,
• 7/8 of G8 countries.
• It's historically important, especially because of Battle of Kosovo that took place in 1389.
• More than 90% of its population is ethnically Albanian.
• It had a terrible war with Serbia and had the intervention of NATO during Kosovo War in 1999, and now confirmed, it had about 10.000 losses.

• Pristina, the capital city of Kosovo, is also the largest city of the country. Along with this, it is the nation’s industrial, commercial and cultural centre. The city is densely populated and is home to 500,000 people.
• But the cultural capital is Prizren.

• The climate of Kosovo is continental with warm summers and cold and snowy winters because of its proximity to the Adriatic Sea and the west and mountain ranges to the east.
• The natural resources include lead, zinc, copper, silver, gold, brown coal, bauxite, lignite and nickel. Agriculture, mining and micro-enterprises are the major industries prevailing in the country.
• It is believed that Kosovo has reserves of approximately 14,000 billion tonnes of lignite.

• Kosovo acts as an important link between central and southern Europe
• Kosovo has adopted the €uro unilaterally and uses it as its currency. It is one of two countries outside the Eurozone that uses the Euro; the other country is Montenegro.
• It’s cheap and it’s all in euros
• A cup of coffee costs between fifty cents to one euro depending on the café. A traditional meal can be had for as little as €1.50.
• Kosovo is well connected.
• The most popular connections are with Macedonia’s capital Skopje, Albania, and Belgrade. Highways are free of congestion and flights from low cost carriers to the region are incredibly inexpensive if booked in advance.
• Where's the Best Macchiato in the World? (Hint, It's not in Italy) "It's in Kosovo" says Italian Yahoo Managing Editor.
• Both Albania and Kosovo have Muslim-majority populations, but there is an excellent inter-religious coexistence and harmony.