Turkey

I've decided to take a break from Polynesia, so I thought that I'd do a country that sounds very interesting to me, and that country is Turkey.

CUISINE
Most meals in rural parts of Turkey are eaten on a sini, which is a large tray. This sini is mostly called a replacement for tables. This is because it was once traditional and citizens still live to that tradition to this day. Your average Turkish breakfast consists of cheese, veggies, eggs, jam, honey, and kaymak which is a central Asian dairy product that is similar to clotted cream. Now, time for the dishes, that excludes kaymak of course. A simit is a circular bread covered in sesame seeds and is kind of like a bagel but much more healthier. The Kofta is Middle Eastern meatball/meatloaf, which usually consists of ground beef or lamb and also have some spices and/or onions. Our final dish is the Doner Kebab, which is lamb cooked on a rotating vertical pole. Now if you ask me this stuff sounds really good and these dishes that I just told you about are actually commonly sold at fast food restaurants in Turkey! So this sounds good now let's look at attra- oh my god.

ATTRACTIONS
HOLY MOTHER OF BUTTS THIS IS AMAZING, WHY AM I STILL HERE!?!?!? I WANT TO GO THERE RIGHT NOW!!!!! Okay, there is the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul which is one of the largest and the oldest covered markets in the world. It contains 61 covered streets and over 3,000 shops that sell pretty much everything! Then there is the Temple Of Artemis, an ancient Greek temple dedicated to the goddess Artemis, and did you know it's one of the seven wonders of the world? The final attraction is the Saklikent Canyon and is one of the deepest canyons, people are also allowed to swim in the waters of the canyon!

PEOPLE
Official language of Turkey is Turkish, that's it, with one exception. 17% of the people of Turkey speak English. The currency of Turkey, the Turkish Lira, equals roughly 2.50 US Dollars. But Turkey isn't all chuckles and sunshine. There are many dangers such as pickpockets, tap water that could make you sick, and a big warning for women, you're most likely going to be harassed a lot according to over 100 people.

 

Okay, Turkey's final score is a...

 

52.13

 

 

 

Nope, nope, nope, nope. This isn't that good of a place if you take into consideration the people. Nope.

Polynesia - The Biggest Post - Part 2

Norfolk Island

CUISINE
The island's staple food is seafood regardless of the region, most restaurants, especially in Kingston, serve seafood shortly after it's caught. Although there are some aspects of Tahitian and Polynesian influence in the culture, nearly everything was influenced by the Australians because not many people were there throughout the island's history. Also fun fact about Norfolk Island, this island is one of very few nations outside the US that celebrates Thanksgiving so the dishes here might be typical American stuff. The first dish is the Pilhi Anna, a type of pie from Norfolk Island where you bake milk with Kumera on top and is somehow supposed to solidify the milk in a good way. Another baked good on Norfolk Island is the Coconut Loaf, which is a bread type of thing that contains coconut, and once again your simply baking milk. The person who posted this recipe online said that it was the easiest loaf they've ever made. Also remember how the islanders celebrate Thanksgiving? Well the people don't just eat a feast, they sell produce to raise money for church upkeep which is kind of nice.

ATTRACTIONS
One of the most popular things to do in Norfolk Island is visit Anson Coffee, a place where they make coffee out of 100% Arabica Coffee. You can try their coffee at a local café or search for a Fred's Coffee van at the Sunday Markets. Speaking of which, there's the Sunday market, where there is catering for customers and a local supply of *Takes a deep breath* fresh fruits, fresh veggies, cut flowers, home cooking, craft and souvenir items, books, jewelry, stamps, post cards and so much more! It occurs every Sunday on Burnt Pine, Taylors Road, Norfolk Island! Man, and that was only one fourth of the stuff they said on the Norfolk Island website. Now there are so many attractions on this island I could spend 3 parts just on Norfolk Island but instead, here's a link given by the people of Norfolk Island of what to do in Norfolk Island: http://www.norfolkisland.com.au/things-to-do/attractions

PEOPLE
Okay, before I say anything about the people of Norfolk Island, try and guess how many total murders there where this century... Give up? 2. That's right, in fact, the first murder of the 21st century was the first murder since 1893, now that is some high standards. Anyways, this island has two official languages, Norfuk and English. But don't worry, Norfuk is based off of English and Tahitian so you might be able to make out what some people are saying, but English is the dominant and more common language of the island. The currency of Norfolk Island is an Australian Dollar which is about 1 US Dollar so Norfolk Island is another great place for Americans!

Norfolk Island's final score is...
89.1

Easter Island

CUISINE
To sum up the cuisine of Easter Island, think of a lot of seafood, now add in some Chilean influence which is mostly just Spanish stuff, that is what your average Easter Islander eats almost everyday. But it's not as bad as you think, for example the people of Easter Island really love empanadas, specifically the Tuna Patty. The Tuna Patty is a fried empanada filled with fresh tuna, it is also often stuffed with cheese and/or tomatoes. Certain sources state that you cannot visit Easter Island without trying one of these and more sources say that they make an ideal snack for islanders. After that you might want some cake and what kind of cake do these Islanders love? Sponge Cake, or better yet, the Po'e. The Po'e is a soft, sweet, and spongy cake and it is made of pumpkin, flour, and plantain. The last dish on Easter Island we'll be talking about is similarly cooked as if you were in American Samoa, the Umu Rapa Nui which is fish cooked with many fruits and vegetables to season and let some of the juices enter the fish. It is baked in an umu similar to American Samoa and is just like seafood but more flavors occur.

ATTRACTIONS
You wouldn't be surprised if I told you that every single part of Easter Island except a small portion of it's western side is just a National Park, remember to take that literally because the entire island except for the small city portion in the west is purely the Rapa Nui National Park. Now every part of the island has these stone statues so theoretically the entire island is an attraction. That is all I have to say because, not much is there at all but what is there is amazing.

PEOPLE
The two official languages are Spanish and Rapa Nui. No catches, no buts, that's it. Currency's a different story though. There they use the Chilean Peso, you want to know how many Chilean Pesos equals one US Dollar? It equals 621.50 CHILEAN PESOS. THAT IS INSANE!!! That just took Easter Island down a couple of pegs.

Easter Island's final score is...
72.3

Polynesia - The Biggest Post - Part 1

Ever heard of Polynesia? Well it's commonly referred to as the Polynesian Triangle and is the largest of the three major cultural groups in the pacific, it includes islands ranging from New Zealand to Hawaii. That gives you an idea of how big Polynesia is because New Zealand's northern most islands is roughly 4,606 miles from Hawaii which makes me think that this could be it's own entire continent. Which is why I plan to evaluate every single island of Polynesia excluding Hawaii because that's apart of the US. So let's do this!

French Polynesia

CUISINE
As we all know, the French are very fancy. But before I go on, this country encompasses over 10 different islands just so you know. Anyways, a blog called Countries And Their Cultures described the cuisine of FP as mostly Polynesian Seafood and French-Inspired Recipes. Now this may sound good until take in to consideration that the French kind of like to stuff everything in their mouths. For example this recipe in French Polynesia which was mostly inspired by the French.

Vanilla Scented Sweet Potatoes Cream
Servings: 6
Ingredients:
800 g sweet white potatoes
1 vanilla been
150 g sugar
2 glasses lukewarm water or milk
Cooking Instructions:
Ready all the ingredients and tools. Clean the potatoes and cook them unpeeled in slightly sugared water for 30 to 40 min. The potatoes have to be well cooked (the skin breaks and gets loose). Drain and peel. Mix the potatoes with the sugar and the vanilla (only the seeds inside the vanilla been) and a little water. Add water according to the consistency required and add sugar according to taste. Chill before serving. Serve the cream in cups.

That sounds both appetizing and disgusting, think about it. You're stuffing cups of cream into your mouth hole and that cream smells like vanilla, was made in milk, and mostly consists of potatoes. I want that but I'll regret it, I don't care just give a glass! Now a popular food in French Polynesia is called a Poe and no matter how much I researched, I could not find a single definition of what a Poe was. So I'm going to give it a definition based off of it's ingredients. So a Poe is a bunch of natural ingredients cooked together, it will (Based off of the recipes I have) always contain some form of coconut, 200 g of Manioc Starch, Castor Sugar, and soupspoon oil. I can't make out what it'll be like so here is two Poe recipes.

Taro Poe
Servings: 6
Ingredients:
3 taros
1 banana leaf
1 pineapple
500 g manioc starch
1 soupspoon oil
Castor sugar
1 vanilla been
2 grated coconuts
Cooking Instructions:
Weight and prepare all ingredients. Wash and peel the taro and the pineapple. Cut the taro into cubes and cook in sugar water (1 soupspoon). Coarsely grate the pineapple. Prepare the banana leaf in passing it rapidly over a flame to soften it, brush with oil. Press the out the coconut mild and put aside. Drip the cooked taro and mash. Check the quantity of the taro � for 2 volumes taro, add 1 volume starch and ½ volume sugar. The quantity of sugar can be adjusted according to taste. Mix well and add the vanilla (inside of been only). Spread the �poe� in the middle of the banana leaf. Fold carefully and put on a slightly oiled baking sheet of in a mound. Bake in the oven at 150o to 175o  (Pos. 5-6) for about 45 min. Careful, the banana leaf will smell burnt however the �poe� might not be cooked yet. Check the cooking. Once baked remove from the oven and unfold the banana leaf carefully. Put the �poe� on a service plate and cut, pour the coconut milk. Serve with coconut milk to add.

Banana Poe
Servings: 6
Ingredients:
6 cooking bananas
1 banana leaf
200 g manioc starch
1 soupspoon oil
Castor sugar
1 vanilla been
200 ml coconut milk
Cooking Instructions:
Prepare all ingredients. Wash and cook the bananas with skin in water for 15 min. check the cooking. Prepare the banana leaf in passing it rapidly over a flame to soften it, brush with oil. Drip the cooked bananas, peel then mash. Check the quantity � for 2 volumes banana, add 1 volume starch and ½ volume sugar. The quantity of the sugar can be adjusted according to taste and ripeness of the bananas. Mix well and add the vanilla (inside of the been only). Spread the �poe� in the middle of the banana leaf. Fold carefully and put on a slightly oiled baking sheet or in a mould. Bake in the oven at 160o to 175o  (Pos. 5-6) for about 45 min. Careful, the banana leaf will smell burnt however the �poe� might not be cooked yet. Check the cooking. Unfold the banana leaf carefully. Put the �poe� in a plate, cut into large dices and pour ¾ of the coconut milk. Serve with the remaining quarter of the coconut milk.

ATTRACTIONS
Okay, I am not kidding there literally only 5 points of interest and 3 of them are museums and those three museums are the Robert Wan Pearl Museum, the Paul Gaugin Museum, and the one museum I'll be focusing on, Musée de Tahiti et des Îles. Which is something for a language that I don't know. It is a museum that was made to conserve and restore Polynesian artifacts and cultural practices. It's purely an ethnographic museum meaning that it focuses on, well, people and culture. Sorry for the short attraction part but there's not much to cover here.

PEOPLE
No joke, official language is French. That's it. The only minorities there are lower than 1% and you'll probably never encounter these like 5 people that speak Tahitian or something. The economy there isn't as simple as everybody does this though. The currency of French Polynesia is the CFP Franc which is the worst possible currency you could have right now because 1 US Dollar equals about 100 CFP Franc, so it's a good idea to bring your own money there because you'll probably be the richest person on the island you're on. Oh, and thank the lord that the murder rate is 3.4, to give an idea of how amazing that is, the US's murder rate as of 2010 was a 9.8 which makes no sense because French Polynesia  has no competence in justice, education, safety, and defense. That should mean that the streets should be running rapid down the street and yet there isn't.

French Polynesia earns a
44

American Samoa

CUISINE
Okay so Sunday is a day of rest of the people of American Samoa, where many families would congregate and share a umu which is a hot oven of rocks, they place foods on these rocks to cook the food, together and have a Sunday afternoon meal. Sometimes for this meal, they place entire pigs in the umu along with mushrooms. But the most popular ingredient in Samoan dishes is coconut, for example the palusami, a parcel of coconut cream wrapped in taro leaves and they then bake it in the umu. The palusami is eaten whole including the leaves and is rich in taste due to the coconut filling. So after some research I found that somebody in the US made Keke Puaa which is little dough balls filled with a filling made of pork, onions, garlic, and soy sauce. In fact you may find Keke Puaa in many Chinese restaurants. A popular drink among American Samoans is the Vaimeleni, a watermelon drink made of mostly fruits and coconuts.

ATTRACTIONS
There is a park called the National Park Of American Samoa, it shows you mainly what an everyday south pacific island would look like in the wilderness, it contains sights, sounds, and experiences you could never experience in the US. A famous beach in American Samoa is the Ofu Beach which is described by many as a true paradise and by others as a marine version of the National Park of American Samoa. Our final attractions is another popular beach, the two dollar beach. One person went to the beach when it was raining but the beach was still amazing! Another person went snorkeling their and the water was very shallow and was just the perfect snorkeling level! The two dollar beach is very famous for it's snorkeling and marine life, there always schools of tropical fish around and with the right equipment, you might want to bring a camera or get water proof case for your phone!

PEOPLE
The currency is, duh, the US Dollar, so that's good for us. The official language is English and 80% of this territory speaks English so that's even better for us. So for the US, American Samoa is worth living in.

American Samoa earns a
97.6

Papua New Guinea

CUISINE
According to Recipe Wiki, Papuan cuisine is extremely varied but the staple foods are rice, sago which is a starch found in sago palms, and sweet potatoes. Each of these food are often served with seafood, game, pork, and even several greens. But almost all the time the basic foods that Papuans eat are what I call light foods, as in foods that are simple and tend to not be heavy on the calories or any sort of thing you'd see on the back of a box of chocolates or orange juice. Some of these foods are every type of rice, some sort of starch, chicken, fish, and foods that have a light color. So first off for the dishes is Muli Wara, which is a Papuan styled lemonade. Sadly I could not find a recipe for Muli Wara but Wikipedia says that muli means citrus, so, got that going. Next up is Papuan Style Baked Sweet Potatoes, here's a recipe!

Ingredients

Nutrition

Servings 4-6 Units US

• 3 cups cooked sweet potatoes, mashed
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons finely sliced onions
• 3 eggs
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon milk
• salt and pepper (to taste)

Directions

1. After mashing the cooked sweet potato, mix in the butter, onion, milk, cinnamon, salt and pepper to taste.
2. Separate the egg whites from the yolks.
3. Beat them separately. Fold the egg yolks into the mashed potato followed by the egg whites.
4. Place mixture in a greased baking dish.
5. Brush the top with butter and bake in the oven with the dish placed in a pan of water for 30 to 35 minutes at 325°F

Lastly is the Yam Patty, a deep fried mixture of ingredients including flour, eggs, and even but obviously yams!

ATTRACTIONS
Roughly 99% of the attractions in Papua New Guinea are actually natural and the 1%? It's just a show performed by a tribe which we'll start on! The Goroka Show is the largest and most well known tribal gathering in Papua New Guinea, it's a Sing-sing held every year near the country's independence day in the town of Goroka. Next up is the Milne Bay, a GINORMOUS bay of water in the Milne Bay Province. It is roughly 35 kilometers long and over 15 kilometers wide! The bay was the site of the Battle Of Milne Bay during WW2 and the Milne Bay became the major support base for Japan's New Guinea Campaign. The biggest reason why the US won the battle and prevented Japan's expansion in Papua New Guinea was because Malaria spread incredibly quick throughout the country and Malaria was a very severe case in the Milne Bay and the US kept their troops sanitary while several Japanese soldiers died of disease making a big turn in the fight between Japan and the US. So this big and beautiful bay has some dark yet interesting backstory. Finally, is the stratovolcano known as Tavurvur. One second, a stratovolcano is a volcano that tends to explode quite often. Anyways, it lies near Rabul on the island of New Britain and is quite amazing. Unless it happens to erupt. Which it did in 1937 leading to the death of 508. It's only safe to visit when there are no clouds around or when it's not about to erupt.

PEOPLEPapua New Guinea's 3 official languages are Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu, and thank the lord, English. But there is a catch, only 1 to 2% of Papua New Guinea speaks English. That is it for language, currency is also simple. 2.64 US Dollars is 1 Papua New Guinea Kina, simple as that.

Okay, final score time.

Papua New Guinea earns a...

 

67.29

 

You see Papua New Guinea didn't fare so well in any of the categories which is why is was about to give it a 50 but then I remembered the cool attractions which made me want to give it an 80 but only two attractions were actually cool, everything else was just a volcano or something you could see in like Mississippi or somewhere in the US. Which is why I gave it a 60. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Papua New Guinea, our first Purple!

Netherlands

CUISINE
So after some research the three most popular foods in the Netherlands is bread, potatoes, and cheese. In fact, the Netherlands loves cheese so much that there is a cheese market that sells cheese and only cheese by the wheel. No kidding.

I am just dying right now. This is just too funny. I can't even, I CAN'T EVEN, I CAN'T EVEN!!! This is just too good to be true. Okay, ahem, Wikipedia describes Dutch cuisine as simple, that is it. I'm in heaven right now! Okay so three dishes, first off is Bitterballen which sounds so cute and it is because it is just a deep fried ball of tender and savory filling and is typically served with beef, chicken, or mushrooms. It is so cute you just want to kiss it. Next is a treat that represents Holland; one of Netherlands' cities: Stroopwafels. Everything here just has an adorable name! Okay, Holland is considered the land of cookies and the Stroopwafel might as well be on the flag of Holland. A stroopwafel is 2 cookies with a creamy caramel center. Need I say more? So the final dish is no exception when it comes to cute names, it's the worstenbroojes! A worstenbrooje is basically bread bake around meat so it's like a corn dog but it has the meat already in the bread! Chefs from the Netherlands are GENIUSES!!!

ATTRACTIONS
Remember when I said China was the country of COLORS? Well Amsterdam is the city of COLORS. Because this, is Amsterdam:

Yeah, beautiful isn't it? Oh I shouldn't ask BECAUSE THAT IS UNDENIABLY AWESOME IT'S JUST SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPYALIDOCIOUS!!!!!! *cough* Sorry. So aside from being FABULOUS, it is home to the Van Gogh Museum which is called an extraordinary experience by one critic and a cool museum by another. A really cool music hall in the Netherlands is the Heineken Music Hall which has a capacity of 5500 people and is 3000 square meters! It is located in, you guessed, Amsterdam! The music hall was also specifically designed for amplified music which is the formal name for ROCK AND ROLL!!! Finally is a theme park in Biddinghuizen, Netherlands called Walibi Holland which consists of rides such as the speed of sound, el condor, Xpress, goliath, and robin hood. It is ranked on average 4.5 out of 5 according to Google Reviews.

PEOPLE
Now the average person from the Netherlands would speak Dutch but there are other languages such as French, Papiamento, and luckily, English. But unlike every other country that only has one area that speaks English or there are very few of them around but English is an exception in the Netherlands. You see someone in the Netherlands will most likely be able to answer simple questions like "Which way to the bathroom?" and "How for this taco?" because English is considered an official language but Dutch is the highest priority language in the Netherlands and English is the highest spoken foreign language with a whopping 87%, but there is once again an exception.  Although not many people will be able to speak English fluently, but if you're in Saba and Sint Eustatius which are two of the Netherlands' colonies in the Caribbean, then kick back and relax because the majority of those islands speak English.

Okay so I thought about this and I need to add something to People, currency. You see it's not easy living or even visiting a country that is in debt or experiencing inflation which is why I now need to stress the importance of knowing what is going on in the country. Thankfully, there are two currencies used in the Netherlands; the US Dollar and the Euro. Now that makes things easier for Americans and certain Europeans because they can use their home land's currency. But if you start to think a lot then you start to think of the confusion of calculating a US Dollar to a Euro or vise-versa if you've only worked with one currency and a sign says 1.2 Euros or US Dollars. Don't worry because one US Dollar equals 0.89 Euros, which is slightly easier to calculate than the fact that 1 US Dollar equals over 100 Yen in Japan, whatever, the Netherlands is great for Americans and it's territories too.

 

Okay, this is an easy one.

The Netherlands' final score is...

 

99.12

 

Holy crap this was a great one, I love the Netherlands. I want to go there so bad right now.