b'DID YOU KNOW? JONATHAN VAN BILSENFor those of us who love to (or live to) travel, this year has been a disaster. I have hada lengthy trip to South Korea booked for exactly a year and have postponed it twice.Now, sadly, I will not leave for the Asian Peninsula until September of next year.As sad as it is, being safe is the priority.During my many travels I have come across and noted several interesting facts about our planet and thought they may be of interest to you during this time of sequestration.Indonesia has the shortest people in the world. The Canary Islands are not named after birds. Tokyo is the largest city in the world.When travelling, pronouncing placeEveryonehasafavouritedestina- in the world. When taking both gen-names can be a challenge, especiallytion, but have you ever wondered whichders into account, the average adult if you are in New Zealand, home of thecountrieshavethelargestnumberofis around 157 centimetres (5 feet, 1.8 longest place name in the world, thetourist visits? If your guess was France,inches)tall.PeopleinBoliviadont townofTaumatawhakatangihangako- you would have been correct. With overtend to be much taller, with an aver-auauotamateaturipukakapikimaunga- 87 million visitors in 2017, it is rankedage adult height of 158.5 cm or 5 feet, horonukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu,isanumber one. Spain was a close second,2.4 inches. The tallest people amongnd perfect example. Try andthat onfollowed by the US, China and Italy. us live in the Netherlands, where the your GPS. average adult height is 182 cm (6 feet), If you have ever been to the Canarywhich at 5 feet 9 inches makes me a Speakingoflanguages,thereareIslands you have to wonder where all thepretty short Dutchman.1.15billionpeopleintheworldwhocanaries are? It seems the place was speakMandarin,makingitthemostnot named for the small, chirpy, yellowTokyo is a booming city - not only popular language on the planet. birds, but instead is named after dogs.by Japanese standards, but also com- Because the archipelago is actually partpared to cities around the world. With One of the most popular soft drinksof Spain, the Spanish name is Islas Ca- around 37 million people living in To-anywhere,isofcourse,CocaCola.narias, which comes from a Latin phrasekyo, it is the worlds largest city when There are two countries where it is im- for island of dogs. Gogure! it comes to population size, according possible to purchase this popular drink, toReuters.Thenextlargestcityis Cuba and North Korea. Like anywhere,IhavecomeacrossshortpeopleDelhi, India, (population 29 million) and if you have enough money, and are will- andtallpeopleeverywhereIhaveShanghai, China with 26 million).ing to take a risk, I am sure you will bebeen,butsurprisingly,Indonesiais able tond some. home to some of the shortest peoplePlease turn to page 72FOCUS - DECEMBER 202071'