Shantaram

I live in a small country (the UK). I’ve always lived in a small country, and I like the fact that I live in a small country. It’s manageable: while I obviously haven’t visited every city and every hamlet, I can say that I’ve been to every corner, heard most local dialects, and tried a lot of local delicacies. It’s my country: I feel at ease here, comfortable even, and I could do a reasonable job as a tourist guide, I reckon.

Conversely, big countries unsettle me a bit. In the last ten years I’ve visited 3 big countries: the USA, China and Australia. As an eighties child I grew up watching a lot of American TV, which meant that I was already familiar with the USA before I visited. I’ve spent time in NYC, Florida, Texas, New Orleans and California but I don’t feel like I know the country at all well – I’m fully aware that there are effectively 50 countries, not 50 states.

I’ve spent time in a lot of Australia cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Cairns, Alice Springs, Canberra, Brisbane) and several places on the direct routes between these cities, but I’m also well aware that there is a lot of Australia outside of these places (in terms of geography, more so than people). In fact, there is a lot of unexplored Australia in general: it’s a country with depth, and I’ve only scratched the surface.

To complete the trilogy, in 2009 I spent 10 days in Beijing, partly on a work trip. At the time I thought I was getting a taste of China. Since returning I’ve gradually realised that I barely got a taste of Beijing. More so than perhaps any other country, there is A LOT of China. It spans several time zones, several very different dialects and even the cuisine is very different from one end of the country to the other (this is something that UK diners are now realising: restaurants are starting to open up devoted to particular types of Chinese cuisine, especially in London).

So to summarise my experiences so far: small countries are good, big countries are bad.