Do it to it

Today, we reached Muscat, Oman, without interference by the mighty Iranian Navy.

More to tell later, but for now suffice to say that being here has opened my eyes a great deal and that this may well be in my top five favorite ports of the world. It puts a lot of things into perspective, and makes me realize that things like the controversy a few years back in which the Dubai Ports Authority was denied a contract to run a major US port because they're an Arabian Country is like denying a European country a contract because Hitler was from there. Dubai Ports run ISRAELI ports, for goodness sake... if THEY trust them... anyway. I have had my horizons tangibly broadened lately.

The more important thing, the thing I sat down to write about on this late night, and the thing I think most of you will find most informative:

Mountain Dew around the world, a comparison.

It is hard to find Mountain Dew in most places outside the US. It is like gold when you do find it, you hoard it as best you can. Lately, I have been in a few ports where it is available.

First, let me point out that it - and every other soda - is better tasting, cleaner tasting outside the US manufacture because it is made with actual sugar instead of corn syrup. This makes a difference, it really does. That can't be helped inside the US, and thank the corn and sugar lobbies for making that true. Seriously, read up on it. . . I digress...

In Russia, you can say "Mountain Dew" without much response, but if you say what amounts to "Mee-untin Diuh" they know what you mean. Same thing, just with an accent. Seriously.

In Spain, their Mountain Dew is rare and a little bit bitter, relatively speaking.

Recently, I found Mountain Dew in China and India - my first experiences with it since the USA last year. Anyway, it's pretty much same same in China, but in India... well, let's compare and contrast India's Mountain Dew with Oman's.

The small can above is the 300ml Indian version. They cannot handle their highly caffeinated beverages, it seems, which is odd because I drank coffee at a lot of coffee shops there, and bought some nice fresh coffee beans there. In Oman, the Arabian version is 355ml, which proves that they are indeed a good a decent people worthy of our respect.