THE

TRAVEL
BOOK
MichAEL Dubois KATRi hiLDEn JAnE PRicE
the story of
the Travel Book
Everyoneknowswhichistheworldshighestmountain,butdoyouknowwhich
country banned chewing gum? Or whats the worlds stinkiest fruit?
Or who invented roller skates? Or which building leans more than the
Leaning Tower of Pisa? Or where can you eat fried spiders as a snack?

Here at Lonely Planet we decided to make a book about the worlds

countries for children, not parents. The world is a very big place,
and in The Not-for-Parents Travel Book weve concentrated on the really
interesting bits to create a snapshot of what each country is like.
(Warningtoparents:thesemightnotbethesamereallyinterestingbits
thatyoulikewheretobuycoffee,howmanystarsthehotelhas,whats
the phone number for the airport, blah, blah, blah.)

In this book are the epic events, amazing animals,

hideous histories, funky foods and crazy facts
that make the worlds 200 countries so fascinating. Each country
has a page to itself so tiny Tuvalu gets as much space as
superpower USA.

If you want to know all the cool stuff

about every country in the world, turn the page...
Contents
IC A IC A
NoRTH AMER SoUTH AMER

6 Canada 29 Suriname
7 United States of America 30 Guyana
8 Mexico 31 Venezuela
9 Belize 32 Colombia 67 Greece
10 Guatemala 33 Ecuador 68 Macedonia
11 El Salvador 34 Peru 69 Bulgaria
12 Honduras 35 Brazil 70 Romania
13 Nicaragua 36 Bolivia 71 Moldova
14 Costa Rica 37 Paraguay 72 Ukraine
15 Panama 38 Uruguay 73 Hungary
16 Bahamas 39 Argentina 74 Slovakia
17 Cuba 40 Chile 75 Czech Republic
18 Jamaica 76 Poland
19 Haiti 77 Belarus
20 Dominican Republic 78 Lithuania
E U R o PE
21 Saint Kitts & Nevis 79 Latvia
22 Antigua & Barbuda 41 Scotland 80 Estonia
23 Dominica 42 Ireland 81 Russian Federation
24 Saint Lucia 43 Wales 82 Finland
25 Saint Vincent & 44 England 83 Sweden
the Grenadines 45 Portugal 84 Denmark
26 Barbados 46 Spain 85 Norway
27 Grenada 47 Andorra 86 Iceland
28 Trinidad & Tobago 48 France
49 Monaco
50 Netherlands
AFRIC A
51 Belgium
52 Austria 87 Morocco
53 Germany 88 Algeria
54 Luxembourg 89 Tunisia
55 Switzerland 90 Libya
56 Liechtenstein 91 Egypt
57 Italy 92 Sudan
58 San Marino 93 Chad
59 Vatican City 94 Niger
60 Malta 95 Mali
61 Slovenia 96 Mauritania
62 Croatia 97 Cape Verde
63 Bosnia & Hercegovina 98 Senegal
64 Serbia 99 Gambia
65 Montenegro 100 Guinea-Bissau
66 Albania 101 Guinea
 ASIA

140 Georgia 177 Cambodia

141 Azerbaijan 178 Malaysia
142 Armenia 179 Brunei
143 Turkey 180 Singapore
144 Cyprus 181 Indonesia
145 Syria 182 East Timor
146 Lebanon 183 Philippines
102 Sierra Leone 147 Israel 184 Taiwan
103 Liberia 148 Palestine 185 Hong Kong
104 Cte dIvoire (Ivory Coast) 149 Jordan 186 China
105 Burkina Faso 150 Saudi Arabia 187 Mongolia
106 Ghana 151 Yemen 188 North Korea
107 Togo 152 oman 189 South Korea
108 Benin 153 United Arab Emirates 190 Japan
109 Nigeria 154 Qatar
110 Cameroon 155 Bahrain
111 Equatorial Guinea 156 Kuwait
oCE ANIA
112 Central African Republic 157 Iraq
113 So Tom & Prncipe 158 Iran 191 Palau
114 Gabon 159 Turkmenistan 192 Papua New Guinea
115 Republic of Congo 160 Uzbekistan 193 Australia
116 Democratic Republic 161 Kazakhstan 194 New Zealand
of Congo (Zare) 162 Kyrgyzstan 195 Vanuatu
117 Uganda 163 Tajikistan 196 Solomon Islands
118 Kenya 164 Afghanistan 197 Nauru
119 Somalia 165 Pakistan 198 Federated States
120 Ethiopia 166 India of Micronesia
121 Djibouti 167 Sri Lanka 199 Marshall Islands
122 Eritrea 168 Maldives 200 Tuvalu
123 Rwanda 169 Nepal 201 Fiji
124 Burundi 170 Tibet 202 Tonga
125 Tanzania 171 Bhutan 203 Samoa
126 Mozambique 172 Bangladesh 204 Kiribati
127 Malawi 173 Union of Myanmar (Burma) 205 Tahiti & French Polynesia
128 Zambia 174 Thailand
129 Angola 175 Laos 206 World Map
130 Namibia 176 Vietnam
131 Botswana
132 Zimbabwe
133 South Africa
134 Swaziland
135 Lesotho
136 Madagascar
137 Seychelles
138 Comoros & Mayotte
139 Mauritius
 NORTH AMeRiCA

MexiCO
Mexico City
Have a bash A piata is a big, bright clay or
papier-mch figure, filled with toys and treats
and hung from a big string. Kids take turns
whacking it with a stick so all the treats fall out.
AT ES OF AM
ER ICA O
fficial language:
UN ITE D ST
Mexican Spanish
Tijuana Population: 111,211,789

y Fac
ts ) a year.
0cm (4in
Currency: Mexican pesos
Cr a z ink ing b y 1
City is s ed with
Chihuahua G u l f o f Area: 1,900,000 sq km
Mexico o war arm
t t nemies.
M e x i c
o (733,594 sq miles) en
e w
La Paz
cie n t T oltec trib u ld n t k ill their e
The an they wo
Mrida

ords so n Spain.
Mexico City BE LIZ E
woo de n s w
ing p e ople tha
ishtalk st dog,
ore Span
A
Acapulco GU AT EM AL

o h a s m ld s smalle
Mexic r
SA LV AD OR
EL
e w o
wa) is th ruler.
I C
P A C I F

ih u ah u a (chi wa 6 in ) h ig h half a
O C E A N
The ch (
out 15cm water ca
ves.
w in g o nly to ab t u n der
gro e longes
HOLA (oll ah) Mexico
has th e w orlds thre

The sun in Mexico is very hot, so dont forget to wear a

sombrero and do a Mexican hat dance. The people love
They grow
eating chocolate chicken (called chicken mole), tacos and Imagine g
on you
rowing a n
hot chillies but also you can gobble fly eggs that you Axolotls ca ew leg!
n. These w
mix with chopped cactus to make a fly-egg omelette! fish are re
ally salam
alking
can regro a nd ers and
Before Hernn Cortes landed in 1519 and claimed the w hurt bo
dy bits.
land for Spain, the Maya and Aztecs sacrificed people
to the gods. Sadly, diseases brought by the
Spanish wiped out 20 million more.

Taco

Hideous History
Stuff
S c ar y
Heads Up
At Chichn itz
there is a Happy hat Sombreros are big Day of

where players straw hats you can wear, or put on
the Dead
huge ball court the ground and dance around.
it a 5kg (11lb)
would try to h every 2 November
r perhaps a
rubber ball o Counting the days the dead come back to
human head Chichn Itz is an old py
ramid with say hello. Not a horror
through high 365 steps one for eac
h day of movie, but a happy day
stone hoops.
the year. In spring and
autumn,
a shadow shaped like a as people put out food,
Losers were down the steps to join
snake slides
a stone flowers and treats in their
put to death! snake head at the botto
m. (For homes for their dead pals
another New Wonder of
the World, to enjoy. Some light candles
see the Taj Mahal on pa
ge 166.)
in graveyards and sing and
dance together.

Heads through
here, please. F THe
ONe ONDERS
WO
NEW He WORLD
OF T

8
 NORTH AMeRiCA

WORLD
'S TOP 5
t
Now hear this Howler monkeys
are one of the loudest animals BeLize
Loudesls in the world. Their growls can be Belmopan
Anima
heard 5km (3 miles) away.
ME XIC O
p: O
fficial language:
e r p is tol shrim english Orange Walk
1. Tig ic Ocean
nt Population: 307,899
Atla San Pedro
:
whale Currency: Belizean
2. Blue s oceans dollars Belize City
world
nkey:
ler mo a Area: 22,966 sq km Belmopan
3 . H o w ric
h Ame (8867 sq miles)
Sout GU AT EM AL
A
Dangriga
wolf:
4. grey America
r th
No a, india CARIBBEA
nt: Afric
N
le p ha
5. e Punta Gorda
SEA

HO ND UR AS

ARRigHT? (arr rite?)

Tiny Belize has one of the worlds least populated
capital cities, Belmopan, with only 20,000 people. Maybe
there are so few people because Belize is the home of
el Sisimito, a mythical creature with backwards feet and
lling with a fis
h no knees that eats human flesh! Jaguars and pumas
e Imagine snorke
Whale of a tim you are! Whale sharks can grow lurk in the countrys jungles, which hide hundreds of
g as u.
10 times as bi ey wont eat yo Mayan ruins, some of them 4000 years old. The sea is
an 12 m (39f t) long, but th
more th
also full of life the Belize Barrier Reef is the worlds
second largest, after Australias great Barrier Reef.

Stuff t!
S c ar y Queen eats Ra
e in 1985,
ue en eliz ab eth ii visited Beliz
When Q led a gibnut,
was ser ve d a local rodent cal
she t
s a bit like a gian
hich som e p eople say look it.
w bb
il. it tastes like ra
rat without a ta

Hole Lot of Water

The Great Blue Ho
le on Lighthouse
300m (984ft) wide Reef is
and 130m (427ft)
so big you can se de ep. Its
e it from outer sp
of bright corals, co ac e! Its full
lourful fish and
sharks.

nes
Sparkling Bo
e
to r y e gods in th
is ce d h umans to th
us H
eo Ancient May
a sa crifi
000 years ag
o, a d
n
i d o re th an 1
Lizard lunch In Belize, they call H aves m leton of a
hil Muknal c en is the ske
iguana meat bamboo chicken. Actun Tunic ry st al M ai d
he C ones sparkle
.
e still there. T tim, whose b
They grow big green iguanas on the bones ar ac rifice vic
probably a s
farms to eat them.
teenage girl,
9