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.
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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.