Russia!

Ah, Russia. The country that has given us SO much laughter, amazement and rage.

This is a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and North Asia, that is widely considered to be the largest country in the World, measuring a WHOPPING 6,612,073 square miles. The population of Russia is 146,793,744 people, making it the 9th most populous country in the World. The President is Vladimir Putin.

The official currency is Rubles, which is not worth a lot. 1 Ruble is 16 US cents, so if you want to invest in property, there's your shot!

Russia is a PAINFULLY beautiful country, once you get out into the countryside. I mean, look at this!


This is the Sayan Mountains, in the southern part of Russia

Besides breathtaking beauty, Russia is also known for this:



YouTube is packed with stuff like this! I once asked my old co-worker Ivan (that was his real name, by the way) from Russia, why they drive like that. He told me, that Russian people are very proud, so nobody can tell them anything or make them do anything. If a Russian wants to drive through the gap 3 inches too small for his car, he's gonna drive through it, dammit!

It might also have something to do with driving schools being corrupt. There are driving rules in Russia, but they are being ignored - spectacularly.

Now, being that we are talking about Russia, we HAVE to talk about the elephant in the room - alcohol!

You see, Russia has some of the cheapest alcohol you can buy. 0.5 liters of quality vodka is $3.01 The government raised the prices three years ago. Back then, the same bottle of vodka would cost you $2.8.. So, they have raised the price by 31 cents. For a bottle of vodka. No wonder they drive like in the video above.

I know, alcohol might not be the only factor in the bad driving. They could also just be, you know, bad drivers. Every country has them, even the US and Denmark. I have seen plenty of dash cam footage from both Denmark and USA to know, that bad drivers exist everywhere. The reason, why we see so many from Russia, is because that Russian drivers were the first to install dash cams, because of the many false injury claims that people put forward.

Of course, this post isn't just going to praise Russia. It's also going to be a bit critical. So let's begin with that, shall we?

Russia has had some bad examples when it comes to treatment of people. They are notorious for running gulags, which was the government agency in charge of the Soviet forced-labour camp-system that was set up under Vladimir Lenin and reached its peak during Joseph Stalin's rule from the 1930s to the early 1950s. Gulag is actually an acronym: Glavnoye Upravleniye Lagerei, which translates to Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps. The gulags were brutal! If you want to read about them, click this link here, but I warn you: It's strong stuff, man!



I have never been to Russia, but some of my family has. They thought it was interesting, but they would never want to go back.

So there we have it - some info about Russia! Have you ever been to Russia?