S02E03: Seychelles Audio

Welcome to our third episode in season 2 of 80 Days: an exploration podcast. Today we will be looking at the little island paradise of the Seychelles, a country made up of an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. This former British colony has a population of just over 90,000, the smallest of any independent African state, and lies 1,500 kilometres (or 932 miles) off East Africa.

Your hosts are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Hong Kong, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in the UK, and Joe Byrne@anbeirneach in Switzerland. (Theme music by Thomas O’Boyle)

http://media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/content.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/S02E03-Seychelles.mp3

Like neighbouring Madagascar, the islands are best known for their unique geology and diverse wildlife populations. White sand beaches and clear blue oceans abound here, in what was once a haven for pirates marauding throughout the Indian Ocean. A tropical rainforest climate ensures that the islands are hot and humid year-round. Victoria, the capital city of Seychelles, is the smallest capital in the entire world, with a population of around 27,000 and the country today is one of the most prosperous in all of Africa.

Table of Contents:

Hindu temple (credit: Murat Dagdeler)Key Facts

Local fishmarket (credit: Murat Dagdeler)

Music:

And now you can check out some of the main reference links for the podcast. It’s a red letter day for you and no mistake.

And here’s the coco de mer that got us all so… excited. Think you can see why.

Thanks to Rob Curran & Krista Phillips for their generous Kickstarter support. You guys are heroes.

And a massive thank you, as always to our sponsor Hairy Baby, makers of the funniest Irish-themed clothing. Remember to get a 10% discount off anything you buy on their website (www.hairybaby.com) by using our special promo code, read out during the episode. We recommend the 80 Days official tee.

S02E02 Easter Island Audio

Welcome to our second episode in season 2 of 80 Days: an exploration podcast. Today we will be exploring the fascinating history and culture of Easter Island.

Named by Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, on Easter Sunday in 1722, the island is best known for the 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, which were built by the early Rapa Nui people. The island is one of the most isolated in the world, lying more than 1,289 miles from its nearest inhabited neighbour, and almost 2,200 miles from the closest continental point, in Chile. The tiny volcanic island consists of just 163.6 km2 or 63.2 sq mi, making it roughly twice the size of Manhattan. The native population, the Rapa Nui, have endured famines, disease, population collapse, civil war, slave raids and colonial power struggles, and the island was most recently annexed by Chile in 1888. Today, Easter Island is home to around 6,000 people, the majority of whom are descended from the original Rapa Nui settlers.

http://media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/content.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/S02E02-EasterIsland.mp3

The flag of Rapa Nui (aka Easter Island)

Your hosts are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Hong Kong, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in the UK, and Joe Byrne@anbeirneach in Switzerland. (Theme music byThomas O’Boyle) Our guest contributor this week is Dr Mara Mulrooney (Bishop Museum, Honolulu).

If an almost 2 hour podcast doesn’t sufficiently wet your knowledge whistle as it were, feel free to get into some of the bits and pieces from around the internet that we used for background research.

But before that please feast your eyes on the ill-advised result of Mark’s Moai instagram photoshoot.

And now you can check out some of the main reference links for the podcast!

Thanks this week to backers Nick Ison and Alec Richman. And a massive thank you, as always to our sponsor Hairy Baby, makers of the funniest Irish-themed clothing. Remember to get a 10% discount off anything you buy on their website (www.hairybaby.com) by using our special promo code, read out during the episode. We recommend the 80 Days official tee.

S02E01 Singapore audio

Welcome to Season 2 of 80 Days: an exploration podcast. Today we will be exploring the fascinating history and culture of Singapore , the lion city. This tiny island city-state is home to 5.5 million people and is located just off the southern tip of the Malay peninsula, one degree north of the equator. It’s a country without seasons, remaining hot and humid year-round, and gained full independence just 51 years ago, although it wasn’t a cause for celebration at the time, as we’ll see. Since then, Singapore has developed rapidly as an Asian Tiger economy, despite its lack of any natural resources and today is one of the most well-developed and successful cities in the world.  

Your hosts are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Hong Kong, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in the UK, and Joe Byrne@anbeirneach in Switzerland. (Theme music byThomas O’Boyle)

http://media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/content.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/S02E01-Singapore.mp3

Generally if you want to keep learning about Singapore in more depth, the following would be useful:

Some things you might like to know more about:

The Government knows little or nothing of the Chinese, who are industrial backbone of these [Straits] Settlements; and the immense majority of them know nothing of the Government. We know that a certain number of Chinese arrive each year, and that a certain number go away; but how long they stay, how many come back a second time, what they think about and desire – as to all this we know nothing… We believe that the case majority of the Chinamen who come to work in these Settlements return to their country not knowing clearly whether there is a Government in them or not

“But they also showed a meanness and viciousness towards their enemies equal to the Huns’. Genghis Khan and his hordes could not have been more merciless. I have no doubts about whether the two atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary. Without them, hundreds of thousands of civilians in Malaya and Singapore, and millions in Japan itself, would have perished” — Lee Kuan Yew’s memoirs

A few songs may interest you, also, some of which you will have heard:

Finally, make sure to check out our sponsor Hairy Baby on www.hairybaby.com! You can get 10% off any purchase using the promo code “80days” and pick up an official 80 Days t-shirt at this link.

Special thanks, also, this week to Paula Cantwell and Rowland Seymour for their backing of the show this season – very much appreciated!

Christmas Special: Lapland audio

For the festive season, 80 Days brings you a Christmas special on the most appropriate place we could think of, complete with reindeer and Santa Claus: Lapland, or – as the native Sami people prefer to call it – Sápmi. This is a large region of Fennoscandanavia, north of the Arctic Circle, with its territory spanning parts of Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia (see map). This episode will touch on all areas of Lapland, but will focus primarily on the Finnish and Norwegian sides. The area is named for the indigenous people (and their specific language grouping), who have sparsely inhabited the region for several thousand years. 

In Lapland, winter lasts from early October to early May, with temperatures well below freezing throughout the region and up to 60 cm or 23 inches of snow during midwinter. However, in summer the sun does not set on the region for several weeks at a time.  Population has declined quite significantly since 1990, and the region is now home to approximately 180,000 people. Residents are spread across a total area of just over 100,000 square kilometers, or 38,000 square miles, and there are as many reindeer here as there are people. Your hosts are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach, in Hong Kong, the UK and Switzerland, respectively. (Theme music by Thomas O’Boyle)

http://media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/content.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/Lapland-ChristmasSpecial.mp3

Some things you might like to know more about:

We hope you have a happy Christmas and a wonderful new year and that you are looking forward to joining us for Season 2 in the coming months. As always, please get in touch if you are enjoying what you are hearing or have anything to share with us!

Find out about our Christmas Kickstarter campaign by clicking here. With your help we can make Season 2 even better than Season 1!

S01E10 Kowloon Walled City audio

For the Season Finale of the first season of 80 Days, we’re going to do something a little different and look at a place that no longer exists: Kowloon Walled City. Once the most densely populated place in the planet, this unique, untamable settlement existed in Hong Kong, growing up from a military settlement which was originally built to demarcate the border between the British and Chinese controlled areas in the territory. It grew in size and scope to become a tightly-packed labyrinth of illegal activity and squalor, unregulated by either the Chinese or British governments. At its peak, over 30,000 people lived in the Walled City, resulting in a population density of approximately 1,255,000 inhabitants per square kilometre (3,250,000/sq mi). It was demolished in 1994, shortly before China retook control of Hong Kong, but has since become a cultural touchstone,  a fascinating example of what humanity can become when allowed to run unchecked. Your hosts are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 and Joe Byrne@anbeirneach, in Hong Kong, the UK and Switzerland, respectively. (Theme music byThomas O’Boyle)

http://media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/content.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/s1e10-Kowloon-Walled-City.mp3

Some things you might like to know more about:

Click to view slideshow.

We hope you enjoyed listening to Season 1. We’ll be taking a break for a couple of months to get production of Season 2 under way, but you may hear from us occasionally during the break. If you’ve been entertained by what you heard, then let us know – leave a review on iTunes (or wherever you listen), or get in touch on Facebook or Twitter. We also really welcome feedback about places we’ve explored and recommendations for where we should go next season.

Audio: S1E09 Brunei

In this week’s episode of 80 Days, we are talking about Brunei,  a tiny independent state of just 2,200 square miles, located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Borneo is a tropical, equatorial island, one of the largest in the world, divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Brunei borders exclusively on the Malaysian section of Borneo. Its small section of coastline is inhabited by just over 400,000 people, and is among the richest nations in the world in terms of natural resources. Traditionally ruled by a Sultan, it became a British protectorate in 1888 and gained independence from the United Kingdom on January 1st 1984. Modern Brunei is ruled by a ‘Malay Islamic Monarchy’, where a Sultan acts as Supreme Head of State, ruling effectively as prime minister, finance minister, and commander of the armed forces. Brunei is the first and only country in East Asia to be ruled by Sharia law, introduced by the current Sultan in 2013. Your hosts are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach, in Hong Kong, the UK and Ireland, respectively. (Theme music by Thomas O’Boyle)

http://media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/content.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/s1e09-Brunei.mp3

There are some things we talked about you might want to know more about:

Why did the Spaniards leave? According to Brunei legends, the Spaniards kept facing attacks organised by Pengiran Bendahara Sakam. The latter is seen as one of Brunei’s past folk heroes. He attacked the Spaniards with 1,000 men and defeated them. However, Western historians do not accept this version and deny that Bendahara Sakam even existed, preferring the version that the Spaniards left because of dysentery. According to the Spanish records, only 17 died of dysentery in Brunei and another six on the return to Manila, although a number of Filipinos also died. – Brunei Resources

Audio: S1E08 Gibraltar

In this week’s episode of 80 Days, we are talking about Gibraltar,  the “key to the Mediterranean”. Famous for the imposing Rock of Gibraltar, this 6.7 square kilometre British Overseas Territory is an historic anomaly at the tip of the Iberian peninsula with a unique status and culture. It forms the northern side of the Pillars of Heracles which mark the beginning of the Atlantic Ocean. The tiny territory is also famous for its Barbary macaques, the only  wild monkey population in Europe. Your hosts are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach, in Hong Kong, the UK and Ireland, respectively. (Theme music by Thomas O’Boyle)

http://media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/content.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/s1e08-Gibraltar.mp3

There are some things we talked about you might want to know more about:

The Catholic King does hereby, for himself, his heirs and successors, yield to the Crown of Great Britain the full and entire propriety of the town and castle of Gibraltar, together with the port, fortifications, and forts thereunto belonging; and he gives up the said propriety to be held and enjoyed absolutely with all manner of right for ever, without any exception or impediment whatsoever.

Crew of the HMS Wasp who demolished O’Hara’s Tower (O’Hara’s Folly)

Photo of a “Barbary Ape” over Gibraltar by user kanu101 on Flickr

Audio: S1E07 Isle of Man

In this week’s episode of 80 Days, we are talking about the Isle of Man, a small island in the Irish sea that lies right between Britain and Ireland. From its highest point Snaefell (620 m, 2034 ft), it is said you can see 6 kingdoms: England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Man and Heaven. It’s known for its rugged landscape, motorsport and a very curious flag. Today, the island is a British crown dependency although it has never been a part of the United Kingdom. It’s 85,000 inhabitants, 28,000 of whom live in the capital, Douglas, on the east coast are spread over the island’s 572 square kilometers. The Isle of Man’s fascinating history has made for a unique pocket of culture within the British isles, a place that has never been truly overcome by the powers surrounding it, and has always stood apart. Your hosts are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach, in Hong Kong, the UK and Ireland, respectively. (Theme music by Thomas O’Boyle)

http://media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/content.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/s1e07-Isle-of-Man.mp3

We are all Irish, but the Isle of Man, despite its proximity is really that neighbour we don’t know very well. Needless to say, we learned a lot this week about the smallest Celtic nation.

There are some things we talked about you might want to know more about:

Mull Hill Neolithic site

Audio: S1E06 Liberia

This week in 80 Days, we looked at Liberia, a small country on the west coast of Africa. Founded by freed American and Caribbean slaves, Liberia is Africa’s oldest republic and takes its name from the the Latin phrase meaning “Land of the Free.” Unfortunately, the country is best known for a long and bloody civil war that look place in the 1990s and 2000s, and more recently for the Ebola epidemic of 2014. The lush, rainforested country is just 700 kilometres or 430 miles north of the equator, and is bordered by Sierra Leone to its west, Guinea to its north and Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) to its east. Today, the country is home to around 4.5 million inhabitants, although most are native Africans rather than the descendants of freed slaves. It maintains strong ties to America, and even has a flag that strongly resembles the flag of the US, although it has only one star and 11 stripes. Discussing Liberia are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Hong Kong, the UK and Switzerland, respectively. (Theme music by Thomas O’Boyle)

http://media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/content.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/s01e06Liberia.mp3

We thought when we researched Nauru previously that it was the most depressing place we would ever encounter. But we were wrong! Liberia is at the bottom end of most tables you want to be near the top in (GDP, communications infrastructure, life expectancy, infant mortality) and has suffered from all the plights you can expect in the region and more, all as a result of inequality, corruption, disease and civil war, but nonetheless, it has a unique story worth telling. Some sources which we found particularly useful in researching the episode were:

I would recommend you read, watch and listen to some of these sources if you want to learn more about the country than we could cram into the podcast.

Audio: S1E05 Alaska

This week on 80 Days, we talked about Alaska, the United States of America’s 49th state. The name Alaska comes from the Aluet word Alyeska, meaning great land, and it is a plentiful place in many respects. Rich in natural resources, Alaska has a longer coastline than the other 49 states combined  and is the largest state in the US. It contains over 3 million lakes, as well as Denali, North America’s highest peak. about 500 miles separates Alaska from Washington state, its nearest neighbour within the US, and it has a strong connection with Russia, which used to occupy and control the territory. Exploring Alaska for you are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Hong Kong, the UK and Switzerland, respectively. (Theme music by Thomas O’Boyle)

http://media.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/content.blubrry.com/80_days_an_exploration/s01e05Alaska.mp3

Things you might want to read more about:

The wealth generated by Prudhoe Bay and the other fields on the North Slope since 1977 is worth more than all the fish ever caught, all the furs ever trapped, all the trees chopped down; throw in all the copper, whalebone, natural gas, tin, silver, platinum, and anything else ever extracted from Alaska too. The balance sheet of Alaskan history is simple: One Prudhoe Bay is worth more in real dollars than everything that has been dug out, cut down, caught or killed in Alaska since the beginning of time