2020 Travel the World - Week 31

I started a Travel the World Series last year. (It should be noted that I did a similar thing in 2018, only it was the 50 states.) For 50 weeks in 2019, I visited a different country (virtually) and shared facts about that country. I then selected one tidbit of information about that week's country as inspiration for a card. Fifty weeks; fifty countries... BUT there are 195 countries in the world so that was just a little over 25% of them. Of course I couldn't stop, so this year I'm continuing with fifty more countries, one per week.

This week's country is...

India

India is the seventh largest country in the world and has the second largest population of any country.

There are more people in India than in the entire Western Hemisphere of earth.

India is the only country to have an entire ocean named after it.

There is only one time zone all across the country of India.

India is the second largest English speaking country in the world.

There are 22 recognized languages, with Hindi and English being the official languages. However, other commonly-spoken languages include Bengali (the second most spoken language), Telugu, Tamil, Urdu and Punjabi. There are as many as 19,500 known languages and dialects across the country.

Mango is India's national fruit and the peacock is its national bird.

At over 5000 years old, Varanasi is one of the oldest inhabited places on earth.

The national symbol of India is the endangered Bengal Tiger.

India is the world's largest producer of milk.

The Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is in India.

Superstar Feddie Mercury is of Indian origin.

The first rocket in India was transported on a bicycle! It was so light and small that it was transported to the Thumba Launching Station in Kerala by bicycle.

Chess was invented in India. So was the game Snakes and Ladders.

A village in India is the wettest place in the world. It averages 467 inches of rain each year.

The world’s largest family lives together in India: a man with 39 wives and 94 children. The family lives in a 100-room, four-story house set amidst the hills of Baktwang village in the Indian state of Mizoram.

The concept of shampoo was first invented in India when herbs were used for strengthening hair.

A huge lake in India was formed when a meteor plummeted into it, some 52,000 years ago.

There is a spa just for elephants in India.

Fauja Singh is the oldest marathon runner in the world. He was born on April 1, 1908 in India and was not able to walk until he was five years old. He took up running at the age of 89 and when he first showed up for the marathon running training, he was in three-piece suit.

The first ever university in the world started around 700 BC in India.

The Bailey Bridge, located in the Ladakh Valley, is the highest bridge in the world.

India has the largest postal system in the world with more than 150,000 post offices, which is three times the size of that of China. 

India is home to the world’s first floating post office, which was inaugurated in 2011.

The world's shortest living woman is from India. She is 2' 6" tall.

I decided to let this India fact be the inspiration for this week's card... India planted nearly 50 million trees in 24 hours on Monday 11th July, 2016, setting a new Guinness World Record!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Stamp Set: Stamp Anniething Here's the Dirt stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored with Copic Markers

Papers: Accent Opaque 120# White, Recollections Black and SU Pixie Pink CS and DP from my scrap file

Punch: SU Small Oval

Embellishments: Paper Studio Mini Brads