We Do Adventure

What does Bosnia and Herzegovina have in common with Djibouti, Gambia, Guatemala, Kiribati, Sri Lanka and Swaziland? The answer: together they are joint-ninetyfirst on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index 2010 , released today. In a survey of 178 nations, ninety-first might be generously interpreted as being comfortably mid-table. The country does sit a little below its geographic neighbours but the important thing on any chart-based scale is movement relative to the previous results. The good news is Transparency International's figures seem to indicate Bosnia and Herzegovina is moving in the right direction. The same can not be said of not-quite-so-near neighbours Greece or Italy. Both are sliding the wrong way down the table. Should this trend continue look forward to next year when Transparency International will declare Bosnia and Herzegovina less corrupt than the birthplace of democracy! (Q: Had you even heard of Kiribati before?)

At the beginning of the month I wrote about our Novi Most 'camping' trip up Jahorina, one of the Olympic mountains outside Sarajevo. We had a great time as this short video shows...

Given time, I could write a delightful post about some wonderful New Year experiences in Dubrovnik. Alas, today you will just have to make do with some videos instead!

I noticed my brother changed the banner on his blog the other day. The new image presents a list of places where his readers log in from, much like fashion stores have a fondness for putting London, Paris and Milan on their windows. The purpose of this blog is not to try and go one up on his impressive selection of cyber destinations but merely to say thank you to those of you who have been following our adventure throughout 2009. Thanks to all of you who have commented or let us know that you enjoy what you're reading. We know 2010 has some exciting things in store; we hope you'll be part of seeing them unfold with us. But, tempted as I am to do my own little bit of 'place-dropping', I'll let you in on our New Year plans. In previous years we've taken in the delights that London, New York and Cape Town have to offer. Tonight we will be in Dubrovnik and I'm sure they'll be pictures or, more likely, video to follow!