Modern India and China are fascinating enigmas to me.  Encompassing a huge percentage of the world’s abject poverty, they trace their origins back to some of the greatest and oldest civilizations on Earth.  India turned back Alexander the Great on his quest to conquer his way to the ends of the earth.  China built huge technology, culture and technology in near solitude, finally exposed to the west by our lust for Chinese worm spit.  During the 1500s, India and China were the two largest economies in the world and together made up almost one half of its GDP.

But somehow when the west began to industrialize and modernize, they did not follow along.  Perhaps it was economic, or due to colonialism, or maybe their traditional culture.  I certainly don’t know, as I’m no expert. . . yet.  Today they are firmly part of the third world, but they are also undergoing vast changes and modernizing at an incredibly rapid rate.  Some people predict that in 50, 30, 20 years they will surpass the United States to become the biggest economies in the world.  They certainly have the manpower.  The two countries together only cover about 8.7% of the land of the earth.  China is smaller than Canada.  India is a little bigger than Argentina. Yet they account for almost 40% of the human population.

Tomorrow I leave the United States to travel in India and China for a year each.  I want to see everything: the history, the land, the people.  I want to learn what I can about all of it, see the trends, and also have a wonderful time.  And it’s my plan to report it all back here on this blog to anyone who cares to follow along.