Living in other countries provided me with an insight to what really goes on in the world and to discover what people really think. Most of the countries I lived in have barren or hostile environments but I saw the beauty that these countries offered. I just had to look for it. Not everyone is free to live their lives the way they want and not every country is democratic but is it all that bad living in those countries that see the world different to us? Is what we read or see in the media a true picture of how people live and what they think? For forty years, I lived and worked in the Middle East, the jungles of Borneo and the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in China. Most people in the west would not visit far less work and live in these places. My travels changed my perception of the world. Possibly reading about it will change yours.