Geography Lesson 003 - North Asia (and recap on Southeast Asia)

Before I start on North Asia, I would like to share a conversation that I've had which I found rather interestng. Just the other day, my colleagues and I were talking about Egypt. And whilst talking about Egypt, "Egypt" and "Middle East" were used interchangeably throughout the entire conversation. And then it dawned on me: Hey...are we talking about Egypt or Middle East here?

So, being the usual pain in the arse (that's just me :P), I had to ask and I learnt that due to to the Arabic influence in Egypt, it is often related with Middle East in the business world.
In reality, ladies and gentlemen, Egypt is on the African continent. But hey, before I had even started on this blog, I would not have even thought about this at all. So I would say that this blog is not an entire waste of my time :P

Okay, so now since Middle East is on the Asia continent, here's a little tribute to Asia (before I start on North Asia) *drum rolls*

Did you know.....
Asia is the largest continent on the planet covering up to 30% of the world's landmass and includes 44 countries and assorted islands. Significant features of the continent of Asia include:
a) World tallest mountain - Mt Everest 8,850m (Nepal and China)
-> Are you going to tell me that K2 is taller?
b) World lowest point - Dead Sea 392m below sea level (Israel/Jordan)
-> Yes, that is middle east.
c) World most populated countries - China and India
d) World longest coastline
e) World deepest lake - Lake Baykal (Russian Federation)
f) Some of the most important rivers (more on this at a later date)

And now, here is a list of countries in North Asia:
1) Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea)
(HORRORS! I had it the other way round)
2) Japan
3) Mongolia
4) People's Republic of China (Include Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR)
5) Republic of Korea (South Korea)
(Once again, I really thought this name had more of a communist flavour)
6) Taiwan

And as you can see from the map, Russia (largest country in the world) is divided into Russia (Asia) and Russia (European).

Also, just to avoid confusion, I need to do a recap.

There is South Asia (includes India, Sri Lanka and etc) and there is Southeast Asia

Here's recapping the countries in Southeast Asia:

1) Brunei (Tricky, Tricky I always connected it with West Malaysia. Pai seh)
2) Burma
3) Cambodia
4) East Timor (Tricky, tricky, I missed this out the last time)
5) Indonesia
6) Laos
7) Malaysia (East and West Malaysia)
8) Philippines
9) Thailand
10) Vietnam