Around the World with Mickey D's

For all 5 months and 12 countries of our trip thus far, we have been followed by a man with pearly white skin and fiery red hair, a man who eternally wears a yellow jumpsuit and an enormous blood-red grin. That man is Ronald McDonald.

Now, everyone knows McDonald's are everywhere now, but we've been surprised by how proud places are of their Big Mac-bearing establishments. The photo below shows a proud sign declaring to all of Berlin the number of McDonald's in the city. Perhaps even more interesting was when we arrived in Varanasi, India, and our rickshaw driver proudly pointed out the first McD's to arrive there. He was shocked when we admitted that we don't actually like McDonald's. Perhaps he thought all Americans eat there, or perhaps he just figured that if it was popular enough to make its way to Varanasi then it has to be good...

We were also amused when we arrived in Thailand and discovered Ronald sawatdee-ing (the Thai greeting) to all of the passersby -- photo above. Who knew he had a culturally sensitive side?

P.S. Though McDonald's is the most prevalent American fast food chain, we did take note that KFC is actually the first (and, thus far, only) fast food restaurant to weasel its way into the old city of Marrakech. Though why anybody would pay Western prices for fried chicken when you can get much cheaper, more delicious Moroccan fare at the night market across the street, we couldn't tell you...