But those first seven trips will always be the ones I will remember most, those times when I was trying to unlock a puzzle, when I was totally in tune with my surroundings.
First, it does not always work: the Kremlin has come badly unstuck several times when it has stepped into regional elections, only to find itself outmanoeuvred by local power-brokers.
Malaysia has always relied on foreign labour: its substantial Chinese and Indian minorities first arrived in the country in colonial times to work in its tin mines and rubber plantations.