Myanmar w/ Small Brained American (Conner McBee) | You Be Trippin' with Ari Shaffir

2h 34m
Follow Conner on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/smallbrainedamerican/

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On this week's episode of You Be Trippin', Conner (aka Small Brained American) takes Ari back to Myanmar. Ari has also spent time there, so they traded stories about stimulants, dirty hole in the ground "toilets", and friendly locals. Connor fully immerses us in the good and the bad of Myanmar. Despite the military-run dictatorship and bad cuisine, he really makes you want to check it out. Tat tar!

You Be Trippin' Ep. 88

https://www.instagram.com/arishaffir

https://www.instagram.com/youbetrippinpod

https://arishaffir.com

Chapters

00:00:00 - Intro

00:03:10 - Myanmar Hostels

00:16:23 - Political Climate

00:28:00 - Burmese Love Tourists

00:42:13 - Ancient City

00:53:38 - The Rough Parts of Travel

01:03:19 - Sports & Rec

01:12:06 - Friendly People & Bad Healthcare

01:26:07 - Food Poisoning & Horrible Toilets'

01:36:26 - Connor's Travel Vids

01:54:53 - The Vagabond's Way

02:16:32 - Travel Tips & Where to Next
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Transcript

This Halloween, what's under your costume might just steal the show.

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This is a complete style over here.

It's a stoner's den for sure.

Dude, it's so embarrassing having like high-level people here, like Rob Lowe and stuff, and him just going,

I cleaned up for him.

No offense.

You wouldn't clean up for me, what the fuck?

I mean, you're an awesome guy.

Yeah, this is my spot.

What are you doing in America?

How is Donnie?

Donnie's good.

Yeah, he's a fucking bro.

That office is amazing.

It's like

the gauntlet.

No.

there's like a six-game.

It's like you got to hit a three, you got to kick a soccer ball.

No, we didn't do that.

You have to do all these like different things.

And it's for Big Cat.

No, you must have gotten the royal treatment.

I don't think Big Cat was there, though.

Okay.

But I was talking with my girlfriend, like, she used to work at Amazon.

Yeah.

And she was always bitching about the office and stuff.

And I went, and it was like...

free coffee, like bring your dog, like they have a bookshelf, ping pong table.

Yeah, and it's Barcelona's even better.

Barcelona.

They have fucking high noon machines.

They have Zen machines.

I heard Portnoy went there and saw that they had some warehouse and he goes, Oh, I get what you guys are doing.

Actually, go bigger.

I get it.

Let's get an actual fucking big thing.

They had a gym in there, a basketball court.

They have former real players.

Really?

Like Division I football players.

One guy was going to get drafted and he goes, I'll just get CTE.

I'm going to call it.

Because they were getting paid.

So he's like, I'm already kind of a millionaire.

Damn.

Like, why keep doing this?

That is crazy how they grew it into an empire.

It's just like bros.

it's just bros.

Just alcoholics.

You know, the bear Olympics?

No, no.

They have a bear Olympics every year.

Like busting with the boys and all those guys.

They just get fucking worse.

Just drinking games.

Like beer pong and King's Cross and whatever.

Imagine like coming home to like your newborn son, just hammered.

You're like, sorry, honey, I lost the big game today.

I'm out.

We're ruined.

Yeah, we're going to be in the poorhouse.

All right.

So the podcast is just like, we just talk about a place.

Yeah.

I don't know how much you know about it.

Yeah, yeah, I watch it.

Yeah.

Nice.

Yes, sir.

It's you'll be tripping.

Yeah.

Hi, everybody.

Welcome to UB Tripping.

It's a travel podcast.

I'm your host, Ari Shafir.

Every week, some guest takes us to some place.

It's pretty simplified.

It's the only podcast that stands for using the elephant tusk for sexual reasons.

It's not for,

don't do jewelry, guys.

If you're going to use a fucking rhino tusk or elephant tusk, put it to use.

Get boners, possibly pens, but definitely not necklaces.

These things are endangered.

But boners.

We're on board with that.

Small Freight America, Connor.

Yes, sir.

What's going on?

What do you go by?

How do you introduce yourself?

Connor, yeah.

You don't go SBA.

SBA, people call me SBA, but Connor for friends.

Yeah.

You won a fucking MVP award?

MVP.

SGA.

What is that?

I don't know.

It's a basketball player.

I'm not really into sports yet.

I'm a virgin.

Where do you want to go?

Where did we talk about it?

Let's go to Myanmar.

Yes, sir.

Wait a second.

Hold on.

Do I have a Myanmar shirt?

Fuck, dude, this is my first spot.

What?

What have I got for Myanmar?

That ball?

Chin Loon ball?

Oh, yeah, the little hacky sack thing.

Yeah.

Damn, you brought that back, huh?

I shipped it.

Okay.

I shipped it from

I forget what city, maybe Mandalay.

And then I was like, they're like, okay, we can get this in like there in like two weeks for this much.

I'm like, um, no, no, no, I just started a trip.

So, like, I'm looking at like, get it there in three months or more.

And they're like, oh, all right, like 40 cents.

Like, that's it.

That's what I'm looking for.

Hell yeah.

Yeah, I know you went there and had a good time, so I feel like it's going to be

a fun convo.

Nobody's been there.

Yeah.

When did you go?

2023, February.

February, 2023.

Okay, recent.

Okay, let's see how this is different now.

Yes, sir.

Okay, what brought you there?

I was on a big trip.

I was going from Ireland to Japan.

I was trying on a motorcycle, but then customs, I was too broke to be able to afford to take it into Asia.

So I left it.

I sold it in Bulgaria, and then was just taking buses and fucking hitchhiking all the way across Asia as best I could.

Had to skip Iran.

But yeah, I was just doing land borders as best as I could.

And Myanmar was on the list.

And where did you come in from the land border there?

Thailand?

No, the land border was closed.

That was another one.

It was Iran, it was fucked, and Myanmar was fucked.

So I had to take two flights.

Oh, interesting.

So, yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah.

Let's talk about it.

Once you heard about it before you went.

Honestly, on your podcast, I heard about it.

And that's pretty.

Oh, what, my old podcast or this one?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay.

And that's pretty much it, man.

I just knew they had like a military dictatorship.

I knew there was a lot of like immigrants i think in bangladesh

is it okay

sweet sweet okay yeah i know there's a lot of uh burmese immigrants in bangladesh really like working so i knew it was fucked like if you're going to bangladesh as like a refugee like for for like more opportunity yeah it's bad like

Where'd you start?

Yangon?

Yeah, I flew into Yangon just because it was the easiest flight.

I think I flew from Calcutta, India to Yangon.

Okay.

But the smell got better.

Marginally, yes.

But the betel nut smell got much stronger.

Tell them what betel nuts are.

It's like a mix between like caffeine and like cocaine a little bit.

It's kind of like a middle ground.

It's like a strong euphoric stimulant that you chew it and your teeth look absolutely fucked.

That is wild.

If your teeth are looking that bad, it must be a hell of a drug.

It must be amazing to sacrifice your teeth for that.

Did you try it?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

It's like you just chew it.

What do you do exactly?

You like break it up, you break this seed, and then you just kind of let it sit in your mouth like dip.

And then spit.

You have to spit or you'll get very sick.

In India, they have like beetle pan, which has like gummies and like sugar and different kind of weird concoctions.

Yeah, in India, they get a little feisty with it, but in Myanmar, it's straight up just betel nut, tobacco, and then like some fucking, they take it out of like a fucking paint container.

It's like lime, what is it?

Lime, chemical lime, they call it.

Yeah, and that's what makes your teeth red.

But I guess it's just really good.

So they I mean the guy's teeth are already fucked up and then he stained them.

That's true.

That's true.

They do not have orthodontist in VMR.

You think his friends are like, hey, dude, you got to get your teeth whitened.

He's like, that ain't the problem.

Which ones?

No, I don't think any of them.

The ones in the back, look at this guy.

The ones in back, these go deep, deep in.

It's like blood red, dude.

I can't even look.

The blood red is crazy, but then this one's split in two.

Oh.

This one's set back like a fucking, like someone who wants a front yard more than a backyard.

Fucking hell oh no man that's and honestly after two or three days of doing that you can see like your teeth change colors did you you did you do i did it once and it was like it wires you dude it works it works

people were like yeah you know i use it for like my construction job it gives me energy and i'm like all right so this is just like low-grade cocaine where did you stay there um first i started in some hostel um it's actually quite nice had a little cafe okay um i just found it on booking um because i feel like myanmar is not the place you want to show up and just like bargain for a hotel.

I feel like you kind of want to know.

I got one day.

I started my first real backpacking hostel trip there.

It was like day one.

I've never done it.

I just heard about it from people.

Okay.

So it was like hotel one night, just to get set and find a computer.

Yeah.

And then like, I'm going to blow through my money.

This is yours, by the way.

Thank you.

What?

All right.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Sorry.

I met your money and I saw it.

Not a stingy Jew.

Don't tell you.

I'll be thrown out of this and I go.

uh yeah and then i found a hostel and it was like it would seem like new to hostels yeah was it what was it called you know it was i i looked it up it's gone monkey happy monkey in chinatown okay sounds very sketchy it was nice okay nice enough breakfast yeah um what was breakfast

some pieces of bread yeah something that they had i don't know like a bean or something i'm kind of remembering yeah

it was enough to get you like energized enough to get out to find food Right.

Yeah.

A little bit of starch and caffeine and then you can.

And tea, plenty of tea you could have.

Yeah.

Okay.

What about you?

Yeah, same shit.

I think they gave us like French toast without the sugar.

It was just like white bread with like egg on it.

And like coming from America, and like, you know, we're bigger guys.

I need like a lot of fucking protein.

So it didn't really do the trick, but, you know, whatever.

It's me and Mar.

So.

The difference in hostel breakfast is from like, this is really good to like.

To like, this is an insult to somewhere in the middle, like just enough energy to get me an hour.

That's fair.

That's fair.

Because Because I guess if you're staying in a hostel, you're there to adventure.

So you don't need much.

Yeah.

Did you see any of that?

Yeah, yeah.

I did the little hacky sack.

Yeah, I fucked around.

Honestly, like, within the first two hours there, I like made a friend.

This guy was just like, hello, like, would you like to,

I'll show you around the city.

I was like, yeah, let's fucking go.

And I think it was kind of a scam because he took me to like a little,

what are those called?

Lao Suji, I think.

The little robe they wear.

All the men.

Okay.

Remember that?

They're wearing like little skirts and stuff dude this is gonna take me back this is gonna take me back have you had a guest do Myanmar yet no okay hell yeah yeah no and I've been waiting to like maybe I'll do it but like this is fucking way better let's fucking go dude By Mari Rose male um

I did yeah that's it yep that's it yep

and everybody wears it like nobody wears pants Yeah, weird, right?

And they have that tied up, the pant, this, the tied up thing.

Yeah, it's so comfortable, too.

It's so what?

Comfortable.

yeah.

Oh my god, yeah, no restrictions.

Did you see any white dudes wearing them?

I mean, me, uh, yeah, there was like one other guy at my hostel, yeah, a German kid, obviously, because Germans are all over the fucking planet, yeah, they really are, but yeah, they're just infestating everywhere, it's an infestation, 18-year-old Germans, they just think isn't it weird?

They thought we were becoming an infestation, and then in the hostel world, now it's them.

That's right, that's right, it must be dealt with, yeah, full circle, full Jewish star all the way around.

It must be dealt with,

But fucking, yeah, like this German kid.

I don't know.

Like, I feel like the people you meet in Myanmar are like very intrepid travelers because they're the type of people to be like, fuck the State Department.

I'm just going to go and see for myself.

Because why would you go there?

Exactly.

Hey, guys.

Breaking into today's episode to let you know a little bit about the guest, the small-brained American.

He's a traveler.

He is, we've been trying to get him on the podcast for quite some time, and finally he came.

He's cool, too.

He kind of hit it off.

He's got a YouTube account where he does tons of uploads about really cool places he's been.

He actually really shows it.

I mean, I was so stoked when he brought up he was going to do Myanmar.

I mean, I was so stoked.

You could see it in my face.

I was like, no.

You go to his YouTube channel, youtube.com slash at small brained American.

That's his podcast channel.

Smallbrained pod on YouTube.

I have an episode on his podcast.

After we did this one, went over to my balcony, my former balcony in New York City, and we recorded one.

It's just like, dude, he's like a real traveler.

And

you get to talking about it.

It's just like, I don't know, man.

It just brings you back.

You just start riffing stories off each other, like one to another to another.

So check out his podcast, Small Brained Pod, and check out his YouTube channel.

It's just got great shit on there.

And he really takes you there.

I talk about stuff, but he takes you there.

And you go to his Patreon where you can get uncensored, extended-cut cut versions of every video from YouTube, which is cool.

Patreon.com slash small brained American.

Yeah, go check out everything.

In terms of myself, I've got a few plugs.

Well, you can get this shirt, actually.

Go for a hike shirt on rishafir.com or at the bottom of your screen you can get you be tripping stickers like this that I've been sticking up everywhere.

My passport's not here.

I've also been sticking up on antiquities all over the place.

I've been sticking them up.

If you find a Ub Trippin' sticker that you see in the wild, you should put it up yourself, by the way.

If you see in the wild, and it's one of the ones I put up, tag Ub Trippin' Pod on Instagram.

And if you're the first one to find one of the ones that I put up,

two free tickets to a show anywhere in 2027 or, you know, if 2026 at a local show, if you want.

But I'm really not playing anywhere until 2027.

So I got Ubi Trippin'

t-shirts, juveniles, grinders, all sorts of stuff.

But subscribe wherever you're watching or listening at Ubi Trippin' Pod on Instagram.

You can subscribe to my own Instagram, Ari Shafir.

But anyway, for these stickers, tag, there's a six-pack you get for $10.

It's great.

One for your passports

book, and then just more for like sticking up all over.

Guys, also, get out there and travel a little bit.

Let

Small Brained American teach you something.

He doesn't really know.

I asked him how he got his name.

He goes, because I'm an idiot.

And I don't really know how to do this.

And I just tap into that so well.

I go to these places, and I'm like, No, I'm good, travel, I can walk home.

They're like, Really?

It's a heroin district.

I'm like, Oh, I did not look it up.

I'm also small-brained.

Aren't we all kind of small-brained Americans?

Except if you're not American.

Anyway, let's get back to the episode, but please follow him everywhere you can.

And

yeah, leave a comment on the episode for our podcast I did on his

podcast and tell him I sent you.

And if you're a a new listener for Small Brained American coming over from his fan base, hit subscribe.

Wherever you're watching, listening, on YouTube or on Instagram, on

Spotify or whatever, every week we go to a different place with a different guest.

We just talk about a different place, somewhere they've been.

It's experiential.

It's not informative.

So we're wrong a lot.

We don't really know anything.

If you're in a country and you're like, oh my God, they have fair food every day.

You're like, no, it's just this week because it's a fair.

It's just experiential.

It's just fun.

It's just what you do there.

If you're going to be like, oh, this was wrong, this was wrong.

It's like, oh, yeah, I'm sure.

I'm not an expert.

I was somewhere for a week.

Anyway, subscribe and join in with the fun.

Also, coming up,

Small Brain America's friend.

Well, I'm not going to ruin it for you, but let's get back to the episode.

I had this theory then, like, in like, I actually met Donnie Wanton Don before I knew him.

Somebody told me, like, you guys met a long time ago in 2014 because he was just in the Hong Kong scene.

okay or shanghai scene i forget i think hong kong scene but like um

um

there's what i saw was like the bankers that were in like hong kong why are you a banker here you could be a banker in london new york yeah you asked for a transfer here because you're way wilder than most bankers and yeah anybody goes to myanmar as like a hostel or a travel like why it's

the the stance on that is not like safe place beautiful beaches that's not the vibe it's literally military dictatorship that's what it's known for that's the number one tourist attraction.

It's the fucking police.

Yeah.

Yeah, but you meet some legends in those hostels.

I mean, hostels in general, but Myanmar especially.

Like, I met this German kid who's just, like, doesn't give a fuck.

He just goes anywhere trying to go to every country type guy, you know?

So.

Like, right away, you met him?

Yeah, I mean, he was just like staying, like, kind of near my bunk.

And, yeah, cool dude.

So.

It definitely attracts a certain crowd.

Yeah.

Damn, those hostels are cool there.

You really do.

And everyone's friendly.

I just, I don't know if it's going going to survive there, though.

Myanmar, like, I think it was me, and there was like a fat Chinese guy in my like bunk situation, and that was it for like my room in the hostel.

It wasn't, and it was a big place.

It wasn't crowded, like, they were not getting business, right?

So, I wonder how much they need.

Some of those things are, like, we're government-funded.

It's not like full capital.

I just honestly don't know.

I can't imagine the government's funding.

Yeah, probably not.

Yeah.

What was it like with the military?

Because when I went, it was like kind of free, and then I heard they kind of took back power.

When did you go?

2017.

oh okay so you went before opened up a bit yeah you went before the democratic election and then this woman won the election you know

okay but you you know about this yeah a little bit yeah she won the election and then the the military like was like nah we don't accept that and they just put her in prison house if it was on san tzuki it was like they put her on house arrest for like 20 years oh that's what it is and then they let her out and they go you just can't talk about the government anymore She goes, I'm for sure going to.

And they go, okay, right back for another 10 years.

She didn't see her husband for like the last 10 years of her life.

Oh, my.

Wait, she's dead?

His life, sorry.

Oh, okay.

Then they made a rule that anyone who's married a foreigner can't be prime minister.

Okay, like espionage shit.

It's so that she wouldn't be the president.

It's just for her.

That's smart.

Yeah.

And then you're like, all right, how about I'm the advisor to the, she still ran it from what I understand, but just like, I'll use a different title.

Yeah.

It's like if Trump was like, you can't do a third term, but he he goes, I can be prime minister of America, though.

Yeah, you can be prime minister.

That might happen, dude.

Who knows?

Oh my god, dude.

Give me credit.

Yeah, but then I don't know what they took back or whatever.

And then everybody.

Yeah, so have you seen the video?

It was 2021.

It's a like jazzer-size influencer doing a live stream from like this big kind of historic place in Myanmar.

Is this it?

That's it, dude.

Yeah.

Jesus.

Gay porn.

I'm not sure.

Oh, is that it?

Is it a rocky porch?

That's pretty kinky, man.

That is pretty kinky.

I might try that with my girl.

Okay, all right.

Let's get this out of here.

This is going to distract her.

Sorry.

Is your editor going to have to look at that?

Yeah, I don't know.

Sorry, Alan.

Yeah, I don't know.

He's going to get fucking hard.

Bro, okay, one jerk off to that and then back to work.

Yeah, fuck.

Okay, go ahead.

Yeah, but the fucking the jazzer size influencer was like doing her little thing she had her sweatband on her little like microphone and she's live streaming and then in the background are tanks just storming the capitol or whatever

yeah it like went super viral on i think tick tock what yeah dude

yeah dude it's history part of history oh my god and that's when they took over the government and that's when the military said the military had a full-on coup they completely took over the government yeah now it's a military dictatorship wow so when i was there there was it was a military dictatorship.

Her father was a general, like a beloved general in the war,

against whoever before those.

And then

somebody assassinated him.

The only reason she wasn't killed is because of her dad.

Okay.

Because they all respected her dad.

Yeah.

And then, and then

they took over.

And then when they gave back power, they said, okay, we'll give you back power.

But the military is always a 51%

voting block.

Oh, so maybe that's why they can't fully vote him out.

And then they're like, actually, nah.

This is ours now.

Yeah.

Damn.

Wow.

Yeah.

And everybody hates the government there.

Yeah.

Like, I don't want to get anybody in the fucking camps or anything.

But I had a lot of like kind of hush-huss conversations where people were like, yeah, we're terrified.

Like, and they were like, if you're a foreigner, like, they're for sure following you.

Really?

Did you feel like that at all?

Did you see anything?

No, it really was.

This felt like this open place.

When I landed, there was a guy who was like, I came here 30 years ago on a, on a green piece or whatever, like Habitats for Humanity kind of thing.

Because I'm so excited to see how it changed.

Because when he was there it was like real like it was nothing yeah and then it opened up right around when i was there in like a 10-year block and then for you

back to fucking take over damn so we weren't worried about it so it was like free when you were there but also my first week there was a guy who i'll get back to your strip in a second there was a guy who unplugged a buddhist um

prayer service because it was outside of his window

and the speakers were going to

do this and he was like and he and then they put him in jail for like six months the government, when you were there.

Yeah.

Oh, wow.

They were like, that's way past the line.

Okay.

So that's like the free version of Myanmar.

Okay.

That gives.

Okay.

Yeah.

And he goes, I didn't know it was a prayer thing.

He goes, fuck off.

Yes, you did.

Yes, 100% you did.

Damn.

So how'd you find it?

What'd you do?

Yeah, I just arrived, met this guy.

He showed me around.

He took me to buy a Laosa G, like the fucking whatever

skirt.

But it, you know, like, I don't know, I'm not sure.

Oh, the local guy took.

Yeah.

Okay.

I'm not sure if you've ever been to India, but it fell.

I had just gotten out of India and I was like on high fucking alert for scams.

Like I was every fiber of my being was like, do not scam me.

But I follow this guy

against my better judgment, and he takes me to like the shop, obviously, and like takes me to buy the Lao C G.

And I was like, okay, fuck, how much is it?

Like, you know, the guy's got like rotting teeth and like fucking like his hands are all like he might have been homeless, you know what I mean?

Like, and he saw me as a quick buck, I guess.

And I was like, all right, how much is the fucking skirt?

And it was like $10, which in Myanmar money is a lot.

Like, it's kind of all i brought out for the day and i was like fuck okay i'll buy this and he's like oh yeah we gotta like buy this skirt to go to this river but then the river was closed and i don't know the river was closed i don't know man it just felt very scammy anything oh it's closed today i have this other option for you yeah thanks for buying this shit for like double what it's worth you know that you didn't want in the first place yeah yeah yeah yeah so i mean it's better than elephant pants

yeah that's true but i mean whatever it's it's all good i mean i don't hold any i gave him like a little bit of cash at the end of the night just to you know yeah whatever.

I found it very unscammy.

As a country.

I think Buddhists are pretty like honest.

Yeah, they're just like, we're here to help.

That's what we'd love to do, actually.

Yeah.

That was the vibe I got.

And I think with countries with such a bad reputation, they want, they need you to like it.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

How cheap was it?

Oh, fucking dirt cheap.

Right?

Yeah, dirt cheap.

I remember I actually, a few days later, I went to this beach town called

and I met this guy named Dan.

He just like pulled up on a motorcycle and he's like hey you want to come to a party and i'm like yeah let's go and he took me to this bar where they were serving like

it looked like radioactive mountain dew like from a barrel and like the bartender would scoop it out of the barrel and give it to you and it was five cents

like why are you charging me

honestly yeah i'll give you five dollars for the whole barrel yeah just how about i give you a buck and just like you just rained it on me all night exactly whoa where was this i never got to the beaches uh on the west it was like the only beach i could find that was like open because south was like the military coup was going on yeah oh yeah it's like

there it is yes they're putting on the map dude it was actually kind of pretty there damn yeah it's not bad looking But yeah, me and this kid just like slammed this like radioactive liquor all day, got drunk.

He like drove me around.

We crashed a few times.

They have a resort like this there.

I don't know, maybe.

I guess.

This seems more like it.

It was very nice, and there was no tourists there.

There was nobody, no.

Me and one German guy.

Did you?

Um

were there chicks there?

Uh, like traveler girls, traveler girls.

Uh,

nah, Burmese.

Okay,

I do have something for I'm gonna wear this for the people that we're

all right.

oh hell yeah man you got merged from Myanmar yeah you got this from a fucking market somewhere and then I found out later so everyone kept like looking at them going haha I was supposed to say like f or something

if anybody knows I think it means something along the lines of like chill out okay yeah or like a slight relaxing yeah okay I don't know but every time we check it they're like yeah nice like what yeah

you just got to imagine like the opposite of that like a guy from like rural Myanmar showing up to New York City like with a shirt that says like fuck on it or something like that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I fuck bitches.

All right, bro.

Never pull out.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Oh, Burmese chicks are, I would consider the ugliest in the world.

Okay.

All right.

I don't know how you found them.

I honestly don't remember.

Yeah, and that doesn't really ring any bells, honestly.

Because you didn't even notice them.

Yeah.

Because they're so ugly.

They look like the men, I guess.

Yeah, you just like, I i don't even register that as a woman

after

the beetle teeth

after like 23 you're like you're haggard yeah yeah

stripe has fucking hit your face hard yeah yeah um

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Now let's get back to the episode.

I'm trying to think.

How were the bathrooms?

Tell me all.

I mean, obviously.

Like, it was just like a hole in the ground.

I mean, I remember one night we took a bus, I think, from

or maybe from the beach to

and it was like a night bus.

The only one I could find like left at like

midnight.

But the curfew lasts from like, you know, 1 a.m.

to like 4 a.m.

Did a curfew?

Yeah, there was a military curfew there.

Wow.

Yeah, yeah.

Not when you were there?

No.

Yeah, I guess I went and kind of a fucked time.

But yeah, I drove through the curfew, and we had to park on the side of the road.

And like the cops came and checked us and stuff.

There was hella police checkpoints.

I had to write my name down, my passport number, that like the cops came on the bus.

I can't remember if they had guns or not.

But yeah, it was intense, man.

Whoa.

Yeah.

Yeah, we had one region in the north that was like...

They came up to us with guns and were like, what are you doing here?

Because we weren't kind of supposed to be there.

Oh, were you hiking?

We were trying to take a a a um let's get back to your trip in a second a shortcut in between

um i think from

uh

to

but where all the hiking is right yeah because i got tried people were trying to sell me tours there but i we did like a three-day hike that's cool you were camping somewhere to lake

oh yeah that's the one that's the one i heard about like a three is it nice oh so cool really yeah met some s awesome people from like all over was Was it dry season or was it?

It was dry season.

Okay.

It gets fucking hot there in the dry season, man.

It definitely didn't rain the whole time.

Yeah.

Yeah, it got hot and then super cold at night in the mountains.

Fucking hell.

Wait, what did you get into?

Let's talk about you.

What?

Where are we again?

Burma.

Me and him.

Do you know why it's called both those things?

I think the British called it Burma, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Do you know the story of it?

No, no, no.

That's so funny.

Bad press.

And the military was like, oh, they think we're fucking assholes.

Let's rename it.

Oh, that's amazing.

Yeah, and then they moved the capital from Yangon to somewhere like in here, in like the middle somewhere where no one can go protest.

That is fucking funny.

No, I remember actually, I wanted to go to the capital when I was there because there's this big, like, 12-lane highway, but it's completely abandoned.

It like leads to the capital.

I think that's where the fucking influencer was doing her little dance.

But yeah, it's just some big abandoned highway that

leads to the capital, but I never made it there.

How are influencers now at hostels?

Like where?

Kind of all over.

See, I don't fuck with hostels that much anymore, man.

Like, I want to get a good night's rest.

Fair.

You know, like, my back's fucked.

Influencers and hostels, I don't know, because I don't really go to the regular places that much anymore.

My girlfriend.

You go out there.

Yeah.

My girlfriend spent a lot of time.

She was at a hostel in Tulum, actually.

There was actually like a boutique when it was nice, and she said it was really cringe, as you can imagine.

Yeah.

But yeah.

Well, Tulum, yeah.

I'm just wondering what the life is like now with everyone like photographing themselves and talking to their screens.

Yeah, I don't know, man.

It's been so long since I've been to a regular ass place with a regular ass hostel.

I mean, obviously, Myanmar.

I mean, everybody there was making some kind of content, but honestly, like,

I kind of support that because it's like, who the fuck goes to Myanmar?

Like, let's see, let's see more of it.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

Yeah, fair.

It's the only way you're going to get info out.

Yeah.

So, what did you get into?

So, you went from there to the beach?

Yeah, dude.

I was, I touched on this earlier, but I met this alcoholic taxi driver.

Like, he just drove me around on a motorcycle, but he was like hammered, hammered, blackout drunk.

While he's driving?

While he was driving.

We crashed twice.

I still got back on the bike.

I was hammered too.

We just like went on a little booze cruise around the beach.

It was so fucking fun, dude.

I want to go back and do it again.

Do you ever, your parents are still alive?

Yes.

Do they see your stuff ever and be like, please stop doing that?

They hated it when I was like broke.

Like when I was making the Myanmar videos and I was like crashing and like, you know, like getting detained and all this shit.

They're like, come on Why are you doing this?

And now that it's actually like mildly successful.

They're like, all right, we love this now

Just results based I guess.

Yeah, sometimes I imagine I'm doing something like that drug drunk driving with a fucking guy with a limp, you know

His teeth are rotting out of his fucking face.

And I imagine my mom just seeing me like from above going no absolutely not off the bike or just like please stop.

Yeah.

Please, please, please, we're worried.

Every time I go to China, my parents are like having a heart attack for sure.

You go a lot?

I've been a couple times, but every time I'm like, just come home as soon as you can.

Get the video, come back.

China's safe, though, right?

It's okay.

I mean, I was pushing some buttons there, but, you know, whatever.

Okay.

All right.

So tell me more about me and Marr.

Yeah, so honestly, the best adventure I had was in driving around with this kid.

He got

so drunk, he couldn't talk anymore.

How did you meet him?

He literally just pulled up to me on the side of the road and was like, hello, my friend.

Like, how are you?

He was already hammered.

It was like nine in the morning.

And he's like, Hey, let's go to a party.

And I'm like, Let's go.

And I got on the bike.

It was a crowded bar, like full of people.

Like, there's so many alcoholics in Myanmar.

Did you meet these people?

Did you see them?

I met one in that town where they were like, there was a guy who kept following us and talking to us.

And we're trying to converse with him.

And then someone else comes up to us, like, charitably and goes, Hey, this man, he's, he's a, uh, he's trying to like look for he is a he's a fool.

I'm like, oh, town drunk.

Yeah.

We were trying to talk to him.

He's the town drunk.

Yeah.

But, I mean, harmless, right?

Oh, totally.

Yeah.

They just want to chat.

The guy was like, you don't have that.

He's not actually giving you any information.

You're talking to a homeless guy.

Oh.

You get that sheen of tourism where you're like, oh, I'm talking to you.

Oh, my God.

Friendly local.

Wow.

You pull out the camera, like, amazing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But

were they just coming up to you as a white?

Were they like.

Yeah, they're like, what the fuck are you doing here?

They're like, don't you know it's a bad time to visit?

And I was like, yeah, yeah.

But, you know, love of the game.

Yeah.

I mean, pretty much everybody was like, what are you doing here?

Like, they weren't unhappy that I was there, but they were confused.

Like, genuinely.

They're like, what is this?

Like,

why are you here?

You know?

Yeah, right.

Like, what, like, they're not, this isn't cool here.

Yeah.

Why?

Like, Thailand is literally right next door.

Like, go to Thailand.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

Go get your smoothie and, you know.

Get a ladyboy to suck your balls.

Like, I don't know why.

That's your way to go.

Yeah.

Yeah, Chen

right there.

Yeah, but the land borders are unfortunately closed with Myanmar because I think that's where all the conflict is.

That's where they're, like, often a group.

Well, they're, like, I think all the skirmishes are happening near the borders, like, especially towards the south, because the best beaches I've found on Google Maps, at least, are in the south, but I couldn't go.

Like, I couldn't find a bus to go there.

All these down here?

Yeah, I think there's a train that goes there, but I went to the train station and they didn't let me board because I was a what.

Really?

So, yeah.

Yeah.

They didn't let me get on.

There was like guys with guns, like, nah, you can't.

Yeah, like they did in that city.

They're like, hey, you can't be here.

Like, what do we mean?

We're at a hotel.

Like, yeah, but not for you.

When I was

white.

Oh.

They're like, this is not for like the foreigners can't stay in this region in this county.

Oh, shit.

That's when you were in the north and they like stopped you?

Yeah.

So we were trying to take, like, instead of like going this, we just looked at it.

We're like from here, from this city to this, at Inlay Lake to somewhere else, or

maybe Baganda somewhere.

Okay.

Could have been Baganda.

But it was like this to get there.

And we're like, let's just take like a van.

And there's a reason that it was.

Yeah, we thought we were outsmarting everything.

Yeah.

We'll stop for the night.

I got this hat at some market that we shut down with our skin.

You know?

Like people coming up, taking pictures?

It was just like, as my friend Derek was like walking, I could see him.

There was like a title.

You know, the wave at a baseball game?

It was that with everyone's like cooking stuff.

They go.

And then back to like cooking.

Yeah.

Just a 5'11

quad.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Did you find that a lot?

Yeah, of course.

I mean, I think that's, it's, I don't know.

I talk about this on my podcast sometimes, the small brain podcast.

Small brain podcast.

Okay.

Where yeah, I just talk about my travels and stuff.

But I find that like white privilege is a funny thing abroad because it like gets you out of so many jams.

Like being where any country.

being white is like a privilege, but also like it fucks you in some places.

Like in India, you're fucked if you don't have a local.

You are fucked if you don't have like a brown person with you.

White hawkers?

Yes, dude.

Like, they just see you as a walking wallet.

They're like, oh, the British came in.

They have this like victim mentality.

They're like, oh, well, you know, you guys fucked us, so we're going to fuck you type thing.

Oh, yeah.

But, you know, in Myanmar, I didn't feel like it was ever a problem.

I felt like it was, it was, you know, the white privilege prevailed.

So I like, tell me right or wrong.

I like Myanmar because it was like not set up enough for tourism where they're trying to come at you.

Like, yeah.

My friend Jay used to live in the upper like middle west west side, and it's like just a desolate area.

Okay.

and um and his chick was like i'm afraid of getting like

here and then darosa was like they don't don't even come here no one's here they wouldn't come like there's no robbers there's nothing to get yeah like nobody fishes in like on dry land there's no market yeah so like that where it's like we're not set up to fleece tourists yeah exactly which is really nice it was really nice honestly i feel like those places um a lot of middle eastern countries are the same way like iraq i'm sure afghanistan is like this iran like they just never see tourists so like when they do do, they're like, oh my God, welcome.

Like, I'm so sorry about our government, this, that, and the other.

Like, and they kind of put forth like more effort to like make you feel comfortable.

I felt that way in Myanmar for sure.

People were very sweet there.

It was wild.

That was the vibe.

Yeah.

We're here to like, actually, it's our religion to make you feel comfortable and like get you where you're going.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, they're so sweet.

It's kind of like Southeast Asians in general are really sweet.

Thai people, Vietnamese people are really sweet.

Cambodians are kind of like standoffish, I found.

Maybe Laotians, too.

I'm not sure.

I've never been.

But Myanmar people were like above and beyond, like the friendliest Southeast Asians I had ever met.

So I think it's the Buddhism.

Must be, yeah, must be.

I met some people on a bus to

Bagan, and they were like,

everyone's like talking, like, how do you like it?

And they were like, it's this couple.

And they were like, listen, I know everybody's had this great experience.

All we've got was scammed.

And they're like, I understand we're the outliers and we just got unlucky.

We've been like scammed like six times.

times.

Maybe they're the problem.

Did they look naive?

Did they have a look to them?

No, they were just like, everyone's trying to get over on us.

Everyone's trying to upsell us.

Everyone's.

Really?

But they were like fully aware.

They weren't like fucked.

They were like, I get it.

We definitely got unlucky because we've heard enough people say, we're just here to help.

Yeah.

Interesting.

I find places like that, Columbia is the same way.

Like, you'll get fucked hard.

You'll get robbed or whatever, scammed, whatever it is.

And then 10 minutes later, you meet like the nicest lady you've ever met.

Like, I'm so so sorry about that.

Like, come to my shop.

I'll give you free, whatever the fuck.

And I'm so sorry about that.

You know what I mean?

Like, it feels like they're compensating for something.

Wow.

You know, I don't know.

Have you found that?

Like, in kind of off-the-beaten path places?

The further off you get, the more they're like,

you're not the way we're going to make money.

That's a good point.

You know, it's like everybody else in the big towns is like, we're fishing and you're fish.

Yeah.

No, no harm.

Yeah, that's the way I felt in India for sure.

It was very much like

you, you have to be like on full alert.

Like, where are the scams?

because they're out there you just have to like it makes you such it makes you a way better traveler going to india honestly really if you've never been i mean i wouldn't personally recommend it you'll have like a terrible time like guaranteed you'll have a bad time but it makes you a better traveler dude literally i'm so conflicted about india because everyone talks about how awful it is and then like you gotta go yeah right but it's like i don't want to look at beautiful buildings while i hold my breath yeah i honestly i just wouldn't go i wouldn't go go to pakistan go to pakistan it's better

People are nice.

They're Muslim.

They're like honest as fuck.

I went for seven days.

I didn't spend any money.

Like, not one dollar.

Not one dollar.

People let me stay at their house.

People gave me free chai.

I walked around a market.

I got like seven free chais.

My head was like spinning.

It was just all the caffeine and sugar and free kebabs and shit.

It doesn't matter, bro.

Like, Pakistan, they're like, look, we're here to help.

It's very much what we were just talking about, but like times a million.

Whoa.

Yeah.

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Was there any fucking going on at the hostels?

No, dude, just me and the Chinese guy sleeping next to each other.

That was all that was there.

I mean,

there was like, yeah, I think it was like a college running the hostel.

Oh.

It was like young girls and stuff, and they they all spoke English and they were very friendly and stuff.

But everyone was just young there.

It felt like some kind of like community service, like YMCA type thing.

It was a bit strange, honestly.

Interesting.

Like, all the tourist infrastructure in Myanmar is a bit odd.

I remember I was in

the ancient city.

I think you went there.

And

I rented a bike for the day.

It was like five bucks or something.

E-bike.

Yeah, just a little scooter.

Do you know why that is?

I don't know, something dictatorship.

I'm not sure.

Foreigners can't rent electric vehicles.

I'm sorry, motorized vehicles.

Is that because of the president or whatever?

She's like half foreigners.

It's like one of those things.

They just don't want foreigners renting cars.

And so e-bike, it's electronics.

They charge them, so that's a lot of people.

Okay, Lily Paul.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, honestly, I guess they don't want to be the next Thailand.

What do you mean?

Well, it's just like overrun.

Bali is the same way.

Like, just the streets are just crammed with ignorant whites.

But yeah, I took a little scooter and rode around these little fucking pagodas.

Talk about this place.

Dude, I felt like I felt like Indiana Jones.

Yes.

It was sick.

100%.

It was sick.

It's so fucking cool.

It was sick, yeah.

Describe it.

Tell everybody what it is.

You go into a pagoda and there's like ivy everywhere and you have to like, it's like shrouded and there's like this perfectly preserved hand-painted, I'm sure a hand-sculpted like Buddha statue that who knows how long it's been there.

I mean, it's an ancient capital.

It's been there for what?

A couple thousand years.

I think it's like the oldest religious site in the world.

Maybe that's Cambodia.

It's like, it's, oh, yeah, maybe in Kerr, maybe.

But it's like, it goes on forever.

It's huge.

It's huge.

My friend Turner told me about it.

It was one of two things for Southeast Asia.

It was that and what are those big like in the in the river in the ocean by like northern Vietnam?

Oh,

yeah, never made it

made it to early.

And it was just like, it's just this, like, I don't even know how big it is.

Like 10 by 10 kilometers.

No, I have no idea.

It's huge.

I think it was the ancient capital of Myanmar, so that's that's why.

And I asked the locals, and they're like, oh, yeah, it's these, these are like paying homage to the monks or something like that.

Like, I guess a monk dies.

That one's fucking awesome.

That one's, yeah.

There were some tourist ones and some like not,

but the not ones were way better.

Way better.

Because you go in and it's just like, what the fuck, dude?

Like, I feel like I'm uncovering this further.

I feel like I'm making archaeological

progress right now.

You really do.

You go, and you're like, you're on like a dirt road on an e-bike by yourself, I I assume.

Yeah.

And then you're just like, I'll go wherever I want.

Yep.

You can't see, because don't look like a lot of trees, but it's enough to block your view.

Yeah, on the bike for sure.

Yeah.

And then you just, why does this keep doing this?

And then you just come across a fucking

some like temple.

Yeah.

And you're just, it's the only, you're the only one in there.

Actually, I went to one where there were, I saw two motorbikes parked outside.

Yeah.

And then I heard music playing and I was like, I think people are fucking in this one.

I'm almost certain they were fucking in there.

Because it was like quiet.

I was like, I walked in there, kind of like, you know, what's going on?

And it just got totally silent.

I was like, they're fucking for sure.

And I just left.

You left.

Yeah.

That's nice.

Yeah.

I mean, you know.

I mean, it's weird to stand over somebody.

Yeah, I'm not going to be like, actually, this is, I'm on vacation.

And, you know.

Did you take your shoes off when you went in?

No, fuck no.

It's like, there's like spikes everywhere and like ants.

And I went in this one.

It was like a five-foot anthill.

It's like

I heard the UNESCO won't make it a National Heritage site because they don't do upkeep.

Yeah.

Oh, you know what?

In a couple of them, they had brooms, though, and I swept up after myself.

It was like kind of on your own terms.

Because the Buddhist statue is there, and I was like, he's watching me, bro.

I gotta.

Oh, yeah, there's a Buddhist.

Dude, I went in a bunch of them, and then I went out onto my fifth one, and someone is taking their shoes off and going in.

I was like, oh.

You're like, oh, man, I'm an asshole.

Damn it.

Yeah.

Going to hell.

Going to Buddhist hell now.

Did you find any steps in any of them?

Steps?

What do you mean?

Like

secret passages?

Yeah.

Honestly, no.

No, no, no.

The only ones I went in, I went in like one big one and then like one big touristy one that you pay to admit to.

And then I just went in a bunch of small ones.

The small ones interested me a little more.

I don't know why.

Because no one's in them.

Nobody.

Honestly, I mean...

you know, especially with the tourist infrastructure as it is, like, I'm sure no one's been in there in like years, you know?

It was, it was like, it'd be like something like this, right?

Where it's like you go in, and then there was like, to me, I was like, okay, fine.

And then on the corners, there's like a little arch and there's just like a little vestibule.

Yeah.

And then one of them, there was like a passage and you're like, oh, and some steps.

Oh, you went up?

And then it goes like to up top, to up like here.

And you can go.

Interesting.

Every one felt like Indiana Jones.

Yeah.

And they're all different.

Some of them have like shrines that are like upkept.

Like I felt like they had like the equivalent of like Catholic rosaries kind of thing.

Like they had flowers and like water.

And I can't even remember.

I might be like mixing this up with Japan, but like cigarettes and stuff like at the shrines.

I i don't really remember but there was one that was like next to somebody's house bro like i was i was on their property just like using my white privilege to the fullest extent i was like i'm just

waltz in here this is mine now it feels good to use yeah like you have it yeah you might as well use it's like not cashing in a lottery ticket that's crazy you're cash it in yeah for all my minority friends i have to use this you know you see this

Yeah, yeah, I did.

But honestly, the hot air balloons, I feel like you pay the white tax to do that.

That was like 100, 200 bucks.

So I didn't do do it.

I didn't do it.

I just saw it.

One of my friends, my Danish friend did it, but

there was like a sunrise thing.

Did you go sunrise for this?

Nah, I was only in like two nights.

Okay.

Yeah.

Did you?

Yeah, it was like go here, go to anywhere for the sunset.

That's easier.

But then like scope out some ones where you can find access because it was like pitch black.

Okay.

Find access to like a stairwell.

Yeah.

And like go up with some Israeli chick.

And it was like, all right, let's go there in the dark, dark.

Like, you put a pin on your maps.me.

Yeah, so you don't get lost.

Yeah, and then you get there, because there's no roads, just all dirt roads.

Yeah.

And then you get there, like, let's sit up there, it's freezing cold, and then the sun comes up.

First, it's like, you know, when the sunrise, like, first, like, I can see before the sun's up.

Yeah.

Dusky.

And then the sun.

And then these hot air breaks.

And I guess the mist, like, over the pagodas and stuff.

It was so, it just reveals this field of.

Field's the wrong term.

It's like a city of.

Yeah.

I mean, it's kind of like an old Atlantis in a way, because it's like this ancient civilization that's just like overgrown now.

You know?

Yeah.

It's no, it's, I've never seen a place like this.

Yeah, it's incredible.

I feel like it's similar to Anchor Watt, but there's nobody there, man.

Like in Anchor Watt, you pay the tourist tax and you have to take like a government fucking.

Honestly, all the UNESCO World Heritage Sites piss me off because they just have like all the brain dead piggies there, like in their fucking Chacos and their Hawaiian shirts.

And you get the fucking Chinese.

Yeah, that's a whole, that's a whole other thing.

The Germans are nothing compared to the Chinese.

When you say like Germans are the worst, okay?

So there's two things you're talking about.

Like Germans are the worst of the whites.

But if you include Chinese, no, Chinese are like first

gold medal, dude.

Gold standard for ruining places.

Even in China, even in China, I was on a tour bus and a tour guide got on the bus with a megaphone and was shouting.

First of all, shouting an amplified sound.

I say that as I'm shouting into a mic, into an enclosed space.

It's like, what could you possibly be saying?

That's so important.

Like,

breakfast is at noon, breakfast is at 11.

Like, what is so important?

That is like, if the bus is not on fire, like, shut the fuck up, you know, and they have their little flags.

And I'm remembering that one of my images of why Chinese suck is in watching a sunset on one of the main ones in

main temples and a Chinese guy with an iPad filming it in front of us.

Get out of here.

Who fills the iPhone?

Who brings an iPad out?

It's an in-the-house tool.

It's like, you don't think your fucking phone takes the picture that can extend to the phone?

Yeah, he probably has like a Huawei, like, foldable $2,000 phone, anyways.

Or even a bigger picture.

It's all the same size.

It depends on the player, you fucking fool.

Also, like, you think you're going to take a better professional photo?

Just buy one.

Just buy a photo.

Or just Google it.

Yeah.

Just fucking Google.

I mean, yeah, this shit is better than anything you're going to take.

Yeah.

Anything.

Yeah.

I will say, like, I developed a soft spot for the Chinese in China.

They're, like, they're cute.

The tourists are cute.

But I lived in Japan, and that's where I developed my first hatred of the Chinese.

In Japan.

Yeah, I think I like...

Secondhand racism rubbed off on me a little bit, you know.

Bro, I love seeing inner racism of people like, oh, it's just like Asian and Asian.

I'm like,

or like Latino, Latino.

Like, go talk about Guatemala.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

And especially like in the States, they love to blame the Venezuelans.

Like a Cuban

will hate the Venezuelans, you know?

Yeah.

And we're like, oh, you guys are all Mexican to us.

We have no idea what you're talking about.

Exactly.

Yeah.

I thought that was your cousin.

Yeah.

That's how you go to Israel.

You're like, which side's which?

I don't know.

Both you guys need showers.

Chinese are a very specific thing.

Yeah.

They bring with them a certain sense of entitlement.

It's like they're kind of like the Americans of the Eastern world, but like bigger and better, like four times as big more racist you know chinese are racist chinese are horribly racist yeah for sure bring up viet uh bring up like vietnam or indonesia or the philippines then they're like scum you know oh so the jungle asians yeah it's it's like east asia versus south asia southeast asia

yeah they're all just horribly racist

it's funny how they all look at like if you ask them to rank them

yeah it's very clear all the jungle asians are like in a group which is like Indo, Thailand, Burma.

Yeah.

Cambodia, whatever.

Vietnam, I don't know.

And then Korea, China, and Japan are like

not the jungle ones, I guess.

I don't know.

Yeah, it's kind of like Korea versus China versus Japan.

And I guess a good argument could be made for all of them for getting on the brass tax.

But, and then that's them versus like everybody.

And I feel like probably

Philippines or like Indonesia is like at the bottom, if I were to say.

Not my personal ranking, by the way.

This is not my personality.

I think Burma's got to be ranked i think that that's got to be like oh we're not obviously the other word we're not talking about them they're not even in the running but what i will say is i think uh burma has a lot of business with japan like did you see those uh japanese signs everywhere okay and i saw a lot of japanese like businessmen and stuff not a lot but like i saw a few enough to be like what the

interesting yeah

yeah there's got to be like there's got to be like like oklahoma city just or oklahoma legalized a few years ago weed and there was like a but they're like, we're not doing regulation.

So we're going to let the market decide.

Wild less.

Yeah.

And so all these like growers, like, let's get out there.

A green, it's a, the,

like the green.

Whatever they call it for, like, San Francisco when they were going.

Oh, the green rush?

Yeah, the green rush.

Okay.

Yeah.

Hell yeah.

And they were all going out there for whatever.

I'm sure in a place like Burma, they're like, the possibility, sure, the government might take everything, but also maybe I could actually like.

Make a fucking thing.

Yeah, the human trafficking possibilities are endless.

I'm sure.

You probably get anything you want across the board if you just grease the right palms, you know?

Yeah,

yeah, it's wild out there, man.

How long did you stay in?

Just like two, three days, because I mean, honestly, man.

So, like, I fucking, I was in like four days.

I stupidly like booked a two-week trip

just because I had time to kill.

I was going to meet my girlfriend in Thailand a little later on, and just the dates didn't line up.

So, I wanted to kill some time in Burma.

Big fucking mistake.

I should have killed time in Thailand because in, I was there way too long, bro.

Like I, the military coup was like actively happening around me.

Like you couldn't go past like a certain river because like you could hear gunfire.

No.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I know that river.

Like there's a big touristy thing.

There's people jumping in them.

There's like there's a temple there.

Yeah, like a touristy thing.

There's like vendors and

yeah.

And then they're like, no, you just, you can't go.

Like we usually do tours out there, but you can't go now because they're fighting.

And they're like, they might be done fighting in a week or two, but for now, you can't go.

So.

Wow.

Yeah.

So that was fucked.

And then

there's that temple, I remember finally understanding what it means to be like, I was with four Canadian chicks, just met them up with them, and people were taking pictures with them.

It was like the tourists, the Myanmar tourists, I mean, going to like the temple from the world.

And they're like, what the fuck?

A white?

And then they were like taking pictures with them.

Yeah.

And then changing clothes and getting back in line to take another picture.

With the whites?

With the whites, yeah.

They should have started charging them.

Okay, here, you take this.

Give me your hat.

Like, I get a picture with you.

That's amazing.

Okay.

Wow.

So you're the tourist attraction of that.

Yeah.

A blonde white chick is like a god.

You ever travel with a black guy?

Yeah, tell me.

Oh, no, I've never done it.

I've never done it, but I've seen like videos of them in China, like touching the afro and stuff.

Touching the afro.

We had one.

And we went to that town.

We were in trouble.

They just kept touching his hair because he had dreads.

And he was like, excuse me, like,

guys, come to me.

Yeah, you're a commodity to us.

You're not a person.

Wow.

Yeah, you have these black women here like, don't touch my hair.

Like, yeah, good luck in me and Bob.

Good luck, lady.

Holy shit.

Yeah.

But, yeah, I stayed a little too long.

You could hear gunfire across the room.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was bad.

It was bad for sure.

And

I was in that

hostel.

I got like a little beach bungalow that, you know, in the U.S.

would be like $300, $400 easily.

It was $5 a night.

Or maybe, no, maybe $9.

I think $9.

Yeah, I paid $18 for two nights.

But it was like a shack.

Like, it didn't really have walls.

It just had, like, bamboo and stuff.

It had plumbing.

Really?

It had plumbing, yeah.

But ants were everywhere.

And, I mean, and then did they have the rolling blackouts when you were there?

Like, for certain hours of the day, there's no power.

Like, predictably, every day for like four hours at a time, you wouldn't have power.

You went in a different time than I went.

Yeah, bro.

It's great.

It wasn't that long ago.

Yeah.

I guess a lot of shit changes there, man.

Their history is fucked.

I think they've basically just been fucked for like centuries at Civil War with each other.

It's like all of South America where like, is it safe?

Like, no, I'm like, no, no, you got to read it.

Today it is.

Yeah.

You know, and then a month ago, it's like, no, gangs took over.

The country, no.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, we just looked at El Salvador.

We're like, we can't go there.

And then we look like completely safe.

It's very safe.

They have a new dictator.

He's doing a great job.

I think one of the old laundromat, he's Filipino.

I'm like, I hate this new guy.

He goes, why?

Why would I hate him?

He cleaned up the drugs.

Like, I heard he's executed people.

Like, drug addicts.

I'm like, oh, all right.

Yeah.

You think you're going to find common ground?

And they're like, marijuana is the devil's lettuce.

Like, we can't have that.

Yeah.

Damn, that's a different time.

It's crazy how much it changed that fast.

But I stayed a little too long.

And I was in that little beach bungalow with like bullshit for walls, a little bamboo.

And I could hear like the Jeeps in the night taking people like three, four in the morning.

And I'd go to the hostel owner, German guy, who'd been there for like decades.

You know, you'd imagine like fucking sunburned with like tattoos and like a little weird like man-bun thing.

And I was like, what was that?

In the middle of the night.

He's like, oh, yeah, they found people and they took them like rebels

like in the fucking village i was staying in what's a junta do you know oh some kind of militant i think yeah i don't know but they were like the juntas i don't i never know if the juntas were on the side of the government or not i think junta is the name of the government oh i think that's the name of the government yeah and then they have like on all these places colombia too they have like different types of rebels and then if one makes peace they're like well now we're your enemy or like we want to take over in a different way than you so we fight and then we fight against the government colombia is like a rat's rat's nest of like extremists they have like the commune the anno anarcho-communists yeah this is gonna be a wildly inaccurate podcast but oh everyone's like you're way wrong like but we don't it's just our experience we're not looking up anything yeah we're definitely way wrong that's right you're like you're like i went to a place it was fair food everywhere it was great like that's because there was a fair

makes sense right right right right yeah damn you could hear who were they against just the rebels um i think it was like like small militant groups, like farmers, like defending their land from being taken over.

And then I'm sure you've seen the photos of, by the way, we'll never be able to go back to Myanmar after this podcast, but I've seen videos of like the government burning fields, like burning houses.

It's fucked, dude.

If you literally just type in, I tell my viewers this sometimes, literally just type in Myanmar News, and it will be like the most horrific story.

Here we go.

It's also

the ethnic minority.

They're also like, oh, that's right.

Let's clean that up too.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Myanmar.

Ugh.

Okay.

Oh, yeah.

Over 400

fear drowned.

Two shipwrecks.

Ugh.

Yeah.

Yep.

So.

Maybe it's getting a little better.

This doesn't look too bad.

Myanmar soldiers flee to Thailand after rebels attack.

Damn.

That's how you know it's bad.

If the soldiers are like, Irrawadi, that's the river.

Okay.

That does sound familiar.

It does sound familiar.

We saw these people jumping in there.

There's like locals and just like taking their shirts off.

These kids was so cool.

No gunfire.

Was it like a holy thing they were doing or just for fun?

No, it was nearby that big temple.

Oh, you know what?

I went to that.

It's like a beach.

It's like a little white sandy kind of...

Yeah, I had a little picnic there.

With gunfire in the back.

Well, I mean, it's like, you know.

It's not every time.

I mean, if the locals are chill, I'm like, you know, I got a scooter.

Do you have a rule for safety when you go these places or do you just...

I don't know, man.

It really depends.

It depends on if the video idea is good enough.

I mean, sometimes I'll do some really dumb shit to make a good video, but not really.

I mean, I checked the State Department just to, but it doesn't really tell you anything.

It really doesn't, huh?

I wish it would be more specific, like, don't travel to Iraq.

It's like, really?

Like, it's really actually perfectly fine.

I wish you'd be more accurate with your, like, this neighborhood is bad or this neighborhood is bad, you know, but

yeah, yeah, instead of just go, eh, why, why go there?

And you're like, well, I don't have fun or adventure.

Tell me what I need to know.

Dude, I was in a fucking cafe this morning talking with this guy.

And I was telling him, like, oh, yeah, Iraq was perfectly safe.

I had a great time.

I felt more safe walking around in Baghdad at night than I do in Atlanta.

And this old lady turned around and gave me like the nastiest look, like her son had died in Iraq or something.

Who knows?

But she wanted to make it known, like, I do not approve of what you're saying.

And then she like stormed off.

And you're like, lady, we're not at war anymore.

We won.

Yeah.

Like, we instilled their entire government.

Like, it's good because of us.

Yeah.

My son died.

I'm like, getting it safe for me.

That's right.

Yeah.

I mean, I don't know.

My great-great-great-grandfather drove out the British, but they're, they're out.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Now they're just like, they have the best Molly now.

That's right.

The best cataract.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Always trust a Brit for powder.

That's right.

That's right.

Do you ever go to any of these places and be like, actually,

this is sketchy.

I'm turning around.

Yeah, I feel like Xinjiang, China was pretty sketchy.

Like the whole alleged genocide happening there.

Like we got followed by police, um, and we got detained a couple times.

That was as bad as they say, for sure.

Like, even going from the border of Kyrgyzstan just to, like, the next city over in China, like a four-hour journey.

I think, like, 120 kilometers, it shouldn't take long, especially on a highway.

Dude, in America, that would take you fucking 30 minutes.

You know what I mean?

It took us 12 hours in China.

Checkpoints?

Checkpoints every like seven kilometers.

Or maybe I'm exaggerating.

It was like every 30 minutes.

We're at a checkpoint.

Like, what are you going to pick up inside that time?

It's like once you get on on the Jersey Turnpike, you don't have to go through another toll until you're off.

And they checked our passport, and they asked what asked us what we were doing.

They didn't have bathrooms, they didn't have water.

At the checkpoints, nothing.

There was no accommodation at all.

It was just like, are you Muslim?

Yes or no?

Like, okay, you can go.

It was fucked, man.

Damn.

Yeah, that was pretty serious.

That was probably one of the most serious on that picture.

Oh, I just moved.

Just changed.

Oh, it's your little...

Now it's Greece, but yeah.

Oh, these are your photos.

Yeah.

Nice.

It's all blocked, but beautiful.

Yeah, that was as bad as I say.

I feel like most places that were fine.

I mean, the thing is, though, with war, like, it was the same when I was in Ukraine.

Like, I was in Lviv and Kiev and stuff.

And everything was fine.

Like, and I mean, I'm sure soldiers would tell you the same thing.

Like, everything's fine until it's not.

Like, one day Putin was just like, hey, I might launch some nukes into Kyiv.

And I was like, I'm out.

Like, it just.

And you will.

You'll hear the news enough to go.

Yeah, yeah.

It can just change on a dime.

You ever see that interview with this guy saying the best time to go to a place is right after a bombing?

Fucking legend.

Legend.

Fucking legend.

And everyone's like, oh, right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I wouldn't go after two straight bombings because now it seems habitual.

Right.

But after one, they might have a chronic issue at that point.

Yeah.

Then it's like, oh, this is always going on.

Well, it's like right now, flights into Newark are cheaper because like all the fucking crashes and stuff and air traffic controllers are getting fired.

Yeah.

Got to find a time to get right in there.

The sweet spot.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Talk about Chinloon.

That ball game.

Oh, yeah.

I just saw it with my buddy.

We were just, yeah, just chewing betel nut and doing that, smoking cigarettes.

It was just like the bros.

Yeah.

How much did you play there?

I tried playing once.

Here's the ball.

It's kind of tough, isn't it?

But it's a soccer thing.

It's a volleyball thing.

Oh, I didn't see them play with the net.

I just saw them fucking around on the sidewalk.

So that, too, when we were in that town where the government's like, you shouldn't be here, we had to get a special dispensation from a guy.

Like, all right, we're going to let you stay.

But, like, this, this is in this is trouble.

Like, don't, don't fuck with anything.

Don't make yourself known too much.

Interesting.

And you still stole this key by accident.

He hit a hard key.

I took him.

Fuck, he was so nice damn but they were playing hacky sack out there they were like really wanting to but it's this they play with a fucking oh shit i have not seen that getting over a net and so it's like that i saw that my first day i was like walking by the river and it was like they were just doing this that's but they get up so

oh i bet you get some gnarly concussions doing that

yeah but i mean they get their leg up so high Just roundhouse kick to the face, bro.

Yeah.

Holy shit.

The flexibility.

The flexibility.

Asians.

Yeah, it's all that squatter.

Does he have an American flag bandana on his head?

Maybe, right?

That's hilarious.

You ever see...

What's this?

Everyday.

Servant C.

Some nonsense English.

You ever see these

definitely left behind?

Like USO shit.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I've never, I pray to find like a, you know, like Pittsburgh Steelers, like, fucking Super Bowl.

like the losers.

Yes.

I found one.

Really?

I saw a bunch of Texas Rangers baseball team champion, and I was like, wait, when was that?

I don't remember that.

And then I looked it up, and I was like, oh, yeah, they lost.

This is the city that got it.

I forgot what town it was.

What country?

Southeast Asia.

And it was like.

Did you get one?

No, no, it wasn't like for sale.

I just saw, but I saw like one guy wearing.

I was like, oh, weird.

And I saw like two more.

And I'm like, how do they all have this shirt?

Oh, my God.

Yeah.

I should have tried to buy it off one of them.

Just give them $100.

Be like, dude, look, this is hanging up in this shit.

This is your fucking life.

Your family's life.

I'm going to lift your family out of poverty for generations.

I got to show this picture my friend took of like this perfectly, these two guys with their leg up.

That's amazing.

Perfectly trying to smash this ball down.

I don't know how to get it up.

They get their leg up and they hit the horn on it.

That's crazy.

Do women play it or is it just men?

I only saw men.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Did you see the Burmese like MMA?

It's like bare knuckle like MMA.

What is it?

I don't know what it's called, but I was trying to make a video there when I was there.

There was like some tournament on, but I ended up getting sidetracked and doing something else.

I don't know if MMA is the right word for it.

It's something, but I don't think they use gloves, man.

Like, it's fucked.

Like, it's super bloody.

Really?

Oh, maybe this?

That seems like Thai boxing.

Burmese boxing.

Maybe I'm just making this up.

Who knows?

Doubt it.

Maybe you just saw a street fight.

There it is.

Yeah, yeah.

They're fucking...

Which one?

From Myanmar with Blood.

There you go.

The guy with the bare knuckles, like bottom left, kind of.

This?

This.

Up, right, and down.

That one.

Ooh.

Ooh.

Singapore.

Ah, maybe I'm wrong.

From Myanmar with Blood, the Singapore.

Oh, leth way.

That's what it is.

Yeah, it's bare knuckle MMA, bro.

These guys are just like bloodied, and there's like a

there's like a whole underground fighting scene.

I really want to go there and make a video about it, but probably never.

I'm familiar with blood.

I bleed whenever I am in the ring.

I also injure my opponent and make him bleed, too, said one of the fighters.

Yeah.

Oh, wait, they're wearing gloves there.

That's right.

Maybe I'm a liar.

But it's supposed to be pretty brutal.

Maybe they got it safer.

You can use your head and shit.

Really?

Yeah, like you can headbutt people.

Ooh.

There was like some big tournament

there

when I was there.

um that's cool do you try to do stuff like this like sports and things yeah i do enjoy sports um for sure like in japan i've been to a lot of baseball games and uh dude donny told me about this fucking game in turk menace or tajikistan maybe yeah where like they have these like horse riders and they take like a a goat corpse and they try to get it across the it's like soccer but with like a goat corpse and they're all riding horses yeah and they have like crowbars and they're like trying to push it into the fucking end zone really yeah and he says my friend zane just did one of these.

He went to Kazakhstan for the Nomad games.

That's badass.

And he was filming them.

That's badass.

Yeah.

Wow.

That's it.

That's bare knuckle.

Just paped up a little bit.

Yeah, there you go.

That's more like it, yeah.

I guess it looks a little like Thai boxing, but that makes sense because it's like right their neighbor.

Yeah, exactly.

Empty arena.

You guys

could get more popular than it is.

It would be so amazing to go there and

like film it.

But yeah, I do try to do sports.

I really want to go to like a rugby game, like in Pakistan or something.

I think it'd be fucking sick.

Yeah, and then baseball in Japan is always a good time.

The girls with like the little straps, the little, have you seen this?

They have the little backpacks with kegs on them.

And you just run, you're like, sumo my sen, and they run up as fast as they can.

They have knee pads and they just like squat down.

They pour you a draft beer and it's like five bucks.

Wow.

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

It's life-changing.

I went in DR baseball game.

Oh, I bet that was fun.

It was so fun.

Pooh was supposed to play, but he was like only playing one out of every three days.

Interesting.

He's like his great Major League Baseball player, but he retired like 42.

He's like, I make the rules.

I play one out of every three games.

Yeah, but he goes, it's my dream to actually play where I grew up.

I never played pro here.

I played straight in the major.

So like, but he's like, I'm old, though.

Chill.

Yeah.

So he didn't play that game, but like

the power went out in like the seventh inning.

Oh, no.

And people getting stabbed.

No, it was pretty safe.

Everyone's drinking rum, but it was just like, it was nice, but it was like, but then the first thing to come back on was the speakers, and they just started blasting like

dance music, and everybody's just fucking going for it you know and it was like this is wild drinking rum everyone's dance party until they got the lights back on that is sick dude was it was the sun down or was it like sun's down so it was just dark it was pretty dark that's yeah they had one of those like emergency lights like a little bit you could sort of see and moonlight too yeah god i was like what is this that's amazing and they're the number one team i think it was tigos deleisi I think it was like the top team, the Yankees of the place.

That's amazing.

Yeah, it's like, I feel like when Latinos Latinos are in the US, they're like talking on speakerphone or like they have a speaker in the gym or something.

I'm like, shut the fuck up.

Like, come on.

But when you go to their country, like, I get it, dude.

Like, this is beautiful.

That's you now.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's amazing.

Do you like take invites from people to like go just if someone's like, come over to our house for dinner?

Yeah, I almost never say no.

Almost never.

It's got me in some trouble, but what do you mean?

Well, I think I may have ended up in like Iraqi propaganda

in Iraq.

Are you worried about getting people in trouble with your videos?

Yeah, I blur faces and I have like good information about like where I am.

I'll ask a local, be like, hey, what do you think of this?

Like, I'll run some footage by people and be like, is this too much?

Right.

Yeah.

We were in Cuba.

I got real worried because I just saw some Kurt Cos video where he was like,

sort of, was talking to some hookers, and then those hookers, like, disappeared for 15 years.

Yeah.

And it was like, oh, I'm like, just blur everybody.

I don't even know what the rules are.

Take the video down if that's like, it's not that.

It was like too late.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

But it was like,

I don't know what the laws are here.

So I'm like, isn't this interesting?

This guy's doing that.

What the fuck are you talking about?

Don't show that.

Yeah.

I think any crime, you definitely shouldn't be filming it.

I mean, I tried to film a video one time in

the Bronx and people were like, don't put me on camera.

And I think people will tell you if they don't want to be filmed type thing.

I think it's just when people don't know they're being filmed and then you get them doing something like illegal.

But I mean, acting a fool, like the guy in in Myanmar, like I had some hesitations about that video for sure.

Like, drunk driving, we crashed a couple times, and dude, at the end of the night, I paid for everything, and then he and his buddy asked like for some more money, and I was like, You're just gonna drink this, like, I paid for the whole fucking day, like, we're all blackout drunk.

Like, why do you need more money?

So, I said no, and they drove off, and I ended up doing something else.

I think I was like in the shower or something, and they fucking crashed into my hotel later in the day.

Like, came back and crashed again.

You're just gonna drink with us.

Like, yeah, right.

What do you mean?

Yeah, you were gonna drink it too.

Oh, my God.

Yeah, Myanmar was a fucking trip.

I think the characters there were like unparalleled in all my travels.

Like, because you have like the sweetness of the Southeast Asians, and then they're like kind of a hermit kingdom of Southeast Asia.

They're kind of like the North Korea.

So you have like this, all this allure, and like they're like, who are you?

Why are you here?

And it's just like so much chemistry between the locals, you know?

I don't know if you found that but what do you mean chemistry between the locals well like between you and the locals like they're so curious and they never see foreigners and they're just so fucking secluded it's like they were so friendly yeah so this one when we were on that trip was like a two-day trip because we were like let's let's go vans and whatever but we got off one and they were like you can't stay here they get us they made us get on the phone to and you were you're going no we're going up to from

to

I forget exactly.

But like you were out there.

Yeah, it was when instead of doing this, we went straight up.

But like, let's do two hours, get out, stay for the night, explore, do another two hours, stay for the night, explore, and then go to where we're going.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But

what was I going to say?

Oh, the lady got on the phone with us.

She was like, you can't be.

Oh, so at one of the cities that was, that was kind of okay to stay in.

Some guy pulls up on a bike.

We're like, all right, the hostel's like, like a mile.

So it's kind of, it's hot.

And we have all our, like, all our stuff with us.

Yeah.

Some guy pulls up on a bike.

We're like, what are you guys doing?

And our, you know, our tension's up.

Like, you're not gonna scam us was just a like a civilian or yeah on a motorcycle and he goes i can drive you to the uh to the thing it's far i can drive you come back and we're like all right what's the right this is obviously like what's what what are you what are you trying to get off us yeah and he goes all right you got me

and we're like what is it he goes i was trying to work in my english

oh that's precious yeah i was like all right that's precious because i did have ulterior motives oh my god wow yeah they were all that.

That's the worst scam you'll get in my mind.

That's the worst scam I got in Myanmar.

Wow.

Wow.

That's amazing, man.

So honestly.

Take it into your home.

Let me show you how we do our tea.

So people will let you into their homes?

Yeah, once.

I remember now.

I'm having these memories as I'm talking to you.

That's amazing.

Yeah.

That's the beauty of travel podcasting.

You like...

like reel up old memories.

Like I didn't remember the fucking gunshots in the white sandy beach on the whatever that river is.

Yeah.

Just now.

Harawani.

Yeah.

fucking legendary place man Myanmar hopefully they get their shit together man because there's so much potential to be had and I know like tourism is like a it's like a tricky situation with doing it the right way and not fucking your entire like culture i.e thailand bali but they definitely have something special going on like i feel like more people should see it for sure yeah so i started this like four month backpacking trip in in myanmar just because you started in myanmar jesus christ yeah which i'm like so thankful because it was like you're in.

You're in.

Right.

Just diving in.

No Thailand, no like massages, just fucking.

Yeah.

And just because I was like, I'm going, I got all my visas I need to ahead of time.

That's smart.

That takes a, yeah, I was like, I'm going to, that's the region.

I was like, let me get, I needed Vietnam ahead of time.

I needed Myanmar ahead of time.

I forget what else.

What, maybe Lao?

Yeah, maybe.

I never ended up making it there, but I had for wherever I might go.

Okay.

And then the Thailand's on arrival.

Some of her on arrival.

Yeah, yeah.

But, and then I just looked at the weather.

Weather was best in Myanmar.

So I was like, I'm going there.

I got it like a day before.

It's like no rain for two weeks.

So you didn't have like an entry thing with your visa, like a certain number of days.

Yeah, it's 30 days starting any time in the next six months.

Oh, so you had six months to decide.

Hell yeah.

But so started there, did almost a month, and then went to Chiang Mai.

We did a month in Myanmar?

Holy fuck.

Maybe 27, 28 days.

Jesus Christ.

Well, I guess it was safer then.

It was safer.

I was so like, wow, I made a couple of groups, you know?

Yeah.

You meet meet other travelers, you keep seeing them.

What kind of people did you meet?

Were they like young, like German boys?

There was a couple northern, one northern England guy, big Newcastle Black fan.

Okay.

That I just ran into again in Vancouver.

Meet some legends out there in those hostels, bro.

Fucking legends.

Yeah.

They don't give a fuck, dude.

So the first night at the first hostel, I was just me and this other chick, this German chick.

Uh-huh.

And it was like, she was like, oh, yeah, I took the land border from Thailand.

And I was like, what?

That's badass.

Yeah.

And she goes, so here you can stay on the beach up to two days for free and they won't like move you.

So I slept on the beach.

And I was like.

She probably stonked a high heaven, bro.

I mean, I came from hotel life and meeting this lady who was such an adventurer.

I'm like, what do you mean?

By yourself?

Are you crazy?

Yeah.

Won't you get taken?

Yeah.

And she was just like, no care in the world.

And I was like, oh my God, I got to be more free.

I think something with women, like, they're either really protective and guarded on the road or they just don't give a fuck, dude.

I met a French girl.

It's a long story, but like she was hitchhiking with us through Kyrgyzstan, and she was going to hitchhike to and through Pakistan and India alone.

And I was like, listen, like, take my advice.

Please don't do this.

Like, I was trying to be her voice of reason, but she's like, I do not care.

I go to Pakistan.

Like, blah, blah, blah.

I don't know if I need visa.

I don't care.

And I'm like, you're going to get fucked.

Like, 100% sure.

You'd be better off at Diddy's house.

Yeah, honestly.

What happened?

Did you ever see her again?

No, we just parted ways.

We We got into China together, and yeah, we took like a military or like government bus through Xinjiang, and she was cheap and tried to take the tourist bus and then got held up.

And yeah, that's the last we saw of her.

Do you have a line of like, of like, okay, I want to go the cheap route or the real route versus like, actually, it's going to cost me two days if let's say spend four extra dollars and take a flight?

Yeah, because I mean, time is money, right?

And I feel like, I don't know.

Like, burnout is real on the road.

I'm sure you felt it in like Southeast Asia.

Like, I don't know.

Cause, I mean, money at that point, everything's so cheap.

It's just like bargaining tokens.

It doesn't really fucking matter.

So you're just like, all right, I'll save a couple.

Or sometimes I'll like splurge on a nice hotel.

Like we, me and my buddy Tommy, sabbatical,

we made this series on YouTube where we went from Kyrgyzstan all the way.

He's supposed to come on this.

Is he?

I think so.

He's going to be a great guest, man.

He's got some stories.

Really?

Oh, yeah.

He got detained in Russia.

He was in prison.

Oh, yeah.

That's what people are saying.

It's so funny.

I get all these like suggestions from people.

And there's a whole world of like you guys

that like I wasn't really familiar with.

Uh-huh.

That are like not just like, hi, we're here and they finally dance, but like actually fun, cool, interesting people.

Uh-huh.

Yeah.

Making cool videos with some style and like some panache.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah.

People like get him about Russia.

Yeah.

Sabbatical is a fucking legend.

He's got a story.

He lives in Bishkek.

So it'd be easy to get him.

Oh, really?

Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have said that.

How do you

sorry?

Edit out.

Hey, lay in some really far-off place over that.

Yeah, lay in

Bishkek.

Bishkek, Kazakhstan.

That's right.

Osh, Kyrgyzstan.

I feel like you asked me something.

Yeah.

I like it too.

Hold on.

Oh, like saving money.

Yes.

So we went from Kyrgyzstan.

I actually started in Uzbekistan, did land borders all the way through Xinjiang.

And long story short, we like ended up at this border.

All land borders.

All land borders, yeah.

Why?

Just for the adventure.

It's better.

Land borders are so cool.

Way better.

Yeah, you can really understand a place.

You can see, like, okay, the culture here is like getting intermingled with the culture here.

And then you go across and like horribly racist to these people, and like, you just never know, it's always different, you know.

There's something also to like when you take a flight or like an overnight flight, you just wake up in another place, it's like it's like a transport, you don't see the change, it's cheating, it's cheating, yeah, you don't see the border areas that have both cultures, yeah, that slowly change, yeah, it's too easy, it's too easy, and and airplane airports are just like it's like a fucking mall.

It's like, oh, yeah, I've been to Dubai, it's like you were in a mall, dude.

Like, airports are the same everywhere, yeah, to a degree, yeah,

yeah.

So, um, yeah, we did the land border, and then we just ended ended up

at like a trucker,

dude.

It wasn't meant for tourists.

It was like, it was just like a transport border between the two countries, Kyrgyzstan and China.

And it was closed that day, the Chinese border.

So we just had to sleep in like a shipping container.

Me and the French girl and Tommy sabbatical.

And it was hell, bro.

Like, I mean, they gave us like a little stove to like help us stay warm.

So that was great.

We didn't die in the desert overnight.

But the next day, I was like, fuck it, dude.

We're staying at the Ritz.

Like, fuck this.

I'll pay for it.

Like, we cannot be doing this the whole trip.

There is also, you understand the social benefits of a hostel.

For sure, yeah.

I mean, I grew up doing hostels.

I would still do it to like gather intel if I needed to.

You get great intel, huh?

Great intel.

Yeah.

I mean, the stuff is not in any lonely planet or anything.

We're like, no.

That hike in Myanmar was like just some Israeli troops.

Like, we just came from this.

It's really cool.

Yeah.

It's just not set up for tourism enough that anyone would know.

Yeah.

My buddy Timmy Carter also has a YouTube channel.

He told me like before he films like in the ghettos or in the slums or anything, he just, he'll stay in a hostel just to like rough it and just to be a little more like have a little more edge about him type thing.

Because when you're in the hotel, it's just like, oh, I'm going to eat my bacon and an extra breakfast and I'm comfortable.

But in the hostel, it's like, you're in the shit.

You know what I mean?

Like incentivizes you, like, get out.

Yeah, get the face.

This is pretty hot and gross here.

Yeah.

Like, you should just get out to the streets and do stuff.

Yeah, exactly.

But I would do, like, when I was there, it was like, if I'm somewhere for one night, I'm like, I'm getting a shower.

I'm getting a hotel.

Yeah.

One night.

You're not going to.

Because I'm not going to meet anybody.

You're only going to learn about something fun happening and then have to leave the next day.

Yeah.

They're going to be like, oh, we're going to like an overnight rave.

And you're like, fuck, I have a flight at 6 a.m.

You know?

Yeah, it was like

the river border.

Oh, what the

between D.

And then you have like deboard.

They stamp your thing, get right up.

See, that's cool, man.

That's a story.

That's not just taking a fucking flight.

Yeah.

You know?

But then I was going to go from there to, I think, to Indonesia, whatever, but it was like, I'm just getting a nice hotel.

Yeah.

And by nice, I mean, like, fine.

Yeah.

But, like, a powerful shower when you're like, need one, you're like, yeah.

A shower really, it'll set you right, man.

It'll wash away all the sins.

Yeah.

Especially some places, like if I'm really roughing it, the only question I'll ask at the hotel, because, you know, in a lot of places, it's like the only fucking hotel.

Like in Kyrgyzstan, it was just like a fucking box with a hole in the ground to shit in.

But I will ask, like,

is there hot water?

Like, that's the one question I ask.

Ahead of time.

Yeah.

Because, like.

You'll get the answer no a lot.

Some places in Colombia, like kind of in the more remote areas in, I don't know, I can't even remember, Mexico maybe um just kind of like shithole countries you know so they don't have like the best plumbing you ever do the buckets oh dude the buckets i think that was in the philippines and it's you feel like an animal dude you feel like a

cow just like all right i just wash the shit off my asshole like just get all the nasty bits you know like yeah

and they're like see soap up with no one and then you're like all right just yeah and you're like is it did i get it i don't

you find like soap behind your ear like damn it Right.

Yeah.

And it's so cold.

Everyone is like, duh.

Yeah, exactly.

You like get wet one time and then like suds everything up and then fucking you start sweating while you're sudden up.

Yeah.

Because there's no, because then it's like, oh, yeah, it's so hot.

It's 98 with 100% humidity.

Yeah, yeah.

And then you're like,

right.

I mean, some countries it is refreshing.

I was in Colombia staying at some random guy's house and he just had like kind of like a hose spigot like elevated.

And that was like actually refreshing because we were kind of in the jungle, like near the Venezuelan board.

It was hot as as fuck.

Yeah, cold shower will do fine then.

It was nice.

Yeah.

But if you're in like the Balkans or something, you don't want to.

Yeah.

That's when you get like

whatever and die.

Hypothermia, yeah.

And there's no hospitals.

Do you ever worry about that on the road?

Like you'll ever be on like a remote hike or in Myanmar, I'm sure.

Oh, I have a story about that.

Remind me in a second.

But like, there's no medical care.

Like, if the worst thing happens, you're fucked, bro.

Like, I was in that

beach town in Wesong, and I checked into my hostel.

It was was like 10 in the morning, maybe 10.30.

And the guy checking me in was like, hey, you want something to drink?

You want a water, coffee?

And I was like, oh, how about a beer?

And then we just start crushing beers.

And then it comes up.

He's the town doctor, bro.

We're getting hammered before noon.

Incapacitated your help.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

I was like, you are the doctor in town.

And he's like, yeah, hell yeah.

I do reception here and I'm the doctor.

I'm like, there's no way you're a good doctor.

I think you're the doctor because you're the one guy with band-aids.

I found, what I found was,

so I had to take, there was some shot I had to take for Asian malaria or something.

It couldn't have been rabies, but I had to take three of them.

And I got two here in America.

Malaysia, you said?

For Southeast Asia.

Okay, okay.

And I got two here.

It was like two weeks apart kind of shots.

Okay.

And so then I was like, hey, I'm actually not going to be here for the third one.

And my travel doctor's like, oh, we'll find you a.

or whatever.

Maybe one month apart.

I forget.

We'll find you one in Myanmar.

We can find a clinic wherever.

And so I was like, find me one of Yangon.

I was like, actually, my plans changed.

And they found me one.

My drug here that cost 400 bucks was like 50 bucks there.

Damn.

And I was like, no, no, it can't be the right one.

He goes, yeah, I'm looking at it.

Did you see the medical?

It's like, this is it.

Yeah, dude.

And so it was like, I mean, sand floor and shit, but like.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's the thing with healthcare.

It's a little, it can be a little dicey, but I do think in the U.S., we have like highly inflated prices for sure.

Like, I mean, I had food poisoning in the Philippines and I was like, I went to to the ER because it was like, it wasn't terrible, but I just didn't have time to figure it out the next day.

And it was like late at night.

And anyways, I was in the ER and it was like an indoor, outdoor ER.

There was like flies.

I could like hear the traffic.

And I'm like, this isn't the most sanitary place to be getting shot.

And they're like, we really want to do blood work.

And I was like, absolutely fucking not.

Like, I'll shit in a pan and you can examine my stool, but I won't.

Don't do that.

You're not.

penetrating me.

Yeah, with like, where'd you go that needle?

Let me see you unwrap it.

Yeah.

You know, it's like a Thai bottle.

I'm like, don't turn around.

Don't turn around.

Let me see you open it.

Run a lighter over it.

Wait, what story do you want to get back to?

Oh, no, that was that was the

guy.

Yeah.

Wait, I want to ask you about food, but I got it pissed.

Okay, sure.

Okay.

I could probably rip it pissed, too.

Okay, cool, cool.

All right, what was the food like in Myanmar?

I wasn't a fan.

Any meat was like very grisly.

You know, like you're chewing it, and it's like, ugh, like, this cow didn't live a good life.

You know what I mean?

Like, this is from the fields where they're like shooting.

their own people.

Like, they probably don't take care of their animals, you know?

It's not flavorful.

it just doesn't feel like they really care that much i don't know maybe my palate isn't like attuned to it um

but it was fine it was okay i had like beef noodles a lot it was okay you know they had the ones i remember was mohinga was like a breakfast soup oh yeah i think i and then like the only thing that was good they had all these fields of peppers but they didn't use them ever and so on that hike i was like can i take some of these they're like yeah there's 50 000 peppers take four right they're just growing wild they don't know what to do with them well i think they're doing but exporting them or something.

Oh.

And so then, like,

they're just not putting in their food.

Interesting.

And so tea leaf salad was pretty good.

I didn't have that.

Okay.

And then the Mohinga was okay.

But yeah.

Yeah, nothing really.

Nothing spicy.

I remember one time I like spent a little more.

Yeah.

In Myanmar, it was like $3, but I got like a whole platter of like...

Kind of tapa style, like a little bit of beef, a little bit of mystery meat, a little bit of whatever the fuck.

And like, it was almost all inedible to me.

Like, I don't know, maybe, because to be fair, I had like a stomach bug, like a really bad parasite from Pakistan that, like, I didn't know what it was at the time, but I was just shitting like liquid like all day, every day.

Like, anytime I had to shit, it was going to be liquid type thing.

So, I was like, I'm more hesitant when I was in Myanmar.

I was like, ah, what the fuck is this?

Yeah, I don't know about you, but like, I think I'm more skeptical of like fresh food now, like lettuce.

I'm terrified to eat lettuce.

That's what I tell you.

It's not the meat, it's anything uncooked.

Yeah, the water, the rinse.

You're like, oh, lettuce is fine.

Piece of broccoli.

That's cool.

Raw.

And you're like, yeah, raw is that, that.

Absolutely.

And I give me a canned fucking bean, a thing of canned beans, and I'll be happy.

My buddy got it in Ecuador, came to visit me, and I was like, hey, you got to boil the water.

You have to boil the water.

He's a bottled water.

And he made tea, but warmed it up.

Didn't like it.

He was like, it's hot enough.

And then he's like, oh, actually, I didn't boil it technically, but that sip was enough.

Shitting like 20 times a day.

Yeah, like probably needed to go to the hospital, honestly.

He did go to the hospital.

Yeah.

Wait, um,

wait, what was I just gonna say?

Food.

Oh, what did you take for food poisoning?

Dude, I would literally just pre-game my days with a modium.

Like, I probably did, like, irreversible damage to my, like,

intestines.

I would just take it every day.

I would just take it.

Especially for, like, a long train ride in India, for example.

Like, there's a lot, you know, it's a big country.

There's a lot of trains.

So I would just take it.

What are we going to do?

Stop you up?

Yeah, you just can't shit.

So I would have like one shit every like five days.

When you like, hey, I can't be shitting a lot here.

Or at all.

Like if there's a squat toilet on a moving Indian train, I'm like, I absolutely, shitting is not an option here.

What's your technique for squats?

For squat toilets?

When did you first come across them?

Did anybody tell you about them, how to deal with it?

Or did they just throw you to the wolves?

And how do you do it?

There's not a fucking, even a diagram.

There's a diagram on how to push the thing for the hand dryer.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, especially for women.

I don't know how women, like, if you're wearing a dress, you just get fully naked.

Like how are you supposed to take off everything?

Oh, dress is easy.

You pillow it up.

Oh, that's true.

Dress is the easiest.

That's true.

But what do you do with the panties?

Just push them to the side and, like.

Well, what do we do with the panty?

Our panties?

Well, I just.

Yeah.

Oh, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.

I'm gonna wear it's the same for men and women.

Yeah, but we had the little dick flap.

We have a dick flap.

We do have a thing we could pull a dick through.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But no, I dude, honestly, the first squat toilet, you'd never believe it, but I was in Italy.

I was in like a nice nice restaurant.

It was a fucking squatter, bro.

Like a marble, like beautifully polished squatter.

Like a beautiful, like, oof, Roman.

Yeah, I was like, oh, I don't feel like a piece of trash.

Whereas like in Cambodia or Myanmar, it's like, oh, no, you're like a dog here.

Like, you know.

But yeah, the toilets,

is that what you asked me about?

Yeah.

And like, what's your technique?

Oh, yeah, just take down the pants to the knees.

So it's just like as high as they'll go, like, when you're in the squat position.

and then just kind of push your dick down.

Hold on.

Okay, you can go here.

Show it, show it.

It'll get you if you go further back.

There you go.

Yeah, just do that.

Okay.

And then just kind of like pop your dick down.

Take your pants.

I'm not going to do anything.

But take your pants to a degree.

Let me see.

Let me just see.

You can leave your underwear on.

Let's assume your underwear is in your pants now, but let's see how you would do it.

Yeah, it's like that.

Okay, and then you push your dick down.

Yeah.

But now,

let me see.

Your butt's here, your shoes here.

It's so.

Oh, there's gonna be some backsplash there will be some backslash

Because the poop is a problem too

Yeah, especially if you're like

especially if you're spray shitting

Like if it's it's got a little like radius to it, you know like it's not just a straight like plop it's like it's like a shotgun.

Yeah, that'll that'll get you some trouble.

Yeah, like when you shit you see on a regular toy you see the sides like the dots like imagine that in a squatter.

yeah like

no i've i've had a few experiences with the squatter um where i would shit and then uh like flush it but the flusher like pointed out like at me so i just got sprayed with all my shit water

you don't know you're like

what

you're like hit water oh the worst water yeah yeah yeah i actually um i was in china and that happened i was wearing my slide so i got on my bare feet and then i had to like go to the sink and I had to get a bar of soap for my buddy Tommy and like.

And cut your foot off with it.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Shave it down into the sink and just cut your foot off.

Yeah.

So.

I had food poisoning in Miyam.

Do you abide by this theory that once you get food poisoning, you're good for a while?

No, absolutely not.

I think it's like breaking the seal.

I think once you get it, you get it.

way easier.

Interesting.

You have the other, the opposite?

The vibe I got from Southeast Asia was like, it's going to come.

Once it does, you're good.

So you're going to be in fear of it until you get it, it, and then you're just oh, it's like you're immune to it, like you build up you already did it, like whatever the locals have in their gut, I have now.

Yeah, did that pan out?

I only got it once a Z-Pack after

azithromycin.

I might be remembering this wrong, okay, because I gave my Z-Pack to my friend who drank the tea in Ecuador, and his doctor was like, Don't ever listen to Ari.

That's not what you should take at all.

And I'm like,

here's some iverbectin.

I've heard it works wonders.

It does, but then they spam call you for five years.

Yeah, but I was a shit squatter in some hotel.

We were saying two to a room.

It's a little trek.

And I remember, like, okay, I pissing and shitting and barfing.

But then you piss, so you stand up and piss with those little footrests.

Uh-huh.

And that's when you got to put your knees when you're barfing.

So you're like, you go to squat shit.

Barf.

And you're like, and they're like, oh, no, also this.

You got to immediately squat onto it.

Oh, that's a nightmare situation.

It was really bad.

So you're like face to face with the shit.

Because in like a regular toilet, there's some level of...

Yeah, this wasn't a flush.

It was like, take a bucket and pour water down to clear it.

See, that is like a personal nightmare of mine for that to happen.

It wasn't ideal.

Yeah.

I was staying that place I was talking about, the shipping containers at the Kyrgyzstan-China border.

I hope I'm not meandering too much.

No, that's all right.

But I saw the toilet and it was like carnage, bro.

It was like...

It was like the death camps, dog.

Like, I went in there and like, I couldn't even stay there.

It was like, I was gagging.

Like I opened the door and I just gagged and I was like, this can't.

So I didn't eat.

Like I had like little bites of dumplings here and there, but I was like, I cannot get food poisoning here.

Like if I do, it'll be like terrible.

Like what you said, that's literally my nightmare.

I love when you get any traveler who's like, oh, I'm not good at this.

I don't want to do this.

I'm not looking to like, oh, sure, do whatever.

It's like, no, it's horrible.

I'm an American.

Yeah.

I don't want to.

I want a regular toilet.

We are pampered pussies at the end of the day.

That thing I just remember when I came back from four months backpacking and like really slumming it or whatever, like I've never done before, and then coming back to my parents' house, like surprising them and then taking a shit and then just noticing like this toilet paper is

heavenly.

It's like a cloud.

So were you in places where you had to bring your own toilet paper then?

China, that's what when I landed in China, they don't tell you.

And then this club owner, this comedy club owner, was like, gave me a little pack of, like a travel pack of tissue paper.

And he goes, oh, you just got here?

He goes, you'll need this.

He goes, hold on, hold on, you got it.

And I'm like, what?

What?

Why?

And he he goes, you'll know.

But he goes, don't ever leave the hotel without that.

Right, right.

When I did, I did.

That man saved you, bro.

Have you ever been in a squad toilet and not had toilet paper?

Yeah.

Where you're just like walking around with just shit just smearing between your cheeks all day?

Yeah, you're just like, I gotta go.

If they have a bucket, we can hand it.

Oh, no, you handed it?

Dude, I've done that in America.

Me and O'Neal were hiking in Runyon Canyon.

And I was like, I gotta take a dump, bro.

He goes, let's leave.

I'm like, I know when I'm not going going to make it back to the car.

I'm not going to make it.

And it was a Pepsi Zero.

No.

That's all the water we had.

It was a Pepsi Zero can.

At least it didn't have

real sugar to where it gets sticky.

Yeah, yeah.

At least.

Wait, look at the bright side.

Yeah.

Fucking hell, man.

Yeah, that's the stuff you don't see on the influencer TikToks is fucking.

Do you really?

They don't show you everything.

Using the cardboard of the toilet paper to wipe your ass.

Yeah.

One time I was in China and I think I used, I didn't have toilet paper, and I think I used just like some travel, old travel visa, or some like random piece of paper in my backpack to wipe my ass.

You really become like the Indians, where you're like, every part of the buffalo, you know?

If like, I don't have any, I don't have any like

skins, I'm like, oh, back of a Bible, very thin paper.

We can roll this up.

Like, you just like, what can we use?

Hey, don't throw that newspaper out.

Right.

I need that for my ass.

Yeah.

It's like you're in prison, like, using like creative things to make shanks.

Yeah.

Wine.

Toothbrush does many things.

Yeah, dude.

Was there anywhere in Myanmar that you did not,

Myanmar?

That's what the Brits call it.

That you did not go that you wanted to?

I wanted to do that hike,

but honestly, I was there kind of on like a content mission.

So I didn't like,

I don't know, hiking doesn't make for the best videos.

Like you want like some story to unfold.

You want some struggle.

You want some, but honestly, based on your stories, it sounded like it would be interesting as fuck, like meeting those characters and like, you know, the military checkpoints.

Did you, well, that was after the hike that we went, but I met those people, you know?

Right.

Do you, when you do stuff, do you, are you like making content as you go or like researching first and talking about it afterwards?

I think the best videos, I don't research at all and I show up and I ask around.

On camera?

No.

No, no, no.

I'll just ask at the hostel or ask the concierge or what's cool.

Go around.

Yeah, go to a bar.

Just, yeah, ask what's around.

But honestly, like, I'm trying to be a little more strategic these days.

So I will do a little bit of research and I'll go into a place with like a concept and then I'll meander around.

Like those Myanmar videos, I was like, Oh, I want to go to the beach and it's going to be a beach video.

And then I'm at this alcoholic and we're drunk driving and crashing.

It's like, this is fucking perfect.

Yeah, it just kind of finds you at Myanmar, you know?

Like, you don't even have to really try.

You ever hear about, was it Finding Silverman?

No, it was, they were doing a documentary in this like circus family, and then in the middle of the, as they're making this documentary, it they're like, oh, this guy's kids.

Oh, my God.

And then it was like, we've already been rolling for like two weeks.

And then it's like, that's the dream when you're making a documentary.

Can you get on camera?

Pedo.

We got a pedo.

Jackpot.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If you're making a beach video and you come across a drunk taxi driver and you're like, oh, hell yes.

I was already rolling.

Yeah, this fell into my lap.

This is perfect.

Yeah, I mean, as far as places I go in Myanmar, to be fair with you, man, I don't think I'll ever be able to go back because I did a video on that

bus during the military curfew.

Is it up?

Yeah, yeah, it's on YouTube.

But I think that's probably the reason I can never go back because I talked about.

And then they might clock you.

Yeah, I think they have.

I mean, the videos went viral as fuck, dude.

Like, the guy, the drunk driver, he was kind of like a local celebrity for a bit.

Like, he was on the news and stuff.

This one?

It's that guy there.

Fucking down.

No, no, down one.

No, wait.

That's the first guy that maybe scammed.

This guy wasted.

Yeah, dog.

Yeah, dog.

Fucking legend.

Yes, sir.

Wow.

I mean, already fucking rules.

You got a Bucky's shirt?

Yes, sir.

Nice.

Where are you from?

Atlanta.

Okay.

Yes, sir.

I mean, this guy's already gone.

Well, this is, I just cutting.

Okay, this is where the video actually starts, but yeah.

Dude, to bike on these things.

This is the beach.

Okay, come back to go.

I was like, where are we going?

He goes, the next place.

So yeah, the goal was to go to Snake Island.

I was like, all right, let's fucking do it.

And I'm trying to do the intro.

Like,

what's going on?

Where are we going?

And he, like, can't speak.

He's already so drunk.

Wait, Snake Island's in Myanmar?

Yeah, yeah.

It's in

It's like infested with these like venomous.

Yeah, I saw that.

Yeah, but I didn't realize it was Myanmar.

It was a little underrated.

Honestly, the journey was what made this video so special.

That's the fun thing, too.

It's like, that's what I mean by, like, take a flight.

It's like, it'll save you time, but, like, time from what?

Like, you want to be on a business

for six hours with talking to people, looking at them.

And you meet locals.

You're not going to meet, like, your fucking, like, you know, German kid on a trust fund.

You're going to meet, like, local guys, like moving a chicken from town to town you know what i mean like buddy this is

just seeing this footage is taking me back it's like i can smell it yeah right a little sour and like a little jungly

yeah this is me trying to be like where are we going and he can't even tell me where we're going bro he's like hammered already

aren't we going there i mean he's in flip-flops and just slides and there was no foot pegs for me on the bike like i'm like six foot two and my legs are just dangling off i'm like using all my core strength to like not fall off dude Trying not to take the burn.

Yeah.

Oh my God.

And then later in the video, it's me, him, and then his friend.

It's three of us on the bike.

No foot pegs.

Just like.

Oh, do they have those billiards place that was outside?

Yes.

Yeah.

Yes.

Pool tables outside.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Wow, that's right.

They love it.

Yeah.

And they're already hammered.

Oh, that's a nice table.

It's okay.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Just incoherent English.

They're all hammered already.

Fucked up, dude.

Yeah.

He was trying to say, my name is Angalilian, but it sounded like my name is Angalilian.

Oh, that's the beer.

Myanmar beer.

But you know what?

That funds the junta.

That funds the...

What does?

The beer.

Like, it's the government's beer.

The Myanmar beer?

So all people are in my comments like, hey, you know, don't drink the beer because you're...

Well, we're not going to.

I got a blood light.

Fuck off.

All right.

Shut up.

Dude, I was somewhere and they were like,

I think maybe South America, somewhere, but they were like Ecuador, Colombia.

and they were like, hey, all these guys are growing weed now for the

cartels, and it's fucking bullshit.

You shouldn't do that.

And then the farmer's like, okay, well, they said you can make 10 times the money growing weed instead of tomatoes.

And also, if you don't grow the weed, we're going to kill your daughter.

So why don't you guys fucking mind your own business with the routine?

You know,

let us do our thing.

Like, I have a drinking problem.

I'm drinking this beer.

Do you get drunk in these places a lot?

Do you try to like, yeah, yeah, no, I honestly, the best times I've ever had traveling is just drinking.

This is his homemade beetle nut.

He gave me like a moldy betel nut that he made like himself.

And I was fucked on this one.

I was fucked on that one, buddy.

It gets you so fucked up.

I was fucked, bro.

It was better than Coke, I think.

Because

you're not like intoxicated and intoxicated.

You're just like happy, you know?

Oh, right.

You just feel good.

It makes you

feel like happy, not just buzzed.

Well, it's like a physical, it's like, it's like a really strong.

It's like if your teeth are already gone, your teeth are already turning red.

Yeah, I know it's fucked.

They're getting crooked now.

Yeah, my girlfriend was like, please stop.

Like, like you're ruining your teeth

i smoked you ever smoked those beaties there those little cigar cigarettes yeah i think i did that in this video too actually

i tried to get um

one to smoke on that hike i'm like i'll buy one or two and they're like no it's a pack of 200 right it's a kilogram and i'm like no i don't want that like it's a dollar for 200 i'm like oh okay yeah and then i smoked way too many and that's what i think led to my sickness that some food whatever's all together it was like i'm well you got like the flu or or something, like a respiratory?

No, it was a barfing and shitting.

Why would that make you barf though?

I don't know.

It was just a bunch of things.

A bunch of, it was like 12 quail eggs.

Fuck.

Too many of those beady cigars.

Oh, God.

What are those cigars called?

I don't know, but they taste terrible.

Yeah, but you see everybody smoking them.

Yeah.

I stick to the beat on that, though.

I stick to the beat on that.

Honestly, it's so nice.

I think if there was like a Zen version of it over here, it would take off.

Dangerous.

And he's like, no problem, no problem.

Give you room.

He's like turning around on the bike, like, no problem, no problem.

As like the bus is whistling by.

How are you holding camera?

Oh, yeah.

I have like, yeah,

just not holding on.

Yeah.

And it's crowded at 10 a.m.

already.

Dude, I'm telling you, like, there's boozers in Myanmar.

Look at those slides.

Everyone's wearing the dress.

Yeah, they have the little seats, those plastic fucking children's chairs.

Yeah, yep.

That's how you know it's a good spot.

Bro, this is taking me back.

That's the bucket with the Hulk juice in it.

It's bad.

It's hard to see, but yeah, he's got a bucket.

He's just fucking...

He's like, you want one or two?

I'm like, one.

He fucking pulls it out.

It's like glowing, dude.

Yeah, what is that?

You just go for it.

You're like, all right.

Fuck it, dude.

Yeah.

I'm like, I'm probably never coming back to Myanmar.

I might as well try this shit.

Yeah, Chang import.

I feel like it's one of those things, like, if it's habitual, if you do this every day for fucking years, you're fucked.

But, like,

do it for two days.

It's fine.

Also, this dude told me he had 20 of these a day he's like i have 20 drinks a day so i'm like oh what's two gonna hurt like fuck it you know yeah there's myanmar beer and mandalay beer right uh yeah i don't know i just had the myanmar beer the little it's like the old school like 70s pop-top

like it's not like a crack you don't crack it like a coca-cola you like pull it off yeah oh it's so satisfying because it like it like snaps Yeah, it's like there's like this like I have all these like essays in my head that I'm never gonna write.

Uh-huh.

But one of them is like compare all the shit beer across the globe.

Okay, that's fine.

And so there's usually a contest like this in Ecuador.

It's either Pilsner or Klube.

And you're either a Pilsner guy or oh, the Klube.

They have that in Colombia, dude.

Okay.

It's terrible.

It tastes like, remember Bud Light Platinum?

Like the sweet Bud Light with like extra alcohol in it?

Yeah.

That's what it tastes like.

Platinum.

Yeah, but they all have their shit beers.

There's usually one to two of them.

People have their favorites, but it's like, this is the shit beer of the country.

Yeah.

Honestly, though, I feel like a lager is a lager or a Pilsner or Pilsner.

It's fine.

It's all fine.

Yeah.

But it's, I mean, it's Bud Light.

It's acceptable.

Yeah, it's like totally fine or a high life.

And it's like their version of that.

Yeah.

It's, I mean, you don't want a craft beer.

No.

What would BMR craft beer even taste?

And no one's drinking it.

Look at that guy.

He ate his own mouth.

Yeah, dude.

Everybody, this is where I'm asking him like

I was like, do these guys have jobs?

Are you going to work today?

It was like 10.30 in the morning.

And he's like, oh, yeah, you know, he works in electronics.

He does this, this, that, and the other.

And I was like, are you going to drive there?

And he's like, maybe they'll drive there.

I'm not sure.

But meanwhile, the parking lot's full of fucking motorbikes and we're all getting hammered.

Look at the table.

They have nice phones, huh?

That's the cigarette.

That's it.

Yeah.

That's it.

Yes, that's it.

I mean, one is good.

Two is a prop.

Yeah, the coconut filter.

Yeah, Doug.

Oh, I got to get one of those again.

It hurt my lungs, man.

Yeah, the coconut filter is just like, it's like a crutch for a joint.

It's not stopping anything.

Right, right.

It's just so you can hold it.

Right.

It's like it's healthy.

Yeah, we were getting fucked up, dude.

Oh, this is, I think he told me to chew this like lime leaf and then drink the drink, the pineapple Hulk juice.

Why?

Was that cut it?

No, I think it's just like a treat.

It was really cool.

Oh, that's the pop-top you see behind you.

That's the kind of pull-top.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Where it's like, it's on the side.

Yeah, I think they did like there.

Yep, that's exactly right.

They were doing some kind of giveaway where you can see at the bottom of the top and like drink five, get one free or something.

Yeah.

Not that they need any more incentive to drink like they're all fucking boozers

dude i really want to go back but

i think you could go you could go yeah yeah you'd be fine you'd be fine what advice would you give somebody who's going now like i'm going what do i need what do i not need um yeah just pack light because you're gonna be on the move a lot i'd say

You're gonna be on the move a lot, yeah.

Yeah, because I mean, it's like there's not that many places to see, honestly, and you kind of just want to hit it and quit it with Myanmar.

Like, I wouldn't stay.

It's crazy you did a month, man.

I wouldn't want to stay like longer than two weeks was too much for me.

I was alive.

It was the most free I've ever felt.

I just started a long-term travel, gotten like all my shit here in order and like and like taken off all my friends.

I don't know.

What do your friends say about like from back home or from like norm core shit?

Yeah, I think like as I continue to travel, I kind of lose touch with a lot of people because they don't really understand.

But the people you do grow towards are like fucking homies.

You know what I mean?

Like Tommy sabbatical sleeping with him in a fucking Kyrgyzstan shipping container in the desert.

Like that's your fucking, your comrades.

You know what I mean?

So, yeah, it's hard to relay the messages, but they appreciate that I'm like doing what I want.

So, you know.

You hear that, like, what are you doing?

Your career's going well.

What do you, what are you doing?

Yeah.

But I'm like, I've tied up on my loose ends for a while.

I can take a little break.

Yeah.

But anyway, going there and just feeling like

I didn't understand till I got back.

Zero responsibility.

Nothing.

Especially solo travel.

You have no one to answer to.

No.

What do I want to do?

Stay here an an extra day.

Or, like, actually, I'm not feeling.

I'm going to leave.

Yeah.

I don't know if you get this, but also, I'm in a hostel.

I'm not going to.

Money

makes people weird.

Yeah.

And I have more than a hosteler.

I don't have a ton, but I have more than a fucking, so I'm faking it.

Yeah, yeah.

But I'm just going to defer to the poorest guy.

You know, if he's like, hey, what's a $1 cover?

I'm like, I know, right?

Let's not do this.

Right, right, right.

Why do you do that?

I don't want to make anybody feel weird.

Okay.

I don't want to change the vibe.

Yeah, yeah.

But why the poorest guy?

Why not like the meaning?

I'll go like one up from the poorest.

It's like you get the second worst bottle of wine.

Right, right, right, right.

Like, you don't want to be the guy that keeps you from going to the club.

Yeah, but I'm like, I'm not going to push anybody out of their comfort zone.

Yeah.

But maybe one guy, you come up to here.

Everyone else, we can go down to there.

Right.

They're pretty much on the same level, mostly.

Right.

Well, if you're staying in a hostel, you're not like bawling by any means.

Right.

Yeah.

So some people are like, $1 is fine.

Other people are like, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa.

And you're like, I mean, all those people leave a hostel, be like, this one's $1 a night cheaper.

And you're like, dude, we had a good crew.

It's going to take you four hours to get there.

Like, is your time worth, you know, 25 cents an hour?

Yeah.

But if I'm somewhere for like 10 days and I meet somebody, I'm like, hey, man, listen.

Like, I was in Guatemala with this Australian guy.

We went to these like hot springs and there was an upscale hot spring for an extra quarter or dollar or something like that.

And I was like, buddy, I'm only here.

I get you're on a budget.

I'm only here for 10 days.

I will pay for both of us for the upscale hot springs because I don't want to not do it.

I don't even know this, but I'm fucking balling out of control.

I can afford the 25 cents.

I mean, that's what it is.

It's like, I'm not crushing it, but I have a, I have, I have a dollar rich.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

That's the thing is, like, I don't mind splurging when it's necessary and it'll make the experience like better, but I do want to interact with the local culture, the local customs.

The only time I don't want to spend more is when I'm getting scammed.

Like, I will fight tooth and nail.

If I think a taxi driver is scamming me out of any amount of money, I will fight with him.

I will stand there and fight with him on the corner for however long it takes.

Agreed.

I just don't, I don't like dishonesty.

Deal is bullshit.

Yeah.

It's a waste of money and it's dishonest as fuck.

Like, you shouldn't be rewarded for.

And a lot of people were like, oh, well, you know, like, he doesn't make much.

And I'm like, dude, he's lying to me right now.

Like, if he had just told me the honest price, I would have done the honest price.

Yeah.

It's the same as working with Live Nation, where it's like, just tell me a worse deal and I'll take your worst deal.

Don't tell me this deal and then just not pay me a bunch.

Okay, yeah.

Or like do surcharges on the customers for 40 years.

Yeah, dude.

But look, you're where nobody is here.

Yeah, it's amazing.

I mean, Myanmar is a, yeah, it's a fucking beautiful place, man.

Even in, I didn't film anything there because it was a bit touristy, but there's, maybe you went there.

It's like these huge golden Buddhist stupas.

The golden temple.

It's like 200 feet high.

What's a stupa?

It's like what was in but like golden.

Maybe there's some other like significance I'm missing

within Buddhism, but

yeah, it was fucking

gorgeous, man.

Absolutely gorgeous.

Yeah, Schwergon Pagoda.

Yeah, that's the one.

Yeah, and you could see it kind of all over.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And like, they have tour guides there, and it's kind of just like pay as you go, like, pay whatever you want.

Yeah.

And, like, if he charges me more, like, if you gave me like a good service, I'll like pay you the extra and not feel like I'm going to stay.

But if you just take me somewhere, if you quote me at price A in the taxi, taxi drivers are the worst.

They're so fucking scummy.

Or they can be.

If you quote me at like $5 and we get there and you say 10, like, I'm going to argue with you.

Just give me me just say ten to begin with.

Yeah, yeah, right.

I'm in the same way.

I feel like you're getting over on me.

I don't want to be a cunt.

Yeah.

I don't want you're making a bitch out of me.

Also, you're like ruining.

I mean, I don't want to get all fucking meta, but like, that's what ruined Bali, and that's what ruined Mexico City, and that's what's literally ruining Thailand.

Hey, boss, hey, boss, hey, boss, taxi, hey, boss, hey, boss, hey, boss.

Yeah, they think that you're just a wallet, and that's why India is so fucked.

It's like, it's just an incentive structure.

They see a white guy, and they're like, money.

And so they get scanned left and right, and they just know it's a hustle.

You know what I mean?

it's my friend rolf he wrote that book souvenir and the vagabond vagabonding yeah legend and a legend right yeah i read his books for sure yeah

um

you'll see it in hustle sometimes here or there someone will finish it and like put it back

but uh in the true spirit yeah but he said he was in i don't know somewhere in africa and namibia and um he was like treated like a fish like let's get over it these guys start like polishing um rocks and selling them okay but he was just there he was like a long-term backpacker so he was just there and after like a while, the buses keep coming and leaving.

He stays.

Then they eventually go, Who are you?

What's your name?

Then they're like, oh, now you're a human.

We're not getting any money off you.

So let's talk, I guess.

Yeah.

And that's the thing is, I think when you land in a place and India fucking scarred me in so many ways.

But now I always say, if they're like, how long have you been here?

Like just making small talk, but you know, they're sizing you up.

I'm like, I've been here three weeks.

I just always tell people, oh, I've been here a month.

I've been here two months.

Yeah, what's the, what's why tell them I'm here right away?

You're just going robbing.

Because then I'm like, I I know the prices.

And then one of my Chinese friends told me, if you're ever anywhere and anybody quotes you at any price for anything,

cut it by 10.

Like if the hotel is 2,000, give them 20.

Be like 20.

And then start bargaining from there because their price is way too high.

Yours is way too low.

And then you can, you know.

I was buying a hookah in Egypt

and I researched how much it should be.

But the bargaining is like, I mean, you're just not.

Oh, look at that picture.

That's a guy named Ari Shafir I met in.

Oh, fucking well.

Yeah,

I saw, there was a sign up for like a boat cruise from the hostel, Sunset Cruise, and I saw my name was already on there.

I was like, oh no, I crossed it off.

And then I heard, who crossed my name off?

And I'm like, what?

Spelled it with one F.

It was crazy.

Wow.

Where are we from?

Up somewhere in America.

Wow.

Shafir is also a made-up name.

What, like Ellis Island thing?

My dad made it up when he came

when he went to Israel.

His old name was too like German sounding

for the war.

Yeah, same with my last name.

Like, I went to Ireland because it's like an Irish last name.

I went to Ireland.

I was like, oh, my last name's this, this, this.

And they're like, we've never heard of that.

And I was like, I don't get touched by roots.

Like, your roots are at the border.

Yeah.

Exactly.

What was I saying?

Oh, fuck.

Luckily, it didn't matter.

Me and Rolf or Rolf talking about bargaining and shit in Namibia, right?

Yeah.

It's gone, buddy.

The weed brain.

Yeah.

Yeah, I need a smoke to get it back.

God, I miss Myanmar.

It's a good time, man.

It's um I I really wish.

Where else did you go to, Juno?

You really wish what?

In Myanmar?

Yeah.

Yeah, just uh and then I didn't

fuck.

I think just

I just posted

three cities.

Yeah, yeah, just a little two-week tour.

I didn't want to go too fast because um,

you know, I've read vagabonding and it's kind of like what informs a lot of the ways that I travel.

And I just wanted to take it slower.

Yeah, hell yeah.

Explain.

Tell me what you gotta read.

Well, I read it when I was in

i was living in japan i was living for a year and i bought the book and i just like it felt like it felt like i wrote it like it felt like it was written towards me if that makes sense like it was everything that i think just like summarized into a book if that makes sense so i was like hell yeah and then it changed my life and then i from there i'm like changed your life absolutely absolutely yeah i mean i was like this is what i'm supposed to do like i'm supposed to travel

Yeah, and it gives you so many tips on it.

Yeah, it's practical too.

And it's like dated, obviously, it's like 20 years old talking about like, you know, go to www.whatever.com, but it's like the ethos of travel is what it is.

Yeah, some of it definitely needs updating.

But I think he might have updated, like, there's certain things like Agota was not a site, or Hostile World was not a site.

There were no sites back there.

So it's like a little bit different.

There's this book on Poker Tales.

I forgot his name.

Some kind of cowboy.

Mike Carro.

Poker Tales.

Okay.

It was written in the 70s.

And there's this whole breakdown.

It's written in the 70s of racial tales.

And it's like, you're going to have to edit that out.

Yeah, you know, but it's like,

it's like in the new version of this, like, you can't have that.

But it's pretty much like, oh, a Mexican on payday.

If it's a Friday and you're playing against Latino, keep pushing them.

Right.

Yeah.

They will not, they will not fold a jack deuce.

Right.

The racial arithmetic.

Yeah.

Holy shit, man.

Yeah, Vagaboni really was.

I read my, so I've gifted it to so many people.

It's the only thing I'll gift to people

to be like, you can get something out of this.

Yeah.

When you see them kind of on the fence of something, you're like, this will help you.

Yeah.

Yeah, it'll definitely change the way you see things because it's like traveling is more of a spirit.

It's not necessarily like

what you're doing.

It's like how you're doing it, if that makes sense.

So I read it in Japan.

I was like, fuck yeah.

And then I had like a bullshit English teaching job.

It meant nothing to me.

I wasn't, yeah, I wasn't making any difference in the world.

I was just like a fucking degenerate alcoholic that wore a suit and like pretended to be professional.

Asian teachers.

Yeah, I was

pieces of shit.

You don't want your kids with these, with these adults, but they're,

I guess, tactically an adult right now.

Yeah.

I can't tell you the number of times I woke up on the sidewalk after a night of drinking in Japan.

Summer camp.

You're driving.

Like in my suit.

Like, all right, let's just go to work now.

Where was I going with that?

Oh, yeah, yeah, but like it meant nothing.

So I would just like switch shifts with other teachers.

It was like kind of being a waiter.

Like you just get, you know, move your shift to whoever the fuck.

And as long as someone, as long as a white guy is in the chair, they don't give a fuck who it is.

So I went to Thailand and I went to like all over Japan and stuff.

And it just kind of like inspired me to, yeah, just start sending in.

You read that and then that's what made you.

Yeah, I was like, fuck yeah, let's do this.

Like this is this is who I am now.

I mean, you're already in a place to be open to it.

Yeah.

Mentally, I mean, and also physically.

But like.

Yeah.

I I read it in Myanmar.

Oh, hell yeah.

My friend, Justin, my agent, but my friend, he was like, okay, you're doing this thing.

Try to talk me out of it.

Because he's like, come on, man.

We're starting to do well.

What do you mean?

You're taking off for months at a time.

He's like, dude, you got to.

But he said,

yeah, he heard about it.

He goes, take this.

And

nope, I didn't read it in Myanmar.

I took it all through

Myanmar.

I found an An Sang Tzu keybook.

of like interviews.

That's that leader who was in the house arrest in my first hostel.

And I was like, oh, I should read this in Myanmar.

So I didn't read until I got to an island in Cambodia.

And then I opened up vagabonding and read it.

And it was like, oh, luckily, I was already doing it.

Yep.

But it was like so many tools for

how to do it and prepare for coming home.

Oh, that one is the toughest one.

Like the hitting that landing right is fucking hell.

That's hard, man.

Like, I'm sure after your Southeast Asia trip, you come back with all this new knowledge and your friends are like,

who gives a fuck?

That was that, it helped me to be ready for that.

Yeah.

Because they're not going to care.

Yeah.

That's actually what this podcast is.

It's like, I do care.

So like, I do want to hear it.

I don't interrupt too much because I'm excited, but I'm not going to change it to like gossip at the office.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know?

Yeah.

It was just like, yeah, we get back.

I mean, do you have that?

Do you get, do you deal with that?

Oh, yeah, no.

Like, reverse travel shock or culture shock is a real thing.

Yeah.

You come back and feel like your friends don't understand like this new version of you.

You have these stories that they're not interested in that they just want to to go drink Bud Light at like the Buffalo Wild Wings.

And it's like, I'll go drink Bud Light with you.

But like, guys, I had the most magical experience.

Yeah.

We can just talk about it once.

It's crazy not to.

It's almost like doing psychedelics.

Like, it's hard to relay and people don't care.

You're like,

guys, we're all one.

And they're like, yeah, we don't get, we don't give a fuck.

That's the thing.

You're not, you can't relay it.

It's difficult.

I think it's hard to like package it in a way that that's why I feel like being funny is like a good because I try to do like a humorous take on travel because it's so easy.

Like just funny shit shit just happens.

Youtube.com slash Mahal Bangan American.

Yeah, sorry.

Fuck, what was I saying?

Oh, like it helps to like make it in an entertaining package instead of just like, I'm in me and Martin, it changed my life, like next to a temple.

Like, no one cares, you know?

So, I almost called this packet, I was like containing on a list of like possible titles.

I almost called it amazing because that's whenever you say how is something like that, people always just go, Oh, it's amazing, and it doesn't describe anything.

Yeah, yeah, like they're not, you're not talking about the shitter and like the toilet, or me and my girlfriend were at some bus stop in Cambodia going across the land border to Vietnam.

And dude, it literally looked like a bomb went off in the bathroom.

Like the sink was cut in half.

What?

Like it was literally in half.

Like shards were just like...

And then people, that doesn't make the video.

Like, no one ever shows that.

You know?

This theory, everyone's like, LA sucks, so homeless.

Like, what?

Because you're showing the homeless.

Yeah.

If you just showed the burrito places, you'd be like, wow, LA's a great place for street burritos.

Yeah.

Right.

And the travel bloggers don't show like, yeah, piles of poop.

And like,

so same with mom bloggers.

They don't ever show their kid with like cookies on their face.

Yeah, or like their blown-out pussy after having a kid.

Yeah, show your blown-out pussy.

Show me that.

Yeah.

Show me the fucking blown-out pussy.

Mommy blogger turned OnlyFans influencer.

Let's go.

Yeah, but I think some of it, so I met with this like writer, like TV writer afterwards.

And a manager was like, and he was like, you should write write about this stuff there's a sitcom here or drama yeah yeah yeah and I was like all right well here's the problem I don't know how to see that that's one I keep blocking it no I can see it I can see it but like but like

so on that three-day hike

we came across a soccer game on the mountains this kids soccer game and the backdrop was like these fucking beautiful mountains and whatever and it's like

All you hear is that's a soccer game.

But it was like, no, it took us a day and a half to get there.

Yeah, we had to earn that.

Yeah, and we just pulled up up and we're like, let's sit here for a bit.

We had this like homemade like sunblock on our faces.

The root, the ground up root.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

They put on you.

And it's like, and that's like, and it's just like the feeling you get from getting to that place is different than just if you just got transported there.

Yeah.

No, that's why I think you should take land borders.

Like, because you're flying, you don't, you're not earning it.

Like, you could probably technically fly to the summit of Everest.

But you wouldn't appreciate it like someone that spent fucking 30 days hiking there, you know?

Yeah.

Yeah.

You got to like struggle a little bit.

So how do you do it where you just, where you convey to people

that like, it's, it's an emotion connected with, sorry, this is like not funny right now, but like it's an emotion connected with the place.

Yeah.

I mean, I think

if you're genuinely excited to be there, like I think you can convey that like really well.

Honestly, like if you're excited.

Those are the Jokes.

Those are the Canadians.

Okay.

One of those chicks was in line for a second time.

I'm off on the left with them.

That's them.

That's them fucking in the people you hiked with?

No, that's by the river.

Oh,

where you heard gunfire?

Okay, okay.

Nice.

Sorry.

All right.

But yeah, go ahead.

But yeah, I think if you're just excited about it, like people will be able to see that.

I think people can see that on your podcast.

You're excited to talk about it.

And then, therefore, they're excited to listen to it.

So that's all it is, right?

Like, you're the conduit for the idea and the place, you know?

Yeah.

Do you ever feel like taking a camera takes you out of it?

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah.

But honestly, like, I'm reading another one of Rolf Potts' books now.

What?

Marco Polo Didn't Go There?

I never read that one.

How was it?

It's good.

Yeah, it's just really fun stories.

Wait, fuck, what were we talking about?

Conveying excitement.

Does cameras hold you back?

Oh, he did something where he tried to get on the set of a Leonardo DiCaprio movie.

And I was like, this is ridiculous.

This is one of the most insane things I've ever heard.

He took a little tugboat out into the Peepee Islands and swam in the middle of the night to get on this island.

To the beach?

Yeah, yeah.

I'm saying with the movie the beach movies the beach.

He tried to get on it?

Yeah, on the set just to for funsies.

And then I was like reading the end notes

and it's like I did this.

I did this to write a story about it.

And I was like, oh, that's interesting.

Because I was going to ask him that I'm doing his like writing class in Paris.

Are you really?

Yeah, yeah, later.

I did it two years ago.

Okay.

Hell yeah.

Oh, bro, it's so fun.

Really?

Which level are you doing?

Just the beginner one.

Okay, that's what I did.

He He was like, you're already kind of creative, but like, I couldn't swing the dates for the second one.

Okay.

Yeah.

But also, you get so much out of it.

Hell yeah.

I'm excited, man.

Yeah.

It's going to be sick.

Oh.

But yeah, that was on the recommendation.

This year you're doing it?

Yeah, yeah, like a couple months.

Yeah.

Hell yeah.

Yes, sir.

Yeah.

I'm excited.

It's going to be fucking sick.

It's so fun.

Yeah.

They take you on like...

Well, maybe I won't ruin anybody for you.

But like, they take you on like tours of Paris while you're like, but like literary tours give you like all these like, they made you like do a bunch of writing without adjectives.

Interesting.

So you could like be more descriptive.

Interesting.

Yeah.

They made us follow people and like try to write their stories.

So it was like sleuthing and you're just like nearby trying to get caught.

You got your little like Parisian, like a little detective hat on.

Yeah,

like whatever.

Oh, it was such a good class.

That's crazy.

You know, Rolf.

Well, I mean, yeah, I've read his book.

I can't remember how I heard about it years ago.

But yeah, I really love his shit and he really understands like how to do it.

But anyways yeah i was reading the footnotes and it was like yeah i did this to write about it and he's like sometimes i will do something just to make a story out of it and he's like it it pushes me further it makes me like take risks and it makes me a little more interesting and and i find that too like honestly it's kind of like a give and take it's like the white privilege thing it's like never always bad or it's never always good it's just like a new kind of variable in the equation if that makes sense um

Like there are some videos like I would never get on the back of a scooter with a drunk guy.

Why the fuck would I intentionally drunk drive in like a military dictatorship country?

You know what I mean?

Just, but I was like, I'm filming and this is fun.

So let's just say, and you're right there.

It's also right there.

It's kind of like with Blow, where it's like, no, no, no.

It's like, we're all doing it.

I'm like, okay, then fine, sure.

Yeah.

Like, everyone says no until it's like right there.

It's like, like, everyone's head goes, noise.

And you're like, sure.

I'm like, yeah.

Yeah.

You're not dead.

So wasn't planning on it.

Yeah.

It's like everyone's like, I always wear condoms.

Like, what if one's not around?

Like, then I'll raw dog.

You don't have principles.

Let's be honest.

Then absolutely, 100%.

I'll just leave it in without even asking if they have anything.

Um,

I fucked this chick once without a condom and I was like, hey, just we just to be clear, you don't have anything.

She goes, No, I'm like, and if you got pregnant, you should get rid of it.

She goes, No, no, I would never get an abortion.

Like,

all right, one stroke, one stroke,

like the hottest Mormon girl.

You're like, All right, let's just try.

Really rocking on the line here.

Um,

yeah, that's the thing was like, you should be filming this stuff, like, but then it won't be living it.

There's a give and take for sure.

There's a give and take, but I, I mean, we just watched my video.

That seemed cool.

That guy didn't seem like he was acting for you.

No, no, no, no, no.

And I wasn't acting.

I was just like, I was just trying to film an intro, just doing whatever.

I mean, it's pretty low.

You've also minimized your like, it's just this instead of having a team with.

Yeah, no, no, no, just get a GoPro, maybe an external mic at most.

But, I mean, you'd be surprised.

Like, I mean, I'm sure, like, crazy shit happens all the time.

It's just like, I wish I filmed that, you know?

Or like, it's just here.

And then as you age, it gets harder to relive.

like like my phone got stolen a while back and like years of my life were just just disappeared so yeah it sucks so I like to film stuff now and just to remember you journal I'm starting to yeah yeah kind of gay but you know that was in that hostel some one one of the Canadian jokes she was like writing what do you write she goes no I just have 10 minutes every morning I just like see what I did and I was like oh and then I'm so glad I met her and did that because it was like you look back at details I forget people completely forgot a human that I lived with for four days.

Yeah.

And that's good because it's like never for anyone else.

It's like unadulterated.

It's like pure.

But I find like when I'm traveling, just with a GoPro, it's like very low impact.

It's like no one really freaks out at it.

People in the U.S.

do.

Yeah, like people

on the West Coast and stuff care.

But everybody,

Portlanders, people with blue hair, like lesbians, they get mad.

They're like, why are you filming me?

I'm like, you're no one.

No one will know who you are in this video.

You are nobody.

Why are you filming?

They'll make fun of you, to be honest, but

it's going to be anonymous, but I'm going to be mocking you for sure.

I mean, you got me on that.

That's true.

You're not going to come off great in this, but no one will know you.

Yeah, that's true.

Yeah.

But, you know,

I find that like, I enjoy filming, you know, and even when I don't want to post it, I still film shit.

Me and my girlfriend did a trip in New Zealand.

I probably never posted it.

I just filmed it like for a fun video just to see it.

I mean, it is a new way of journaling.

Yeah, and it's real.

It's like.

And you can see you like five years ago, like, oh, I look different, or I was, you know.

Yeah.

It's cool.

It's like a time portal.

You know?

Damn, I want to go to Myanmar.

I think you should go, man.

I got to go back to Southeast Asia.

It's been calling me for like four solid years and I'm like, can't get back, can't get back with time.

Okay.

Because this is pretty much all you do.

Yeah.

That's so freeing.

It's cool.

It can be a prison sometimes.

But yeah, it's awesome.

I mean, just with like the workload.

But no, no, no.

I mean, it's the best job I think I could ever imagine for sure.

Yeah.

I have this other job that I do love,

stand-up comedy, but

this traveling thing is so, so it's like, ah, fuck, I gotta get back to this other job.

Oh, so you see it like a job?

It's a traveling.

Stand-up?

No, no, the traveling.

No, I see it as so fun and freeing or whatever.

But stand-up is this job, which is also not a job.

I do it for free all the time just because it's fun, but also like, I got to do a tour.

I don't have time right now to go off to wherever.

Yeah.

My friend just invited me to Mongolia.

I'm like, no, I won't be able to free that time up until like about a year and a half from now.

Damn.

Instead of just like

jump like you, we're like, sick, let's go.

Yeah.

Especially don't have a dog, don't have kids and everything.

Nice.

Yeah, no, it's that is the best.

Especially like if you're having a tough day, you're like, fuck it, I could just fly to Tokyo and have some ramen and like rip cigs inside.

And that definitely makes me feel better, knowing that I just have that capability.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You have the ability to go.

Nope.

Yeah, no, exactly.

I'm like, fuck it.

And especially me, I don't have really any employees.

So I'm just like, you know, fucking them out, you know?

Yeah, it's like, well, I'm going to be going here.

So that means I don't, can't go there.

If I'm going here, I can't go there.

It's like, you've got to choose one or the other.

And I only have two months, a month to do it in.

Yeah, that is right.

The opportunity cost always hurts for sure.

Like not knowing what you're missing out on, but

you just got to risk it sometimes.

Yeah.

All right.

Let's wrap this up.

All right.

There wasn't anything else.

I mean, even watching that.

It's so funny, too.

So me and Rolf were having this discussion once, and we figured out a writing technique where he was telling me something about this in Paris in the writing class.

I was doing his podcast, and he said something that reminded me of the same country.

Something else had happened.

Yeah.

And so, I was like, oh, I took the train there, whatever.

And then that reminded him of, like, oh, I took a train in Uzbekistan wants to get me to this

to get this meal.

I'm like, oh, dude, I was in Ecuador.

I got this meal, this fresh meal.

And it just like, it just pops off.

What you can do with travel people, like, there are millions of stories.

And I'm just remembering all this stuff.

I forgot the cigarettes.

I forgot the face paint.

Yeah, me too, actually.

I forgot all this stuff until you like bring up a nearby idea.

Yep.

And then it's like, oh, yes.

Yeah.

That's why I feel like your situation is good because you don't film content.

You just like reminisce on it.

And the stories are always like golden, you know?

Yeah.

Especially if someone's like really well traveled, like, dude, you can just, like, me and Tommy and my friend were like stuck on a bus, this like military bus.

from Kyrgyzstan to China and we didn't have service.

I didn't have a SIM card because I was like afraid they were going to like bug my phone.

And long story, but uh,

no power, like, no lights on the bus, nothing to do.

And we just like sitting riffing for like four hours, just like story for story.

It was just like, dude, golden.

Like, yeah, those are the times you remember for sure.

Yeah.

My last day in

Yangon,

my group had left.

You know, you meet a little group.

Yeah.

At first, you're like, I don't know anybody, but then you realize neither do they.

Yeah.

They all met yesterday.

So you're like, you guys are old friends.

Like, they're not.

They just drank yesterday.

Yeah.

And so then I, my group left, and I'm like, okay, at this hostel, I'm like, uh, it's like, I come back from a little exploration of the city, and then I come back, there's other people there, and like, we're all going to like a rooftop bar.

I guess Nangan has a lot of rooftop bars.

And one of them was overlooking that golden

pagoda.

And this one chick, she had that, she had that Tolkien quote on her neck.

Like, not all the water are lost.

Yeah.

And I was like, Tolkien?

She goes, what?

Nobody knows that.

And I was like, I was a nerd.

not special every every white girl has a tattoo and i had just gotten into so i was like okay i'm just i'm five days in uh-huh so but she told me about

and and kazakhstan

yeah okay um and she was like it was so cool it's on chat and untapped or whatever actually believe it and then um and then um and that and then it's in my head now from this thing that I'm like, I gotta get there.

Yeah, you should, man.

And my buddies are actually there right now.

She's like doing an Mongolia tour, too?

It'd be a different time.

Okay.

But, like, I just really want to go.

Have you been?

No, I've never been.

The only Central Asian, or maybe I shouldn't say that, but no, I've only been to a couple countries in the region.

It's hard to get to, especially with the Russian sanctions.

You have to fly.

You have to do some finagling with the, yeah, because you can't fly through Russia to get there.

But she was like, it's totally safe.

And I was like, all the stands?

She goes, not all the stands.

She goes, that one is.

Yeah.

But no one's been there.

So you're just like, it's yours.

It's a playground that's just for you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like your video there in Myanmar.

Like, that's your own playground.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's amazing.

Just, yeah.

It's beautiful.

I mean,

that's why we do it, man.

Find the untouched gems, you know?

Yeah, it really is.

You get to a place where you're like, oh,

this is it.

I'm in a level of comfort that I'm okay.

Yeah.

And I'm the only white.

And I'm like, I'm comfortable now being here as the only white.

Yeah.

And then like, now let's talk to people.

Let's explore.

Right.

Yeah, it makes you wonder like how the colonizers felt back in the day.

Like arriving for like the first time.

They must have felt great.

They feel like gods, bro.

Like, this is mine now.

Yeah.

Who's that guy, the painter, who went to French Polynesia?

I don't know.

He painted them really well.

But he was like really leaned into a colonializer or colonizer.

And he had all these child brides.

Oh, God, yeah.

You're probably describing a lot of French colonizers right now.

Yeah, but this guy, and he painted it really great.

Um,

uh, Paul Gauguin,

okay, anyway, they had this, like, they had this um

thing of like this little museum somewhere in the middle of nowhere of like different Americans that have come there.

Brando really loved it, and whatever, and then but Paul Gauguin, they were like, uh, lived here for this and this, died of misery 1883

because he was such a fucking cunt, but he played beautiful colors and like showed a world that no one had seen.

Oh, like this shit with like these type of dresses and stuff.

People are like, What is that?

People back in France were like, what?

Yeah.

Yeah.

He found it and just like leaned in.

Wait, so why did he die?

Why was he just a boozer and just a wreck?

He would always like beat his child wives and just like, he was like, you work for me.

I'm white.

Like one of those.

And he's like, damn, you leaned in.

Holy shit.

What year was this?

18s.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah.

That was kind of what was going on back then.

Yeah.

So, right.

So they got there.

Like, wow, what is this?

All right.

Let's just everyone.

Yeah.

No laws.

Only guns.

We have the only ones.

Yeah, we're the government now.

We say good.

I've just come there.

I'm like, I'm your captain now.

Yeah.

All right.

So before I leave, two questions.

Travel tip, either specific or general.

Yeah.

Travel lights been taken a thousand times.

Yeah.

Or, and then also a place that you've never been calling, yeah.

Well, I would say take land borders, but I feel like we already said that.

Okay.

My advice goes out to all the European

influencers, all like the 18-year-old Germans that think they're discovering something new.

Just shut the up stop telling americans that we have bad school shootings stop telling us we have bad health care we know shut your goddamn mouths we're dealing with it okay i'm not in charge of it yeah all right what do you want me to do yeah i left i'm not the president yeah yeah i see problems too we're dealing with it internally all right

shut the up also we can talk about that after a few beers but don't open with that don't be like oh your school shootings oh the children why don't you say the children and i'm like buddy i'm yeah we're doing jello shots like how is this yeah you think I'm representative why are you kicking out squatters yeah to make room for Google

we can do this both ways all the time yeah exactly how far back do you think I'd have to go German before I win this argument dude under a hundred years if you can't find out what I'm gonna call attention to I was in a guest house in Kyrgyzstan and this German guy was like lecturing me about guns like I had just met him and he's like come to Germany we'll teach you something and I was like are you serious like your dad was probably an SS officer, dude.

Like, shut your goddamn mouth.

I, right.

Like, where do you get off?

All right.

That's a good, that's a good travel tip.

Shut your goddamn mouth.

Yeah, and don't judge somebody for their fucking country.

Yeah.

Judge them on a personal level.

Like, you seem cool.

We're here to like government.

And we're here to have like a cross-cultural, humble, no-judgment conversation in like the middle of nowhere.

Like, why are you making this about politics?

I met a guy in Pai, a Chinese guy in Thailand.

And it was like, and he was telling me how, like,

my, well, not my age, but my, like,

emotional age.

You know, he's probably like 30.

And he was just like, and he goes, yeah, you can't really do much in China.

They don't let you do this.

Here I am, like, we're drinking mushroom shakes and smoking weed.

And it's like, just like, I don't know, everybody wants to do standard shit.

I'm like, oh, okay, this is like a connection on a social level where like you're telling me what's expected of you in China.

Not like what your government does, but like you specifically, why you're leaving there, why you're traveling.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's just weird.

it's just like why are you i wouldn't meet a chinese person be like what about the camps dog but what about the muslims in the camp like why would you lead with that you're a fucking psychopath like well when i got back from myanmar actually

so six eight months later all this stuff came out about the rohingo and how they're being slaughtered yeah and they go what about that already as if i'm a spokesman for myanmar yeah and i'm like guys they intentionally wouldn't let me anywhere near that so i didn't see any of that that wasn't my myanmar myanmar was putting paste paint on and smoking and getting food poisoning from those yeah cigars and quail eggs.

It's not that deep.

I think China, especially, is like one of the most heavily polarizing places.

You can't just go and have a good time.

They're like, are you being paid?

Are you like, it's just like, I had a good time.

Why is that a crime?

China is a blast.

It rules, bro.

It's sick.

So fun.

Yeah.

It's like the East Asia, but like Wild, Wild West.

Like, you can do whatever you want.

I did so much Coke in Beijing.

And people are like, isn't it punishable like death?

And everyone's just like,

come on.

And I was like, what?

They're like, yeah, yeah, that's what the story.

But they don't bother us.

That's amazing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You buy a beer at 3 a.m.

and just drink it on the streets.

Yeah.

That's the thing with Asia.

You just drink everywhere, smoke anywhere you want.

China, it's like no smoking.

You're like, yeah, right.

Like, yeah.

It's like a Berlin nightclub.

You're smoking right by a sign that says no smoking.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

And where else?

Where are you looking to go?

I don't want to get too specific, but I would say, like.

You want to not say you're saying?

Yeah.

Do you worry about ruining places?

100%.

Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely.

For sure.

But I think if you're given honest appraisal of a place, you're not ruining it.

But if I went to like, you know, fucking

Brunei and was like, oh, it's amazing.

Everyone should come here.

And I made like propaganda.

That'd be one thing.

But if I'm like, it's great, but I had to shit in this hole and like, you know, my girlfriend got touched by some guy.

You know, like, if I think if you're honest about it, you're not like involved in ruining it but I guess if you have a great time it's I don't know it's it's hard I struggle with it I worry about it yeah because

it's not the Eiffel Tower that's known yeah you go here I am at the Eiffel Tower they have these hawkers on the long sine that sell you like old magazines like oh cool you can find it people are going all the time yeah it's those places like I'll bleep out I won't play that name okay

just because it's like

yeah once it gets overrun

yeah but at the same time I don't think Myanmar is.

I mean, maybe if the military figures out their shit, but if it's impossible to get to, I don't mind saying the name of a restaurant because, like, you ain't getting there.

Yeah.

You know?

Yeah.

But if it's like a specific place that you can get to kind of easily, then I'm like, I don't want to like a mom and pop in like Hanoi.

Yeah.

I'm not going to say the name.

That's a good point.

It's difficult.

I feel like you can never have, and just as tourists, we can never have a truly authentic experience because we're always like kind of seeing what they want us to see.

Yeah.

And then you're always kind of ruining it.

So I think tourism, there is a healthy balance to strike.

I don't know, man.

I do struggle with it, though, for sure.

I also don't want somebody walking in someone else's footsteps.

I want the footsteps to go, let's say Paris, a good example.

You don't have to go to my cafe.

Just wander the streets.

You'll find a coffee shop and you'll sit down and have your own great time.

You'll talk to the owner.

Yeah.

It doesn't have to be the one you heard about.

I know, man.

And like, I lived in Japan and I know a good deal about it.

And like, my patrons are always like, patreon.com/slash malbrainamerican.

they're always asking me about like

what bar to go to and stuff and i'm just like just go and like whatever smells good just go there and like whatever where you hear clinking glasses just go there like i'm not gonna give you a fucking itinerary like yeah you know because if someone holds your hand it like takes the fun out of it yeah discovering it is whatever neighborhood you're in there's gonna be a couple shitty dollar slices and there's gonna be one to two really good pizza places that everyone in that neighborhood says is the best just find it yeah i'm not gonna tell you yeah just find it and it's part of the journey too because if you had to do that in New York, you'd ask the Pakistani owner, well, what about this?

And then you're making connections.

And, you know.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

There's no shortcuts.

There's like an idea.

I read this Czech writer, I forget, but I just read a passage and it was about like, you ruin places.

And it was just that idea.

I'm just like, just change names, change titles, change names.

There's nothing gained by calling it this exact thing.

It's just say northern Thailand instead of a specific city.

Say like

make up a city name.

Yeah, that's fair.

Because who cares?

It just wants to sound real.

That's a good point, actually.

Yeah, just call it, you know, whatever.

You say, I'm in China and I'm making up, and it was like, we're in,

you know, Hatonga.

Well, that sounds like, that sounds all right.

That's all.

I was in Chingchong.

Yeah.

There actually is a city called Chongqing.

It's not that far off.

But like, make something up, it sounds real.

And then some people are like, cool, God, I don't need to know this.

Yeah, that's a good point, actually.

And I won't put stuff in writing.

It gets transferred too easily.

Okay.

Yeah.

No, that's a good idea, actually.

Maybe I'll start doing that.

Because then it adds a level of allure to it.

Like, where is he?

Like, or just be like, oh, I'm in West Africa.

And they're like, where is he?

And then you're always looking for clues in the video.

I think it might actually make it more engaging.

Do you know, have you ever read

American Gods or Gods of America?

Yeah, I almost finished it, but the ending was so fucking weird, I couldn't do it.

Yeah.

Like where he's like tied to a cross and he's like hallucinating.

I was like,

I can't do this anymore.

Yeah.

Fair.

Did you finish it?

Yeah.

Lovely.

And then

I didn't get it.

I I felt like it was too much allegory.

I feel like I was too stupid to understand it.

That's possible.

Yeah.

I'm not, if you get my dreams.

Yeah.

But anyway, so he wrote about all these like magical places in America,

the House of the Rock of New Orleans, all these different places that are like, hey, if there's like everyone's going there for no reason, it's like, that's where the gods meet up, actually.

That theory of like, there's something there.

Why is everyone fighting about the Western Wall?

It's like, there's some magic there.

Okay.

So the tacky tourist destinations are like.

So he wrote all these diners, these diners along the way, like on Route 66, some random diner in the middle of nowhere.

And he goes, half of them exist and a good 25 to 50% of them I made up because I don't want you knowing if you can find this place or not.

You're going to go looking for it if you're on the route, but it might not even be there.

Interesting.

So he left some like some false breadcrumbs.

Interesting.

No, that's smart.

Yeah.

Yeah, and it adds, yeah, like a level of allure to it.

Because then they would have, but I wonder if there's like some meta thing that he was trying to do where he's like, I don't want it to be a new tourist attraction where

my face is on the wall.

Exactly.

Neil Gaiman wrote about this.

Exactly.

Where it's like, all right, you're going to go from place to place.

You might try to find it, but you don't want doing the whole like exact tour.

Right.

Yeah, that's true.

Yeah.

Maybe I'll start bleeping out names.

I'll do like specific small restaurants.

What's the point of telling it?

Like, you ever see that

guy who killed himself, the chef?

bourdan yeah and he's with that chick who killed him um

uh she must have had a great pussy i mean like great pussy yeah to die for but she's like oh the name of this restaurant it's in the documentary and he goes no no no don't don't don't say it and she goes why he goes what do you want a line of american tourists out the door yeah and she goes maybe i do and it's like

shut up oh she was french no i'm just doing her like that's a accent the french accent's the accent but it's like you don't you don't you want a fucking cool place you want your neighborhood pizza place yeah hole in the wall Yeah, that's true.

That's true.

And they're not dying.

They're not struggling.

They're doing fine.

Let it keep doing fine.

Right.

I guess that's the only argument

I would say towards saying the name is like, if they're struggling and, you know, like a hostel in Myanmar, it's like, fuck, man, like, there's two people here.

Maybe we should give them some business, you know?

Yeah.

A specific, like, lodge in the Amazon.

It's like, go to this one instead of that one.

Yeah.

A cab driver in Greece.

We're like, hey, look up Sake's.

He was great.

Okay, sure.

Yeah, plus I feel like then you're actually encouraging people to get out there and actually see it for themselves instead of being fucking lazy and like, oh, where did Connor tell me to go?

Where did Ari tell me to go?

Yeah.

Right.

You're walking in someone else's footsteps, but the finding it on your own is such a joy.

It is, man.

Honestly, like,

I didn't find the right one.

You didn't find the right pool place.

Yeah.

It's just one of them.

And you made a connection.

But then you have this expectation in your head, and then it will never live up to there.

It's like, you know, the Japanese tourists.

Have you heard about this?

They go to Paris.

Yeah.

And they have like dysphoria.

They like named a fucking dysfunction over it.

Like, it's called like Paris dysphoria or something, where Japanese people, girls especially, they think they're all cute going to Paris and they see all these movies,

all these like proposals and fucking romantic stuff happening.

And they go there and it smells like shit.

Smells like piss.

And there's like, you know, fucking all these immigrants and like people are shitting in the street and the river smells and then they like freak out.

They're like, what even is life anymore?

And they like kill themselves.

Good.

Good.

That's Asians.

Japanese aren't bad.

It's the Chinese.

Yeah, that's true.

That's true.

Mainlanders.

Buddy, thank you very much.

It's great to see you, John.

Yeah, it's been super fun.

Yeah, sorry, this went longer than I was.

Nah, hey, we got rolling.

It was fun.

Yeah, bro.

Yeah.

You should jump on my pod after this.

Okay.

Yeah.

Small Brain American, Patreon, YouTube, Instagram he barely touches.

But the YouTube one is where you're making your best show.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

I try.

Yeah.

Youtube.com slash at smallbrainamerican.

I'll put something in earlier, too.

So thank you about it.

Thank you, man.

It's been a pleasure.

Yeah, you're fucking doing it right.

You're having a blast.

Thanks, dog.

Yeah.

You ought to come on the next trip.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We'll meet up somewhere.

Yeah, sure.

Let's do it.

Okay.

Hell yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'll tell you where I'm going traveling.

Maybe like if you're anywhere near there.

Yeah, absolutely.

It's so funny.

I went to Ecuador for six months during pandemic because like

live indoor gathering was done for quite a while.

Yeah.

So I was like, I want to keep going to the airport and getting a call.

It's like, turn around, Arizona shut down.

Oh, yeah.

So I went to Ecuador and all of my friends are like, I'll come visit you.

I'm like, sure, I'll map it out.

I'll make sure to see what's safe, what's not.

One friend came.

Everybody else is like, I don't have time.

I got to take off nothing but time.

I got to take a local bus.

Nah, I got a no AC.

Yeah.

All right.

Thank you, buddy.

Hell yeah, brother.

Well, everybody, that was the episode.

Thank you very much, Sir Small Brained American, for coming in.

Guys,

check out his YouTube account for real.

It's a great one.

YouTube.com slash at small brained american yeah he's got great stuff he goes all over the myanmar stuff is sick it really took me back i mean i haven't been there in so long if you've heard this podcast you know how much i love myanmar and i finally got someone to talk to about it we'll also talk to turner um uh sparks about it who's also there he's the one who told me about it at some point i'll come in we do multiple so if you're new to this podcast we'll do multiple um times in the same country.

We'll do multiple countries by the same person.

Small brain American has been to many countries.

So he will be back on this podcast.

Buddy, if you're listening, come meet me somewhere.

Come meet me somewhere.

We'll do one from you know where I am.

I took your

phone number or email, I forget with me.

So I'm gonna contact you now that I'm back online.

And yeah, come meet me somewhere.

It'll be cool.

Today's episode is produced by your mom's house network.

It's edited by Alan Caffey.

But go to Small Brained American's YouTube account and check out his podcast,

Small Brained Pod.

It's on YouTube as well youtube.com slash all at small brained pod and his patreon patreon.com slash small brained american where he puts up extra details from all his videos all over the world um

yeah start his podcast with my episode that's out i think these he timed it so it's about right now or coming out really soon like in this week um

And that's it.

Subscribe wherever you're listening.

But man, guys, get to Myanmar.

I know they, for a while, like, were like loosening up their grip and then they went right back hard to like

re-grip they put uh ansong shoe key since i was there back under house arrest they went hard on killing the rohingo

um

yeah they went hard on human rights abuses so if you're there and visiting uh one of the karen villages uh where the rohingo are being slaughtered daily don't forget to put up a yubi trippin sticker um to let them know you've been there

Who did I meet that had been in one of the

was it him?

Small brain American next week is one of my episodes you guys one of my own trips uh by the way i'm sorry i interrupted uh mr american too much but i just got so excited i got so excited next week um me and my friend ethan go to guatemala for the uh

festo de santo tomas it's one of the ones that i was on a trip on so me and my friend ethan uh live from

uh i think gold coast I think we did it from Gold Coast in Australia, but it was about our trip to Guatemala.

It was so fun.

And yeah, check out the intro and outro from there because I did it from Guatemala.

That's it.

I think that's everything.

Go to RAShifir.com for all your merch and everything you need.

Next week, Ethan.

Yeah, I got grinders.

I got stickers.

Please subscribe wherever you're watching, listening.

New podcast listeners.

Yeah, it's a different one.

Go last week.

Go to the Harlan Williams one with Africa.

It's more than one country, but it was one trip.

He's one of the best guests we've we've ever had um

and then like yeah stay for ethan stay for danny brown's coming up who else is coming up louis gomez is coming up tom rhodes the man the number one traveler in comedy is coming up um all that and more if you subscribe you'd be tripping pod on uh youtube um and that's it guys until next week though wait

cop is

Fuck, I know how to say, I know how to say thank you

in Myanmar.

Anyway, get yourself a teen leaf salad, get yourself a Jahi Panas if you're there.

And until next week, I'll see you later.

Bye, everybody.