Bangkok Tourist Scam: How NOT to Play Ping-Pong!
Going to therapy is a sign of strength, not weakness. Our paid partner BetterHelp makes therapy simple, with 10% off your first month to help you get started: https://betterhelp.com/tripology
Any Ping-Pong players in the house? We hear from a Backpacker who was lured into a Bangkok night club and extorted for money! Learn how saying 'Yes' can be a very expensive mistake. Hostel Common Room returns with a heartfelt question that will resonate with all you travellers out there: What's the best way to deal with the travel blues? How do we remain patient and disciplined whilst gearing up for our next adventure? Adam announces he's in the process of purchasing a campervan. Has he been misguided by his romantic dreams of travelling New Zealand? Two things we do know: he knows nothing about camping or vans.
Submit your travel stories to: https://www.tripologypodcast.com/talesofatrip
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
01:52 - Adam's campervan inspection
03:23 - New Zealand's Campervan rules
09:09 - Adam's New Zealand campervan fantasy conundrum
13:55 - Hostel Common Room - How to deal with travel blues & other travel tips
23:09 - Tales of a Trip - Bangkok Backpacker's Ping-Pong surprise!
26:09 - Our final thoughts & feelings
Need travel insurance? We recommend SafetyWing! Click here to get started: https://safetywing.com/?referenceID=26035801&utm_source=26035801&utm_medium=Ambassador Require an onward flight? Please use this fantastic flight rental service: https://onwardticket.com/tripologypodcast
Join our Patreon community: https://www.patreon.com/tripologypodcast
Discord: https://discord.gg/SMkK2gvh
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tripologypodcast/
X.com: https://x.com/Tripologypod
Thank you, as always, for your continued support. It means the world.
TRANSCRIPT
Alun:
[0:02] Hello and welcome to this episode of Tripology. It's the only backpacking show where the hosts about get on a plane, fly about the world, travel. I'm Alun and I'm here with one of the greatest travels of all time and my best friend. It's the ever mobile, Adam.
Adam:
[0:19] We've got a wicked one in store for you today, mate. I'm excited to be back. I'm going to tell you what I've been up to. Some very interesting, very exciting and very expensive plans ahead. And then we're going to hear from a listener in the second section of the show with the Hostile Common Room. And then, of course, Tales of a Trip, where we hear a recording from one of you lovely guys.
Alun:
[0:38] Double listener-led content. I love it. All that stuff going on at topologypodcast.com. Very interesting indeed. Adam, how are you, mate? You're looking every bit the same age as last time I saw you. How has it been going on?
Adam:
[0:53] You wait till next week where I have a shave. Jesus Christ. I wish I could grow a beard. I can't grow a beard. Do you think at the age of 36 I'm maybe past it and I've got to just forget about that and deal with what I've got?
Alun:
[1:05] Well, a lot of the evidence that I've seen suggests that as soon as your beard gets to about the length that it is now, you shave it off. So if you maybe stop running a sharp blade across your face, you might have more success.
Adam:
[1:18] Yeah, yeah. No, but you haven't got any tips. I mean, someone like you who's got a full chin of beard.
Alun:
[1:23] Yeah, simply don't shave it. That is my tip.
Adam:
[1:28] Between between the beard tips and the toenail infection cutting tips uh if you don't tune in for either of those i mean i don't frankly i don't know why you're listening yeah.
Alun:
[1:37] No but there is a point where you'll notice if you refrain from shaving you will eventually grow a beard.
Adam:
[1:43] Yeah, patchy or otherwise uh yeah this week mate i've been bloody busy i have been looking and i'm on the verge of buying a van wow.
Alun:
[1:55] Is it a honda odyssey the the most famous van used for vanning in new zealand.
Adam:
[2:01] No but it has got an equally cool that cool name it's called the mazda bongo a Mazda Bongo.
Alun:
[2:09] Okay. The Odyssey, an amazing word that brings to mind venture and travel and going across the high seas. The Bongo, of course, one of the funniest drums.
Adam:
[2:24] Yeah, I mean, it looks like a small little camper van. And we're looking at one at the minute. Hopefully taking it for an inspection this week just to make sure there's nothing weird and wonderful going on. It is a lot of money of course but that might mean that in the future in the near future and also in the mid future that we can go out on very long trips and live the van life because i think if there's ever a country where it should be traveled that way it's probably new zealand isn't it.
Alun:
[2:51] Yeah a lot of the backpackers in new zealand of course buy a cheap van put a mattress in the back of it get in that van you can wild camp all over the country it's very very easy this is often done, and do you know a couple of people who've had their vans robbed whilst they're in new zealand so that's something to be aware of.
Adam:
[3:08] Not by kiwis i'm sure i think not by sheep and that's basically 90 of the people on the south island so yeah.
Alun:
[3:14] So you've got 10 chance of having a van robbed is what you're.
Adam:
[3:17] Saying that's actually pretty high um no so i have got a little travel conundrum to ask you about and uh i try not to get too sort of philosophical or abstract but it is so much more expensive to buy a van and i don't know if you know the difference between a van that's self-contained and one that isn't but basically there's rules in place um you know the sort of reserves and local councils and parks national parks and all these sort of governing bodies that try to keep new zealand squeaky clean which we appreciate it's a good thing overall what it means is that if your van's not self-contained i.e you don't have a certain amount of water capacity in there in the form of bottles for each individual people you can't manage your waste well i think it's got to be like for three days and 24 liters per person and all this sort of stuff um you have to have toilets that are housed inside your van it's it basically means you you need to be able to go to the toilet and manage your waste for three days in order to be classed as self-contained something along those lines otherwise you're not able to freedom camp and you can get fines of up to sort of 800 if you get caught by park rangers Right.
Alun:
[4:27] Well, that's interesting because people, of course, have very, very different schedules when it comes to waste production.
Adam:
[4:33] Right. Yeah i don't think that's the main concern but i get what you're saying i.
Alun:
[4:40] Would like to be monitored for three days see what it is that i produce on average and then judge me based on that information going forward well you're amazing sir you've not shit in three days so you actually don't need to have a bucket on board you're still.
Adam:
[4:54] Self-contained these things are they are of course expensive but what it also means is there's this massive gulf between vans that have just been converted and you've got sort of a very basic bed in the back and then vans that have been converted and they're slightly more elaborate and they've got a toilet on board and they've been given the green or blue stamp as being self-contained but they're like sometimes twice as expensive now i do understand the benefit of being self-contained because it means you can freedom camp in some designated areas you don't necessarily need to go and pay for a campsite of course that it doesn't make it sort of redundant having a camper van if you sleep in a, campsite but it does obviously restrain you somewhat restrict you somewhat however the price difference is so massive i'm looking at this as is it the dream that i'm chasing and therefore having to fork out extra money or should i go for the sensible option which is of course the converted car which is in some cases half the price and you can still get them self-contained and they might be five six seven eight thousand depending on the condition the vans you're talking like 12 14 17 in some cases but the romantic idea i had in my head of traveling new zealand it was in a van it wasn't in a car yeah.
Alun:
[6:07] I mean i have done the whole van life thing once before in Canada I got a a car.
Adam:
[6:14] Oh chica chica.
Alun:
[6:16] Was her name took all the seats out the back put some blankets down a sort of makeshift mattress i actually put some like crossfit mats down as blankets on top of that and uh sleeping bag in there and had a little space here that didn't work and and a few little things and i used to go out there quite often to the national park sleep under the stars open the doors just to chill and the longest i ever spent in there continuously was seven days.
Adam:
[6:43] Long enough. I have to tell you on no occasion during that seven days did I think I wish I could piss and shit aboard the car.
Adam:
[6:51] Laughing, Well, if you only go once every three or four days, you'd only have to tackle that problem once.
Alun:
[6:59] No, contrary to mythology, I go to the toilet like an ordinary person. But at no point did I think, you know what would really enhance this Canadian road trip? The ability to defecate and mixturate without ever leaving the comfort of my vehicle. So i would say yes you're chasing you're chasing an illusion a dream uh two words self-contained attached by a sexy little hyphen that make you feel on top of the world but in actual fact you don't need it mate just get a nice cheap runner that you can sleep inside and go to a cafe.
Adam:
[7:35] You are you do um you do touch on a good point because the guy that might be selling us the van when he was showing us the toilet and the waste management system we asked him oh how often do use the toilet he was like never literally never i've never used it and no one who has a self contained van with the toilet on board ever uses it.
Alun:
[7:51] So it's just for the legislation that so that you can park anywhere.
Adam:
[7:54] And it means that you do have the ability to manage your waste on board i suppose so there are genuine reasons but.
Alun:
[8:00] The only reason you wanted that is so that you can freedom camp.
Adam:
[8:03] Right it's.
Alun:
[8:03] Just so that you don't get stopped by the cops.
Adam:
[8:05] Yeah because there are designated areas it's just many many areas across new zealand where you can freedom camp and it just makes it much more easy So you can pull up by the side of the road in some places, some small towns, and just park your car and you're allowed to stay there. Because if they catch you sleeping in your car and you're not self-contained, they will whack a fine on your bonnet.
Alun:
[8:22] Why not just get the cheapest version and then get 23 litres or whatever it is worth of bucket and put it in the back seat?
Adam:
[8:30] I don't know if they have to be special. I don't know enough about it, really.
Alun:
[8:33] And if he says, sir, that doesn't look like a very comfortable toilet, you say, wait there, I've got a little performance to show you. Because it actually is a comfortable toilet.
Adam:
[8:43] If you knew some of the places I've done a shit officer.
Alun:
[8:45] You'd be surprised. A little bit of eye contact whilst doing a demonstration of your toilet and the cops go running.
Adam:
[8:53] It'll be me who's charging you $800 to see this. But no, mate, I do think it's an interesting point in that, you know, please email in if you've got something to share. Yeah. Tripologypodcast at gmail.com because sometimes we have this idea in our head of we want what we want a trip to be and for me driving around new zealand in a van seems so much more romantic is what i kind of thought about over the last 10 years the way that i would travel this beautiful country was in a camper van living the van life.
Alun:
[9:22] Yeah if.
Adam:
[9:23] That then all of a sudden is reduced to driving around in a converted car that's a bit ugly and probably too small i don't know if i'll be regretting that.
Alun:
[9:31] See i've never had this fixation i've never had this fantasy like i i come across it all the time particularly in the music world i think people are really guilty for this where people are like oh but my dream instrument is a as a guitar crafted in the in the usa of all the steeped in the history it uses a special glue and all that i think it's so much cooler to have an absolute beater that you find in a charity shop with bits chipped off it that you just get and like make it your own with what you play on it same with the car i think it's way cooler to get the fucking thing that's all broken and rusty and you made it work and you like had it and created an affinity with it and had this adventure with it then getting the spick and span thing where like oh you could actually drink your own weed once it's gone through our special filtration system it's ever so comfortable fuck that car man that's for posh people rich people people who want comfort that's not us i reckon just get the rusty old bag Like, forget the romanticization of it. Just make it work.
Adam:
[10:32] No, no, I mean, the van is one of these beaten up, bashed up storytelling.
Alun:
[10:37] Doesn't sound like it, mate. Sounds like an absolute shitmobile.
Adam:
[10:42] Anyway, stay tuned because we're going to have it sent into a garage for an inspection and they check all the gubbins, all the engine and all that other stuff that mechanics talk about.
Alun:
[10:51] Oh, you've already bought it?
Adam:
[10:52] No, I haven't bought it. But if it passes its pre-purchase inspection, then probably we will buy it. And it's got a little bit of rust. It looks like it can tell a few stories. It's been around the block. It's certainly got more than 300,000 kilometers.
Alun:
[11:06] But you're opting ultimately for the more expensive version that has the self-contained thing because of the idea of it.
Adam:
[11:13] And because it's more roomy, it is obviously worse for the environment and guzzles gas, which is an issue. But it has got two surfboards on the roof, which I thought you'd appreciate.
Alun:
[11:24] It comes with the surfboards?
Adam:
[11:26] It comes with way too much stuff. I mean, there's no way we're going to need all of the stuff it comes with, but it's included in the price because the guy needs to leave the country sharpish.
Alun:
[11:33] I'm on board with the surfboards. That's quite cool.
Adam:
[11:34] Yeah. So, mate, get down here. We'll go and rip a few waves or whatever you surfers say…
Alun:
[11:38] Yeah, we say that. We say, let's go and rip some gnarly pearls, baby.
Adam:
[11:45] But, yeah, exciting stuff. I mean, you know me. I like a drive. I like living in a van.
Adam's Van Life Adventures
Adam:
[11:50] And I like driving around New Zealand. So, it's a win-win-win.
Alun:
[11:53] Stay tuned, listeners. We'll hear all about Adam's driving, surfing, defecating, mixturating van life adventures in subsequent weeks of Topology Podcast.
Alun:
[13:12] We are absolutely nothing on this show if we're not a place, a forum, a community in which everyone can discuss all of our ideas, ask questions, help one another as we traverse this great, big, beautiful marble of an earth. And sometimes people go to topologypodcast.com. There's a form on there, the Hostel Common Room Questionnaire, where they can type in all sorts of questions that come to mind. like oh how do you clean your bag once it falls in a river.
Adam:
[13:41] Or what kind.
The Hostel Common Room
Alun:
[13:43] Of size bucket should i defecate in.
Adam:
[13:45] Whilst I’m traveling around New Zealand that sort of thing one such listener wrote into the hostel common room recently with ever such a good question and we're going to listen to it now in the hostel common room.
Adam:
[14:04] Yes mate the hostel common room we do love to hear from you so get those emails in and this week we have got an email from our good friend miles thanks very much for writing in mate he says hello Alun and adam i have a couple of questions for you both which you may relate to it's been about one and a half years since i got back from backpacking South America and i've thought about travel every day since i can imagine mate i think you both can relate to feeling trapped in your home country and being surrounded by people who have completely different life goals than yourself every day i think about leaving and discovering adventure on the road pushing myself and connecting with others who want the same i think i need to save money for another year before i'll have enough to take off for good, Well, good luck with that. I have a great low-stress job now that allows me to save a solid amount of money each month. The longer I stay, the more I can extend my upcoming trip. But I'm going a little crazy waiting. When do you make the call to just say you've saved enough and just go? And do you have any tips or suggestions for getting through a long period of working to save for travel? A couple of things I've discovered that help me feel better. Researching and planning travel in various areas around the world. Listening to music that reminds me of my travels. or a podcast, wink, wink, going on smaller adventures in my home country, usually trekking in the mountains, listening to Tripology. Of course, you rolled it in at the end there. Why did I ever lose faith? I'd love...
Alun:
[15:30] Listening to music.
Adam:
[15:35] No, you're totally right, Miles. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Listener's Travel Dilemma
Adam:
[15:39] So, Alun, mate, what do you think about that?
Alun:
[15:40] Oh, Miles, I mean, you've touched on perhaps the most ubiquitous travel kind of dilemma problem blue period that all of us go through and that's like you've gone on this great big adventure you've changed irreparably irreversibly as a person you've seen the all the possibilities and then you've returned home out of necessity financial necessity obligation necessity lots of different things can happen and then you're hit with this feeling and we've all gone through this there is not a single traveler who enjoyed traveling that this didn't happen to i'm sure there's a subcategory of people that go home and they're like oh thank god but for everyone else who actually loves travel we've all been through this experience, And it's a really, really challenging thing to get through. And Miles has already hinted on some of the things that I would normally recommend going on adventures in your home country, trying to find the beauty in the place that you do live, like go mountaineering. If you like climbing, go climbing. If you like music, go play with some musicians, all sorts of things that you can do. But fundamentally, it's really tough.
Adam:
[16:52] Miles, my friend.
Alun:
[16:53] Because part of it is you start to feel yourself getting dragged in to obligations and things that force you further away from the life that you know that you enjoyed most of all this was the time where i found myself and i was like i've got it i understand that travel is the greatest highest minded thing that i love more than anything else and then as i was in the uk for a little bit it was like okay but you need to get some money so let's prioritize getting some money okay now you've got to get a certain amount of lease to rent a place while you're doing that okay obligation obligation how are you going to get around maybe you get a car okay obligation now you've got a car okay now how long do i need to save for okay let's say this amount of time whenever i save it up obligations then in my case there was a pandemic so it's like okay now you have to stay for the pandemic there's like things that happen that suck you into a life and it starts to feel like travel becomes this distant an unattainable thing and you're like oh this is how it happens this is how people go traveling and they never go never go traveling again maybe you find someone who you deeply love and want to spend time with okay now what do i do there's lots and lots of problems it's really really difficult to get around.
Adam:
[18:06] You definitely don't want to be one of those people that says yeah and then life got in the way or something like that but i think it's probably twofold i am actually quite binary about this sort of stuff now i accepted a very long time ago that it was completely possible to use countries using working holiday
visas and that sort of stuff but equally you can go back to the uk or wherever wherever you're from i suppose and just use it as a trampoline you buckle down for a year or two earn a load of money save live a simple life a modest life save that money and then you can go off again and if you just do that on repeat if that's what you choose to do that's totally a viable way to live and i do wish that that was communicated to the younger generation that's part of the reason why we're doing this is absolutely an option for you if you want to live that way um but then the other side of this is is trying to keep everything at arm's length so that you don't make any commitments that then stop you going away in the future and i don't think that there's any doubt that you know being motivated or being excited enough or being interested enough in whatever it is you're going to do that's never going to dampen or you're never going to lose interest in that way so uh just keep what you're doing in keep doing what you're doing in that sense, But I think it's just about realizing the moment you're in, knowing fully that you are going on to bigger things, to this next big adventure, and just try and get yourself in the headspace that the day will come sooner than you think. I promise you it will. And the people that you should be around, the travel community, the people like us, will be there to greet you when you arrive.
Alun:
[19:30] I think there's also a thing to deeply understand, and it's not just about travel, it's about life in general, is that everything has an order of priorities. And right now it sounds like travel is very very high on your priorities and if that is the case you should do everything in your power to make sure that you address it with the utmost urgency and then there will be a time as you age and get older where travel potentially starts to, deprioritize in favor of other things like this might be a time where you want to start a business or start a family, or you might need to be there for loved ones. There's lots of things that might overtake travel in the hierarchy of your priority, and you should address those with the same urgency that you should address travel now. One of the most tragic things, I think, are people who prioritize something deeply as a value or something they would like to achieve, but then all the things that sit underneath that thing in their hierarchy of prioritization.
Alun:
[20:31] Ultimately get addressed first because they're easier quicker they just like feel more immediate and they end up leaving the big things at the top of their list that they know they're always going to get round to they end up just completely overlooking them because they're that big major thing you don't want to do that you don't want to do that with anything you don't want to do that with the relationship with the family with the loved ones with the money or with travel so i think just have it in your mind like know that travel is ultimately what you want right now and and keep that as your guiding light as your beacon it's very very important to have a beacon as you move through life and if travel
Navigating Life's Priorities
Alun:
[21:09] is yours just hold it there and know that it is that and the time will fly by yeah.
Adam:
[21:14] Yeah i saw a quote the other day that's somewhat appropriate to this situation maybe miles is in particular um but the quote could could be applied to many people in our position I suppose and uh and it says this we're unable to live the life of our dreams because we're too busy living our fears and I think that's probably appropriate to to a lot of people in sort of western society that would love to be doing the sort of stuff that we're talking about here.
Alun:
[21:39] Yeah I mean how many times have we heard like oh I'd love to do what you guys do but I've just got to get a b c d and e sorted and then later on I'll do the travel again. And I think if it's really what you want, now is the time. I also think you need probably less than you think you do. I see a lot of people get held up thinking like, oh, when I get this unattainable amount of money, then I can go traveling in the way that I want. I've always been an advocate of like, just get what you can get realistically in a finite period of time, set the time rather than the amount and say, look, I've got six months to really work hard and whatever I have there, I'm going to go traveling with it. I think that's better than saying like, oh, well, I want to be traveling for this length of time and do another travel for this length of time with this budget. I need 10,000 US dollars. And it's just like... No, no, just save as hard as you can for the period of time you have and then use that money to travel. That's what you should do.
Adam:
[22:36] Yes, keep watching your YouTube videos, keep listening to Tripology, keep on saving, stay motivated. I know you will, mate. Go out there and get it. Thanks ever so much for writing in, Miles. We really appreciate it, mate.
Alun:
[22:46] Love you lots, brother. Let us know how you get on. But right now we've got another listener that needs some attention. They've gone to TripologyPodcast.com forward slash Tales of a Trip and they've sent in their greatest travel story. Three minutes where they describe, ooh, the most beautiful, wondrous, effervescent, adventurous moment of their traveling career. They want to tell us all about it. Let's listen to a listener.
Tales of a Trip:
[23:09] So my travel story starts at about 19 years of age. Me and the boys went to Thailand to see what it had in store for us. And uh we did find cows on road eventually um tried a couple balloons got very intoxicated and decided to go watch a ping pong show at the ping pong show this older gentleman invited us to come with him to see something even better than that and we were kind of in the mood for that and decided to follow him eventually my two friends kind of felt like it wasn't a good idea i don't know why i continued to follow this guy and we turned the corner and this guy has this.
Tales of a Trip:
[24:00] Tokyo drift style whip um japanese supercar lower to the floor i don't know why i got in.
Tales of a Trip:
[24:08] But after about 10 minutes of drive, and I repeat, this is me alone at this point, I start getting nervous and I'm like, where are we going? And he just doesn't want to answer. And another 10 minutes passed and Bangkok's downtown lights start disappearing in the rear view mirror. And I start getting really concerned until we eventually pull up to a hotel. And this guy invites me in i follow him and uh i feel really uncomfortable at this point um not surprised at all to find that we are in uh it's not a strip club it's just really a bordel and um and yeah there's about 30 women uh my 19 year old precious soul does not comprehend this but they're all numbered and i get to choose one and i don't know how to get out of the situation really so i come up with a brilliant idea i just tell this guy that they're all ugly and that i don't like a single one of them he doesn't take it badly thankfully thankfully but he does suggest to go to a different place and i don't really have a choice at this point because i'm getting escorted out by two security guards back to his car we get in drive another five to ten minutes.
Tales of a Trip:
[25:33] Which feels like an eternity and pull up to this soviet style unlit block maybe an old hotel there was certainly like a construction side situation it's at night so it's dark i can't see it we go down in the garage and i think i'm dying at this point, turns out it's just a more luxurious place and yeah eventually they make me pay 300 usd i decide that it's very sketchy and i don't feel comfortable and i leave but scary story for sure.
Alun:
[26:07] Wow okay my friend i empathize with the feeling that horrible sense of dread that comes when you're hurtling somewhere with someone and you think how the heck did I make several decisions I've led to this eventuality how has it happened that now through a series of seemingly inoffensive like yeah sure okay nice I'm now like leaving the city leaving my friends and I'm in this potentially really really dangerous situation uh yeah it's a feeling of impending dread isn't it adam yeah.
Adam:
[26:47] Because you either know this is gonna hurt i.e i'm potentially going to get beaten up here or it's going to be very expensive or both so i don't know if this is like um an inner feeling that we might have it's that gut instinct where you think even though i know i shouldn't do this it's going to be an amazing story yeah um am i going to get out of this scot-free because do you know what it does it reminds me of a story i would definitely have ended up doing something like that especially when I was 19 there's
just no way that I wouldn't have done exactly what he did but there was a time when I was in Russia when I got invited to a strip club by two Russian police officers who said that they would pay for everything yeah.
Alun:
[27:27] I remember this yeah.
Adam:
[27:28] And every bone in my body was saying don't do it but I thought to myself you're only a few weeks into your trip and you said to yourself that you were going to say yes to everything and now you're already saying no, It probably would have been fine. But if it hadn't, you know, I would have had to maybe tell my mum what went on there. And if you haven't really got an answer for that, you know, she's going, well, how did you end up in that situation? Oh, we got in his Japanese supercar and he drove us. It wasn't even the first building we went to. All right. Okay.
Alun:
[28:00] So often the good traveller's mentality of say yes to everything. Now, I think you're better at this than me in some ways. I think that you are very, very good at embracing the moments when to say yes. I'll give an example. When we were in Pakistan and that van driver said to us, oh, you've missed the bus. Come and stay with me and my family at my house. If I had been on my own, I would absolutely categorically, I'm telling you now, it would have been an impossibility that I would say yes to that.
Adam:
[28:34] Right. Wow.
Alun:
[28:35] I just would flat out refuse. Now, that's absolutely kept me away from some positive experience whilst I've traveled solar. Absolutely irrefutably, undeniably, I accept it, I acknowledge it. I've also been in some dangerous situations whilst I've been traveling. I understand the reality of the world. I understand that difficult situations can arise, and when they do arise, they arise very, very quickly. I i will always exercise caution whilst i'm traveling so i i likely wouldn't have got into that car and been in that difficult situation that the listener was in you would have but i think you also have vastly positive interactions that i often miss out on yeah.
Adam:
[29:20] I also like ping pong more than you do.
Alun:
[29:22] Yeah i mean if you don't know what a ping pong show is in thailand it's not for us to tell you to look it up and I advise probably that you don't.
Adam:
[29:28] Uh but you know it's no surprise those stories I mean that they do happen and they do happen in places like Bangkok and they can be a bit of fun they can be light-hearted but 300 us dollars I mean that's a bit of a sting in the tail.
Alun:
[29:42] Isn't it is but it's not the worst I mean take 300 in your health and your safety, the lesson of that story is just like it's only 300 in in five years time you don't miss 300 dollars. But you do learn the lesson of like oh that was actually a real upheaval like i ended up in a brothel with a stranger forking out money so.
Adam:
[30:02] Do you think that there's another side to this that maybe if that story just played out and and you know think things have the things that happen in brothels happened i mean what's the 300 for in this story is it to just try and get out of there scot-free don't beat me up and they would have asked for 300 irrespective of what went on.
Alun:
[30:22] That was the impression i got from the from the message yeah yeah.
Adam:
[30:25] Okay so as soon as you get in the car it's costing you 300 no matter what happens.
Alun:
[30:30] I think so yeah and i don't know whether that was sort of the plan and the assistance of the person that was there or whether that was just the situation that once you got to that brothel the way that this listener saw out of the situation was just to hand over the money maybe pretended to the gentleman he was with like oh i'm going off here and then just made his way home i'm not sure um but i think if if spending money can make you feel safe and just get you out of a situation then better to do that yeah.
Adam:
[30:58] No i think you're right and um maybe let this be the takeaway i've got a few friends and people I've met traveling who have been beaten up or mugged or whatever in thailand and it usually involves them getting into a car with a stranger.
Alun:
[31:12] Yeah right so this question for you if i hadn't been there in pakistan you would have had no hesitation to go to that driver's house and just have dinner with his family and all that stuff it wouldn't have occurred to you that i might not be safe it.
Adam:
[31:25] Would have done definitely um it's not like it wouldn't have occurred to me that i could have been putting myself at risk but i i'm pretty sure i still would have gone.
Alun:
[31:34] I mean he was absolutely lovely and it was an amazing experience if you've not heard that episode they were the kindest most lovely people and there was no reason to suspect it might have been dangerous but it's just one of those scenarios where apart.
Adam:
[31:46] From the ak-47.
Alun:
[31:46] Well yeah there was a lot of ak's around right but it's one of those situations where if you met someone 15 minutes ago and then you've committed to staying at their house in a place that you have no idea of the geography you've just arrived there at night you're obligated to stay there until the bus comes the next day you don't know anything about anything you're like you're at a risk you're at risk just by definition of the situation you're in yeah.
Adam:
[32:13] Yeah and um you know i think you've got to you've got to learn when to put your trust in people and probably.
Alun:
[32:20] Yeah more.
Adam:
[32:21] Than nine times out of ten it works it works very well i think but generally people are awesome.
Alun:
[32:27] Oh i mean it's maybe 999 times out of a thousand but it's the problem is that the one time like if that person had said oh you guys aren't leaving here, There's nothing that we can do.
Adam:
[32:40] Okay, well, let me ask you this question in return. Do you think that the feeling that this listener was feeling, the gut instinct feeling of getting in the car and wondering where they were going on the outskirts of Bangkok, do you think that's the same feeling, visceral feeling, as you felt when the driver said to us, why don't you come back to mine if you need to, you can stay with my family?
Alun:
[33:02] No, because I didn't even have that feeling, because I've developed over a decade of travel, a sense of caution that prevents me from getting in situations where that feeling has to arise i felt comfortable in that situation because you were there right and that's not because i think adam can defend us if there's any issue it's just because okay we can pass out together and communicate whether we feel comfortable and safe and i know that i'm making an objective decision based on reality because i'm speaking to my best friend whose opinion i respect there was also of times. Remember when those two people tried to pick us up and you said, I don't really have a good feeling about this. And I said immediately, if you don't have a good feeling, we're not getting in the car. Because I think you've got to trust each other's instincts in situations like that. And just two instincts are better than one instinct. And I just, I've learned over the years to trust my instincts.
Adam:
[33:51] Yeah, it is a vital part of travelling. Maybe some people are naturally better at it than others, but certainly something you kind of get. But the thing I'm a little bit worried about, mate, just while we're spitballing here, is maybe I'm more risk averse now I'm getting older. And maybe I'm also less likely to be in those situations or have opportunities like that as time goes by. So, yeah, I mean, the whole time you do have those opportunities, listeners, get stuck in, but make sure it's not when you get that gut feeling like something's about to go wrong.
Alun:
[34:26] But it's a feeling out process, though, isn't it as well? Like you can never begrudge a 19 year old in Thailand having a good time being offered the opportunity to get in a supercar and drive off on an adventure. Like that we've all done stuff like that that had the potential to be dangerous and it turns out he wasn't really in danger in the end he got out of it right so i think there's there's a multi-faceted approach that you have to incorporate into your life when it comes to this.
Adam:
[34:54] Yeah yeah i agree i mean uh we've told a number of the stories on this show about when that's happened to us and maybe left some some others out of the broadcast but uh and made their way into the patreon section so yeah really thanks so much for for recording the voice message
Adam:
[35:09] it's a wicked story uh and yeah i can't wait to hear more from you guys keep them coming in yep.
Alun:
[35:14] And if you want to send us a message just like that listener you just go to tripologypodcast.com forward slash tales of a trip but speaking of tales and trip and sending in messages we've got a couple of crazy messages that will go after the episode in a section we like to call the lost and found we've got
bonus tales for example i'm going to talk about trying to catch this mouse that's creeping around my house so if you want to hear that all you've got to do is go to patreon.com forward slash tripology podcast.
Adam:
[35:42] We'll see you there bye bye.
