24 Hours in a Jimjilbang: South Korea's Cheapest Accommodation
No clothes? No worries! This week gets hot & steamy, as Alun spends 24 hours in a traditional South Korean Jimjilbang: South Korea's cheapest accommodation. Jimjilbangs are traditional bathhouses, with saunas, steam rooms, and communal rest areas, allowing people to stay for hours or even overnight. Tune in to hear what Alun made of Adam's favourite East Asian past time.
Continuing the (lack of) clothing theme, Alun discusses his new shoes. If you've considered going 'barefoot' before, perhaps listen to this episode first. We wouldn't want you to put a foot wrong and make the 20,000 mistakes Alun did!
Support the show and access the Lost & Found section, as Adam finally gets a chance to talk about wine. While visiting Hobbiton, enjoying a Behind the Scenes tour, he was left with a bitter taste in his mouth and learned very quickly that some things are better left unsaid.
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro 01:20 - Going barefoot
09:32 - Jimjilbang: South Korean Spa & Sauna
20:03 - Public bathhouse culture: East vs West
26:19 - Valentines Day & Art Exhibitions
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TRANSCRIPT:
Alun:
[0:02] Hello and welcome to this episode of Tripology. It's a backpacking show where two literal best friends call each other up and talk about nor else but backpacking. I'm Alun and I'm here with one of the travel greats, a man that needs no introduction but will receive one anyway. It's the ever-foot-saw, Adam.
Alan in South Korea
Adam:
[0:23] Thank you so much everyone for tuning in for yet another episode of Tripology. Can you believe it we're back again with some more travel content alan's over in south korea we've got a wicked show you're going to tell us all about what you've been getting up to some hiking and that sort of stuff and then i've got a really funny story for the patreon section you guys that support us with a little bit of your harder money thank you so much about when i went to hobbiton and should not have opened my big mouth no.
Alun:
[0:47] Way big mouths in hobbiton can't wait for that over in the patreon but now adam a little bit more from me as i sojourn around south korea i describe you as foot sore and that's because once again i'm projecting because my feet are sore because i've been going ever so quickly zooming around the country trying to see everything that there is to see and you know i got a bit of a christmas present in december and, and that was a pair of barefoot shoes. Now, I've heard a lot of positive thing about barefoot shoes, and I have to just come out and say that I agree with every single one of them, but there is a breaking in period, Adam, and having traveled in them now for two months, I can just tell you my feet are constantly in pain. I'm suffering, but I can feel them getting stronger every day. They say that within months of wearing barefoot shoes, Your feet gain 60% of their strength back that have been lost, atrophied due to wearing big cushion shoes all the time. So I'm waiting on that. I've been hiking around. I've been doing a lot of city stomping. And yeah, my feet are sore.
Adam:
[1:59] Okay, interesting. Sounds a little bit like an advert. It's taken me by surprise.
Understanding Barefoot Shoes
Adam:
[2:03] Barefoot, for anyone who doesn't know, i.e. me, is what? The manufacturer?
Alun:
[2:07] No, no. Barefoot is the type of shoe, Adam. So basically, the concept is that over time, we've worn more and more elevated and cushioned shoes as shoe manufacturers sold that to us as an idea. You've got to have cushioning. You've got to have cushioning in your shoe. Otherwise, you won't be comfortable. And what that's led to over time is the atrophying of the chiropodic area, the foot. Where in actual fact, if you have no cushioning at all, you're just barefoot. not only will you be a couple of inches shorter than everyone else but you'll also strengthen the feet muscles back up.
Adam:
[2:42] Okay so the sort of things we were doing all those years ago thousands of years ago before shoes existed.
Alun:
[2:49] You can't do that anymore because obviously that we live in a world where there's like nails on the ground and stuff.
Adam:
[2:54] Um so a barefoot shoe it is still a shoe it remains a shoe.
Alun:
[3:00] It's a shoe in that it's got a rubber sole.
Adam:
[3:02] Yeah.
Alun:
[3:03] But it's wider toe box so your feet can splay out.
Adam:
[3:07] Right.
Alun:
[3:08] And there's no cushioning in there at all. So you're like heel is level with the ball of your foot.
Adam:
[3:14] Okay have they got the individual toes as well or foot fingers for our french listeners.
Alun:
[3:19] No no that times have moved on the original barefoot shoes did do that but nowadays you would scarcely notice if you saw me walking around south korea you would think wow that guy has excellent posture there's.
Adam:
[3:32] Me sitting up now you said that.
Alun:
[3:34] He's He's wearing normal looking shoes, but he does look a touch shorter than I would like.
Adam:
[3:41] However, he is smiling. He does look very smug.
Alun:
[3:44] Well, yeah, but my feet are sore, so probably not. He actually looked quite miserable.
Adam:
[3:48] And you're sure it's absolutely a direct result of wearing these shoes. Now, are there people online that are talking about the break-in period exceeding two months?
Alun:
[3:57] What they're saying is absolutely go slowly and start introducing barefoot shoes slowly into your lifestyle. Wear your normal shoes 90% of the time, barefoot 10 and slowly, slowly increase. What no one's saying is wear cushioned shoes your whole life for 31 years and then on the day you're about to go on essentially a hiking holiday to South Korea, immediately swap with no preparation and then climb all sorts of mountains and spend 20,000 steps a day just in the barefoot shoes. I've not seen that bit of advice.
Adam:
[4:32] No. Oh, dear. Have you not accelerated the breakthrough, break-in period or whatever? should you not have got that out the way after a week i mean you're
Hiking Adventures in Korea
Adam:
[4:41] treating your feet um less than less than well one one could say.
Alun:
[4:46] Well there's very little in the way of healing time i am walking like 20 000 steps a day and then on you know i'm doing big big old hikes mate so i went to uh sockcho which is right next to sierraxan national park there's an iconic walk in sierraxan called Olsen Bowie Rock, where... my goodness is it beautiful it's gorgeous it's picturesque rolling hills cast limestone peaks and then what can only be described as the barefoot widowmaker: a series of hundreds of iron steps at the end of the hike all the way up to Wilson Bowie Rock itself mate it felt like a my room 101 it was like a specific hell design just for me.
Adam:
[5:41] Oh wow wow that's amazing you did mention this hike and this is where a bit of that reverse jealousy set in that we mentioned on a couple of episodes ago um because i i almost when you when you asked me about it i thought fuck he's discovered that there's something great to do in south korea that i didn't even find let alone recommend so i was getting a little bit jealous i thought on one part of me was thinking i hope he does it and hope he has a great time yeah um another part of me was thinking i hope it's too cold and he decided to turn back.
Alun:
[6:13] Yeah well in many ways i hate to say this but if you've not uh hiked awesome.
Adam:
[6:18] Barry rock i.
Alun:
[6:20] Think it is difficult to say that you've been to south korea.
Adam:
[6:22] Really because you know the last time i remember you being this excited about a hike was possibly in georgia yeah you went on a hike that was you said it was absolutely jaw-dropping and maybe what he what made it even more special was that not that many people go to Georgia.
Alun:
[6:40] Azerbaijan I think is... Oh, no, no, you're right. Sorry. Never mind. Yeah, Georgia.
Adam:
[6:44] It's funny that you did that because I did that exact same thing in my head. I went, actually, hang on. Was it Azerbaijan? No, no, it's definitely Georgia.
Alun:
[6:50] Yeah, yeah, yeah. In Azerbaijan, I got a tick when I went on a hike. In Georgia, I went on this beautiful glacier hike. Yeah, it was similar to that, mate, except sans the snow. But at the end there was this horrible, horrible staircase and... people are like coming down and encouraging you they're like oh not long to go yeah it was the most interaction i'd had with the Korean community the whole time i was there.
Adam:
[7:15] Robot stuck at the bottom of the steps.
Alun:
[7:16] Steps yeah absolutely genuinely beautiful place anyone going to korea it's a little bit off the beaten track again i stayed in a dorm room with no other travelers i think it's one of those places that not many travelers think to go a lot of people just go you know seoul busan maybe Gyeongju but um really really recommend Siraxan Sokcho and.
Adam:
[7:42] Is it sort of a national park it's a day job in out and back or have you got to you know start for the sunrise or how's it work.
Alun:
[7:48] You could go as a day trip from Seoul but what you should do is take a bus to Sokcho stay in Sokcho for a couple of nights and sort of have a day and a half exploring Siraxan national park There's maybe four four-hour hikes that you can do in Siraxon that are really good. And then one big, long, full day hike that you can do, but you have to get up at 4am to do that. It's a bit intense.
Adam:
[8:13] Yeah, might as well have that one. Don't know. That's great, mate. I'm glad you're doing it. And I did have a lot of hikes, certainly not necessarily
Jeju Island and Future Plans
Adam:
[8:21] in the itinerary pending, but it was one of the reasons that I went to South Korea. And then when I arrived, it was so bloody cold that I decided to not do any of that. I also wanted to cycle all the way from sort of Incheon and Seoul all the way down... starting from south sorry northwest all the way southeast of busan that didn't happen as well because it was just too bloody cold as well as jeju i think there are some fantastic walks on jeju as well.
Alun:
[8:46] Well yeah and as we speak where i am right now i'm actually headed to jeju tomorrow mate so i've done i'm doing a really comprehensive south korea trip might have to go back here adam because you know you might have to come and do some more stuff it's you know god forbid when i go to japan mate it's gonna be pretty comprehensive it's gonna make your experiences in japan look a little incomplete but my feet were sore yeah i was in pain and so i turned to a man who knows a lot about south korea jokes aside you and said adam what should i do if you could recommend one thing to do in south korea a restorative wonderful activity what would it be and you came back with a heavy almost suspicious
The Jimjilbang Experience
Alun:
[9:35] recommendation to go to a gym jolbang yes.
Adam:
[9:40] Yeah one of my favorite places um if you don't know what they are guys it's a kind of a spa sauna and sometimes you can stay overnight in these things but it's like a public bath house you walk around in a robe or some pajama type things or naked um that's not the only reason i like them but they are incredibly relaxing uh you're able to sort of reflect and just enjoy a good time it's quite um like you said restorative you feel rejuvenated you feel younger you feel more healthy you feel more relaxed.
Alun:
[10:09] Yeah and in my constant awful jealous need to surpass you i knew that you hadn't stayed overnight in a gym drill bang so i went into it i saw it like an i'm a celebrity get me out of here challenge where I was like, I'm going to spend 24 hours in a gym job bang. I booked myself into one, mate, and I resolved to stay there overnight. Now... They can be a bit confusing, South Korean jimjilbangs. And what I found out is that COVID absolutely decimated the staying overnight industry to the point where a lot of jimjilbangs never recovered. And staying overnight just simply isn't something you can do in many of them now. But there are a few 24-hour jimjilbangs left. And the one I went to, there's no English spoken at all, right? And there's actual staff members, not robots. So I went, I paid money. I was like, oh, I'm going to stay over and sleep. They were just like, just go. Here's a row.
Alun:
[11:13] And then I entered into the main, it's segregated male and women, right? And then there's a communal area where there's food and the winter Olympics was showing and there's sleeping rooms and sleeping chambers and all that stuff. We'll get to it later. But the first thing you do is go into these segregated sections. and you know when you're in a new place you don't really know how it works i basically just stood there watching everyone else to try and get an idea of what to do yeah.
Adam:
[11:41] That's fairly normal that's the right thing to do.
Alun:
[11:43] It is normal but it is that you know made suspicious when you're watching people to see what to do but everyone is actively getting naked at that point you are just watching someone the robe.
Adam:
[11:57] And there's no way you could explain to them.
Alun:
[11:59] Like can you stop looking at me please i'm like i'm just trying to figure out what to do i was looking at someone so intensely one korean man about 20 years old went can i help you oh dear i was like no no sorry i was just i was just staring well i wasn't staring well i was staring but the reason i was staring was because i wanted to see what you did next after getting naked because that's what i want to do next i mean not with you we don't have to do it together but i just wanted to see where you headed so that I knew where to head.
Adam:
[12:27] Do you want me to take my clothes off?
Alun:
So, basically the protocol is this mate you take your clothes off you put them in a locker you head completely naked to the bath area you take a thorough shower which i felt was monitored by the rest of the people in the hot tub is he getting clean enough then i walked naked down the aisle and got in to my first hot tub at first i was feeling quite self-conscious walking there completely naked observed by the rest of the naked patrons of the jimjilbang i was put immediately at ease when one middle-aged korean man looked at me from head to toe nodded and gave me a huge thumbs up with a big smile on his face a.
Adam:
[13:08] Thumbs up what.
Alun:
[13:09] Just the regular emoji he emoted live he went oh good job it made me feel exceptionally proud of myself wasn't.
Adam:
[13:16] One of the massages they offered.
Alun:
[13:17] That's not how i interpreted it adam oh.
Adam:
[13:19] Like you're doing the right thing.
Alun:
[13:20] You're fitting in i think we all knew i was doing the right thing I'm sorry.
Adam:
[13:27] Uh i'm glad you felt so comfortable you didn't give yourself like a sexy glance in all the mirrors because there are often lots of you know there's a bathroom where you can sort of you know just go to the toilet i mean like a normal bathroom um but there's also a lot of mirrors around you give yourself a little glance make sure that you can see what they're all looking at this kind of stuff.
Alun:
[13:43] No no i'm not i'm not a narcissist so i didn't do that.
Adam:
[13:46] But uh.
Alun:
[13:47] Maybe your ginger bang experience was different but i was just there to have a wash so.
Adam:
[13:51] I didn't even realize there were hot pools i was just standing in front of the mirror all night yeah i.
Alun:
[13:55] Think you can stay overnight i got kicked out at 4 a.m after being in the bathroom looking at myself, mate i went for it you know how you go in a hot tub and then you go in a cold plunge and then you can go in a sauna and then cold plunge the hot tubs were like 45 degrees celsius the sauna got up to like 75 80 degrees celsius the cold plunge was like 10 degrees celsius i got so hot and then so cold that i nearly passed out in the hot tub you know that feeling where one side of your face starts to sort of go all down i think a stroke i think it's called i had one of those it's called a stroke it's like it's someone burning toast because i feel great.
Adam:
[14:41] A dodgy korean translation that white man's having a stroke in the uh hot tub no not no not like that.
Alun:
[14:48] His face is melting uh.
Adam:
[14:51] Yeah wow wow so i mean it is important, I don't think it's really our responsibility to say this, but you should drink a lot of water when you're at these things.
Alun:
[15:02] I barely drunk any water, mate.
Adam:
[15:04] You've got to. I'm prone to that sort of stuff, to get dehydrated very quickly. So I'm usually just doing doggy runs between the water fountain and the sauna.
Alun:
[15:15] Christ.
Adam:
[15:18] Now he's on all fours. What the... It's not that kind of place.
Alun:
[15:23] Someone give me a thumbs up. but.
Adam:
[15:27] Yeah you just you kind of do circuits don't you you go from the sauna into the jacuzzi into the cold shower.
Alun:
[15:33] To the water fountain.
Adam:
[15:34] And you're just doing this on repeat i imagine for you were there for a full 24 hours really.
Alun:
[15:39] Mate i was 24 hours in the gym job bang yeah it's amazing it's amazing because there's also like a cafe downstairs so i went and got food there yeah i then went back to the hot baths and then went down and watched some curling on the winter olympics and then got so upset by Canada's horrendous cheating that I went back into the hot tubs. It was really a good time. Did you make conversation with anyone? Because I met some guys from Hong Kong whilst I was in the hot tubs. And I will say it's difficult when you sort of befriend a group of people and you're going together from the hot tubs to the saunas and it's your first interaction with them. It's just strange having the same conversations that you often have with people. Like, oh, you know, where are you from? Have you been traveling long? And you're just all the while desperately making eye contact. You know, what do you do for a living? Okay. Yeah, I've been traveling for a while now, just really intensely, like, refusing to glance downwards.
Adam:
[16:45] What do you do for a living? Really, I would have guessed you were a porn star, actually.
Alun:
[16:49] Oh, I've never worked in construction.
Adam:
[16:55] Yeah so it's i know i understand why it would be awkward obviously i've not had i don't think that many conversations really with people i normally go on go on my own and oh no actually shit you've just reminded me when i was in, That was in Seoul as well. There was a German man and I think his Korean boyfriend. And we were, again, I didn't ask them.
Alun:
[17:24] But it was clear they were together because they were going on doggy runs.
Navigating Awkward Situations
Adam:
[17:31] I think that's against the rules. I mean, I can't read Korean. What you're doing looks an awful lot like that picture. And there's a big red mark next to it. you know a big red cross uh so that was it was a leveler i mean it was quite enjoyable it was liberating it was freeing it was just sort of a good old chit chat about all the normal stuff but we were all starkers and um.
Alun:
[17:56] Yeah i liked it i found it liberating as well and nice and an enjoyable time i do think it is restorative and and relaxing it is a funny place to sleep though i'll say that because if you want to stay overnight in a gym jobang basically it's a communal sleeping area in this particular gym jobang there was multiple options there was sort of darkened rooms or these individual tunnels that you could go into they were sort of six foot long and i just sort of made a nest in one of them where i had a parka and one of my packing cubes and i put a merino wool jumper over my eyes and headphones in and i just fell asleep in there for like six hours and it was it was okay it was all right well.
Adam:
[18:43] I'm going to ask you a question that i'm sure all of our listeners want me to ask is is there a bedtime.
Alun:
[18:48] No absolutely not that's 24 hours right so i knew i knew that when i was there sleeping in the tunnel there were other people upstairs in the hot tub wow.
Adam:
[19:00] That's really cool.
Alun:
[19:01] And it's very hard to sleep when you know that that's.
Adam:
[19:03] Very adult isn't it to to just be allowed to be walking around, at what is night time, sort of 2, 3, 4 a.m.
Alun:
[19:13] Yeah.
Adam:
[19:14] And did you wake up at all and have a quick, a cheeky sauna mid, you know, mid sleep or what?
Alun:
[19:20] I got up at 6 a.m. and went for a sauna. I went to bed at 12, up at 6, sauna and hot tub again.
Adam:
[19:26] Oh my God, that sounds so good. That sounds so good. How do you pay? Is it like a 24-hour ticket that you can buy or do you just pay when you get out for the hours you've been in there or what's the...
Alun:
[19:35] No, no, you just pay for an entry and the price that you pay depends on when you enter. So there's a price for entering in the day and a price for entering in the evening, but they don't police when you leave. So you could just stay in there.
Adam:
[19:49] Well, that is some cheap rent.
Alun:
[19:50] Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it is the cheapest accommodation in Seoul.
Adam:
[19:54] That's really cool.
Alun:
[19:55] And you can bring your laptop there. Like I ate and edited Tripology in the gym job.
Adam:
[19:59] Wow. That is awesome. Wow. I mean, I hope that people are listening to this and the jokes aside, it is an important and popular part of East Asian culture to go to these saunas and spas and hot tubs and public baths and this sort of stuff. I did a load in Taiwan, a load in, I've done a load in Japan and then also across South Korea as well. And you are doing something that's very popular with the people there. so i think it's important to do if you can get part i know in the west it is a bit weird to just be walking around starkers with people but not if you're in places like eastern europe or even scandinavia in in budapest in uh this shishenny shiji bath whatever they're called there is a naked sauna there as well so it's not like it's unheard of but i think for most people from the uk it would be a little bit strange initially but just just get stuck in because it's a great experience it really is it.
Alun:
[20:55] Just made me think how absurd the west's attitude towards nudity really is because all jokes aside and we're like part of the problem but there is nothing sexual about it you're just like naked because it's convenient to be naked and be in the sauna and sweat all the toxins out your body and go into the cold plunge and it's just really normal and feels really normal and it's really like a lovely thing and everyone's given like a set of blue pajamas if you're a guy or pink pajamas if you're a girl and you uh just wear those when you're in the common spaces.
Alun:
[21:33] It feels a little bit like you're in a sort of really relaxing prison.
Adam:
[21:36] Because everyone's wearing like inmates outfits.
Alun:
[21:38] And lining up in the cafeteria it's a really interesting i've never done anything quite like it.
Adam:
[21:43] Yeah i mean the because in the west we have sexualized being naked and you know nudity and body parts and that sort of stuff i think that's why it's already got to a stage where it's just too weird and for that reason is embarrassing. But it is a shame because I think, I think more and more people, if they could get past that and feel more comfortable being completely naked, then they would be able to benefit from these wonderful things, which are actually like completely normal. They're just so, they're just so nothing.
Alun:
[22:12] They're so normal. That's why I was surprised when I went into the common area naked and people started going, no, put some clothes on. I was like, oh, well, you must be from the West because you're sexualizing my nude body.
Adam:
[22:24] Talking about shoes, because you did start at the top of the episode talking about footwear.
Alun:
[22:28] Yeah.
Adam:
[22:28] Did you have to change from your shoes or slippers or whatever into wooden shoes when you went into the sauna? Did you go in one of those clay oven things?
Alun:
[22:36] Just barefoot, mate. Just barefoot.
Adam:
[22:38] Barefoot, really? I got shouted at by a Korean lady who was already in the sauna for wearing... What was I wearing? I was either wearing the flip-flops that they gave me, which I think were plastic or rubber or something.
Alun:
[22:49] Yeah, because it was going to melt plastic all over the sauna floor.
Adam:
[22:53] Yeah, maybe there was some metal in there or something. But there were some wooden shoes that you could take. they were sort of you know just free to put on and she couldn't believe that i'd walked in there without these wooden shoes on well.
Alun:
[23:04] They're very picky about footwear in korea you know if like if you enter a hostel and don't take your shoes off in like the little outhouse area that is offensive.
Adam:
[23:13] Yeah and there's often um i might be extending this to japan now but definitely in the ryokans and the traditional japanese inns there are sometimes different slippers for the bathroom than there are for the rest of the house.
Alun:
[23:25] I'm, of course, in barefoot shoes, so I'm operating in already a grey area.
Adam:
[23:30] Because your shoes are actually so much like your bare feet.
Alun:
[23:34] I understand that you're objecting to shoes, but trust me, what you're objecting to is the cushioning inside the shoes. These don't have that problem. what culturally you've decided is offensive about shoes is the inside bit.
Adam:
[23:46] Okay this interaction is going to be really weird if i have to educate you these aren't nikes do you know what you've just reminded me of an interaction i had with an indian guy who was from mumbai actually ages ago in singapore really really nice guy i stayed with him for a few nights in his airbnb and when he was giving me the rundown of his airbnb he was also sleeping in the airbnb as well there was like two bedrooms and i was having one of them uh he said you know there was just like a hallway in an apartment block and he had a shoe rack there and he said you know obviously take your shoes off before you go in um i don't ever let anyone walk into my house with their shoes on and it's something that's really important to me so please respect that um i was like yeah yeah totally mate and he was like i actually can't believe he went one step further i went i actually can't believe, that you lot think it's acceptable to wear shoes in the house.
Alun:
[24:36] Yeah.
Adam:
[24:36] I mean, it's mental. Like, all the shit that you walk through all day from the outside, bringing that into my personal space. I was like, no, no, yeah, like, I'm going to do it. I'm definitely going to take them up.
Alun:
[24:48] I'm similarly passionate about people using toilet paper.
Adam:
[24:52] Yes.
Alun:
[24:53] So I empathize with him having that level of passion because I think it's disgusting to use toilet paper as the only method of wiping your ass. I think it's absolutely insane. And people who are like, oh, I use toilet paper, but I'll use like a wet wipe or I'll put it, like use water to clean your ass. You absolute disgrace. It's absolutely crazy that the West has sold people on the idea that a dry piece of tissue is a functional way to wipe literal feces out of your anus. What an absolute crazy psyop. there are people all over the world on buses on subways sat next to you at restaurants who have have done a poo and have rubbed a dry tissue on it and then gone about their fucking day i.
Adam:
[25:48] Love the passion i love the passion.
Alun:
[25:50] It's crazy and so i understand his feeling like you've walked in those shoes, over tarmac that everyone else's shoes has been on and pigeons have shat there and everything and then you're coming into his space and like traipsing that all around i empathize he sounds like a man after my own heart actually maybe we should go to a gym job bang together yeah.
Adam:
[26:11] Perhaps from memory there was a couple of bum guns in the toilet as well so.
Alun:
[26:15] I'm sure you got.
Adam:
[26:16] On he was cut from the cut from the same cloth.
Alun:
[26:18] I bet mate something else i've been doing in korea a lot is going to art museums and art exhibits i was in a place called gang neong where they have two pretty exceptional art installation areas they have arte which is like a huge space where there's all sorts of 3d sort of projections on the walls like a whale going across one wall mirrored so it feels like expansive and then waterfall projection going down another wall it was amazing spectacle, I accidentally went on Valentine's Day. Right. And I spent the whole day being asked to take pictures of people who were less lonely than me.
Adam:
[27:04] Oh, no.
Alun:
[27:05] I walked around Arte and Gangneung just basically being handed phones by attractive Korean men, being asked to take pictures of them with their also attractive girlfriends while they stood in front of a big projection of a whale. I could scarcely walk two meters without being handed another phone to take a picture of another couple.
Adam:
[27:26] You said you went accidentally, you know, it was an accident that you went on Valentine's Day. Was it something that you, if you had thought about, you could have predicted that you would have been the guy taking photos of other people?
Alun:
[27:36] I didn't appreciate that Arte was going to be such an absolute couple's picture fest. and upon realizing that it was an equally horrendous incidental fact that it was valentine's day exacerbating an otherwise present problem that you shouldn't go to arte on your own that's.
Adam:
[27:56] So funny were you like after the fourth or fifth couple people sort of turning their head to look at you you're going yeah come on come on just come over here let's get over with i'll take them yeah give it give it.
Alun:
[28:05] I started actively offering because i thought there's only one way out of the situation with any dignity and that's to get them before they get me so i became very much an unofficial photographer going around just finding couples being like oh you're taking a selfie are you well fear not because i'm here if.
Adam:
[28:24] You just want to ask those six couples over there, about my previous work um go.
Alun:
[28:29] And have a look at their their instagram profile picture and then come back to me and we'll talk you know.
Adam:
[28:33] Uh i hope this is maybe makes you feel a little bit better about how lonely you were on valentine's day uh i did something equally as tragic maybe even more tragic on valentine's day well have a guess what do you think it is definitely something that you probably shouldn't do on your own or for yourself and it is also something that's typically a romantic gesture done between two people who are in a relationship did.
Alun:
[28:58] You buy yourself flowers mate.
Adam:
[29:00] Oh you're very very close not quite well i bought myself something chocolates no a little bit more expensive fine dining no do you want to see it for those of you don't watch the video um then you should but i bought myself this little ring can you see that wow ring wow.
Alun:
[29:20] For those just listening It sort of looks a bit like a bolt that you might put with a.
Adam:
[29:27] Washer to keep something in place.
Alun:
[29:30] It's got sort of a hexagonal finish, quite blue opally.
Adam:
[29:34] Yeah, it's actually a power shell, abalone shell.
Alun:
[29:37] Oh, cool.
Adam:
[29:38] Yeah, which are really important in Maori culture. Actually, the shells are often used to represent the eyes on carvings.
Alun:
[29:45] Right.
Adam:
[29:46] And yeah, they look really cool. So I saw this. I'd had my eye on something with that shell because it's pearlescent. I mean, it looks really cool the way it picks up the light. I didn't know whether I was going to buy a piece of jewellery or what. I certainly didn't want to carry around a big abalone shell with me. And then I saw this thing glittering in a little, like, antique-y type secondhand store. And it was only five bucks. And I thought... I like it. I don't know if I'm going to wear it all the time, but it is Valentine's Day and I am on my own. So I just...
Alun:
[30:15] Yeah. So you got married to yourself. Well, there you go. It sounds like we both had very depressing Valentine's Days, but you know what, mate? Life is a rich tapestry of ups and downs. And frankly, there's one thing I find more distasteful than spending Valentine's day on your own and that's spending valentine's day with another person because i really can't tolerate it as a day i hate it in all my relationships i've i hate that valentine's day comes around and you've got to give clinton cards or hallmark money to tell someone that you love them so you know i was quite fine making other people's day a little bit spicier yeah.
Adam:
[30:55] I bet you are mate what have you got planned over the next couple of weeks what can we look forward to the rest of your time in South Korea.
Alun:
[30:59] Well mate i've still got to tell you a lot of stories but they'll have to wait until next week i'm headed now down further south towards the isle of jeju and from there i'll go of course to busan and from there japan there's ever wonderful things going on mate but i have to wait till next episode because we're going to head to the patreon now where you've got a story from us next time you see me i'll be in probably in busan and we'll talk about all the journey getting there but now let's go to patreon and we'll see you all next week.
Adam:
[31:33] Thanks so much guys. Link in the description. We'll see you there. Bye bye.
