China Announces Visa-Free Travel!
China announces visa-free travel for UK and Canadian nationals, meaning that travellers from these countries will now be able to travel throughout China for up to 30 days! Rice for Breakfast is back, with a long overdue Korean entry. Spicy beef ribs, anyone?
We also hear from a listener who shares an outrageous Tales of a Trip. Who knew hostels in Bratislava could be so sexy? Well, Adam, apparently.
Submit your travel stories here! https://www.tripologypodcast.com/talesofatrip
Support the show and access the Lost & Found section, as Alun gets a little Japanese roasting and Adam reveals his Canadian catchphrase.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tripologypodcast
BBC article: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c875d3d3x34o
Mark Wiens Daegu video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo-RDfw5kfo
Elephants Hostels, Bratislava: https://elephants.sk/
Manta Sleep: https://mantasleep.com/
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
02:16 - China announces visa-free travel
12:47 - Rice for Breakfast: Korean Spicy Ribs
23:52 - Tales of a Trip: Bratislava bunkbed bonking
28:30 - Manta Sleep: The sleep mask from heaven
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
Discord: https://discord.gg/eVphWE3x
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tripologypodcast/
X: 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 podcast where the hosts don't know what they're going to say until they've already said it. I'm Alun and I'm here with the ever permittable Adam.
Adam:
[0:16] Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Tripology. Thanks ever so much for joining us. We really do appreciate it. We've got a wiki show today. We've got an announcement, kind of a news bulletin that is going to affect your travel life i'm so excited about it and we've got in the second section of the show we're going to talk about some korean food so Alun listening for that one and then at the end tales of a trip is back would you believe it with a little surprise on my table wow.
Alun:
[0:40] It's a show so exciting that it took you three takes to introduce it.
Adam:
[0:45] Are you gonna leave them all in yeah.
Alun:
[0:47] They are i don't know if you heard adam say that same thing three times in a row then i left it in if you didn't it's because of the power of editing.
Adam:
[0:55] That's it it's a it's a nerve-wracking thing even though we have done a couple of episodes recently um so you would expect us to be in the flow sometimes you cock up and you want to seem professional so you deliver it again and you nail it.
Alun:
[1:08] Yes well there's only very few industries in which cocking up is seen as professional and podcasting isn't one of them.
Update from Auckland
Adam:
[1:22] Right mate little update for you i'm still in auckland i know people watching the video they're going to say but hang on you're in a different room to the last three episodes and that is because i've moved into a different room but it's still in the same hostel however you've got a private room have you you've got a private room mate yeah upgraded that's good it's really good such.
Alun:
[1:40] Respect that you have for the podcast that you'd move into a private room especially to record an episode.
Adam:
[1:45] Yeah it's exactly that isn't it it's a nice bit of peace and quiet i've got all my stuff here on the floor next to me and that is so i can go through it my van's going to be returned to me tomorrow and i'm going to drive all the way south 1500 kilometers 24 hours straight including a ferry all the way to my new job down in the south island uh the little wine region called bannockburn which i'm super super excited about but i am absolutely dreading the journey mate i'll be honest.
Alun:
[2:10] Well commiserations to you as you embark on that voyage what have you got for us today adam.
Exciting Travel News
Adam:
[2:16] I thought I would read a little announcement that came out last month. It is very exciting. And it was on the old BBC website. Did you hear that China have confirmed visa-free? What's the old gobbit? Hang on a minute.
Alun:
[2:36] What's going on? What have China confirmed now?
Adam:
[2:40] China have confirmed visa-free travel for UK and Canadian nationals. So being a UK national and becoming a Canadian national potentially in the future, I'm included in this. However, I will just read off the headline. The UK and Canadian nationals will be able to travel to mainland China for up to 30 days without a visa from the 17th of February, which is, of course, in the past. But basically, the deal, as it stands, goes until the 31st of December. How good is that?
Alun:
[3:08] I've already met some travellers in hostels who have benefited from this little cheeky little agreement. They've been wandering around China, absolutely visa-free. It's a beautiful thing, man. I like it when visas aren't required for a place. I went to China first when I first started travelling, primarily because the visa was the most complicated to get. You had to get it in your home country as opposed to just walk in through the border. So it's a good thing, isn't it?
Adam:
[3:34] Well, hang on, you deliberately went to China because it was difficult to do so bureaucratically.
Alun:
[3:38] That's right. Yep. It was one of the reasons. One was that it was going to be a big culture shock, which is what I wanted. But number two was I knew I could go to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia,
Visa-Free Travel to China
Alun:
[3:47] all those places just turning up. But China, you had to get a visa in your home country in order to go.
Adam:
[3:54] Right, OK. Yeah, I can sort of see that. Apparently, it goes on to say this article, the move brings rules for UK and Canada passport holders into line with 50 other countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Australia and Japan. Hundreds of thousands of British people could potentially benefit from the change with around 620,000 travelling to China in 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics. So it's really interesting stuff, mate. And given that you're already in East Asia and you will be moving over to Japan very shortly, i was thinking should i take advantage of this new rule which we don't know whether it's going to be something that's cemented in and sort of in perpetuity kept that way um maybe i'll do it maybe i'll maybe i'll nip over to china on the way to or on the way back from seeing you.
Alun:
[4:38] Well, I've only been to China on little visas since the first time I went. I went for a full 30 days, tried to extend, couldn't, left. And I've done little transits through China since then. I think it's going to make it a much more popular destination because China is one of the most underrated countries in terms of its natural beauty. I think people always think of the cities which is actually an incredibly beautiful country that not many people go to because bureaucratically it has been difficult to get to like I said you had to be in your home country you had to go to the embassy you had to.
Adam:
[5:12] Do like.
Alun:
[5:13] Forms I had to take a picture of you I had to start a conversation with a Chinese receptionist that was challenging and you know eventually I got my visa, but I think this will make a lot of people think twice about going to China and yes I do think that you should.
Adam:
[5:28] Yeah they just don't won't know the pain those kids will they uh because i remember when i applied for my chinese visa uh much yeah in a similar fashion to you immediately after receiving the visa so i did have to go up to the embassy and that sort of stuff i basically cancelled all of my
bookings so you had to did you have to send an itinerary that was already showing sort of train reservations or planes in planes out a couple of things.
Alun:
[5:52] Yeah not a whole like tailored itinerary from start to finish but a couple of key points perhaps.
Adam:
[5:57] Yeah yeah i basically booked everything for the entire month i was going to be there including hostel reservations etc and then the moment the visa was approved i cancelled everything so that i could be completely free and fluid so once i entered china i could then just make it up as i go along um but but i remember thinking about that thinking god this is so fucking restrictive um i don't know how i found out that you could actually just cancel everything and and then sort of wing it if you like but now that doesn't matter at all does it this is um it is a real game changer and i i remember, I feel bad for saying this, mate, but I remember China being the only country that I was happy to leave.
Alun:
[6:37] Why is that, do you think? Because I really enjoyed China and love it and the Chinese people in equal measure.
Adam:
[6:44] I think you've mentioned culture shock. I would say that I'm not sure I've even had a culture shock. I'm not sure I've really experienced that, something that's so shocking. But it was in sort of the outskirts of the cities. I just remember it being quite sort of dirty. there was a time when i was in shenzhen when i had an interesting episode in a toilet you know those sort of squat holes in the ground where i was locking eyes with the guy in the cubicle next to me because they were only like the dividing panels were so small they were more like planks of wood as opposed to complete walls if you can sort of imagine what i'm trying to describe.
Alun:
[7:22] Was it early on in your travel career that you went here i'm surprised you didn't like it.
Adam:
[7:27] Uh Well, I liked a lot of it, but it just became too much. I mean, I was spending a lot of time outdoors, dodging people, spitting everywhere, and I had some great food, but I had a lot of bad food as well, sort of greasy, oily, that sort of thing. And I think I was also excited to get to Hong Kong, which was the end of my really long trip. I think I did about two and a half months in the end through Russia, China, and then finishing in Hong Kong. It was, yeah, like I said, I don't really feel great admitting it. But there may be some people out there who can resonate or relate to that, not necessarily specific to China. But if you don't have a super positive time everywhere and things get a little bit difficult or dirty or whatever, then naturally you might be happy to move on. But I am absolutely ready to go back to China now. I really am. And I'm excited about it.
Alun:
[8:16] Well, yeah. Yeah. Now that we've got this special little visa-free journey, I'm actually reliving my China trip at the moment because I'm doing a series over on Patreon where I read from my original travel diary. And at the moment, every month I'm going through and reading sections from the
Korean Food Adventures
Alun:
[8:32] China experience. I'm just in Beijing at the moment in that series. And so I'm really reliving it. I remember China so fondly, but it turns out from reading my diary that I did an awful lot of eating pizza like trying to hunt pizza and um a lot of like hanging around with british people and getting lost oh.
Adam:
[8:53] Okay getting lost on account of the fact that you can't read mandarin.
Alun:
[8:57] Yeah i couldn't read mandarin didn't have a sim card like didn't know like my phone was no use it was early day it was like 2015 right so e-sims weren't a thing but i uh basically seemed like i was struggling and i thought at the time i was having a really great time and i was really learning how to travel but reading it back now 10 years later i'm like i was kind of an idiot no.
Adam:
[9:20] I'm not an idiot i mean i do think with china because it's so different um there are lots of
cultural differences between sort of the western china and also the language you don't there's no clues is there i mean if you were to go to say france or italy or spain you can kind of work out what signs might mean, and lots of people do speak English as well. But when I came through northern China, I was just completely lost. Luckily, I landed on a Russian woman who spoke Chinese, Russian, and English.
Alun:
[9:50] Literally landed on top of her.
Adam:
[9:55] Not not literally not literally landing on top of her um sounded.
Alun:
[10:00] Like it was literally.
Adam:
[10:01] Yeah we got a coach together and we ended up just um i was going to say hitting it off but we didn't hit it off we were just sat next to each other on the train and then the bus and then the next train and then uh and then we parted ways but she she helped me a lot i remember vividly actually there was a guy who was trying to sell a towel on the train and i found it really funny that these salespeople would just bowl into the carriage and then just try and flog something and then sort of get off a couple of stops down when no one bought it.
Alun:
[10:28] Literally get off.
Adam:
[10:34] Literally getting off to her landing on time. No. Stop it. Stop derailing the show. Anyway, it's an amazing piece of news and we're very, very pleased that there seems to be something positive in the news for fucking once for the travel community. It's something that's actually making our lives easier as opposed to more difficult.
Alun:
[10:52] I think the thing that's going to change the most is people having longer transits, though. Because at the moment, like prior to this arrangement, you could just, you had like 70-hour transit visas or 40-hour transit visas. I can't remember. But a lot of people, you know, they would fly into a major airport like Shanghai, sort of explore Shanghai for a couple of days or however long their layover was, and then have to leave. But now it's going to be really easy to sort of fly into Shanghai, wait a week, fly out. It's going to be maybe even explore more of China as you're doing that. So it's really changed the game for layovers.
Adam:
[11:28] Yeah, yeah. I think there was a period, wasn't there, where it was increased in certain regions to 10 days. So you could sort of have an extended layover. But I like it. I think this is a good opportunity. I can sort of feel something bubbling away. It just seems to make sense logistically. There's a couple of places in China that I haven't been.
Alun:
[11:44] Another stomach bug. Another one of those pesky Chinese stomach bugs.
Adam:
[11:50] Bit of fire spice. And I'm looking forward to it. So I don't know how difficult it's going to be to run the show from China. So we will have to manage that between us.
Alun:
[11:58] I'll just Google it.
Adam:
[12:00] Maybe I'll just grab you on the way and we'll do a little show from Chongqing or something like that. You'd like that, wouldn't you?
Alun:
[12:07] I'd love that, yeah. What an amazing city.
Adam:
[12:10] And talking about spicy food, why don't we stop talking about this for a second and move into another section? It's backed by popular demand. there was actually someone yeah yeah it's not what have you had to eat today i.
Rice for Breakfast
Alun:
[12:26] Love it i can't wait i've been waiting for this segment for a long time i'm on the edge of my seat.
Adam:
[12:30] One of our listeners contacted us and said guys Alun's been in korea for a long time and you haven't done a rice for breakfast about korean food so today my friend is your lucky day let's go into the next section of the show for you guessed it it's rice for breakfast, Alun, we're back. It's right for breakfast, my friend. What is it you're doing with that banana?
Alun:
[12:56] I just thought, I've seen other podcasts on YouTube, and they have more set dressing. Like, I've seen travel podcasts. The content's shit, but the sets look really good. There's like a passport and stuff like that. So I thought, we're doing a food item, but I'll put a banana on the desk.
Adam:
[13:17] Nothing says a food item like a banana on the desk. Are you going to eat that on camera?
Alun:
[13:22] No, because I had two before we started. Otherwise, I would.
Adam:
[13:26] On account of the increased potassium.
Alun:
[13:29] Yeah, I've got potassium coming out of the wazoo.
Adam:
[13:33] So you mentioned on a couple of episodes ago, mate, you mentioned that you had been eating at the same restaurant many times. I know you said you were eating the same thing. Before we go into this food item and I talk about one of my favorite dishes that I had when I was in Korea that I'm going to try and encourage you to go and get yourself is there anything you've eaten that has given you sort of a food epiphany yeah black pork black pork okay talk to me about that briefly now.
Alun:
[13:59] I heard a rumor that black pork is specific to jeju and i heard a rumor that it's black because of all the volcanic ash in.
Adam:
[14:09] Their food.
Alun:
[14:09] Supply which then turns the meat black i'm not sure if it's true but there's a variety of pork that exists in Jeju which is black and it's good.
Adam:
[14:18] Okay cool um apart from that are you you're eating the same thing over and over again give or give or take I know you're going through sort of a low risk period at the moment aren't you yeah.
Alun:
[14:30] I'm on a quite a strict diet of whatever this one place that's near my apartment has on the.
Adam:
[14:35] Menu, oh dear have they got have they got spicy korean stewed ribs.
Alun:
[14:44] Uh no no but i have had that i've had it and.
Adam:
[14:48] Where does it feature on your sort of top five if we're going to rank rank something
Discovering Korean Dishes
Adam:
[14:52] is it up there was it memorable.
Alun:
[14:53] Yeah i like it i think a lot of the ribs and sort of like backbone and side bone and internal bones in a broth sort of korean food what's good about them is they take a long time to dismantle so you get it sort of on the bone at your table and then you sort of leaf through it as if it were like a an encyclopedia getting all bits of meat off it and then an hour later your dinner's finished yeah.
Adam:
[15:19] I must say actually you've just sort of touched on something i do think korean food's really fun to eat.
Alun:
[15:23] Totally yeah amazing which is good because i'm always at the restaurant on my own so um you've got to have something to do.
Adam:
[15:33] Yeah is there not like a way in which you can sort of meet people and try and just even if it's just joining another table that's already in the restaurant do you get looks or do you try and engage with the staff.
Alun:
[15:41] When the robot comes over to serve me I put a door stop behind its rear wheel so it can't reverse out.
Adam:
[15:50] Just having a malfunction.
Alun:
[15:52] Wheel spinning smoke going everywhere.
Adam:
[15:54] That's so funny well I'm sure I'm going to make you salivate with this one mate because me just doing some reading before the show and reliving what this experience was like was great, not to name drop another YouTuber, can we call ourselves youtubers probably not youtube.
Alun:
[16:08] Channel but i mean.
Adam:
[16:09] Yeah uh there's a guy called mark weans who's incredibly famous do you do you know the one he does like the sort of the really big animated eyes whenever he eats something delicious he's got 11 million subscribers on youtube i'm sure if you hear his name and you're into food you would have seen his videos but when i was in daegu now are you going to daegu or have you been through it i'm quite sure you haven't.
Alun:
[16:28] No i've not and i'm not going to go through it and my.
Adam:
[16:32] Time is.
Alun:
[16:32] I'm not going mate.
Adam:
[16:33] Mate it's a short bus ride away i.
Alun:
[16:36] Know but i'm running out of time adam i'm.
Adam:
[16:39] Wanted in japan okay fair enough but this happened to me in daegu we'll try and find you a restaurant that's similar this is very very famous and i was just going on this other youtuber's recommendation so basically the dish itself um is is sort of stewed spicy ribs you can order them extra hot you can even choose the beef mate you can even choose if you want american beef or korean beef uh they are slightly different prices actually from memory i think the korean beef might have been more expensive i.
Alun:
[17:08] Would say so than american beef of course it was more expensive.
Adam:
[17:11] Why would it why would it be more expensive what about the importation you.
Alun:
[17:15] Know well yeah it's a bit of a myth the whole importation thing because think about this it's cheaper to import water from fiji than it is to desalinate water just down the bottom of your garden so think about that and how much importation actually costs get that beef from america mate.
Adam:
[17:32] Okay fair enough well i had the local korean beef um and it sort of comes in a in a pot it's stewed it's bright red as is a lot of um korean food and then you've got a number of different banchan you know these side dishes as well they're sometimes served with like little fried fish that's super salty i don't know if it's like anchovies or whatever there's a couple of cabbagey things yeah is it bollock.
Alun:
[17:52] I think maybe yeah.
Adam:
[17:53] Uh and then there's some other sort of fermented pickley bits and kimchi and stuff there was like a seafood dish served with it as well and also seafood sorry seaweed and then you've got the whopping great green chilies and then the raw garlic have you been helping yourself to the raw garlic.
Alun:
[18:08] Mate, the only banshan available here in Busan is kimchi and that yellow radish.
Adam:
[18:15] Kimchi and the yellow radish? I don't know if I've had the yellow radish.
Alun:
[18:19] Mate, the yellow radish is a hallmark of the banshan community.
Adam:
[18:23] Okay, I need to get back over there. If I get to Japan, can you sort of smuggle some over on the boat?
Alun:
[18:28] Yeah, I've already started smuggling it for you.
Perilla Leaf Wraps
Adam:
[18:34] Um so if you are interested guys the dish itself is called sim galby and the restaurant that i went to courtesy of the recommendation because of mark weans is called nak young sim galby if you are in daigoo i'll put the link in the description all that sort of stuff but i just want to go through how you eat this thing so you've got all your side dishes and you basically build i'm sure we've
mentioned it on the show before but you basically build these little wraps these little fajitas, and they're served in a lettuce leaf or a perilla leaf. Have you been eating perilla leaves, Alun?
Alun:
[19:06] Oh, yeah. And lettuce.
Adam:
[19:11] Perilla leaves are one of my favourite things in the entire world and I can't believe they haven't made it into the West.
Alun:
[19:16] Go on, what do you like about them?
Adam:
[19:18] Well, the fact that I didn't know what they were and also I love the way that they're used. I love the fact that you just tuck a bit of beef with some raw garlic, some chilli, chuck a bit of kimchi in there as well if you want and you just make this lovely little perilla leaf wrap you sort of fold it over and then shove it all in i mean look i'm just i'm going off what mark weans did okay it was probably too big for one bite if.
Alun:
[19:39] I'm honest that is the way to do it that's uh but last time i was at a korean barbecue place uh in jeju there was perilla leaves there was lettuce leaves there was a woman barbecuing and she would like she would observe you put the leaf out and she would give you a little hint she'd be like okay put some of that in there put some of that in there she'd find you a bit of pork and do it i think just because she thought we were westerns who didn't know what we were doing so she would sort of like custom design you a little perilla leaf and then she's like when she was finished she'd be like, And then you'd fold it up, pop it in the mouth.
Adam:
[20:12] My God. I mean, they are a thing of beauty. If there's any way in which we can try to start our own export business and get them over into the West, that'd be great. But the flavor is quite particular, isn't it? I described it as being like a kind of a crossover between mint and basil, but a bit herbaceous, like a nettle. And I've just read on the internet that some people think it tastes like licorice or star anise as well.
Alun:
[20:35] Don't know if i got licorice myself but definitely less minty than mint but with a minty quality yeah yeah.
Adam:
[20:41] Yeah so have i have i done enough with that description to sort of get you over to daegu or at least get you out to another restaurant that's.
Alun:
[20:48] Different from.
Adam:
[20:48] The one you've been eating for the last.
Alun:
[20:49] Well no because i just think i've had it i've had a similar thing just somewhere else so but.
Adam:
[20:55] This is potentially the best one in korea which is why mark queens went there.
Alun:
[20:58] Okay well you know it is a short bus ride to daegu it's just i am running out of time that's the only problem here adam and also you've done that thing where i've been in korea for a nearly two months now and undeniably during that time i've been to more places and like done more in this country than than the vast majority of travelers and also you but you've done that annoying thing where where like you found the one place that you've been that i've not and gone oh but it's actually the best thing in the whole of korea happens to be in that one spot that you didn't go to that I did.
Adam:
[21:34] Well, not not to not to say something that you might say. But you've not been.
Alun:
[21:39] To Korea unless you.
Adam:
[21:40] Have been to take you haven't had this in Galbi. Is it a really weird building actually, but the staff are really nice. And I, I looked up the restaurant just to make sure it was the right one. And we do love reviews on this show. But the reviews are actually quite sheer. It's got 1,600 reviews on Google, only a 3.6 in stars. Maybe they're harsh critics, the Koreans perhaps. But one review that I was reading made me laugh so much. I'm just going to read it out now.
Alun:
[22:08] Are you on Google Review?
Adam:
[22:10] I am now.
Alun:
[22:11] They don't use Google Reviews, do they? They use Naver here in Korea.
Adam:
[22:15] Well, I mean, there are a lot of reviews. so maybe this is a tourist, but their name is in Korean and it's a very short review and it made me laugh so much it's a 5 star review just from a week ago and it says I took an elderly person there because I didn't have an appetite and it was good 5 stars, I do do that here there's even a photo of the elderly woman enjoying herself I'm not hungry.
Alun:
[22:40] Sometimes so I do just bring one of the elderly community.
Adam:
[22:44] Along for the ride nice one um but there you have it mate i mean we have been a bit uh lacking with the old korean food content but um i loved it it's one of my favorite cuisines i even went to a korean restaurant the other night i sent you a little picture didn't i a little photo late at night of me enjoying some soju yeah.
Alun:
[23:02] You sent me a picture of some alcohol yeah and it's made me not worried about you but it's always you know when a friend sends you just a picture when it's too late it should have been asleep and they send you a picture of just a bottle of alcohol and.
Adam:
[23:15] I was in.
Alun:
[23:17] Bed all tucked up and i just had to deal with that.
Adam:
[23:19] It was a plea for help yeah i thought it might have been what did you even do you even reply you just do the thumbs up or something and i.
Alun:
[23:27] Did a thumbs up yeah because i thought if he needs me he'll reach out.
Adam:
[23:31] Or, you know, maybe you're risking me just drinking more because you only sent me a thumbs up. But anyway, that's enough about what we're doing in our respective countries.
Tales of a Trip
Adam:
[23:40] I think it's about time we heard from one of our listeners. Why don't we, mate, reintroduce everyone's favorite travel item, this Tales of a Trip?
Alun:
[23:49] No way. Let's listen to one.
Tales of a Trip:
[23:52] Hi. Okay, I just listened to one of your guys' recent podcasts. Well, I actually just discovered your guys' podcasts, and I love it. and I've been traveling a lot this past year. I'm actually going to Nepal next month. So I've been listening to a lot of those. But your recent one, you mentioned hostile sex and that like ignited a memory from, so this fall I was traveling around Europe with some girlfriends for a few months, you know, post-college grad trip. And we arrived in Bratislava, Slovakia and it was just like super weird vibes off the bat. Like it just felt kind of dead. Like, I don't know. And so we get to this hostel. It's a Friday or Saturday night, so they're doing a bar crawl, but we don't want to go. We're like, let's just hang out and go to bed. And so also we're in like a 14-bedroom dorm, and it's mixed gender, so there's a lot of us in there. And it was full. Every single bed was full. We wake up at like 3 or 4 a.m., and we hear people having sex, and then we realize it's these... So they're bunk beds and there was one girl on the top, one girl on the bottom, and they each brought home a guy and they were so hammered, obviously.
Tales of a Trip:
[25:02] But that was going on for like probably 45 minutes and they were just like being absolute menaces. One of them got like locked out at one point and was like banging on the door. Oh my God. And so whatever, like we all just put your plugs in and went back to sleep, ignored them. And then it gets worse though. So cut to the morning, it's like probably 9 30 in the morning um and we're like getting ready to go and the all of them are still there so the four of them are like snuggling in their bunks like naked they just like have a sheet up to like their waist and one of them the guys even gives my friend like a like a good morning wave like a hey um and then this is a whole separate couple cut to the bunk bed next to them it's this couple that's like probably traveling together um and the girl climbs down of her top bunk to her boyfriend's. And the boyfriend just like pulls the blanket over them and they start having sex. And it is like fully, again, 9.30 in the morning, like lights are on, windows are open, it's bright out. And we're just like, what the hell is in the air in Slovakia? Because this is crazy. But we ended up loving the country. It is an absolutely like gorgeous country. Just really scary hustle experience. Yeah.
Alun:
[26:14] Rainer there with an amazing story influenced by our previous discussions around the concept of dormitory, hostile, sexual intercourse.
Adam:
[26:24] I mean, that's a couple of steps further than what you had to go through, isn't it, mate?
Alun:
[26:28] Yeah. And I mean, firstly, thanks for listening. Thanks for enjoying the show. Secondly, what springs to mind is really the biggest takeaway from that story. Isn't it amazing that the sex that they were having was so energetic? that it traversed such distances that one of them got locked out of the room.
Adam:
[26:49] Yeah, thanks very much for sending it in and we're really glad that you like the show. And kind of sorry you had to endure that. I actually think, Rainer, that I may have stayed in the same hostel when I was there. So I'm just going to take a punt. It might be called something like the pink elephant or the white elephant or something along those lines.
Alun:
[27:07] How can you possibly deduce that from the small amount of information that you've got?
Adam:
[27:12] Because when I was there, I'm pretty sure it was in Bratislava. When I joined the hostel, other people were telling me that it's renowned. It's like very famous for being or infamous for being an orgy hostel. So lots of young people go there to sort of get busy. And the staff that stay there have sex with each other and guests and all this sort of stuff. So I was told that on arrival. And I thought, bloody hell, I'm like 15 years older than most of the people here. But it seemed pretty tame when I was there until about 9pm when all the girls took their tops and bras off and started running around and everyone was drinking and that sort of stuff. So I thought I saw shades of it. I thought maybe this is the place.
Alun:
[27:55] Fifty shades of it. And you think that Raina got just unwittingly smuggled into that hostel. She just booked it not knowing and then thought, wow, something's going on that's crazy in Bratislava.
Adam:
[28:07] Well, maybe. The morning stuff's bold, isn't it? With the windows open and the curtains open and that sort of... There's absolutely no consideration for anyone in there. They just think it's fair game.
Alun:
[28:19] Climbing down to your girlfriend's bunk in the middle of the night or in the middle of the morning, as it were. Yeah, it's quite crazy. But you know what? It springs mostly to mind. I'm sorry Raina had the experience, but keen-eared listeners will remember that last time I spoke about the people having sex next to me in the hostel, I mentioned that I sent an email to a company because I thought perhaps if I was protected from them switching the light on, then I wouldn't have woken up. Then I wouldn't have heard the sex. Then I wouldn't have had a sleepless night. I reached out to a company called Manta to help me. And just today, what arrived was a Manta sleep mask. So I would like to endorse this product. I think it looks very beautiful and lovely and now from now on whenever i'm sleeping in hostile bunk beds i will be wearing this, beautiful set of eye masks um and i'm going to do the rest of the show just with these on a bit like that and um i think it's nice if anything it's completely black out i can't see a damn thing which is.
Adam:
[29:20] Useful in.
Alun:
[29:21] This context because my hotel um has very porous blinds.
Adam:
[29:26] Well you're very shrewd you're very proactive and they have actually sent us one each so i've got one here all the way in new zealand that's on camera there i'm not going to put it on so at least one of us can see what we're doing um but i look forward to trying it out and we'll sort of let you know in an episode or two's time whether our the quality of our sleep has improved did you know Alun uh i guess we'll do like a proper review review but did you know you can take those eye pouches off.
Alun:
[29:51] Yeah, I've been obsessively adjusting them until I've got the exact perfect fit. So when I first got this beautiful Manta mask, I spent about 45 minutes making it absolutely snug.
Adam:
[30:04] Even your voice and delivery has changed because you can't see. That's quite extraordinary. I think it's a great product that I look forward to testing out. And had Raina had one of those in this hostel that we think might be called something elephant, happened maybe she um wouldn't have seen so many eyesores that early in the morning it's.
Alun:
[30:22] Quite disconcerting to have this on because suddenly i'm very aware that i don't know where my mic is i mean really it's completely zero vision and but it's not touching my eyes at all because of those little eye cups now i don't like endorsing products and doing extended adverts on this show but this isn't an advert i just got this product and i actually think it's quite nice.
Adam:
[30:47] It is actually darker than closing your eyes which is really amazing i.
Alun:
[30:51] Can see my own thoughts.
Adam:
[30:54] You look really good mate and if you were worried uh about how close you are to your mic it's still exactly where you left it right in front of your lips i'm keeping very still um but anyway guys that's probably enough for one day thank you ever so much for listening hope you enjoyed the episode Alun after the show uh in the patreon section where we're going to go now the lost and found And there will, of course, be a link in the description. Alun might keep the mask on for that as well. So if you want to hear some more stories about what we're doing in our personal
Listener Stories and Reflections
Adam:
[31:20] lives and some more travel-related stuff, please do check that out. But otherwise, we look forward to seeing you next week. We will see you there.
Alun:
[31:26] Love you all. See you later. Goodbye.
