Climbing Japan's Highest Peak: Why Nobody Reaches the Top of Mount Fuji
Alun's returned after summiting Mount Fuji, Japan's highest peak. Upon reaching the top, he quickly realised he was the only person there! Tune in for travel tips on how to climb Mount Fuji, and find out why most people stop before reaching the top! Grab your warm things, your onigiri, and your ankle-high hiking boots... It's about to get sticky!
Support the show and access the Lost & Found section, as Adam recounts his plane journey from London to Delhi. Flying into India can be turbulent, but that was the least of his worries. Choose your neighbours wisely and get your paper bags ready!
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 – It's Adam's Birthday!
04:02 – Climbing Mount Fuji in Barefoot Shoes
08:02 – Sunrise vs Sunset: Which Is Better?
10:00 – Getting Past the Fuji Mountain Police
12:22 – Alun's 20-Year-Old Fleece
14:27 – The Mount Fuji Stick: Travel Souvenir or Scam?
18:42 – Why Almost Nobody Climbs to Fuji’s True Peak
20:33 – Reaching the Highest Point in Japan
21:37 – Alun's Potential Altitude Sickness
24:05 – Hiking Fuji Alone
26:09 – The Natural Enemy of Tripology: Boombox Hikers
27:05 – India, Personal Space & the Infamous Soup Finger
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Welcome to Tripology
Alun:
[0:01] Hello, and welcome to this episode of Tripology. It's the only travel show that's called Tripology. I'm Alan, and I'm here with the ever-ascending Adam.
Adam:
[0:14] My God, have we got a show for you today. Alan, you did tease on last week's episode, I believe, that we were going to talk about you ascending the one and only Mount Fuji, which is a recent expedition you went on. And then in the Patreon section, stay tuned for this one, I'm going to talk about my flight from london all the way to delhi where i sat next to one of the most unfortunate passengers i've ever had the pleasure of sitting next to god bless you if you're listening to this.
Alun:
[0:41] Wow what a show so grab yourself some no shio agi popacon larger size zoo.
Adam:
[0:49] Because it's gonna be a hell of a trip christ almighty it's good to see you mate it's good to be back i do just want to mention before you regret that we didn't mention it was my birthday last week.
Alun:
[1:04] And we talked about it at length in the patreon section but neglected to do so on the regular show adam it was your birthday, Patreon is you're basically paying money to the listen to the same thing twice because I'm going to say it again. Adam, happy birthday, mate. You're one of my favorite human beings that I've ever met and one of my favorite human beings that's currently in my life. And those two things combined mean I think you're a hell of a guy.
Adam:
[1:35] Oh, thank you so much. I do appreciate it. I am ascending in age as well. Of course, it was very apt adjective. 37, mate.
Alun:
[1:42] 37 feels good doesn't look it don't.
Adam:
[1:45] Well i've had a shave i've got curly hair i've donned a blue shirt um and i'm just trying to i guess i'm trying to look my age is that fair.
Alun:
[1:56] No i think you're failing at that i think you look like a younger man you act like a younger man you seem like a younger man and i mean that's positive some people say that men get more attractive as they get older other people say good to stay youthful forever so different thoughts about different things but we can all agree, that it would be nice if the tripological audience sent a little email, using the contact form at our website tripologypodcast.com and wished you the happiest of birthdays oh but what shall we get him a lot of people have been saying 37, it's a big year, and we want to get Adam something nice, might I suggest a subscription to our Patreon. For as little as $3, you can listen to the show after the show, where we tell all kinds of crazy stories. For example, the one you're about to tell on this week's episode. And I'm going to tell a story in next week's Patreon, if you don't mind me teasing it, about the time I was nearly really smuggled into, co-opted into what I'm now starting to believe, was a Japanese pornography ring. Those are the kind of stories we see over on the Patreon section, and it would be a great birthday for you if people went over to our Patreon link in the show notes and gave you a birthday gift.
Adam:
[3:20] Yeah, I totally agree. If you think that this podcast sort of demonstrates that we've got quite interesting lives, and we are in love with the lives we live. I mean, they are sort of by design, but we do enjoy living the lives that we sort of broadcast across the airwaves. If you check out the Patreon section, that's where you get the juicy goss so.
Alun:
[3:38] You get the behind the scenes sometimes in this life that i'm living and loving and doing i hike fuji and i think that's good for the content for the podcast and then simultaneously as i'm going about that life someone tries to involve me in a japanese pornography ring and i think, i can't really talk about that on the podcast,
Alun:
[3:58] so i think it's good to have a patreon for that sort of stuff in it.
Adam:
[4:02] That is worth putting behind a paywall um but something that isn't behind a paywall i believe unless you correct me is climbing mount fuji.
Alun:
[4:11] Yeah certainly is a paywall mate it costs 4 000 yen for a ticket.
Adam:
[4:16] And then you've got to climb it.
Alun:
[4:18] Yeah let me tell you about fuji mate because the japanese public refer to him as fuji san which is a term of respect because that volcano, it's home to the highest peak in all of Japan is ever such a high volcano ever such a prestigious hike and, for that reason they charge a ticket fee not only do they charge a ticket fee of 4000 yen where you have to buy it say I'm going to be there on this day non-refundable pay up, there's only a few months that you can hike it in the year season, okay ends starts in sort of June I think ends in around september, and what's more mate you have to have the right kit there's a list of kit what you have to have, and if you go on working holiday visa little page on facebook you'll see that people do get turned away if you go up there in sneakers and shorts they'll say where are your waterproof pants where's your waterproof coat you're going to get too cold on the mountain i'm afraid we can't let you hike we've had too many gaijin foreigners get up there and get into trouble and we're sick of it we as the japanese mountain community.
Adam:
[5:31] What about barefoot shoes like your.
Alun:
[5:34] Career illegal on fuji mate you need to be wearing hiking boots recommended to be at least ankle high recommended to have a rock plate in the shoe to defend against the volcanic rock that you'll be walking up recommended to be wearing gaiters to prevent the volcanic ash and so and all that sort of rocky rubble from getting into your shoes.
Adam:
[5:56] Oh my goodness were you investing in some stuff or is there like a business thing going on at the base of the mountain where you can hire some bits.
Alun:
[6:03] There is but i read that someone went there and this person posted on facebook saying that they've got a guinness world record in mountaineering, and they went in just regular old shoes and shorts and they wanted to blitz that mountain in one day and they were turned back by the authorities they said I showed him my Guinness World Record and it just seemed to make him angry. So he sent me all the way back down the mountain. So with that in mind, I thought... I want to do it in my barefoot shoes.
Adam:
[6:35] Yeah.
Alun:
[6:35] Listeners to the show will remember that I hiked all the way up Hallisand in barefoot shoes. And for me, the day that I put cushions on my feet again and surrender to the big evil corporations like Nike, Adidas, Puma, Deodora, Donne, Clarks.
Adam:
[6:52] Hoka?
Alun:
[6:52] Is it pronounced Hoka? Yeah.
Adam:
[6:56] The cushiest of the cushy shoes.
Alun:
[6:58] I've seen those Hoka shoes. They make you six inches taller, don't they?
Adam:
[7:02] Mm-hmm.
Alun:
[7:03] Not for me mate i'm proud to be 5'9 and i'll wear barefoot shoes proudly till the day i die because i think that shoes, raising up the cushion like that meaning that you're on your tiptoes sticking your ass out bad posture it's going to cause horrible spinal issues in later life and i highly recommend do some research about barefoot shoes all right because i really think they're the way forward, i was committed to hiking the mountain in barefoot shoes and i thought the best way to disguise it get in is to just get my waterproof pants i thought if i'm wearing waterproof pants that will be a signal a little sign to the fuji authorities this guy's taking this pretty, seriously okay uh, so on amazon and bought some waterproof pants for five dollars.
Adam:
[7:50] Five big bucks five dollars and you thought that would be the kind of uh what's it called not a not a red herring but it would uh throw them off the scent of your barefoot shoes.
Alun:
[8:02] Yeah that was the brand of the waterproof pants i got red herring they were good i got them put them on and mate it worked ever so well because i wanted to just do it in one day right a lot of people go up the mountain get a little mountain cabin stay overnight and then try and get to the summit for sunrise oh yeah, But I think, do you know what? I actually just don't care about sunrises. What's your opinion on sunrises? I think sunrises are almost always overrated. I much prefer sunsets. I think if you want to see orange sky, night time's a great time to do it. And I would rather see the mountain as I was walking up as opposed to doing that at night and then kipping altitudinously.
Adam:
[8:46] Maybe you're asking the wrong guy because I love sunrises and sunsets. Am I going to say an equal measure? The thing I love about a sunrise is that it happens at the beginning of the day. So if you see a sunrise, it means you're up early enough to then take on the day and achieve so many things even before lunchtime. And I know I've got a bit of a reputation for being a party boy, a night owl, all this sort of stuff. Anyone who knows me from my time in India will attest to that, certainly on this trip. But sunrise, I think I'm an early bird. I think I'm an early riser. I like being up in the morning. and also seeing a sunrise is less common than seeing a sunset. My mum, who doesn't listen to the show, but obviously I love dearly, and had the pleasure of staying with her for a couple of weeks recently, I'm not sure she's ever seen a sunrise in her life, if I'm honest. And that's nothing against her, but I just don't think, you know, when you've got people living in cities who live a certain way, uh i'm you know surrounded by urban sprawling urban areas and big buildings and what have you if they don't prioritize or place importance on the sunrise they might go decades without ever seeing one so.
Alun:
[9:55] Well that's interesting mate because i i think that sunrises have a reputation as being like yeah i'm so healthy i'm seeing the sunrise i'm a yoga riser i'm doing sun salutations in the morning on a beach but i actually think i reckon most of us have seen more sunrises from staying up late than we have from getting up early and that's why i associate sunrises with cigarettes drug addiction and alcohol so i didn't want to have anything to do with that sunrise on fuji mate i didn't want anything to do with it, so i got up early in the morning like 5 30 headed to the bus station in a town called Lake Kawagachiko. Got the bus. I was there at Fuji by 7.30, ready to hike by 7.40. I go up to the guy. He says, he's got a checklist. He comes out and says, show me a QR code. Have you got a ticket? I said, yep, here it is. He said, Let me check out your kit, mate. And I said, check out my kit. Look at my waterproof pants. He said, have you got warm things in your bag? I went, yeah. Do you want to see them? He went, no. From the looks of you, I trust you.
Adam:
[11:11] Warm things?
Alun:
[11:12] Yeah. He said, have you got warm things? I said, you don't know the half of it, mate. I've got onigiri coming out of the wazoo. i've got energy gels and i've got a fleece that was hear this a fleece that was a birthday present for my older brother's 16th birthday.
Adam:
[11:34] You've still got.
Alun:
[11:36] I know the exact one do you know it then yeah and it's been with me around the world.
Adam:
[11:41] That is so amazing i.
Alun:
[11:43] Love fleece has been going for i mean two decades.
Adam:
[11:47] You got your money's worth.
Alun:
[11:48] Out of.
Adam:
[11:48] That it's a hand me.
Alun:
[11:49] Down i mean.
Adam;
[11:50] You've got much more use out of it than he has i'm sure.
Alun:
[11:54] Yeah but i think the reason it's lasted so long is because i've traveled with the fleece my whole travel career but almost always to hot places i think i've probably worn it five times but it's always good to have and indeed i took it to fuji and didn't use it oh really, it's been everywhere that honestly that fleece has been up so many mountains it's been it's been all over always inside a bag.
Adam:
[12:19] That's so funny just keeping your onigiri one.
Alun:
[12:22] Yeah, man. But I was really happy. He let me straight in. He didn't hesitate. It was a beautiful thing between me and him. He just trusted me. So I just started beelining for the top of Fujisan.
Adam:
[12:35] Very cool. You didn't give him a quick flick of the old barefoot heels as you were going past just to see if he'd, uh, once you're in, you're in.
Alun:
[12:43] I like to think that once he let me through, he turned round and saw my feet flush against the floor and felt a pang of regret. Like I really let that one slip through my fingers.
Adam:
[12:59] Yeah, yeah. I'm glad you got in though, mate, because, you know, sticking to what you know and what you believe in, even up Fujisan, it's important. It makes the climb all the sweeter, I'm sure.
Alun:
[13:11] Yeah i wonder i messaged someone someone who i like very much said i think it's, uh an effing disgrace that you're trying to subvert the mountain safety rules by going in barefoot shoes and i would like to take this time to say, i you know while i do believe in mountain safety i also believe in personal accountability if you ignore the mountain safety rules and you go up there and you become unstuck because your feet hurt and you have to go mountain rescue then you're a prick yeah yeah, but in in my case i just knew like whatever happens i'll be fine i've been i'm well adjusted to the barefoot shoes so, mate it takes between according to google five to seven hours to get to the top of fuji oh wow, i would say the walk itself up the mountain, It's a little strenuous, and it's a big gain in altitude, but it's not particularly picturesque because you're just looking forward at the mountain, right? It's a lot of switchbacks. So I just did it as fast as I could without stopping. I went no brakes, just from the bottom to the top. Took me about three and a half hours.
Adam:
[14:22] Brilliant stuff. We love to hear it just with your water and your energy gels.
Alun:
[14:27] Yeah. Now, there's a thing that a lot of you will be aware of, the Mount Fuji stick. have you heard about it adam the chopstick it's just a regular stick it's a long stick that you buy yeah and when i say you i mean everyone else on fuji apart from me, you buy this stick right and then at every station up the mountain you get it branded with a different stamp.
Adam:
[14:56] Oh yeah they love a stamp the japanese.
Alun:
[14:59] Yeah you can get a long one or a short one and And I'm, I was critical of the stick, Adam. I thought it's just a money-making scam, that stick. And I don't think, you know, I don't have room for it in my bag and I just, I don't have time for it. Indeed, my... Prejudice against the stick was galvanized because people had to fucking queue at every station to get their sticks stamped, allowing me to blitz forward and advance past the crowds. Caveat, everyone who I've spoken to who's hiked Fuji in a sample size of about five of my friends all said that the stick is one of their favorite travel souvenirs ever.
Adam:
[15:41] But hang on, I've assumed it's a walking stick that gets stamped.
Alun:
[15:45] You'd be right.
Adam:
[15:46] Oh it was because you said that you haven't got room for the stick in your bag so i thought yeah why would you put the stick in your bag if it's a walking stick you could use it as a because you know hiking poles they are of use i used them a lot when i was in new zealand didn't need them but they do a hiking.
Alun:
[16:00] Poles are collapsible a big effing stick isn't.
Adam:
[16:05] No that is true what i'm imagining is something akin to gandalf's sort of wizard stick was it is it just a plain crystal but with stamp, but where are you stamping where's the surface area.
Alun:
[16:21] Well, the circumference of the stick, Adam, all in one line, burned into it, branded.
Adam:
[16:27] Oh, right. Okay. Are the people who deem this travel souvenir so, well, kind of important or sort of associated with great memories, are they the same sorts of people as you?
Alun:
[16:41] Yeah yes they are some of them and i think that, what the result of having it stamped all the way up fuji is that you have a very aesthetic piece of memorabilia stamps all the way up it and it's also tied to an achievement hiking fuji so i can understand that but like shipping it home and all that stuff that these people do, and also the waiting it's like 300 yen at every station to get them to stamp it you have to pay to.
Adam:
[17:07] Get them to stamp it.
Alun:
[17:08] Oh why yeah.
Adam:
[17:09] And pay for the stick.
Alun:
[17:11] The stick's not free adam, okay so how is it a capitalist exercise yeah yeah it's a capitalist sick based exercise which results in me overtaking everyone on the mountain right, as i say the hike up not so picturesque right when you get to the top you're treated to a lovely view right looking back the way you came, I'm tired at this point Yeah It's been a strenuous walk uphill It's like very... You know what volcanic rock, you've hiked that one in Lombok, haven't you? What's it called? Rangutan?
Adam:
[17:54] Close to that. Yeah, Rinjani. Rinjani, right.
Alun:
[17:56] I've hiked a couple of volcanoes.
Adam:
[17:57] I know what volcanics are.
Alun:
[17:58] Rinjani's hard. Atakanango, we talk about in Guatemala. It was similar to that, but not as hard as either. Definitely not as hard as Atakanango.
Alun:
[18:05] Definitely not as hard as Rinjani. But strenuous all the same. You get to the top, and the top, there's like a little ramen shop kind of thing. there's a shrine where you get your final stick stamped and everyone sits and eats there on a geary okay i'd not braked on the way so i was like oh finally right okay then i saw a sign saying, peak fuji peak that way time about 30 minutes okay you've got to go for it haven't you are.
Adam:
[18:40] People not going for it.
Alun:
[18:42] Almost nobody is going for it.
Adam:
and then stopping.
[18:47] So they're they're climbing all the way up to what is essentially a final station before the summit
Alun:
[18:53] No no the summit refers to the place where everyone's hiking to, it's the top of the crater the big circle okay i mean technically that isn't summit it is the summit but you can then circumnavigate the crater right, and on the other side of the crater there's a little peak like a hill that goes up like another 50 meters to like a weather station at the very very top so it's all the summit because it's the crater you know fuji goes down into the crater it's an active volcano so you reach that crater which is technically is the summit okay but on the other side of that crater there's a little peak, gotcha okay and um apparently less than half of the people significantly less than half go to that peak and i did the yoshida trail which is the most popular trail, and everyone just goes up to the summit on that trail and then, back down but my favorite part of the hike by far and i don't say this to sound i know it sounds like, i did it the proper way i don't mean for it to sound like that your favorite part of the hike was not having a stick.
Alun:
[20:05] Yeah yeah exactly so alternative but i have spoke i have spoken to some people though who have done fuji and i said oh did you hike to the peak and they've been a little bit upset because it's you know, they haven't yeah but once you're there going round there's this automatic weather station and then you get to circumnavigate the whole crisis you get to see around the other side and it's this empty.
Alun:
[20:33] Because there's just no one else on that trail. There's maybe 10 other people spread out. That's where I really got the sense of, wow, this is cool. This is beautiful. This is the highest point in the whole of Japan. I feel so happy. I feel so elated to be here. And that was when I realized that I was likely suffering from some form of altitude sickness.
Adam:
[21:04] I was going to ask you, actually, because you didn't suffer when we were in Pakistan. We ascended, I think it was about 2,000, 2,400 meters in one day. And let me tell you, I woke up with what felt like the biggest hangover, and that is saying something for me. But I wondered whether you ascended as high in the same amount of time, and therefore maybe suffered from a bit of the old
Alun:
[21:26] A higher peak, it caps out at like 2,770 meters, but less elevation in one single day.
Adam:
[21:36] Okay.
Alun:
[21:37] I didn't get a headache or anything like that, but I felt more joyful at the peak than I've ever felt in my life. And I think that was suggestive that the air was pretty thin.
Adam:
[21:47] Yeah. That's amazing. As you think, it must have been a mix of emotions because you were doing something that people seemed like they weren't doing. You were going to the technically the highest point on the mountain and there were less people there, which, as we know, being, you know, this whole traveler versus tourist debate, more and more people, more and more tourists can sometimes detract from the experience.
Alun:
[22:09] That would be my big piece of advice to anyone doing fuji is make sure you have decent equipment because you know you have to to get past the guards and then number two is absolutely circumnavigate the crater it honestly is worth it it's just an extra hour right half an hour to the peak half an hour back to the summit where you entered, it's just worth putting that extra hour in, and and then feeling like you've had that holistic experience up at the top the hike back down, i found much harder than the way up.
Adam:
going too fast.
[22:44] Yeah yeah it's usually the way isn't it on the old knees were you trying to stop yourself from going too fast?
Alun:
[22:50] Yes. And normally I don't have the knee problem. Normally I just sort of zoom down the downhill, but on Fuge, I think the barefoot shoes are more effective going uphill. On going uphill, I think the barefoot shoes allow me to grip better. On the way downhill though, they don't feel great. and um it's hot as well now it's you know we're coming to the midday sun now and i was sort of getting sunburned having to reapply the sunscreen so it was it was a bit of a slog going down, and then even more of a slog like you you finally get down there and then you're drenched in sweat and you're down at the bottom and you've had this amazing experience and then you have to like wait for a bus to take me back to lake kawaguchiko then i have to wait for a bus at lake kawaguchiko to get me back to Tokyo, i finished the hike so i started the i woke up at 5 30 a.m did the hike got back down by, i think after chilling for a while and having lunch and going around the circumference and all that i probably got down by about 4 p.m.
Adam:
[23:53] Wow that's good going.
Alun:
[23:55] And i think i was in tokyo by 9 30 p.m.
Adam:
[23:59] Yeah right yeah because.
Alun:
[24:00] Just because of having to wait for various buses and things and delays and all that sort of stuff.
Adam:
[24:05] I'm sure you would have mentioned it but did you do it with anyone or did you do it alone.
Alun:
[24:09] No i did it alone and it was such a contrast because i made so many good friends in Hiroshima yeah that this week in tokyo has been filled with hanging out with with friends and doing some really cool things, um i actually finished work on thursday went straight to like kawagachiko to spend the Thursday night overnight to then at High Con Friday, did it entirely on my own. And it was just a different change of pace. My life's been increasingly social recently. So it was like a very much, there was a stillness to it, which I, in hindsight, needed. I needed that just time to, you know, no music, no chatter, no talk, no headphones, no anything, just like, but doing something physically demanding enough so that my thoughts aren't racing either. I was just hiking.
Adam:
[24:58] Yeah. Yeah. So was it meditative in a way? Because I, I was going to ask you actually, whether you're someone who hikes with headphones. I mean, when we've been hiking together, which has been on quite a few occasions, to be fair. Yeah. So therefore no music. It's always made me question, why i mean i suppose i could see why someone would hike, with music but part of hiking for me is being out in nature and kind of feeling at one with your surroundings and in touch with the environment and peace and peacefulness and stillness and everything that you've just described which allows some sort of clarity or focus of mind, i also don't listen to music when i'm in a gym for example and that's actually somewhere where more often than not people will have headphones so i.
[25:44] Can understand listening to music on a walk like.
Adam:
[25:47] Your commute.
Alun:
[25:47] To work i.
Adam:
[25:48] Can't really understand listening.
Alun:
[25:49] To music on something like that because for me the whole point is that you're present and you're in this beautiful place and you've got amazing lakes and nature around you and you're sort of being present with that, i think the music would pull you away from that somewhat.
Adam:
[26:06] I think yeah yeah also but you.
Alun:
[26:09] Know what i really don't understand is those people that hike with speakers on their backpacks.
Adam:
[26:13] Oh that's exactly what i was just gonna say is like we're obviously talking about people that are hiking listening to music with headphones but there is also a separate group of people that i think are even less like those two categories, who actually hike through nature with loud music playing out into the the nature is just such a strange people.
Alun:
[26:31] Suck though because they're the same people that watch youtube without headphones on the train and stuff like that is just insane although there are no people who listen to youtube on the train without headphones in japan but there are still those music hikers.
Adam:
[26:45] Oh really oh really i wonder if that's an east asian thing because there are a lot of people in hong kong that would hike like that as well.
Alun:
[26:52] I think they're the natural enemy of tropology. I think if we were to have like an arch villain, a nemesis to this podcast, it would be boombox hikers, wouldn't it?
Adam:
[27:05] Yeah, people who hike whilst listening to music out loud. I mean, I'm in India, which is famously, I mean, do you remember what a good friend of the show said when we first arrived in Bombay about what India's like? Things just have a volume. And I think he's got a point. I mean, I was sitting on a train next to a guy two days ago and he was just watching the doom scrolling on Instagram or whichever app he was looking at. And the volume of his phone, whilst he was surrounded by, you know, 10, 12, 15 people right next to him, who weren't doing the same, but I wouldn't put it past them. I mean, culturally, it's just so, so different. Because I'm here thinking, you know, coming from the UK, thinking, how can he think? Because as well, Alan, you know, anyone who's been to India will know this. personal space in india is so much smaller than almost any other country you're likely to go.
Alun:
[28:01] To no and sometimes your own personal space gets receded to with inside your own body, sometimes people have claimed their space as literally inside my mouth on public transport, these are some a list of times where traveling around south asia my personal space was violated to the extreme, on a bus in india when a guy put his finger in my mouth while i was sleeping and then in a restaurant in pakistan where a man put his finger inside my food.
Adam:
[28:37] That's one of my favorite travel moments of all time how.
Alun:
[28:40] Nonchalant and you know let's describe that again for people who either weren't listening then or i can't remember how much we talked about on the podcast but we were in a restaurant in can you remember where in pakistan Yeah.
Adam:
[28:51] It was in Chitrel. And we had one of my favorite, favorite foods. We had a chapli kebab, which is like a heavily spiced, very flavorful, deep fried meat patty that you just eat with like a roti. And the place where we were eating, mate, was so stripped back.
Alun:
[29:06] And it came with some soup, didn't it? That chapli kebab.
Adam:
[29:08] Yeah.
Alun:
[29:09] And there was a sort of bearded, aged Pakistani uncle who also was served some soup and decided that his soup wasn't the proper temperature. Now, He deduced that maybe this isn't an isolated incident. Perhaps other people's soups in the restaurant also aren't the right temperature. And he took it upon himself to check if that was the case.
Adam:
[29:34] Yeah.
Alun:
[29:35] So he dove his middle finger and pointer finger into my soup and splashed around a little bit and deduced that my soup was hotter than his and that his should be replaced.
Adam:
[29:46] Yeah, therefore sent it back. Like, I mean, the way that he did it so kind of blasé and normalised made me question whether I thought that it was okay or not.
Alun:
[29:58] From memory, both of us looked at each other and then sort of resigned ourselves to the fact that that was just the way things were. I still ate the soup.
Adam:
[30:09] I mean, in his defence, if I wanted to know how hot something was, I would stick my finger in it. So maybe from that angle, he had every right.
Alun:
[30:16] But you know what it is? It's just like... I think maybe we would all have that thought of like, oh, I wonder whether everyone else's soup is the right temperature, we might think. But then we would immediately go, oh, but there's simply no way for me to know that other than by maybe asking them. But he thought that and immediately got himself the reading direct from the source. And I think there's something to be admired in that approach. Perhaps if we all approach life that way, we'd certainly be living in a different world.
Adam:
[30:50] Uh yeah and maybe South Asia is that world um i mean i'm living that firsthand right now and there's so many stories that I could tell you about awkward moments
Alun:
[30:58] You’re in South Asia right now in india that was my hiking fuji tale, i think it's probably time we hear a little bit more from you mate on your on this your second birthday episode in a row let's go to the patreon section and we'll hear some stories from you i can't stress this enough if you listen to this show you've made it this far you've thought these guys are okay, go over to our patreon the links in the show notes, just a dollar a couple of dollars ping them over it's probably the best podcast subscription you can get because we go off in that patreon section like a couple of, crazy little travelers and we'd like to have you along it's also like a cool community over there people can message us if you subscribe to the patreon you send everyone an email don't you adam and then we talk about things if you maybe go oh i want to, is it okay for me to travel i'm 162 that kind of question we get all the time and we answer and talk and have a dialogue so it's beautiful over there go and subscribe, but let's go there now we'll see you there everyone everyone who's listening to this we'll meet you over there around the back see you over in patreon.
Adam:
[32:08] Cheers guys have a good one we'll see you there bye.
