Where is Everyone? The Unexpected Realities of Travelling South Korea
Is South Korea the most impersonal country to travel in? Alun's trip in South Korea has been defined by a lack of interactions with both South Koreans and fellow travellers. Why is everyone being replaced by screens and robots? We discuss his findings, as well as the impact technology has had on South Korean society.
Alun also recounts his DMZ tour, which was more organised and more funny than he would have liked. Let's just say the jokes are... borderline. Support the show and access the Lost & Found section. In this saucy edition, Adam's been bathing with a very 'impressive', very professional, rugby player.
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
02:51 - Is South Korea the most impersonal country to travel in?
07:10 - Booking systems in South Korea
15:21 - Visiting the DMZ: What's so funny?
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TRANSCRIPT:
Alun:
[0:02] Hello and welcome to this episode of Tripology, the only backpacking show where two best friends call each other up from locations around the world. I'm Alun and I'm here with one of the greatest backpackers on planet Earth. It's the ever impersonal, Adam.
Adam:
[0:18] Thank you everyone so much for joining us for yet another week of Tripology podcast. If you're new to the show, essentially it's about two best mates chasing each other all over the planet trying to make each other laugh.
Alun:
[0:29] Yeah i'm gonna make you laugh ever so much this week adam because i of course am continuing my journey around south, Korea.
Adam:
[0:39] I'm looking forward to it, mate. We've been texting back and forth, but as people know that listen to the show, we don't like to talk that much off air because we've just got so many stories we want to share with the listening
Korean Saunas and Culture
Adam:
[0:48] audience in real time. So I'm chomping at the bit to know what you've been getting up to, mate.
Alun:
[0:54] Well, speaking about chomping at the bit, I've been hanging out in some Korean saunas. I've been going all over the place. Last time I spoke to you about my time in Korea I was very very jet lagged I was very very tired but I have had time now to settle into the country explore properly make some observations about Korean culture and I'm interested in comparing notes with you because you of course have been to Korea so it's one of the first times in tripology history where we've both been to a country at separate times and have made sort of different analyses and observations about it yeah.
Adam:
[1:35] Yeah gonna be really interesting i'm gonna have to sort of compartmentalize my time in japan as well because you haven't been to japan and it's quite normal for people that have been to both to compare both and i don't think that's completely fair i don't think the south koreans would like that either um but i am interested in hearing what your experience is like i've given you a lot of tips mostly restaurants let's be honest um you're looking the same size so i imagine you're not eating as much as i had hoped you you would um but what have been some of the observations mate what's going on in south korea.
Alun:
[2:06] I like south korea i'll start off by saying that i am having a good time and i am enjoying it so i want to put that out there it's definitely a place that i recommend visiting the food that you've recommended the coffee culture has been excellent and you know I'm having a great time but I'm here in the cold season it's winter so I'm very very cold very very often and being winter is also the off season which, And I'm feeling a little bit lonely some of the time. It's been quite hard to meet people. And that is exacerbated by the fact that I really do believe this to be true.
Impersonal Travel Experiences
Alun:
[2:53] I think South Korea might be one of the most impersonal countries to travel in that I've ever experienced.
Adam:
[3:02] Yeah, it's quite a negative thing to say, especially coming from you, considering you've been to 70-odd countries or whatever it is at this stage. And I do think that when you walk around You've got your eyes wide open And it's natural that we would compare Places that we've been I do certainly agree in some respects, The most impersonal is not a nice award to give a country, but what sort of things are you talking about specifically? Because I've got a couple of examples and I imagine they're quite similar to yours.
Alun:
[3:38] Well, I hesitate to say it because I think that it feels like I'm tarring Korea with a brush for a problem that's obviously exacerbated. It might seem like the fact that I don't speak Korean. So, you know, is it really impersonal? Is it just the fact that I can't speak to anyone because I don't speak the language?
Adam:
[3:55] The cheek of it. He's put himself up in an Airbnb and he's complaining that he's not meeting anyone. He's taking absolutely no effort to speak Korean.
Alun:
[4:03] I know. Listen, I understand it if you're listening to the show and that's what you're thinking. But let me dissuade you from thinking that way. And let me tell you why I actually feel like it is impersonal. Because I'm going to focus on the things that happen that are a universal Korean experience that Korean people themselves must go through and deal with whilst they're in Korea. The first is that in coffee shops and restaurants and places where you might go in to get food or drinks. It's very, very common practice to have a great big interactive touch screen where you just pick what you want. And then the barista or the waitress behind the counter just gets pinged with your order and proceeds to make it. That's very convenient for me as a non-Korean speaker, but it is very, very impersonal. I've witnessed and have myself gone into many establishments and had zero interaction with anyone working there because I've just gone like beep, bloop, beep, and then had something brought to me.
Adam:
[5:11] You said you couldn't speak Korean.
Alun:
[5:13] Often often it's brought to me by a robot.
Adam:
[5:16] Oh really yeah okay that's interesting i do have a robot waitress uh story that i'm not going to tell on the show right now because it only happened the other day and i'm i wasn't planning on on it so uh yeah that's um that's funny but that is, It's certainly not an experience that I look for. You know me as someone who likes interacting. I will actually take myself out just so that I can interact with people. I'm not even sure that I'm hungry or that I want anything to eat or that I need to buy anything from the supermarket. I just like going out and having an interaction and talking to people. So when that is removed from the situation, it becomes pretty hollow and a bit rigid.
Alun:
[6:00] Yeah, don't get me wrong. It is cool. It is cool to go up, go into a restaurant, touch on a touchscreen what I want, get a robot to bring it over. And when I'm done, just like leave.
Adam:
[6:11] Are you trying to interact with the robot? Is there some sort of conversation you can have there?
Alun:
[6:15] I'm married to one of those robots now. They're my only company. but because often when you do the touch screen thing you also pay with your credit card so it's all just taken care of and handled that's actually objectively very convenient for for someone who can't speak korean but it is it does leave you feeling a bit hollow especially in the winter season where there's so few
The Hostel Dilemma
Alun:
[6:35] travelers or people to communicate with anyway yeah.
Adam:
[6:38] Have you noticed that there's a very specific type of traveler in in these hostels that you've been in because it's not the most popular time to go to a country the winter. I would encourage people to go on holiday or backpacking to places where it is the off-season because you get a completely different experience, usually a much more local one where things are slightly easier in terms of booking and getting into restaurants and whatever. It's nowhere near as busy. However, you do meet far less backpackers.
Alun:
[7:06] Well yeah let me get on to the people in the hostels mate because that's my is korea an impersonal country paragraph two is that many of the hostels hotels anywhere that you want to stay operate an entirely self-contained self-check-in system so i would say probably 80 of the places that i've stayed you basically book on hostel world or booking.com and you get a little pin code and then when you go to the door you just type that pin code in and there's uh in some of them there's been a sheet of paper that says my name and what bed i should take in others they've sent that information via an email i've stayed in places where i've not had to interact or talk with anyone at all and because it's the off season it's happened on several occasions where the dorm room is empty i've been in a 10 bed dorm for two nights where it was just me.
Adam:
[7:58] Oh my goodness.
Alun:
[7:59] And my waitress robot wife.
Technology vs. Human Interaction
Adam:
[8:04] Um yeah i'm gonna come out and say i think that is shit i think that is technology and efficiency becoming so advanced in the wrong direction i don't think that hostels and hostile culture um was sort of founded on efficiency really i don't think that's the you know its strongest card is is them being efficient i think it's more about a feel between like-minded people community and this sort of stuff and um certainly on on the topic of hostels i might have mentioned on an episode when i was in korea so this is now the back end of 24 2024 it was in uh i'm going to get this wrong but myong dong in in seoul you got it right very big commercial sort of businessy business district it was a capsule hotel kind of hostel so already you know you're sort of self-contained in your bed and it was exactly as you've described you get a little code you put it in lets you through the door then you you know get some card or something no one's at reception the the problem is that i noticed i observed when i was even having breakfast the next day even though there are other backpackers there because the the checking in and entering the hostel is so impersonal and there are these sort of metaphorical barriers it actually stops people from talking to one another, it then it like bleeds into the culture yeah.
Alun:
[9:24] I do think there's there's something that opens you up about interacting with the receptionist and her showing you around or him or him showing you around.
Adam:
[9:31] Or a robot or.
Alun:
[9:33] A robot showing if anyone shows you around it opens you up i think.
Adam:
[9:36] Yeah because you walk into a kitchen where there's already someone cooking and you do the little nod like you've got your backpack on still and it's like you're right yeah right and then that's someone you end up talking to later and that's how that's how hostels work i.
Alun:
[9:48] Saw you do you.
Adam:
[9:49] Remember me.
Alun:
[9:50] You saw me doing the check-in process and i you were you were cooking and i.
Adam:
[9:54] Had a backpack.
Alun:
[9:55] On so we're friends now.
Adam:
[9:57] Um you are totally right mate and anyone that's been to south korea if you're listening to this now and you feel any way about what we're talking about then do let us know if you agree or disagree because it is interesting um and and yeah i concur mate i do i do agree it's i think if there are people in charge in south korea who look after hostels if there's some sort of governing body or committee then please can you can you stop it because we'd prefer to chat to some people.
Alun:
[10:24] Well i don't know that technological advancement extends even to all the municipal systems like in on the public transport, Even on the buses, it's so unusual to me. You go, you tap on, and no one says, like, to the driver or they tap the card. And the card machine says, and the driver just looks straight forward.
Adam:
[10:44] Oh, wow.
Alun:
[10:45] So it's like a very, yeah, I mean, I struggle to use any word other than impersonal. It's just like the whole system runs so technologically efficiently that it has removed the need for that human interaction. and therefore feels a little bit different. That's the last negative thing I'm going to say about it though because I have actually genuinely loved my time here.
Adam:
[11:09] But do you think that's a known consequence? Do you think that when local councils or businesses are bringing in these types of technologies, they're fully aware of the impact? And I mean, at the end of the day, it just has to be cost-cutting, doesn't it? You don't have to pay a human to do the job.
Alun:
[11:24] I think that it's a self-fulfilling cycle really because now i've got so used to it the convenience of it last night i was uh feeling tired i'd been traveling all day and i got i was walking down the street looking for some food and i was peering through the windows looking for a touch screen to make sure i didn't have to interact with anyone so i've got just addicted and then today i like checked into this lovely hotel to record topology and it wasn't self-checking there was a guy at the counter and as soon as i saw him i started like panicking like oh my god what do i do in a social interaction have you got a robot i just need a robot to check in please to.
Adam:
[12:06] Talk to instead um well you'll know and probably anyone listening to this maybe even anyone who's met me but certainly you will know that um it's it's a part of travel that i like the most is these interactions and i feel like it's also my strongest card it's what it's what I sort of am best at so I, I think I'm biased in saying that this is a negative for our experience of travel because it just makes my life so much more difficult. I feel like there are more obstacles in the way because I'm not technologically savvy. And as soon as I get sent in a pin and, you know, I know I have to figure out some piece of software, I start panicking in squeaky bum time. I think, oh, God, this is normally the sort of question I just turn to a receptionist and say, can you do it for me instead?
Alun:
[12:49] Yeah, I think it's an interesting debate maybe because I said career is quite impersonal and you immediately were like, oh, that's a negative thing to say. But there are certain things that you don't want to be personal. If your ATM is personal, you're like, fuck off and let me get my money. You don't want to be like, hi, I'll get to your money in a second. But first, tell me how your day was. There are certain things which are like efficiently run impersonally.
Adam:
[13:17] What about the bagel? The London Bagel Museum? That is the most impersonal shopping experience I've had to date. I hated it. I hated everything about it. You turn up, there's someone there to greet you with an iPad, but that's just so that they can put your email address in, collect some data. You even have to enter which country you're from. why the fuck do they need to know that i'm here for a bagel and then you get added to a you get added to a list uh and then you know it's an hour and 15 minute wait or whatever i had to had to do it just it's changed the experience of just going into a bakery and buying a bagel to something that is completely unrecognizable and um and maybe korea is the only country in which that could have happened i don't know maybe.
Alun:
[13:59] Mate but it has really got under my skin and in the sense that it's sort of in my DNA now because I find myself after just 15 minutes being quite uncomfortable with the level of interaction I'm having with you so I'm gonna go off and like calm myself down with a conversation with a robot and we'll be right back after this, If you're enjoying this chat, why not consider signing up to our Patreon, where there's bonus content at the end of every single Tropology episode.
Adam:
[14:31] You gain access to the Lost and Found section, where we continue chatting about all things travel, and a host of other shows every single month.
Alun:
[14:37] So go on, sign up, click it, there's a link in the description. We'll see you there.
Adventures in Seoul
Alun:
[14:42] So, about maybe it seems like a bit of a negative start, but trust me, it's just an observation, Adam. We're allowed to have observations, and I've had a really, really good time. Let me tell you about a couple of the things that I've done. while I've been in Seoul, starting my journey in Korea. I've done a little hike up to Seoul Tower. That was nice.
Adam:
[15:01] Was it impersonal?
Alun:
[15:02] Well, I spoke to a friend on the phone, actually, whilst I was hiking that tower. So it was very personal in that way. But one experience I had, which I found a lot too personal, and often I find these experiences to be too personal, was a tour, a guided tour. There's one example where I would have loved it. if it was just facts presented to me with no filter and for god's sake no comedy but unfortunately my uh tour guide did feel that it was necessary to put some jokes in there try and get everyone to laugh you know what it's like on a guided tour i went of course to the dmz, the demilitarized zone, that space between North and South Korea, that basically no one can cross or go into. But if you get up there with a pair of binoculars, you can have ever such a good look at the other side.
Adam:
[15:59] Oh, you went on a tour where you were given binoculars?
Alun:
[16:01] Well, either that... Or I found a way to sneak some binoculars there. And I'm not telling you which one is true.
Adam:
[16:09] Well, this is interesting, mate, because I was on a tour where we didn't see binoculars.
Alun:
[16:15] Right.
Adam:
[16:16] But there was another tour that was this sort of, you call it like an observation
The DMZ Tour Experience
Adam:
[16:20] deck or something like that, right, where you can peer into North Korea.
Alun:
[16:23] Yeah.
Adam:
[16:23] And there was another group that did have binoculars. And some people in my group got jealous of the other group. And they said, well, why haven't we fucking been given binoculars? That's annoying. We're just going to use our 2020 vision, do we, to try and see what's going on over there.
Alun:
[16:35] I had ever such a good peak, mate. I've not got 2020 vision. As you know, my eyes are what can only be described as barely functioning. But even I, with a powerful enough magnifying lens, was able to have a look at a genuine North Korean village several kilometers away from the DMZ. I had a little peak over there. And it's my pleasure to announce that there seemed to be nothing above board going on. whatsoever yeah.
Adam:
[17:02] Just no all the propaganda was unnecessary i mean there's a there's a bit of propaganda going on on this on the dmz tour isn't there from um well from my experience anyway.
Alun:
[17:12] Very praiseful about korea the republic of but from what i could see north korea it seemed didn't seem like there's many people across the border it was sort of an empty town perhaps just a little propaganda village that didn't really have anyone in yeah.
Adam:
[17:27] A couple of couple of buildings.
Alun:
[17:28] There was a cutout of kim jong-un waving.
Adam:
[17:31] Was he to a.
Alun:
[17:33] Mechanized arm or something yeah an animatronic kim jong-un just on the border
Humor on Tours
Alun:
[17:37] of the village he's there um he lives at the border i.
Adam:
[17:41] Mean north korea famously not the um i mean is the butt of some jokes for sure strange to maybe joke about it on the tour as well try and lighten the mood maybe.
Alun:
[17:51] Very much so there was a joke a minute coming from old dennis the tour guide it didn't really have an angle dennis's jokes he was just sort of like playing for laughs often one that I can think of at the top of my head he was like oh my middle name is excuse me, So if you need me, just refer to me by my middle name. Now, I don't think that's funny because I just don't think the joke works on any level. I think if you analyze that joke, I think it fails to do what a joke should do.
Adam:
[18:24] Right, right. So the traditional format or structures of jokes, tried and tested joke structures.
Alun:
[18:30] Well, we can analyze it if you want. But I mean, he's saying, if you need me, say excuse me. that's what that's like the core message but he's thought how can i present that in a humorous package and he's gone with i'll tell them that my middle name is in fact excuse me and you know it got a laugh so people there was a german there was two german sisters sat next to my other bus they laughed well.
Adam:
[18:55] Maybe he just knew his audience if if the people in the bus laughed then it was funny i'm sorry.
Alun:
[19:01] Yeah yeah so the.
Adam:
[19:03] Guy's a comedian he's in the wrong job.
Alun:
[19:05] I guess so yeah my middle names excuse me if you need anything just refer to me by my middle name maybe it's the perfect joke maybe i don't get it did.
Adam:
[19:12] You feel obliged to whenever you needed to ask him a question.
Alun:
[19:16] I felt jealous i was saying to the german girls i was like if you think that sort of stuff's funny you should listen to tripology podcast every every tuesday wherever you get your podcast if that's making you laugh you'll positively wet your pants listening to my show in which i make jokes for a job okay so if you think that dennis has really got your funny bone rattling you'll be very surprised what me and my
friend adam can do that's what every week on a tuesday oh.
Adam:
[19:44] That's classic um talk to me about the tour mate what did you think overall value for money did you go down into that really long tunnel that's quite difficult and sweaty to walk back up.
Alun:
[19:54] I went into the tunnel, I think that tunnel is a bit of an embarrassment because it took them weeks to find it. They detected detonations, South Korea did, and they were like, oh my God, we've got to find what this is. It took them weeks to find it. When they did find it, it was already abandoned. And when asked, North Korea said, oh, we was looking for coal. And they were like, there isn't any coal in that tunnel. And they were like, that's why we abandoned the project.
Adam:
[20:25] I mean, it's logical.
Alun:
[20:27] And then they went, well, it came quite close to our capital city. And they were like, I don't know anything about that. We were just looking for coal.
Adam:
[20:36] Dear, oh dear. It's not the only one as well, is it? There's a few from memory.
Alun:
[20:40] No, it's one of many coal mines in the area.
Adam:
[20:45] Just trying to find trying to find goal by trial and error oh no not this one either.
North Korea Insights
Alun:
[20:50] Yeah sorry.
Adam:
[20:51] Guys back it up.
Alun:
[20:51] Well the dmz tour apart from the fact that i thought it was you know the tour guide essentially wasn't funny i did think it was of value to do i think it was like important to see i think if you go to the republic of korea people are going to ask oh did you go to north korea that said i think like it's a harrowing ongoing historical situation in which families have been separated and it's like really really negative and awful and there isn't much to see no it's just a border between two countries who are actively at war with one another and a vast expanse there is that village that i mentioned but it's just like abandoned buildings most likely that you can look at with binoculars and a north korean flag other than that it's just sort of a river and some rolling hills so on a tour they're really kind of selling the idea that you're looking at this forbidden police state but that there is not much to see and that's just a fact you know yeah.
Adam:
[21:59] Yeah no i agree and even the fact that it's been commercialized is a little bit strange. Certainly the way that the tour was delivered. I mean, I remember feeling very much so that I was on an organized tour and we were just sort of window shopping. It was like, oh, look, that's North Korea. That's where they do the bad things. And that's what could have been and all this sort of stuff. And it was just quite a strange experience altogether, really. I don't think the way that the DMZ tours are delivered are as... What's the word I'm looking for here? as neutral as one might like but you can understand why they wouldn't be i suppose.
Alun:
[22:37] Yeah well we had a uh i think like you on on my tour there was a woman who defected from north korea and she was she came onto the bus and had some stuff to say she's.
Adam:
[22:47] Cracking jokes as well she?
Alun:
[22:48] Was doing stand-up at the front of the bus you.
Adam:
[22:52] Think dennis was funny wait till you get a load of this.
Alun:
[22:54] She was like what what's the one leader that's fatter than your mom it's kim jong on but um people could ask her questions and stuff and they were translated by dennis with a bit of a comedic twist on them and you know she fled through china you have to flee through china because obviously you're not crossing over the border into north into the republic of korea not.
Adam:
[23:21] Even dressed as a coal mine.
Alun:
[23:22] Yeah exactly that's the only way you can do it but it's tempting because Because once you get to Korea, the Republic of Korea doesn't recognize North Korea as a country. So you immediately get citizenship into this wacky, crazy, vibrant, westernized, fashionable, sexy, good food culture country. If you can just get there. So she managed to escape through China for what was then about 20,000 US dollars that she saved up. But now she says that that same service would cost about $4 million.
Adam:
[23:59] $4 million?
Alun:
[24:00] Yeah.
Adam:
[24:00] Oh, my goodness.
Alun:
[24:01] It's just impossible to save in that regime. Ironically, the only person who could escape to Korea is Kim Jong-un himself.
The Cost of Escape
Adam:
[24:12] Uh yeah um yeah so on my tour it must have been a different lady because the the figures were different from memory i think um maybe this lady that i met she escaped much earlier so it was about three thousand four thousand us dollars um and i had thought she said that the the current rate for escape ease um is is about 80 70 or 80 000 us dollars currently and then people will sort of hide you in vehicles put you across uh you know transport you across borders through china down through Southeast Asia and then sort of back into south korea that way but is um what these people go through in order to get away is well yeah i mean it's hell it's just so nail-biting it's not not the right it.
Alun:
[24:59] Sounds like it's very possible.
Adam:
[25:00] That four.
Alun:
[25:00] Million was a joke figure thrown out by dennis.
Adam:
[25:03] Maybe maybe four million uh what's the currency wong korean wong i.
Alun:
[25:12] Don't know in north korea i don't think they use the south korean currency it would be a bit of a bit of a nuts move wouldn't it if they had republic of korean confusion scholars on the back of their banknotes.
Adam:
[25:22] Yeah but you know actually um i was told that some people want to go back some people defect to south korea and then just after a number of years they just decide to go back to north korea.
Alun:
[25:34] You can't go back.
Adam:
[25:35] And you may be killed immediately uh i don't know i just don't have anywhere near enough information on the topic um but i do remember being told that it's.
Alun:
[25:43] Funny you mentioned currency actually because on at the end of my tour dennis is by way of a little upsell he was like does anyone want to buy any north korean currency.
Adam:
[25:53] Really and.
Alun:
[25:54] There was a british guy sat next to me on the bus and he was like, oh, I fucking want some of that. And I was like, do you? Because it seems like shit. Honestly, I don't want to like poo-poo your souvenir idea, but it seems like probably it's just like worthless. And a Google JPEG of what the currency looks like would be just as fun.
Adam:
[26:18] Yeah.
Alun:
[26:18] And he was like, oh, yeah, I really want that. And then he Googled it and showed me on his phone. He was like, oh, yeah, look, any North Korean currency sold to you in south korea automatically it has to have been taken out of circulation and is essentially just worthless and a piece of.
Adam:
[26:35] Art and.
Alun:
[26:37] I was like oh yeah okay well i'm you know i'm glad you did that research and then when dennis came around he fucking bought 20 dollars.
Adam:
[26:44] Under the the peer pressure baby that's so funny you've you've just twigged the memory actually because we had the opportunity to buy some notes and some coins as well some of them are presented in little booklets and stuff and um there was a an english girl on my tour that i was chatting to throughout the day doing you know various different bits and when we got to that part of the tour she came over and asked if i was going to buy some and my i was really dismissive i said why on earth would i want to spend money on that and she then she she had pulled some out that she had already bought i was like oh oh sorry um you're like it's actually a.
Alun:
[27:21] Stupid thing to get and anyone.
Adam:
[27:23] Who gets it.
Alun:
[27:24] Is not only an idiot but not very good looking.
Adam:
[27:27] That's what i think oh sorry mom um but yeah i put my foot in it there a little oh you did get no sorry that was just a joke that was a joke no i'm.
Alun:
[27:37] Gonna buy some.
Adam:
[27:37] Myself yeah he has to buy some to make it up so yeah what did you get what did oh you did yeah i was gonna get that one yeah dear oh dear but worth.
Alun:
[27:46] Probably worth doing i'm glad i went i'm glad i had a little peep over the border and i think that it was an experience you know it was an experience and then after i went to the dmz i went to the korean war museum and actually learned about what i was looking at and then i thought
Reflections on Travel
Alun:
[28:02] well that is interesting so make sure you go to the accompanying museums if you're in korea yeah.
Adam:
[28:06] Yeah completely now i do know that you had sort of mixed feelings about going to north korea did seeing north korea from the DMZ change whether you're going to go or not in the near future?
Alun:
[28:17] Oh, you mean actually visiting North Korea as a country?
Adam:
[28:21] I do. I do. I do mean actually entering and going on one of those 10-day guided, heavily restricted, contrived.
Alun:
[28:28] Yeah, I still just don't think it's interesting because it is so contrived.
Adam:
[28:34] Yeah.
Alun:
[28:34] A tour where you're literally shown the things that a country wants to show you.
Adam:
[28:38] Yeah.
Alun:
[28:39] I just don't think interests me. It would be like going to London. and you're like picked up at the airport and taken straight to a hotel in london and then you're allowed to like go and see the crown jewels and then they take you to like the albert hall and then put your stuff you back in the hotel and you're allowed to eat a very strict diet of yorkshire pudding it's just like it doesn't interest me it's just like you're showing such a tiny slice of what the culture actually is and in actual fact if for a moment you allowed off that tour and just free into london you'd get your phone stolen by someone on e-bike and your holiday would be over yeah.
Adam:
[29:21] Something that's so heavily curated by someone who, hasn't got your interests at heart i think is is not very interesting at all for me so yeah put that one on the old back burner for a while we'll see we'll see how things unfold.
Alun:
[29:36] There we go adam i'm continuing to enjoy my time in the republic of korea i'm gonna next week's episode i'm gonna tell you about me spending 24 hours in a korean bathhouse i'm gonna talk about hiking in the mountains of sock show it's all very very exciting stuff if you don't mind i'll leave you with a joke and the joke is this my middle name is subscribed to us on patreon so if you want to spend a little bit of money why don't you call me by my middle name there's a link in the description and we'll see you all next week we'll.
The Patreon Section
Adam:
[30:10] See you there.
