November 15, 2025 • 29 mins
Adam survives New Zealand's most dangerous road but not without injury! We hear how a wild 4X4 ride through Skipper's Canyon was a bridge too far. Lord of the Rings filming locations, a suspect first aid kit, and a high risk of landslides was more than Adam bargained for. Did Adam strike gold or was the experience a thorn in his side?
Alun's Miscellaneous Travel Item returns with a cameo from Vagabot. Adam's presented with a list of exotic travel destinations and must guess which one is completely fictitious. In with a chance of a free holiday, can he defeat his AI counterpart?
Tales of a Trip takes a horrifying turn, as we hear from an incredibly brave American listener. Whilst living in Medellin, Colombia, he was robbed and beaten by an armed gang. Extreme and traumatic, this story's not for the faint-hearted.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Hello and welcome to this episode of Tripology.
It's the only backpacking show that persuades you to travel
around the world and refuses to give you a backup plan.
I'm Alan and I'm here with the ever unknown Adam.
Thank you for joining us for another week.
We've got a Wicked show in storefor you today.
I'm going to tell a little anecdote that happened to be
this week where I was involved in a very serious accident.
(00:24):
Didn't keep me from recording. No, did it?
And then we're going to go off into the second part of the show
where we're going to have an Alan's miscellaneous travel,
Adam. Well, yeah.
And then, of course, it's Tales of a Trip, where we're going to
hear from one of you guys. Yeah, you should get excited
about that miscellaneous travel item, mate, because in the week
I've been conspiring with one ofyour greatest friends and one of
my greatest allies, it's Vagabot, our very own travel AI.
(00:49):
The pair of us have teamed up tostart a new business, endeavour
together, and we're going to test it out on you.
But without further ado mate, I've got to hear about this
accident. Well, I don't like the fact that
Vagabot's getting his claws intomultiple aspects of the show, so
something I should be worried about going forward.
I'd be a little bit concerned ifI was you.
It depends on the results of today's sort of adventure.
(01:11):
That will decide how much of A remit he has in future.
Oh God, there wasn't more pressure on the record.
Now. Now I've got to be on my best
behaviour. I've got to deliver something
that's succinct and funny and informative.
All of the above. Anyway, I'll dive right into it,
mate, because it's quite a long story that I'm going to make
nice and short. I'll give you the highlights.
(01:31):
About 40 minutes or so away fromQueenstown is a place called
Skippers Canyon. I don't know if you got here
when you were in Queenstown, didyou?
I. Don't think so, no.
I went to a bar called Skippers Canyon, but not a Canyon.
Not an actual Canyon. That's like the inverse of what
would happen in real life, isn'tit?
You going to the bar and me going to the geological site?
(01:52):
Yeah, actually. But because because my partner
works in tourism, she gets a lotof very well known, very
expensive tours completely for free.
Because how on earth can she sell these things if she hasn't
been on them herself? And it's only fair that she gets
a + 1. And of course, I'm.
I mean, what better, better bless.
Of course. What better bless?
(02:15):
And of course, what better plus one is there than yours truly?
Well I'm glad for that mate, I hate to say that.
I think in six months time it might be likely that she's
taking Vagabot, so you've got toget get your plus ones in while
you can. Yeah, it's slightly more robust,
but Skippers Canyon, very famous, especially the road
leading through it, for being the most dangerous, dangerous
(02:38):
Rd. in New Zealand and one of the most dangerous roads in the
world. We've been on our fair share of
dangerous roads. We have, yeah.
And knowing you, you'd have beenprimed for some sort of
accident. As someone who frequents
dangerous roads frequently and also has been in serious car
accidents before, I imagine you were sort of preempting.
(02:58):
Yeah, so I, I was told actually on the way up, because we did
the tour with another couple andwe were in the Jeep, it was kind
of like a safari thing. You know, you get picked up at
8:00 in the morning, you go ripping off down a down a
country Rd. and then it turns into gravel and then it goes
through a Canyon. And then you have to go through
a little cattle grid with a big sign that says do be careful,
it's one of the most dangerous roads in the world, blah blah,
blah, and through the cattle. Grid, Yeah, yeah.
(03:21):
Straight through it. Not over the top of it, yeah,
just. Yeah, yeah, no, straight through
it in the Jeep. What was it?
Toyota land cruise or something along those lines.
They make absolute mincemeat of cattle grids.
And then we we started going andthe woman, the woman that we
were on the tour with, she said we did this tour last time.
And just to let you know, it is one of the most dangerous roads
(03:41):
in the world. And, and my natural reaction was
to say what makes it most dangerous?
Is it because of the number of people who die on the road?
Oh, there's a fair question. How many?
Limbs did this woman have? Because I always find when
someone comes to harbing doom like that in my life, I always
check first. Are they missing anything that I
would consider vital? Yeah, well having said that, she
(04:03):
didn't get up off her chair for the entire 4 hour tour, so.
Suspicious, isn't it? Yeah.
To be sitting in a chair going. I once went on the most
dangerous adventure. Let me tell you about it is.
Did you really? Is that why you're not standing
up? So I I was met anyway with a bit
of disdain and she said, well, no, no, it's just, it's just the
most dangerous. I mean, if you've not seen the
(04:23):
drop off the edge and I being being maybe the knob in
hindsight said, well, if no one's ever fallen off, maybe
it's not that dangerous. And then the tour guide turned,
turned around and said, well, no, no, hang on.
I mean, there's obviously measures in place to make sure
that people don't go off the edge and you know, very careful
tour drivers, etcetera, etcetera.
But it made me relax if anythingelse because I was sitting on
(04:44):
the inside of the Jeep. Whereas you, you might remember
when we were in Pakistan, I wasn't just sitting on the
outside of the Jeep. I was actually sitting like
hanging off the door and I was nearly sort of, you know, off
out of the vehicle anyway, wasn't I?
Yeah, you've not got a great track record of staying in
moving vehicles. Also, when you came there to see
me in the Philippines, you fell off a rickshaw and we never
(05:07):
talked about it or mentioned it on an episode ever.
I think we did. I think we did mention it on one
episode because didn't I start running immediately next to the
Tuk tuk like a like almost cartoon like.
Yeah, you, you sort of acted as if it was part of a Red Bull
event for you to jump off a moving motorcycle and started
running alongside, waving to thecrowd.
(05:28):
It was quite beautiful. Yeah, I maybe exited the vehicle
a little bit too early. Actually.
I probably could have stayed in that for for slightly longer.
But in this case, I was on the inside.
I was peering over to see down the Canyon, and it was
absolutely stunning, stunningly beautiful.
And I think what makes this roadso dangerous is maybe not the
number of accidents, but it is due to the, the road conditions
(05:49):
and the fact that they are somewhat unstable and they do
sometimes fall away. I mean, these tours are
cancelled almost on a weekly basis because there's a, a
rockslide or something along those lines.
So I was, I was feeling fairly, fairly safe on the inside.
Now as we meandered down, I've got to tell you mate, this this
gorge is 22 kilometres long and is riddled with quartz rock
(06:11):
carried by the shot over river. You might have heard of Shot
Over River, but it was made famous this area in the 1860s
when there was a gold rush. OK, that's nice.
Is that one of the reasons why you went trying to make some
pocket money now that Spotify has decided to take all our
episodes down? Yeah.
You're telling me, Well, part ofthe tour they throw it in.
I mean, it's quite a gimmicky thing, but they do, they do
allow you to pan for gold. So the tour driver gets out,
(06:33):
goes down to the river, gives you a pan and basically shows
you the technique. Obviously, almost every single
all time without fail, I'm sure picks up a couple of little
pieces of gold. I mean, they're tiny little
flecks. I mean, you know, it'd be the
size of, I don't know, slightly bigger than a piece of dust.
And then you're given the pan and expected to do the same.
And I'd be amazed if anyone getsany gold, but there's just a
(06:54):
technique to it. I don't know if she's got the
gold in her pocket or what's going on, but I was pretty
unfortunate. I.
Would have thought even finding a couple of flecks of gold was
quite. Rare.
I don't know, maybe it happens. It sounded like it happened
fairly often from the way she described it, but they weren't
anything. So they were so small you could
see them with the naked eye. But she said, yeah, it's not.
(07:16):
Just go back in the river. There's no real point.
It's not worth. Sometimes I sprinkle on my salad
because it's so worthless. But it's, it's good fun.
Have you ever been planning for gold?
You know, you seem like the sortof guy that would be that would
have done it. I think the as a kid, maybe I
went somewhere and sort of did the performance of panning,
like, oh, there might be ever somuch gold in this and maybe the
(07:37):
tour guide put some fool's gold in your basket because you're an
idiot child who doesn't know thedifference.
Yeah, well, in in this case, we were allowed to take the gold
away. It's, you know, amongst all this
chaos that I'm sitting in amongst, it's somewhere in a
little Petri dish or something. But we're we're probably not
going to be millionaires just yet, mate.
So the the story continues. Anyway, we got back in the van.
(08:00):
We ended up going up to this very old bridge where I think
one of the first bungee jumps inthis area was cast off.
And then the tour driver said when we go over the bridge,
you're welcome to stay in the car, but you can get out and you
can just walk across it. I don't know if you want to take
some photos or if you want to walk across it.
So you see the lovely view. And of course, me being the
adrenaline junkie, adventurous person I am, I said, yeah, we
(08:23):
get out. Actually, we get out of the van.
Well, walk across it, yeah. Will there be any opportunities
for more additional panning on this walk?
Because I've got quite the tastefor it.
Tour Guide. I'm feeling lucky after finding
no gold the previous time. But we got out the van, me and
my partner, we walked across thebridge and my partner said to
(08:45):
me, oh, you know, can you just take a couple of photos of me?
It's a really nice shot. You can imagine Canyon below
with the river and then there's lovely mountains that sort of
stuff behind and and then this really old rickety bridge.
So there I was taking the kind of tourist photos and she said,
go on, go on, give me the cameraand I'll take a couple of you.
So I was standing there like a lemon waiting for her to take a
photo. And she said, well, do
(09:05):
something, do some sort of gesture or something funny.
So I, I put my arms out to one side and my legs out to another
side. And I tried to sort of stretch
all the way across the bridge, touching both sides at the same
time. And as I, as my hand hit the,
the beam to my right hand side, I got the biggest splinter in
(09:26):
the world. I mean, it went straight into my
finger. It's probably over a centimeter
long. And I immediately retracted and
screamed at the top of my voice and it hurt, mate.
It hurt. It hurt a lot.
I hate, hate to say it, but it was all caught on camera in two
photos of 1 of me just about to touch the bridge and then the
(09:47):
other one of me looking at my finger in agony.
It's all, it's comical, it really is.
But it, I mean opposite, it hurta lot.
Oh. My goodness, Yeah.
That sounds like quite a painfulexperience.
I mean, thank God that you are amember of Safety Wing.
Use our promo code for the best travel insurance out there.
Because if you hadn't, I mean, how would you have I've ever got
that splinter removed. I mean, a splinter, though, it's
(10:07):
the sort of thing that it, it really hurt and it was massive.
It was massive for a splinter. But small for a building
material, so it's all swings around the house, I mean.
It's also the sort of thing you don't really want to bring up.
And then when I did bring it up,because I, I didn't know where
maybe there was a first aid kit on board or, you know, a pair of
tweezers or whatever that my partner might have had People
(10:28):
make a fuss of you, but you don't want them to make as much
of A fuss as they are because it's only a splinter.
And even, you know it, it sort of ripples went around the group
and other people were coming up to me going, oh, you're right, I
heard you got a splinter. Is everything OK?
I've heard there was someone in this group that's been
tragically maimed by a bridge. I was asking whether their
insurance covers it and all thissort of stuff, but it was the
(10:50):
sort of splinter that goes in sodeep.
So it comes out through your ears that.
Was in my finger. It was a it was awful.
I I can still see the the remnants of it here, the damage.
But anyway, All in all mate, it was a very very good sort.
You can't argue that it was worth the money because it was
free. Would I pay $300.00 for it?
Probably not. Yeah.
(11:11):
I see your eyebrows raising. It is per person, if that's what
you were going to ask me. And the other thing is there's a
very famous filming location. I know you're a Lord of the
Rings fan. Do you remember when?
What's that elvish sort of queenor something?
And she she basically conjures. Galadriel.
Ah, when? Yeah.
Potentially she conjures up a load of white horses from the
white water of a river and they fight off these.
(11:34):
Is it Nasgal or Ringwraiths pursuing Frodo and Co?
So that's exactly that. That scene that I'm describing
is exactly where it was filmed. Yeah, that's our win, mate, and
that's a very ancient magic thatshe's using there to get rid of
it as Nasgul, so it should do you right to show her some
fucking respect. I thought you could say that I
should probably contact her, seeif she could help me getting the
(11:55):
splinter out my finger. Yeah, Liv Taylor on the pod next
week, of course. Yeah.
Yeah, it was good fun, mate. It was good fun.
It was adventurous, it was thrilling.
We didn't roll off the edge of the Cliff so it remains New
Zealand's the most dangerous Rd.with absolutely no accidents.
But when we came back to Queenstown in less than 48
hours, believe it or not, the whole thing was closed and
(12:17):
everyone's access was blocked because of the road conditions
being well frankly very unsafe for for tourists and other
passersby and travellers. So they basically blocked off
the entire road and now you can't access it and it was due
to some a fear of landslides andand other things.
So we missed it by the skin of our teeth just.
The fear of them with no, no evidence that one might actually
(12:39):
occur. Well, I'm glad that you.
I'm pretty sure now it's becauseof geological tests and
assessments. And of course maybe, maybe it
got back to the local council that I'd got a splinter and they
didn't want any of the smoke. I'm sure.
Well, I'm. Glad you're starting to have
some adventures because I think that you've been cooped up in
Queenstown for quite some time and I'll show them.
We'll hear much more of them in the coming weeks.
(13:00):
Speaking of adventures though, and you going on adventures and
the kind of adventures that are a little bit off the beaten
track, I have collaborated with Vagabot to conjure up something
quite special for you in an itemthat we've always liked to call
Alan's Miscellaneous Travel Item.
(13:26):
It's the one thing I can't live without, I swear.
Travel items galore, Adam. Basically this week me and
Vagabot have been discussing that they're all travel AI that
we love so much. I've talked to him, them, they,
she, and we've decided to start a little travel agent company.
(13:50):
OK, with A twist. All right, I like the sound of
this. I'm engaged, yeah.
Well, I was inspired by a previous episode where we
discussed AI errors when it cameto planning adventures.
So me and Vagabot have come up with four obscure off the beaten
track locations and we're gonna send you free of charge to three
(14:12):
of them in this hypothetical test.
But one of them is a fake fictional AI location, so you've
got to choose which three you want to go on, trying
desperately to avoid the mistruth.
OK, interesting. I like the idea.
I mean, this is obviously going to test my geology knowledge.
I suppose not. Geology, Adam.
That's rocks. This will test your geographical
(14:33):
knowledge. Sorry, I've got rocks.
Rocks on the brain. Yeah.
Geography. Yeah, I was.
I was never going to either, actually.
Yeah. OK.
So shall we start with, I'm going to read the locations to
you and then you just have to say, you know, as we go along,
you'll decide which ones of these you want to go to and try
and find the fake. OK, well, what if I the, the
(14:55):
approach I'm going to take just to flesh it out a little bit is,
is which one I would genuinely, or which three I would genuinely
want to go to the most, irrespective of whether I think
they're fake or not, OK. Well, then also use, you can use
that. Obviously one of them is written
by me, so, but I've tried to sell them all.
So you just got to choose which one you think is fake as well.
(15:15):
Yeah, the first place, mate. You may have heard of some of
these, you may not have. You just got to figure out.
I'm going to take you to SocotraIsland.
Here you can wander through ancient Dragon's blood tree
forests, swim in bioluminescent lagoons, and explore limestone
(15:37):
labyrinths. Socotra Island.
OK, I've I've not heard of it. So it absolutely could have been
something that was invented. It sounds fantastic.
Bioluminescence and limestone. OK, I don't know really that
much about whether those two things are normally in the same
environment. Would be handy if I did.
(15:58):
OK, well maybe if I did I'd be interested in going piece it.
Together, piece it together. That's Socotra Island.
Would you like location #2? Yeah.
Go for it. Tristan Dacunya Tristan Tristan
Dacunya is one of the most remote islands in the world.
Here you can hike to a dormant volcano.
(16:19):
You can spot Penguins, fur sealsand albatross.
Bit of a natures lovers place. That's Tristan de Cunha.
OK, what's throwing me off is that I think Tristan de Cunha is
also the name of a well known house DJ.
Oh. Yeah.
So as nice as it sounds and look, artists these days name
(16:41):
themselves after many different things.
Islands even. Yeah, there's absolutely no
reason why they can't have namedthemselves after this island
after having an amazing experience spotting fur seals
and albatross. Yeah, exactly.
Is he a fur seal that DJ? Albatross is.
Is that the plural? Probably Albatrai, yeah.
That's three of them. All right mate, here we go.
(17:04):
Location #3 Pookie. Pookie.
Excellent. Pookie, Pookie, you can hike to
ancient basalt monoliths. They exist there, right?
You can go to lagoons formed over 2.5 million years ago and
see phosphorescent species of fish, and you can visit the
(17:25):
drumming cave, which is this acoustically resonant cave where
ancient civilizations would bangon The Cave structures and
create these drumming patterns. Pookie.
Pookie. OK, Pookie Pookie sounds pretty
cool. Sounds like something I want to
connect with and experience. There's one there's one more to
go, isn't there? There's.
(17:45):
One more. There's one more if you want to
hear about it. Pookie, Pookie, that's gone
straight in the top spot, I think.
The 4th destination is the Danakil Depression.
The Danakil Depression. They've got hydrothermal fields
that you'll have ever such an effervescent time wandering
around on your way to visit these.
(18:06):
You've got neon green and yellowacid pools and an open lava
volcano. It's an adventure holiday for
two. OK, this sound for two.
This sounds also attractive. It's difficult for me to choose
anyone other than Tristan Dacunya because I actually
(18:29):
haven't heard of any of the other 3.
So I would be like going againstnot only my gut instincts but
what my brain is telling me. Because I know that that name is
associated for me in my life andmy perception of reality is
associated with something else. It might as well be called so
just to. Recap You've got Socotra Island,
Tristan de Cunha, Pookie, Pookie, and Danica Depression.
(18:54):
Danica depression sounds pretty awful.
Yeah, almost like an old yeah. It doesn't really sound like the
name of anywhere, but then yeah.I can't go out tonight.
I've obviously been hit with theDani killed depression.
No one goes out in Dani killed depression.
Do they let me just chat, mopingaround, dragging their heels the
whole time? No, it says.
Bagabot says nightlife is lacking, but there are some salt
(19:17):
flats as well which I didn't mention.
So flats. Wait.
Can't be. Can't be that.
Then depression. Oh, maybe it means depression as
in. Now you're using the old noggin.
Are using the old noggin. Forget that bit where I said
geology instead of geography. Yeah, now, now we're using our
brain. OK, well, let's cut to the
chase. I'm going to have to go for
Tristan Dacunya as being the onethat I choose.
(19:39):
Not as much as I like fur seals and albatross and whatever the
other animal was that you could potentially see there.
I'm going to go plump for the other three.
Actually. Sign me up.
Unfortunately mate, you have missed out on a wonderful
holiday exploring what are the most remote inhabited islands in
the world in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Tristan Dacunya. You've lost out on an
(20:01):
unforgettable experience there, mate.
OK, well then are you going to are you going to tell me which
one was in fact fictitious? Yeah, I'll tell you which one
that I created, which one I madeand would you like to have one
more guest before I do? I am.
Maybe now I'm overthinking it. I'm sort of thinking about order
effects and which one you would have tabled first.
(20:23):
I do think I've heard it's a Coach Rose.
It's spelled SE or with AQ. Is it?
Is it the Q that's S? OCOTRA.
Interesting. All right, well, let's say
that's the fake one because you started with it.
Try to get out of the way early.Oh, you've missed out on a
wonderful journey of to an island near the Yemen, mate,
(20:43):
unfortunately. Oh really?
Yeah, the fake place is Pookie Pookie, which is actually a sort
of Filipino egg. Egg fried aubergine.
Right, Pookie, Pookie. So I know that maybe I didn't.
I wanted to sound like a sort ofHawaiian island, you know well.
It definitely does. I mean, there's even places in
(21:05):
New Zealand that don't turn to dissimilar to Pookie.
Pookie. There you go.
So you missed out on an unforgettable experience there.
I think that me and Vagabot do have a future scamming people
with our brand new travel agency.
Very expensive. A trip to Pookie.
Pookie, I might gather. So I am going to start that
business. Me and Vagaboot.
Hope you enjoyed the show and we'll do that again.
(21:25):
I enjoyed that, but now we've got to listen to a listener as
they tell us their greatest travel story.
They've gone to tribologypodcast.com/tales of a
trip and recorded 3 minutes of the wildest thing in all of
travel that's ever happened to them.
Let's hear what they had to say,OK?
I guess we'll call this, you know, shit you're not supposed
(21:48):
to do in Colombia. I'm an American citizen.
I've been living abroad for a little over 10 years now.
And the first couple years in Colombia, I was like everyone
else. I went crazy with all the
beautiful women and, you know, the life here just like, so
crazy, like I decided to change my career.
(22:12):
But that's not that story. This story is about how we got
robbed. My wife and I started our own
webcam studio in our, you know, luxury apartment and a very
trendy place in in in Medigene. And then one Sunday afternoon my
(22:32):
future mother-in-law was supposed to come over for lunch.
My sister-in-law had been livingwith us at the time.
She had just gotten out of the shower so my my then girlfriend
and I went to go have a shower together.
During that shower together, 5 armed Venezuelan men broke into
my building and then kicked in my door and ran down the hall,
(22:57):
kicked in my bedroom door and through my wife and my my half
naked wife and myself and my half naked sister-in-law to the
floor and held a gun to the backof our heads and proceeded to
rob me. For over the course of four
hours. They stole everything.
You know, they even went throughmy clothes and took my
underwear. Then they proceeded to try and
(23:20):
rob every other condo in the building.
They very nearly succeeded, but they were, I guess they ran out
of time. They said that they were going
to kidnap me, drug me, take me to ATM.
You know, I got hit with a crowbar a few times.
I stood in front of the gun point pointed at my
(23:41):
sister-in-law, my mother-in-law.I'm sorry.
My sister-in-law and my and my then girlfriend, my, my, my
wife, my mother-in-law actually did show up did halfway through
the robbery because again, she was coming over to have lunch
with us. They met her at the door and
then tied her up also. And yes, they stole all my
(24:02):
webcam equipment, my computers and all my lighting.
Everything. They sold everything.
They even took a bite out of thecake that was in the fridge.
Wow. I mean, thank you so much to
Sean for sending in that harrowing tale, Adam.
I mean, any thoughts you have, it's an absolute insult to
injury to have also taken a biteout of the cake, isn't it?
(24:25):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
I mean I feel bad for even mentioning the cake because
because of how horrendous the experience must have be.
I think we're in horrendous times like that.
It's good to reach for a piece of levity, and indeed, in that
story, the levity comes in the form of that cake being eaten.
Oh yeah, the the voice message cuts off at that moment.
(24:46):
And they it's a great line to finish on in this from a
storytelling perspective. We even took a bite of a cake in
the fridge. But yeah, absolutely horrendous.
Awful, about as bad as it could have gone really without anyone.
I mean, hopefully, obviously, hopefully no one was injured,
but in terms of being traumatised for the rest of your
life, potentially. Then they went on to to try and
(25:11):
rob the entire apartment block. I mean, I don't think there's
any avoiding that. Well, actually.
Followed up with this listener and I've got some additional
information and I do know that no one was hurt, although it was
an incredible inconvenience to them that all this happened
obviously, and it was like psychologically very traumatic.
But I think, I mean it's just awful, isn't it?
(25:32):
It's awful to live in a house, in a home, in an apartment,
whatever it was, and have suddenly this horrible maelstrom
of aggression and thievery enterthe building and like, cause all
that mayhem. But.
I think it also, but when, when push comes to shove in extreme
circumstances, you do find out what you're made of.
(25:53):
And I haven't got faith that, you know, if I was in that same
situation, I've got absolutely no idea how I would react at
all. I don't think I've, I've been in
a situation like that ever before and obviously fingers
crossed on I'm not in one again.But the closest you've come to
that is probably the mugging in Johannesburg isn't, yeah.
Well, you might surprise yourself, I think, because you
(26:15):
don't really know how you'll react in those situations until
you've been in one. I mean, for me, the Johannesburg
mugging after it happened was when I could be brave or stupid
or whatever you think. As it happened, I was just being
robbed. I was behaving like someone who
was being robbed and following the steps of that.
And I imagine this listener as well, when a gun's put to your
(26:36):
head, there's a there's a limit,unless you're like Keanu Reeves
or in one of his role that he plays.
I think Keanu himself actually probably just but you know,
unless you're like an action movie character, you're not
going to do anything right you other than just do what they
tell you. And as well you should.
(26:56):
And the same with me in the Johannesburg muggy.
It's like when you're being robbed, you just, you're just
going along with whatever they tell you to do.
And then after that, I was able to think and be like, oh, I
wonder if I can get my passport back.
OK, I'll go and ask whether that's brave or stupid.
That's we'll leave that to the listener.
But it's just it's horrible thatthese things happen.
And the worst thing about it, I think, is like, there's not
(27:16):
really that much to learn from asituation like that.
It's just unfortunate. You could like be OK, this part
of medicine is not safe. I'll move somewhere else, but
probably is safe 90% of the time, you know?
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I, I don't know if you
remember about 20 minutes ago, Iwas telling a story of me
getting a splinter in it, ruining my day.
So it's now now hearing the story from from Sean about how
(27:40):
how he was set up on by an armedgang and had a gun pointed at
him. I it.
Puts the splinter in perspectivefor you.
Yeah, you could say that. I mean, honestly, it's obviously
not to deter anyone from going to Columbia or going to
mezzanine. It's just one of those
extraordinary, we hope, extraordinary things that
(28:01):
sometimes happens when when you're abroad, when the rules
don't apply, the same rules thatyou know, from back home, let's
say, don't, don't apply. I just don't think they could
have really done anything differently.
It doesn't sound like they put themselves in danger.
And maybe the way that things turned out, given the
circumstances, was about as goodas it was going to get.
(28:22):
The, the world is a dangerous place and therefore travelling
the world is a dangerous activity to some extent.
But this listener was living in in the place.
And I think that often times when you're travelling, you can
kind of keep a bit more low profile than someone who's set
up with a business and all that sort of thing.
You know, staying in hostels andstuff is probably less likely to
(28:44):
be a target. So I think, you know, as always,
just stay cautious out there. Look after yourselves.
And keep the stories coming in, keep the stories coming, keep,
keep sending them in. We'd love to hear from you.
We'll play them live on the show.
Thanks very much for listening to another episode of Tropology
Podcast. Now, we're going to go off into
the Lost and Found section, of course, thepatreon.com/tropology
(29:07):
podcast, where you can sign up to the Lost and Found, where I'm
going to tell Alan a funny storythat my tour guide told me when
I was on that trip. And it involved a couple of
people, funnily enough, blowing themselves up with some
dynamite. Yeah, so.
Nice, I can't wait to hear it. If you enjoy the show, you want
to support us, please head over to the Patreon.
It's a really lovely community of listeners over there.
But now we'll blast off and see you next week.
(29:31):
We'll see you then. Bye.
Hello and welcome to this episode of Tripology.
It's the only backpacking show that persuades you to travel
around the world and refuses to give you a backup plan.
I'm Alan and I'm here with the ever unknown Adam.
Thank you for joining us for another week.
We've got a Wicked show in storefor you today.
I'm going to tell a little anecdote that happened to be
this week where I was involved in a very serious accident.
(00:24):
Didn't keep me from recording. No, did it?
And then we're going to go off into the second part of the show
where we're going to have an Alan's miscellaneous travel,
Adam. Well, yeah.
And then, of course, it's Tales of a Trip, where we're going to
hear from one of you guys. Yeah, you should get excited
about that miscellaneous travel item, mate, because in the week
I've been conspiring with one ofyour greatest friends and one of
my greatest allies, it's Vagabot, our very own travel AI.
(00:49):
The pair of us have teamed up tostart a new business, endeavour
together, and we're going to test it out on you.
But without further ado mate, I've got to hear about this
accident. Well, I don't like the fact that
Vagabot's getting his claws intomultiple aspects of the show, so
something I should be worried about going forward.
I'd be a little bit concerned ifI was you.
It depends on the results of today's sort of adventure.
(01:11):
That will decide how much of A remit he has in future.
Oh God, there wasn't more pressure on the record.
Now. Now I've got to be on my best
behaviour. I've got to deliver something
that's succinct and funny and informative.
All of the above. Anyway, I'll dive right into it,
mate, because it's quite a long story that I'm going to make
nice and short. I'll give you the highlights.
(01:31):
About 40 minutes or so away fromQueenstown is a place called
Skippers Canyon. I don't know if you got here
when you were in Queenstown, didyou?
I. Don't think so, no.
I went to a bar called Skippers Canyon, but not a Canyon.
Not an actual Canyon. That's like the inverse of what
would happen in real life, isn'tit?
You going to the bar and me going to the geological site?
(01:52):
Yeah, actually. But because because my partner
works in tourism, she gets a lotof very well known, very
expensive tours completely for free.
Because how on earth can she sell these things if she hasn't
been on them herself? And it's only fair that she gets
a + 1. And of course, I'm.
I mean, what better, better bless.
Of course. What better bless?
(02:15):
And of course, what better plus one is there than yours truly?
Well I'm glad for that mate, I hate to say that.
I think in six months time it might be likely that she's
taking Vagabot, so you've got toget get your plus ones in while
you can. Yeah, it's slightly more robust,
but Skippers Canyon, very famous, especially the road
leading through it, for being the most dangerous, dangerous
(02:38):
Rd. in New Zealand and one of the most dangerous roads in the
world. We've been on our fair share of
dangerous roads. We have, yeah.
And knowing you, you'd have beenprimed for some sort of
accident. As someone who frequents
dangerous roads frequently and also has been in serious car
accidents before, I imagine you were sort of preempting.
(02:58):
Yeah, so I, I was told actually on the way up, because we did
the tour with another couple andwe were in the Jeep, it was kind
of like a safari thing. You know, you get picked up at
8:00 in the morning, you go ripping off down a down a
country Rd. and then it turns into gravel and then it goes
through a Canyon. And then you have to go through
a little cattle grid with a big sign that says do be careful,
it's one of the most dangerous roads in the world, blah blah,
blah, and through the cattle. Grid, Yeah, yeah.
(03:21):
Straight through it. Not over the top of it, yeah,
just. Yeah, yeah, no, straight through
it in the Jeep. What was it?
Toyota land cruise or something along those lines.
They make absolute mincemeat of cattle grids.
And then we we started going andthe woman, the woman that we
were on the tour with, she said we did this tour last time.
And just to let you know, it is one of the most dangerous roads
(03:41):
in the world. And, and my natural reaction was
to say what makes it most dangerous?
Is it because of the number of people who die on the road?
Oh, there's a fair question. How many?
Limbs did this woman have? Because I always find when
someone comes to harbing doom like that in my life, I always
check first. Are they missing anything that I
would consider vital? Yeah, well having said that, she
(04:03):
didn't get up off her chair for the entire 4 hour tour, so.
Suspicious, isn't it? Yeah.
To be sitting in a chair going. I once went on the most
dangerous adventure. Let me tell you about it is.
Did you really? Is that why you're not standing
up? So I I was met anyway with a bit
of disdain and she said, well, no, no, it's just, it's just the
most dangerous. I mean, if you've not seen the
(04:23):
drop off the edge and I being being maybe the knob in
hindsight said, well, if no one's ever fallen off, maybe
it's not that dangerous. And then the tour guide turned,
turned around and said, well, no, no, hang on.
I mean, there's obviously measures in place to make sure
that people don't go off the edge and you know, very careful
tour drivers, etcetera, etcetera.
But it made me relax if anythingelse because I was sitting on
(04:44):
the inside of the Jeep. Whereas you, you might remember
when we were in Pakistan, I wasn't just sitting on the
outside of the Jeep. I was actually sitting like
hanging off the door and I was nearly sort of, you know, off
out of the vehicle anyway, wasn't I?
Yeah, you've not got a great track record of staying in
moving vehicles. Also, when you came there to see
me in the Philippines, you fell off a rickshaw and we never
(05:07):
talked about it or mentioned it on an episode ever.
I think we did. I think we did mention it on one
episode because didn't I start running immediately next to the
Tuk tuk like a like almost cartoon like.
Yeah, you, you sort of acted as if it was part of a Red Bull
event for you to jump off a moving motorcycle and started
running alongside, waving to thecrowd.
(05:28):
It was quite beautiful. Yeah, I maybe exited the vehicle
a little bit too early. Actually.
I probably could have stayed in that for for slightly longer.
But in this case, I was on the inside.
I was peering over to see down the Canyon, and it was
absolutely stunning, stunningly beautiful.
And I think what makes this roadso dangerous is maybe not the
number of accidents, but it is due to the, the road conditions
(05:49):
and the fact that they are somewhat unstable and they do
sometimes fall away. I mean, these tours are
cancelled almost on a weekly basis because there's a, a
rockslide or something along those lines.
So I was, I was feeling fairly, fairly safe on the inside.
Now as we meandered down, I've got to tell you mate, this this
gorge is 22 kilometres long and is riddled with quartz rock
(06:11):
carried by the shot over river. You might have heard of Shot
Over River, but it was made famous this area in the 1860s
when there was a gold rush. OK, that's nice.
Is that one of the reasons why you went trying to make some
pocket money now that Spotify has decided to take all our
episodes down? Yeah.
You're telling me, Well, part ofthe tour they throw it in.
I mean, it's quite a gimmicky thing, but they do, they do
allow you to pan for gold. So the tour driver gets out,
(06:33):
goes down to the river, gives you a pan and basically shows
you the technique. Obviously, almost every single
all time without fail, I'm sure picks up a couple of little
pieces of gold. I mean, they're tiny little
flecks. I mean, you know, it'd be the
size of, I don't know, slightly bigger than a piece of dust.
And then you're given the pan and expected to do the same.
And I'd be amazed if anyone getsany gold, but there's just a
(06:54):
technique to it. I don't know if she's got the
gold in her pocket or what's going on, but I was pretty
unfortunate. I.
Would have thought even finding a couple of flecks of gold was
quite. Rare.
I don't know, maybe it happens. It sounded like it happened
fairly often from the way she described it, but they weren't
anything. So they were so small you could
see them with the naked eye. But she said, yeah, it's not.
(07:16):
Just go back in the river. There's no real point.
It's not worth. Sometimes I sprinkle on my salad
because it's so worthless. But it's, it's good fun.
Have you ever been planning for gold?
You know, you seem like the sortof guy that would be that would
have done it. I think the as a kid, maybe I
went somewhere and sort of did the performance of panning,
like, oh, there might be ever somuch gold in this and maybe the
(07:37):
tour guide put some fool's gold in your basket because you're an
idiot child who doesn't know thedifference.
Yeah, well, in in this case, we were allowed to take the gold
away. It's, you know, amongst all this
chaos that I'm sitting in amongst, it's somewhere in a
little Petri dish or something. But we're we're probably not
going to be millionaires just yet, mate.
So the the story continues. Anyway, we got back in the van.
(08:00):
We ended up going up to this very old bridge where I think
one of the first bungee jumps inthis area was cast off.
And then the tour driver said when we go over the bridge,
you're welcome to stay in the car, but you can get out and you
can just walk across it. I don't know if you want to take
some photos or if you want to walk across it.
So you see the lovely view. And of course, me being the
adrenaline junkie, adventurous person I am, I said, yeah, we
(08:23):
get out. Actually, we get out of the van.
Well, walk across it, yeah. Will there be any opportunities
for more additional panning on this walk?
Because I've got quite the tastefor it.
Tour Guide. I'm feeling lucky after finding
no gold the previous time. But we got out the van, me and
my partner, we walked across thebridge and my partner said to
(08:45):
me, oh, you know, can you just take a couple of photos of me?
It's a really nice shot. You can imagine Canyon below
with the river and then there's lovely mountains that sort of
stuff behind and and then this really old rickety bridge.
So there I was taking the kind of tourist photos and she said,
go on, go on, give me the cameraand I'll take a couple of you.
So I was standing there like a lemon waiting for her to take a
photo. And she said, well, do
(09:05):
something, do some sort of gesture or something funny.
So I, I put my arms out to one side and my legs out to another
side. And I tried to sort of stretch
all the way across the bridge, touching both sides at the same
time. And as I, as my hand hit the,
the beam to my right hand side, I got the biggest splinter in
(09:26):
the world. I mean, it went straight into my
finger. It's probably over a centimeter
long. And I immediately retracted and
screamed at the top of my voice and it hurt, mate.
It hurt. It hurt a lot.
I hate, hate to say it, but it was all caught on camera in two
photos of 1 of me just about to touch the bridge and then the
(09:47):
other one of me looking at my finger in agony.
It's all, it's comical, it really is.
But it, I mean opposite, it hurta lot.
Oh. My goodness, Yeah.
That sounds like quite a painfulexperience.
I mean, thank God that you are amember of Safety Wing.
Use our promo code for the best travel insurance out there.
Because if you hadn't, I mean, how would you have I've ever got
that splinter removed. I mean, a splinter, though, it's
(10:07):
the sort of thing that it, it really hurt and it was massive.
It was massive for a splinter. But small for a building
material, so it's all swings around the house, I mean.
It's also the sort of thing you don't really want to bring up.
And then when I did bring it up,because I, I didn't know where
maybe there was a first aid kit on board or, you know, a pair of
tweezers or whatever that my partner might have had People
(10:28):
make a fuss of you, but you don't want them to make as much
of A fuss as they are because it's only a splinter.
And even, you know it, it sort of ripples went around the group
and other people were coming up to me going, oh, you're right, I
heard you got a splinter. Is everything OK?
I've heard there was someone in this group that's been
tragically maimed by a bridge. I was asking whether their
insurance covers it and all thissort of stuff, but it was the
(10:50):
sort of splinter that goes in sodeep.
So it comes out through your ears that.
Was in my finger. It was a it was awful.
I I can still see the the remnants of it here, the damage.
But anyway, All in all mate, it was a very very good sort.
You can't argue that it was worth the money because it was
free. Would I pay $300.00 for it?
Probably not. Yeah.
(11:11):
I see your eyebrows raising. It is per person, if that's what
you were going to ask me. And the other thing is there's a
very famous filming location. I know you're a Lord of the
Rings fan. Do you remember when?
What's that elvish sort of queenor something?
And she she basically conjures. Galadriel.
Ah, when? Yeah.
Potentially she conjures up a load of white horses from the
white water of a river and they fight off these.
(11:34):
Is it Nasgal or Ringwraiths pursuing Frodo and Co?
So that's exactly that. That scene that I'm describing
is exactly where it was filmed. Yeah, that's our win, mate, and
that's a very ancient magic thatshe's using there to get rid of
it as Nasgul, so it should do you right to show her some
fucking respect. I thought you could say that I
should probably contact her, seeif she could help me getting the
(11:55):
splinter out my finger. Yeah, Liv Taylor on the pod next
week, of course. Yeah.
Yeah, it was good fun, mate. It was good fun.
It was adventurous, it was thrilling.
We didn't roll off the edge of the Cliff so it remains New
Zealand's the most dangerous Rd.with absolutely no accidents.
But when we came back to Queenstown in less than 48
hours, believe it or not, the whole thing was closed and
(12:17):
everyone's access was blocked because of the road conditions
being well frankly very unsafe for for tourists and other
passersby and travellers. So they basically blocked off
the entire road and now you can't access it and it was due
to some a fear of landslides andand other things.
So we missed it by the skin of our teeth just.
The fear of them with no, no evidence that one might actually
(12:39):
occur. Well, I'm glad that you.
I'm pretty sure now it's becauseof geological tests and
assessments. And of course maybe, maybe it
got back to the local council that I'd got a splinter and they
didn't want any of the smoke. I'm sure.
Well, I'm. Glad you're starting to have
some adventures because I think that you've been cooped up in
Queenstown for quite some time and I'll show them.
We'll hear much more of them in the coming weeks.
(13:00):
Speaking of adventures though, and you going on adventures and
the kind of adventures that are a little bit off the beaten
track, I have collaborated with Vagabot to conjure up something
quite special for you in an itemthat we've always liked to call
Alan's Miscellaneous Travel Item.
(13:26):
It's the one thing I can't live without, I swear.
Travel items galore, Adam. Basically this week me and
Vagabot have been discussing that they're all travel AI that
we love so much. I've talked to him, them, they,
she, and we've decided to start a little travel agent company.
(13:50):
OK, with A twist. All right, I like the sound of
this. I'm engaged, yeah.
Well, I was inspired by a previous episode where we
discussed AI errors when it cameto planning adventures.
So me and Vagabot have come up with four obscure off the beaten
track locations and we're gonna send you free of charge to three
(14:12):
of them in this hypothetical test.
But one of them is a fake fictional AI location, so you've
got to choose which three you want to go on, trying
desperately to avoid the mistruth.
OK, interesting. I like the idea.
I mean, this is obviously going to test my geology knowledge.
I suppose not. Geology, Adam.
That's rocks. This will test your geographical
(14:33):
knowledge. Sorry, I've got rocks.
Rocks on the brain. Yeah.
Geography. Yeah, I was.
I was never going to either, actually.
Yeah. OK.
So shall we start with, I'm going to read the locations to
you and then you just have to say, you know, as we go along,
you'll decide which ones of these you want to go to and try
and find the fake. OK, well, what if I the, the
(14:55):
approach I'm going to take just to flesh it out a little bit is,
is which one I would genuinely, or which three I would genuinely
want to go to the most, irrespective of whether I think
they're fake or not, OK. Well, then also use, you can use
that. Obviously one of them is written
by me, so, but I've tried to sell them all.
So you just got to choose which one you think is fake as well.
(15:15):
Yeah, the first place, mate. You may have heard of some of
these, you may not have. You just got to figure out.
I'm going to take you to SocotraIsland.
Here you can wander through ancient Dragon's blood tree
forests, swim in bioluminescent lagoons, and explore limestone
(15:37):
labyrinths. Socotra Island.
OK, I've I've not heard of it. So it absolutely could have been
something that was invented. It sounds fantastic.
Bioluminescence and limestone. OK, I don't know really that
much about whether those two things are normally in the same
environment. Would be handy if I did.
(15:58):
OK, well maybe if I did I'd be interested in going piece it.
Together, piece it together. That's Socotra Island.
Would you like location #2? Yeah.
Go for it. Tristan Dacunya Tristan Tristan
Dacunya is one of the most remote islands in the world.
Here you can hike to a dormant volcano.
(16:19):
You can spot Penguins, fur sealsand albatross.
Bit of a natures lovers place. That's Tristan de Cunha.
OK, what's throwing me off is that I think Tristan de Cunha is
also the name of a well known house DJ.
Oh. Yeah.
So as nice as it sounds and look, artists these days name
(16:41):
themselves after many different things.
Islands even. Yeah, there's absolutely no
reason why they can't have namedthemselves after this island
after having an amazing experience spotting fur seals
and albatross. Yeah, exactly.
Is he a fur seal that DJ? Albatross is.
Is that the plural? Probably Albatrai, yeah.
That's three of them. All right mate, here we go.
(17:04):
Location #3 Pookie. Pookie.
Excellent. Pookie, Pookie, you can hike to
ancient basalt monoliths. They exist there, right?
You can go to lagoons formed over 2.5 million years ago and
see phosphorescent species of fish, and you can visit the
(17:25):
drumming cave, which is this acoustically resonant cave where
ancient civilizations would bangon The Cave structures and
create these drumming patterns. Pookie.
Pookie. OK, Pookie Pookie sounds pretty
cool. Sounds like something I want to
connect with and experience. There's one there's one more to
go, isn't there? There's.
(17:45):
One more. There's one more if you want to
hear about it. Pookie, Pookie, that's gone
straight in the top spot, I think.
The 4th destination is the Danakil Depression.
The Danakil Depression. They've got hydrothermal fields
that you'll have ever such an effervescent time wandering
around on your way to visit these.
(18:06):
You've got neon green and yellowacid pools and an open lava
volcano. It's an adventure holiday for
two. OK, this sound for two.
This sounds also attractive. It's difficult for me to choose
anyone other than Tristan Dacunya because I actually
(18:29):
haven't heard of any of the other 3.
So I would be like going againstnot only my gut instincts but
what my brain is telling me. Because I know that that name is
associated for me in my life andmy perception of reality is
associated with something else. It might as well be called so
just to. Recap You've got Socotra Island,
Tristan de Cunha, Pookie, Pookie, and Danica Depression.
(18:54):
Danica depression sounds pretty awful.
Yeah, almost like an old yeah. It doesn't really sound like the
name of anywhere, but then yeah.I can't go out tonight.
I've obviously been hit with theDani killed depression.
No one goes out in Dani killed depression.
Do they let me just chat, mopingaround, dragging their heels the
whole time? No, it says.
Bagabot says nightlife is lacking, but there are some salt
(19:17):
flats as well which I didn't mention.
So flats. Wait.
Can't be. Can't be that.
Then depression. Oh, maybe it means depression as
in. Now you're using the old noggin.
Are using the old noggin. Forget that bit where I said
geology instead of geography. Yeah, now, now we're using our
brain. OK, well, let's cut to the
chase. I'm going to have to go for
Tristan Dacunya as being the onethat I choose.
(19:39):
Not as much as I like fur seals and albatross and whatever the
other animal was that you could potentially see there.
I'm going to go plump for the other three.
Actually. Sign me up.
Unfortunately mate, you have missed out on a wonderful
holiday exploring what are the most remote inhabited islands in
the world in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Tristan Dacunya. You've lost out on an
(20:01):
unforgettable experience there, mate.
OK, well then are you going to are you going to tell me which
one was in fact fictitious? Yeah, I'll tell you which one
that I created, which one I madeand would you like to have one
more guest before I do? I am.
Maybe now I'm overthinking it. I'm sort of thinking about order
effects and which one you would have tabled first.
(20:23):
I do think I've heard it's a Coach Rose.
It's spelled SE or with AQ. Is it?
Is it the Q that's S? OCOTRA.
Interesting. All right, well, let's say
that's the fake one because you started with it.
Try to get out of the way early.Oh, you've missed out on a
wonderful journey of to an island near the Yemen, mate,
(20:43):
unfortunately. Oh really?
Yeah, the fake place is Pookie Pookie, which is actually a sort
of Filipino egg. Egg fried aubergine.
Right, Pookie, Pookie. So I know that maybe I didn't.
I wanted to sound like a sort ofHawaiian island, you know well.
It definitely does. I mean, there's even places in
(21:05):
New Zealand that don't turn to dissimilar to Pookie.
Pookie. There you go.
So you missed out on an unforgettable experience there.
I think that me and Vagabot do have a future scamming people
with our brand new travel agency.
Very expensive. A trip to Pookie.
Pookie, I might gather. So I am going to start that
business. Me and Vagaboot.
Hope you enjoyed the show and we'll do that again.
(21:25):
I enjoyed that, but now we've got to listen to a listener as
they tell us their greatest travel story.
They've gone to tribologypodcast.com/tales of a
trip and recorded 3 minutes of the wildest thing in all of
travel that's ever happened to them.
Let's hear what they had to say,OK?
I guess we'll call this, you know, shit you're not supposed
(21:48):
to do in Colombia. I'm an American citizen.
I've been living abroad for a little over 10 years now.
And the first couple years in Colombia, I was like everyone
else. I went crazy with all the
beautiful women and, you know, the life here just like, so
crazy, like I decided to change my career.
(22:12):
But that's not that story. This story is about how we got
robbed. My wife and I started our own
webcam studio in our, you know, luxury apartment and a very
trendy place in in in Medigene. And then one Sunday afternoon my
(22:32):
future mother-in-law was supposed to come over for lunch.
My sister-in-law had been livingwith us at the time.
She had just gotten out of the shower so my my then girlfriend
and I went to go have a shower together.
During that shower together, 5 armed Venezuelan men broke into
my building and then kicked in my door and ran down the hall,
(22:57):
kicked in my bedroom door and through my wife and my my half
naked wife and myself and my half naked sister-in-law to the
floor and held a gun to the backof our heads and proceeded to
rob me. For over the course of four
hours. They stole everything.
You know, they even went throughmy clothes and took my
underwear. Then they proceeded to try and
(23:20):
rob every other condo in the building.
They very nearly succeeded, but they were, I guess they ran out
of time. They said that they were going
to kidnap me, drug me, take me to ATM.
You know, I got hit with a crowbar a few times.
I stood in front of the gun point pointed at my
(23:41):
sister-in-law, my mother-in-law.I'm sorry.
My sister-in-law and my and my then girlfriend, my, my, my
wife, my mother-in-law actually did show up did halfway through
the robbery because again, she was coming over to have lunch
with us. They met her at the door and
then tied her up also. And yes, they stole all my
(24:02):
webcam equipment, my computers and all my lighting.
Everything. They sold everything.
They even took a bite out of thecake that was in the fridge.
Wow. I mean, thank you so much to
Sean for sending in that harrowing tale, Adam.
I mean, any thoughts you have, it's an absolute insult to
injury to have also taken a biteout of the cake, isn't it?
(24:25):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
I mean I feel bad for even mentioning the cake because
because of how horrendous the experience must have be.
I think we're in horrendous times like that.
It's good to reach for a piece of levity, and indeed, in that
story, the levity comes in the form of that cake being eaten.
Oh yeah, the the voice message cuts off at that moment.
(24:46):
And they it's a great line to finish on in this from a
storytelling perspective. We even took a bite of a cake in
the fridge. But yeah, absolutely horrendous.
Awful, about as bad as it could have gone really without anyone.
I mean, hopefully, obviously, hopefully no one was injured,
but in terms of being traumatised for the rest of your
life, potentially. Then they went on to to try and
(25:11):
rob the entire apartment block. I mean, I don't think there's
any avoiding that. Well, actually.
Followed up with this listener and I've got some additional
information and I do know that no one was hurt, although it was
an incredible inconvenience to them that all this happened
obviously, and it was like psychologically very traumatic.
But I think, I mean it's just awful, isn't it?
(25:32):
It's awful to live in a house, in a home, in an apartment,
whatever it was, and have suddenly this horrible maelstrom
of aggression and thievery enterthe building and like, cause all
that mayhem. But.
I think it also, but when, when push comes to shove in extreme
circumstances, you do find out what you're made of.
(25:53):
And I haven't got faith that, you know, if I was in that same
situation, I've got absolutely no idea how I would react at
all. I don't think I've, I've been in
a situation like that ever before and obviously fingers
crossed on I'm not in one again.But the closest you've come to
that is probably the mugging in Johannesburg isn't, yeah.
Well, you might surprise yourself, I think, because you
(26:15):
don't really know how you'll react in those situations until
you've been in one. I mean, for me, the Johannesburg
mugging after it happened was when I could be brave or stupid
or whatever you think. As it happened, I was just being
robbed. I was behaving like someone who
was being robbed and following the steps of that.
And I imagine this listener as well, when a gun's put to your
(26:36):
head, there's a there's a limit,unless you're like Keanu Reeves
or in one of his role that he plays.
I think Keanu himself actually probably just but you know,
unless you're like an action movie character, you're not
going to do anything right you other than just do what they
tell you. And as well you should.
(26:56):
And the same with me in the Johannesburg muggy.
It's like when you're being robbed, you just, you're just
going along with whatever they tell you to do.
And then after that, I was able to think and be like, oh, I
wonder if I can get my passport back.
OK, I'll go and ask whether that's brave or stupid.
That's we'll leave that to the listener.
But it's just it's horrible thatthese things happen.
And the worst thing about it, I think, is like, there's not
(27:16):
really that much to learn from asituation like that.
It's just unfortunate. You could like be OK, this part
of medicine is not safe. I'll move somewhere else, but
probably is safe 90% of the time, you know?
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I, I don't know if you
remember about 20 minutes ago, Iwas telling a story of me
getting a splinter in it, ruining my day.
So it's now now hearing the story from from Sean about how
(27:40):
how he was set up on by an armedgang and had a gun pointed at
him. I it.
Puts the splinter in perspectivefor you.
Yeah, you could say that. I mean, honestly, it's obviously
not to deter anyone from going to Columbia or going to
mezzanine. It's just one of those
extraordinary, we hope, extraordinary things that
(28:01):
sometimes happens when when you're abroad, when the rules
don't apply, the same rules thatyou know, from back home, let's
say, don't, don't apply. I just don't think they could
have really done anything differently.
It doesn't sound like they put themselves in danger.
And maybe the way that things turned out, given the
circumstances, was about as goodas it was going to get.
(28:22):
The, the world is a dangerous place and therefore travelling
the world is a dangerous activity to some extent.
But this listener was living in in the place.
And I think that often times when you're travelling, you can
kind of keep a bit more low profile than someone who's set
up with a business and all that sort of thing.
You know, staying in hostels andstuff is probably less likely to
(28:44):
be a target. So I think, you know, as always,
just stay cautious out there. Look after yourselves.
And keep the stories coming in, keep the stories coming, keep,
keep sending them in. We'd love to hear from you.
We'll play them live on the show.
Thanks very much for listening to another episode of Tropology
Podcast. Now, we're going to go off into
the Lost and Found section, of course, thepatreon.com/tropology
(29:07):
podcast, where you can sign up to the Lost and Found, where I'm
going to tell Alan a funny storythat my tour guide told me when
I was on that trip. And it involved a couple of
people, funnily enough, blowing themselves up with some
dynamite. Yeah, so.
Nice, I can't wait to hear it. If you enjoy the show, you want
to support us, please head over to the Patreon.
It's a really lovely community of listeners over there.
But now we'll blast off and see you next week.
(29:31):
We'll see you then. Bye.
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