October 18, 2025 • 33 mins
We discover the surprising origins of India's most famous dish: Butter Chicken. Adam relives his India food adventures, sharing his experience of eating at Gulati Restaurant in Delhi, touted as the best butter chicken in India. We ask: Was butter chicken actually invented in Pakistan? And why are two Delhi restaurants fighting over the original recipe?
Acclimatise quickly, as Tales of a Trip reaches new heights! We hear from a digital nomad who summits mountains for fun, whilst carrying a bag of his own... Neither altitude sickness nor food poisoning will stop this hiker from reaching the top!
Alun reflects on his time in Siargao, debating whether to stay longer or move on. 4 Months of surfing and jiujitsu has been great but the thresher sharks in Malapascua aren't going to swim with themselves!
Submit your travel stories: https://www.tripologypodcast.com/talesofatrip
Joey Travels Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homeless.digitalnomad/
Gulati Restaurant, Delhi: https://www.gulatirestaurant.in/
Need travel insurance? We recommend SafetyWing! Click here to get started: https://safetywing.com/?referenceID=26035801&utm_source=26035801&utm_medium=Ambassador
Require an onward flight? Please use this fantastic flight rental service: https://onwardticket.com/tripologypodcast
Discord: https://discord.gg/gztSSwBg
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tripologypodcast/
Website: https://www.tripologypodcast.com
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@tripologypodcast
X: https://x.com/tripologypod
Thank you, as always, for your continued support. It means the world.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Hello and welcome to this episode of Tripology.
It's the only backpacking show where the hosts don't even
bother to take their belts off when they're going through
airport security. I'm Alan and I'm here with the
ever decisive Adam. Ever so nice to be back mate.
Thank you everyone for joining us.
We really do appreciate it. Wicked show today we're going to
(00:22):
have a little catch up as we normally do.
I've been making some decisions on my side.
I know you've got some decisionsto make on your side.
And then we've got rice for breakfast back by popular
demand, we're going to cover a dish that's very buttery and
very chickeny. And then of course, we've got
Tales of a trip where we're going to hear from one of you
guys. Well, I'm excited to hear your
review of chicken with butter ontop of it.
Very, very nice. One of my old Mancunian
(00:45):
favourites. I bet it's a good good Curry
scene up in Manchester. Of I mean we have a literal mile
of Curry stretching all the way off into the distance.
So they call it Curry Mile. Sometimes people say that.
Yep. That's not the morning after
anyway. It's too early in the episode to
to do a poo joke anyway. We've been making some decisions
haven't we made? What's going on in your side?
(01:06):
Well, I'm just sort of trying toweigh up whether I stay in
Shagao. I I want to go home for
Christmas basically at the time of recording, this is sort of
piercing through October with with alarming rate.
So sort of I gotta go home for Christmas.
Do I leave Shagao and try to desperately get some more
Philippines in, or do I make sure I experience everything I
(01:31):
want to experience in Chagao before leaving?
You know what I'm like because there's two schools of thought
in there. I'm like, OK, look, you're in
the Philippines, you've got rented accommodation.
It's really nice. You've got friends, you've got
training here. Just stay put.
And then you like, have everything you need to go home
for Christmas or do you leave? But then once you get on the
(01:52):
frame wave or I'm going to leave, you're like, oh, well,
oh, I'll go to here in the Philippines.
But then Borneo is quite close by.
So I'll go to Borneo really quickly.
And then, oh, God, you're not that far from Georgia.
Remember Kuala Lumpur, that timeyou spent in the jungle with
those? Koalas.
Yeah, no, of course. Well, this is the big dilemma
(02:15):
that a lot of travellers have iswhen when they do stop and they
either stay in one place for a long time, recharge the literal
and metaphorical batteries and also maybe try and accrue a
little bit of money in order to go to the next destination.
You end up making decisions, making friends.
You, you basically like, I don'tknow, you make commitments, you
have jobs, contracts, cars, all these different relationships
(02:37):
and things. So it obviously is much more
difficult to RIP yourself away from it.
Once you've been somewhere for alittle while.
I've been here in Chagao since July.
The, the things that you accumulate that make it a little
bit harder to leave. Obviously it's not a huge
barrier to leaving, but part of it's like, oh, well, you know,
I've got that. I've got that big bag of, of
rice. So I don't want to waste that.
(02:59):
So I'll stay just another few days.
I bought that liquid soap that'squite a lot.
So I'll try and use that before I go.
And you know, I've, I've paid rent up until this day.
It's hard to stay up until then.You like, it's so easy to put up
barriers. I basically think what I'm going
to do is stay in Shagao until the end of October and then get
another month of travelling the Philippines in and I'll I'll
(03:23):
just go home in December. And do you think that you've
explored Shagao at sort of a, a slow pace?
You've just done things as and when do you feel like you've
become accustomed to what it's really like to live in Shagao?
Or did you do loads of stuff at the very beginning and now
you're and now you? There was that obviously that
middle section in the middle where you now you're just living
(03:45):
your life, going to jiu jitsu and surfing and there's still a
stack of shit to do and you're like, oh fuck, I really should
have been ticking some of that stuff.
Off. Yeah, kind of.
I mean, there's not Charlie Gow's not known for having a a
bunch of stuff to do other than surfing.
Oh, right. But I will say I've probably
seen and done less than you would if you were only staying
for three weeks. Seen and done less, really.
(04:05):
I think that's normal because I like, for the first two weeks I
packed a bunch in and then I waslike, Oh well, you know, I'm
here for so long, I'll just livefor a little while.
And then there's other things upnorth and stuff that I just
haven't done because I just didn't need to because I was
here for a long time. Yeah, yeah.
Well, just so we can visualize it, me and all the listeners,
how long does it take to drive from one end of the island to
(04:27):
the other? Like 2 1/2 hours.
Oh, OK. And you?
Is there a road that goes all the way round the outside?
Kind of, it gets a bit sketchy as you go up north.
Oh yeah, Well, because of the people there, because of the
quality of the road now. Because of the roads A.
Load of wild pigs trying to get their own back.
(04:47):
OK, Well, well, yeah. I mean, whatever you, whatever
decision you do make will be theright one, I'm sure.
I don't know. I don't know if I'm really in a
position to tell you to do one or the other, to be honest.
I I think maybe can I just throwthe cat amongst the pigeons and
ask you a question? That's not going to go well.
Is it a cat among pigeons? It'll have somebody's eye.
Out. But we've spoken about this a
(05:09):
few times on the podcast before,and it is sort of a question
that I've been, it's been at theforefront of my mind over the
last few weeks because I'm aboutto make a big decision as well.
Do you think you're going to go back to shotgun?
Listen mate, I suppose the problem is I've always thought I
was going to go back to somewhere.
If you told me when I left Hanoifor the first time in 2015 that
(05:31):
now in 2025, I wouldn't have been back, I simply would not
have believed it. Yeah, yeah, it's the trouble.
Like categorically, I just been oh, you're an idiot.
Who are you? Cassandra, the ancient Greek
soothsayer? Why don't you fuck off?
But lo and behold, you'd have been correct, wouldn't you?
(05:52):
And now it's very easy to be like, oh, I know I've got my jiu
jitsu here. I'll come back whenever I'm in
the area. But the fact is I am here.
Japan, I ain't been to South Korea, I ain't been to North
Korea. I've never set 1 foot in Papua
New Guinea. There's just so many things that
I want to do which are always going to have a novelty factor
for me. So perhaps the likelihood is I
won't return to Shagao in the near future.
(06:14):
And I'm kind of entering this new phase of my travel life
where I'm not so concerned with making sure I've done everything
I used to really want to check all the boxes and be like, oh,
that waterfall, of course I've been there.
That little pygmy rhinoceros up in the north, of course I've
seen him. But that's not necessarily the
(06:35):
case anymore. I think I would go and see the
pygmy rhinoceros, but the waterfall I'm not bothered about
you've. Obviously lived a very different
experience to a lot of people that just go there for a couple
of weeks. Yeah, exactly.
If someone's like, did you not see that waterfall, you idiots?
Amazing. I'd be like, did you not have
that little hello, hello on thatstand that you only know if
you've been there for three months, did you not?
(06:56):
You're an idiot. Well, the last, the first and
last time I've had a hello. Hello was of course with you
when we were in. I think it was my last day,
wasn't it? In Manila, Exactly.
Bloody abomination, The thing is.
Proof, if proof needs be. Well mate, you will keep us
updated, won't you? Of course I, I don't know what
you're going to do, but I think you have got a lot of things you
(07:17):
want to do. You got a lot of places you want
to see and the shark girls not going anywhere, not anytime
soon. So maybe it's time you pop on a
plane and get over to Borneo. Well, I've just paid another
month's rent, so it seems unlikely.
The flights are going to be so much more expensive towards
Christmas. Alan, what are you doing now?
(07:39):
You haven't got access to my credit card.
I, I think I'm in a phase of life where it's more important
that I learn to stay put and achieve all the things that I
want to achieve from the base before I go making excuses and
like, oh, I've not quite achieved all the business things
I want to achieve. Quick, go to Borneo.
Look at orangutan is like, no, no, stay true to the course.
Start some businesses. OK.
(08:01):
No. So, so are we going to see you
sort of moving from base to basenow?
Are you going to be in each location for longer?
That's probably the case, yeah. That's awesome mate, I can't
wait. Well, a little birdie told me
the next one might be Japan, so you know, I don't need too many
excuses to get over there myself.
Yeah, I appreciate you calling me a little birdie.
It makes me feel self-conscious.Self-conscious.
(08:29):
Most of the things I know have been told to me by you,
actually. So yeah, everybody in in
Queenstown thinks I'm so wise. I like it when you do it.
You got a little birdie, told me, oh, did he, About my life.
This is a very informative bird that keeps on flying on your
windows, though, and espousing information that I also have
told you just moments before. That bird must be, well,
(08:50):
frustrated every time it comes up to you.
You're like, I already know I got it from the horse's mouth.
So don't call it that. Yeah, my goodness, mate, I've
been making some big decisions myself as well.
Tell me about them. Well, I can keep it pretty short
and sweet. I've fallen out of love with
Queenstown, I think, and I don'treally know if I was ever in
love with it. I don't know how long I wanted
(09:12):
to stay here, but I don't think it's quite the town for me.
And it's incredibly difficult tolive here and make huge sums of
money, as all the other backpackers will tell you.
So I've sort of got to that stage where I'm just living here
and working to exist here, whichisn't that fun.
And there's so much to see. And now I've got the camper van
on the driveway. I mean what my what am I even
(09:34):
doing? I'm sorry to hear that mate.
Would you like to do maybe a brief role play in which I play
Queenstown and you break up withme?
Why not? Why not?
Yeah, Well, I have to. Don't know that the rules of
improvisation, you just say yes to everything.
You go with it. Yeah.
Adam, it's been so nice to have you inside of me and you've been
(09:55):
such an excellent inhabitant andI'm just glad you're having a
lovely time here. Well, that's that's the thing,
I'm afraid. I've I haven't been having a
lovely time. There's been, but we've got we.
Well, we've got Ferg Burger and we've got, you know, work
opportunities and the rent is, you know, somewhat.
Extortionate. Yeah, yeah, there's one too many
(10:15):
brownouts for my liking in Queenstown.
Problem with this relationship. Yeah, but you've got a
self-contained van with that canstore it to 24 litres of human
shit so. I mean, I just think the time's
come. I think the relationship's run
its course. I, I did think that, you know,
in obviously at the beginning, there was that initial
attraction there. I was very fond of you.
(10:37):
You said all the right things. But now, after getting to know
you, I've actually seen that it's all sort of surface level
and it's not really much to you at all apart from a few bells
and whistles. OK, it's getting a bit real for
me in this role play. Hold on, are you from Belize?
(10:59):
Oh God, there'll be some long time listeners who will like
that reference. But no, in all seriousness,
mate, it's, it's a good place tohave some fun if you've got eye
watering sums of cash to, to blow, because there are some
wonderful things to do around Queenstown to use it as a base.
I, I really do mean that. I mean, there is a lot of stuff
to do here and it is fantastic. But if you're going to live and
(11:21):
work here in order to try and generate any sort of money to
then propel yourself off into doing some, some really exciting
stuff, then it does get a littlebit difficult.
There's a core community of people here.
But I have found, actually I'm going to go on record saying
this, the backpackers I've come across which are, I don't know,
I would say quite significant interms of size.
(11:42):
We're talking in the hundreds for sure.
They tend to be people that either came here Once Upon a
time on a working holiday visa and just stayed and they've been
here for 10 years, or they're people that are very new to
travel and then have just arrived here and haven't gone
and done anything else just yet.So very rarely do you come
across someone who's been on theroad non-stop backpacking
(12:03):
through like Central Asia or anyof this sort of stuff in
Queenstown. It tends to be one of the two
groups I mentioned from my experience.
Well, I personally never understood the appeal of
Queenstown. I was surprised when you told me
that you're going to be living there.
So there's no great news to me or a shock.
If anything, I'm rather happy for you for just sort of seeing
it for what it is and choosing to leave, and I'm very excited
(12:25):
to. Again, I'm desperate to hear
about your adventures in that van, so please make use of it
and get inside it. That'll be it mate, so you know
what comes next. It's going to be the dismantling
of another life and moving on tothe next one your own.
And this time, I hope, after thelegal complications.
(12:46):
A little birdie told me that that was all being swept under
the carpet. Oh, yeah.
No, no. My own life, of course.
Yeah, it's. Yeah.
Everything's got to get sold. I've got to all get all the
money out of the bank accounts. I've got to quit all the jobs
I've got, you know, all the stuff.
You you become an expert at thissort of thing.
What people think it's going to take six months, including all
of the difficult goodbyes. Usually takes a matter of days.
There you go. Well, I'm excited.
(13:06):
At least one of us will be doingsome hectic kind of travel, so
I'm excited to hear about that. You know me though mate,
Whenever I think about travel, whenever I think about getting
on the road, dismantling a life and just moving about, it makes
me ever so hungry. I'm glad you said that mate,
because I'm absolutely starving.It's rice for breakfast.
Rice for breakfast. You come and have rice for
(13:29):
breakfast. Here it is mate.
It's the latest addition of ricefor breakfast.
Have you missed it? I.
Have missed it because oftentimes when I'm eating eggs
for breakfast I think what an idiot.
Are you still doing the eggs your way or my way now?
I know, but I do think about theway you cook eggs often and it
(13:50):
makes me feel sick. But how many people have you met
that have had your eggs that have said they're the best eggs
they've ever had? Well, this is yeah, because,
because I wanted to tell you this, because I really, I'm
going to use this. They're just.
Going to shut the argument down.Yeah, I am, because I think, I
think it's a hollow compliment to get because I, I think
(14:11):
basically it's just so difficultto even communicate this.
But I I think what you do is make them eggs and look at them
so expectantly that they feel uncomfortable not saying
anything. The person that's eating them,
you eat. Because it's you, I think you go
and sit down that you like servethem the egg.
What I do, I make them the eggs.I go there you go mate.
Got you some eggs. Much love.
And then I walk off. What you do is make them this
(14:33):
mosh handed to them and then sitlooking in their eyes like as if
to say, are these the best eggs you've ever had?
They get increasingly uncomfortable as they're eating.
And then just go, yeah, they're the best I've ever had.
Stop looking at me like that. And there you go.
You're not the first person who said that to me.
The common denominator denominator actually being me
(14:54):
staring them down until they have to say something
complimentary. Well.
There, that's what I think happens.
There is a lot of butter in my eggs.
That's the secret, guys. If you're wondering at home,
what's the difference? I put a hell of a lot of butter
in those eggs and serve them wet.
And there's a lot of butter in this dish that we're going to be
talking about today. It is, of course, the very
iconic, the very famous, the ubiquitous and loved the world
(15:16):
over. It's a butter chicken, mate.
Wow. It was the last time you had a
butter. Chicken would have been when I
was in India. Yeah, I did have a butter
chicken when I was in India, butit might have only been one.
And it's the well. No, it wasn't because you went
to deli and basically I'm led tobelieve, bullied everyone you
spoke to there and to tell you where the best deli but a
chicken restaurant was and went to every single one on the list.
(15:40):
No, no, no, no, no. I didn't do my own.
My own sort of discovery, deadlydiscovery through butter
chicken. I just got a recommendation from
my ex-girlfriend who whom I was with at the time and we went
together and that's the one I talked to you about now.
I mean not. Just to 1 though.
I think I only had what? I just went straight in at the
top. I know it's not like me, is it?
(16:01):
It's not like me at all. If you don't know what butter
chicken is and you're listening to this podcast, I'll be very,
very surprised how however it is.
Of course a bit of marinated chicken and a tomato based
gravy, Few spices in there of course.
And then your coconut and cashewcream.
That's how you have it on Curry Marl in Manchester.
Isn't it sweet? I'll bet.
Well, with cashew cream, yeah, I'll bet it's sweet.
(16:22):
We've never heard of cashew cream in Manchester mate.
And then and then of course, loads of butter or ghee.
The history is really interesting.
The history are you? Laughing at the word gay.
(16:42):
The word gay. But am I going to have to
explain what gay is now? Clarified butter.
Yeah, just carry on. Anyway, the history is really
interesting mate. It dates back you.
You will find this interesting, I know you will because it
involves a little place called Peshawar in in Pakistan.
Oh. Home of the Peshawar Re Naan.
Exactly. Yeah, quite a sweet style of
(17:05):
naan actually. But there's a there's a
restaurant called Moti Mahal Mahal in Old Delhi and people
think that they created this dish in the 1950s.
If you go on the Internet, that's what they'll say.
However, there were people involved in opening that
restaurant way back when the theIT actually moved location to
Delhi after the Partition around19471950, whatever.
(17:27):
But the family involved in that restaurant say they were making
the butter chicken long before that in the 1930s in Pakistan.
Now obviously there are some other Indian restaurants that
are challenging that, so much sothat this restaurant have filed
A lawsuit against one of the other restaurants to the tune of
240 thousand U.S. dollars in damages.
(17:50):
U.S. dollars. Wow.
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's a lot of money in it over, over the
province and the the sort of legacy.
Of the butter chicken well. If you created something as as
world renowned and as as iconic as the butter chicken, the
original recipe, and then someone else is trying to claim
it for themselves and then obviously winning business
potentially off your restaurant as a result, I can understand
(18:13):
how that would that would do some damage it.
Wouldn't have gone that far mate.
Don't think so. You think it would be shut down,
You just get I'll go in there, wouldn't I?
I'd eat both and I'd say no, there's it better, sorry.
OK, so there's big disputes overthe butter chicken.
Yeah, etymology. Big disputes, but how
interesting that it maybe comes from Pakistan as well, because
we didn't have anything like that over in over in Pakistan
(18:34):
from memory. I didn't see the a chicken in
but I mean I could believe that the buttered lamb came from
Pakistan. I think you can have it.
I think you can have it. But yeah, I mean, the best
butter chicken that I've ever had in my life was in Delhi.
It was in a restaurant called Gulati.
I will put the description and in the description I'll put
obviously the notes and the location, that sort of stuff.
(18:55):
If you happen to be in India, inDelhi and you want a butter
chicken. But honestly, the one I had was
nothing like any butter chicken I've ever had.
In a bad way. Like it was, it was.
It was unrelated, almost. Like maybe I'm going to echo
what a lot of people listening to this might echo, which is I
don't if you're choosing a butter chicken, a Curry house,
(19:18):
the the chances are you haven't had that much Indian food.
And I know I said that about thepad Thai for Thailand as well,
but the the pad Thai to Thailandis what the butter chicken is to
India is very rarely outside of India, the most interesting
thing on the menu. It's what people who don't like
Curry. Yeah, that is true.
It's the, it's the. It's that or a korma, isn't it?
(19:39):
Yeah, or a tikka masala, which apparently does have its roots
in in the UK. Yeah.
Do you like Curry? Yeah, I love coconut and butter.
I think you like sugar actually,and not much spice at all.
What's your favorite Curry? Dairy Milk.
This was head and shoulders above most of the most of those
(19:59):
chicken dishes I've ever had made.
It was served in a copper pot. This gigantic thing comes out
chicken legs bone in. You never see that in a Curry
house, do you? No, no.
You don't eat Curry that often, obviously.
I thought about it, but no, turns out you don't.
Huge chunks of chicken bone in and the sauce, It was just
(20:21):
unbelievable. It was much spicier than you
probably would have imagined, which is not something we found
in India very frequently. Yeah, because we famously both
think that Curry in India is notspicy and that the word spicy is
a bit of a mistranslation, meaning fragrant.
Yeah, I think there's probably some truth to that.
Although, you know, I was obviously with my ex-girlfriend
(20:41):
at the time who is Indian. So I said can you please make
sure it just comes however it's supposed to come.
It doesn't need to blow our heads off, but I would like it
to come as it's supposed to come.
Very, very rich. It was, it's a bit smoky as
well. I would have said super
concentrated sort of tomato flavour.
But the the flavour of the butter, I remember having the
first taste and I thought, oh, no wonder they call it fucking
(21:03):
butter chicken. It was unbelievable.
It was so, so buttery, almost tothe point where it was
overpowering. But because of the previous
butter chickens, I'd had. Not because it shouldn't have
been that buttery, but because I'd obviously become accustomed
to just. Are watered down butter chicken,
Yeah. Cashew cream, coconut cream,
whatever sugar and and I don't know like tomato soupy kind of
(21:25):
artificial flavour or whatever it's they use.
Anyway, it was absolutely sensational and I would highly
recommend if you are in Delhi, go to Gulati restaurant.
It is a bit more upmarket. It is middle of the road.
You do have to put your name down and queue outside and this
sort of stuff. It's not that this local joint,
there's just a few chairs by theside of the road.
It is a proper brick and mortar restaurant with, you know, fancy
(21:47):
weight is walking around and that sort of stuff.
But it is absolutely amazing. And guess how much it cost me?
I've forgotten what the exchangewas, so I'm going to say.
You can say in pounds. ₹500. No, it's more than that. ₹1000
But. Yeah, it was just under ₹1000,
which is about £7.50. It's pretty good to have got
that on the second guess, considering I have no idea how
(22:09):
much that is, yeah. Well, I think maybe you won't
remember, but we were having some Talies, which are, you
know, these big platters where you get multiple dishes and
comes with a little bread or whatever sometimes for about
300, three ₹150. OK.
Yeah. So 1000 is quite expensive.
Yeah, Is it certainly expensive for your average Indian fare in
India. But this, like I said, is is a
sort of middle, middle of the road, middle class restaurant, a
(22:30):
bit a market and one of the mostfamous ones, it's got thousands
of reviews of lots of Indian people saying it's the best
butter chicken in Delhi. So.
Why did you not go to Mata Mahal?
I didn't know about it until I started researching this feature
actually a couple of days ago, so.
That's a shame, isn't it? It is a.
Bit of a shame because it is like me to try and to try and go
(22:50):
to those sorts of places that have got cultural significance
or whether there's, you know, sort of dish to sort of try by
the person who used to make it or whatever.
So yeah, bit of a shame you'll. Have to go back to Delhi.
I would like to mate, I'd reallylike to.
I don't know if you're going to be heading to, I don't know
anywhere around there on your way, on your way back home, it's
on the way. I don't know, it's so annoying.
I like the time moves so quicklybecause I would love a little
(23:14):
slow roll to the UK now over land through India.
Yeah, that's there for you mate.Have you not even got the time
to do that if you left early? I mean it's October, middle of
October, I've only got a month and 1/2.
No, not. Really.
Yeah, you've been moving a little bit too quick.
Yeah, especially if I want to swing by Barnier.
So there you go mate. There you have it.
It's got an amazing history, steeped in history, absolutely
(23:36):
delicious. And if you are the sort of
person that orders butter chicken, maybe till the guy in
the kitchen next time you go forone, just make it like they do
at Galatis in Delhi, would you? Quick star rating please.
It's a four out of five. Probably because, well, it is
(23:57):
the best part of chicken I've ever had, though.
Well, as a dish, maybe rate the dish as a whole.
The dish. I think that's how rice for
breakfast should work. You just rate the dish.
Just rate the dish as a whole. Conceptually.
Oh. Just that.
You mean like the generic dish? Not even the one I have.
Well, no, I think. That that one should be the one
that you review, but like you should, you should raise like
the concept of butter chicken and that is the ambassador.
(24:18):
OK, I mean, it's because of how iconic it is and how popular it
is and how much better that version is than all of the other
ones that I've had in the UK. It's a real food memory that
I'm, I'm going to remember for along time.
I like, it's inspired me to havemore and more Indian food.
So I'm going to give it a solid 4.5.
Goodness me, the highest score we've ever had on rice for
(24:40):
breakfast. Knocking Pad Thai so far down
the league table it's fallen offthe bottom into a heap on the
floor. Looking forward to the next time
we do a rush of breakfast review, Adam.
But now it's time for that little special section of the
show where one Brave and Bolden listeners taken to their laptop
or their phone. They've gone to
(25:00):
tripologypodcast.com/tales of a trip and they've decided that
they've got a real blinder of a travel story. 3 minutes in which
to tell their greatest travel story of all time.
Perhaps it's the tale of the time they found that perfect
handbag in a shop and just selected it out and went boldly
(25:23):
down the High Street on the chandelier in Paris.
Or perhaps it's the time they saw that ever so rare creature
lurking in a jungle forest. Who knows what tale of a trip
we're about to hear, but one thing's for damn well sure we're
about to hear one right now. What sort of mood are you in?
(25:43):
What's up Tripology podcast Thisis at homeless dot digital nomad
reporting in from Taipei, Taiwan.
You guys tasked me with giving you an incredible travel story.
And the best thing that I could think of is how I managed to
solo summit the highest mountainin South America, which is the
highest mountain outside of Asia, the second highest of the
seven summits, almost 7 kilometers.
Akankagwa. And I came over with this idea
(26:05):
because I really fell in love with high altitude trekking when
I was in Peru, in Nepal. And it really surprised me how
much of a difference it made when I lived in high altitude
for a while before I did these tracks.
So I figured that I would just work remotely from high altitude
cities and it would give me a big advantage.
Now the death rate of occogwa isabout one in 1000 because 3000
people attempted every year, 1001 in three make it to the top
(26:29):
and about three people die. It's a little bit risky, but I
figured everyone who dies hikingthis mountain dies from altitude
sickness, so I'm just going to acclimatize first, right?
First I spent a month at 2800 meters in Kilo, Ecuador, where I
summed it debatably the highest active volcano, Cotopaxy.
And then I also summed in what'sdebatably the highest mountain
(26:50):
in the world if you measure fromthe center of the earth instead
of sea level, because sea level is different around the globe,
and that's Chimborazo, but 6400 meters above sea level.
And then I spent a month in Juarez, Peru, where I did the Y
Wash track. And right before, before that
trek happened, I had severe foodpoisoning for 8 days and messed
with all of my training. I was running to the bathroom
every 30 minutes, pooping blood.It was horrible.
(27:13):
And then I recovered from that, lost 7 kilograms and got back to
training. Then I spent 5 weeks in La Paz,
Bolivia, where did a 5 or 6 kilometer peak every weekend.
Still lived a regular digital nomad lifestyle outside of that.
Then I went to Mendoza and I flew in in San Diego, Chile,
took a bus to Mendoza and I began to summit.
I began am I trek to summit Akankagwa.
(27:37):
It was 8 days up, two days down.Some challenges that I face
going up there was boredom is 1 issue because you have to boil
snow in your tent once you make it past the base camp and that
was like day 4 the seven that was just in my tent boiling snow
over and over again for fresh water.
(27:58):
And then another challenge is that you have to bring poop with
you everywhere. And literally like ever since I
reached 3600 meters the Paz Bolivia, I had non-stop diarrhea
for like 6 weeks and it was justa bag of diarrhea.
One time I broke it and like fucking diarrhea just oozed
outside the bag. And then I had to embarrassingly
just go to a tour group and be like, hey, can I borrow a bag
(28:20):
Necesito Bago? Hi guys.
Anyways, I made it to the top and I actually spent an hour at
the top, which is incredibly unhealthy for you, but I felt no
headache. And then when I made it back
down, they actually reported me as missing because it took me 18
hours to hike the mountain. But then they realized I wasn't
missing and that was okay. It was all Gucci.
But yeah, highest mountain in South America.
(28:41):
That was an adventure. Wow, what a.
My good. What a tale.
Loved it, man. From from zipping around
acclimatizing to altitude to scatological chaos atop a
mountain. What?
What an interesting story. I'm almost lost for words.
(29:01):
I absolutely loved it. The energy, the language used,
the the fast pace. We have, of course, met him.
We we met him in Pakistan. He was lovingly referred to as
short man. If you haven't listened to that
episode, go back and check it out.
And I do remember him being fantastic at hiking in the sense
that he was not messing around at all.
(29:23):
I mean, he was, he was pacey, wasn't he?
You were surprised at how quickly he did the Everest
region. Yeah, he certainly zoomed around
that Everest region from what hedescribed.
If you thought that was a compelling voice message, go and
scroll through tropology historyand find the episode called Is
Fairy Meadows Worth the hype? That person you just heard speak
(29:43):
is the guy with the incredibly short shorts who we really go on
and on about in that episode. Yes.
Yeah. Incredibly fast hiker.
Very, very interesting. Have you had much experience
with altitude sickness from memory?
I don't think you have. With altitude sickness, I felt
at the very top of Petundus, I was, I was feeling pretty rough.
Certainly the morning after we'ddone, I think we ascended, what
(30:06):
was it, 2 1/2 thousand meters inone day?
Something like that was a bit too.
Quick but you've never like thrown up or had any severe
symptoms? No, but, but, but I think just
because I haven't been at altitude like that for, for long
enough, maybe it does worry me because I'm so inspired to hike
the Everest region and because, you know, meeting Joey and
stuff. I know all the cool stuff that
he gets up to. And I I just think is it a case
of you being susceptible or prone to it or or not?
(30:29):
No, I think anyone can get it. I think that women get it
slightly worse than men and I think that it just hits you,
don't it? I've had it a couple of times.
Was sick in when I was hiking the Everest region, although
very briefly, and it was sick a little bit in Ango in Guatemala.
(30:50):
So I know the feeling can be dangerous.
I mean, you've not been to SouthAmerica, so that's probably one
of the reasons why you've not experienced a La Paz.
Of course, in Bolivia, the capital city, highest altitude
capital in the world. And even if you just fly in
there, there's rough. Oh really?
So even just visiting the city, some people suffer from altitude
sickness. I mean the Paz is high, it's
like 3000 meters. Oh my goodness.
(31:12):
Wow. I mean, he's what a guy to be
around, though, Joey. I mean, he's got a wicked story
and the way he tells it as well was so funny.
I could imagine him bowling around just doing his own thing
because we kind of met him. Do you, do you understand what I
mean when I say this? And Joey, if you're listening,
I, I do still feel this way. He's the sort of person that if
you met them travelling, would end up, but you'd end up forming
(31:34):
a group with them like he would have.
I thought he was going to, like,join us too, and we were going
to be a little trio. But he's like doing his own
thing. He's off on his own.
Yeah. So I mean, he's so sort of
decided. And you got to love it.
You got to love it. It's great stuff.
Yeah, he has all sort of unusualtattoos and sort of a vibe about
him. A very go your own way vibe.
(31:55):
And, and I do want to take the opportunity to say this.
He's such a wonderful example ofa content creator who's he's
very talented and he's flies a drone and he puts great reels
together and they're very aesthetic, the sort of things
that you see all over Instagram.He puts so much work in and I
think his his views are in the millions.
Sometimes he's putting great content out there and maybe not
(32:18):
getting the recognition he deserves.
So go and support him. He's doing some fantastic stuff.
I'm a big, big fan of what he's doing.
Yeah, go and check him out at Homeless dot Digital Nomad on
Instagram. Very nice to see his reels.
And we're excited to see what else you come out with in the
future, Joey. It's all very good stuff.
Now, though, Adam, I'm afraid we're simply running out of
time, so we're gonna have to blast off to the Patreon section
(32:41):
as The Lost and Found happens after the theme music ends for
those that choose to pay for it,and we'll see everyone else next
week. We'll see you there.
Bye.
Hello and welcome to this episode of Tripology.
It's the only backpacking show where the hosts don't even
bother to take their belts off when they're going through
airport security. I'm Alan and I'm here with the
ever decisive Adam. Ever so nice to be back mate.
Thank you everyone for joining us.
We really do appreciate it. Wicked show today we're going to
(00:22):
have a little catch up as we normally do.
I've been making some decisions on my side.
I know you've got some decisionsto make on your side.
And then we've got rice for breakfast back by popular
demand, we're going to cover a dish that's very buttery and
very chickeny. And then of course, we've got
Tales of a trip where we're going to hear from one of you
guys. Well, I'm excited to hear your
review of chicken with butter ontop of it.
Very, very nice. One of my old Mancunian
(00:45):
favourites. I bet it's a good good Curry
scene up in Manchester. Of I mean we have a literal mile
of Curry stretching all the way off into the distance.
So they call it Curry Mile. Sometimes people say that.
Yep. That's not the morning after
anyway. It's too early in the episode to
to do a poo joke anyway. We've been making some decisions
haven't we made? What's going on in your side?
(01:06):
Well, I'm just sort of trying toweigh up whether I stay in
Shagao. I I want to go home for
Christmas basically at the time of recording, this is sort of
piercing through October with with alarming rate.
So sort of I gotta go home for Christmas.
Do I leave Shagao and try to desperately get some more
Philippines in, or do I make sure I experience everything I
(01:31):
want to experience in Chagao before leaving?
You know what I'm like because there's two schools of thought
in there. I'm like, OK, look, you're in
the Philippines, you've got rented accommodation.
It's really nice. You've got friends, you've got
training here. Just stay put.
And then you like, have everything you need to go home
for Christmas or do you leave? But then once you get on the
(01:52):
frame wave or I'm going to leave, you're like, oh, well,
oh, I'll go to here in the Philippines.
But then Borneo is quite close by.
So I'll go to Borneo really quickly.
And then, oh, God, you're not that far from Georgia.
Remember Kuala Lumpur, that timeyou spent in the jungle with
those? Koalas.
Yeah, no, of course. Well, this is the big dilemma
(02:15):
that a lot of travellers have iswhen when they do stop and they
either stay in one place for a long time, recharge the literal
and metaphorical batteries and also maybe try and accrue a
little bit of money in order to go to the next destination.
You end up making decisions, making friends.
You, you basically like, I don'tknow, you make commitments, you
have jobs, contracts, cars, all these different relationships
(02:37):
and things. So it obviously is much more
difficult to RIP yourself away from it.
Once you've been somewhere for alittle while.
I've been here in Chagao since July.
The, the things that you accumulate that make it a little
bit harder to leave. Obviously it's not a huge
barrier to leaving, but part of it's like, oh, well, you know,
I've got that. I've got that big bag of, of
rice. So I don't want to waste that.
(02:59):
So I'll stay just another few days.
I bought that liquid soap that'squite a lot.
So I'll try and use that before I go.
And you know, I've, I've paid rent up until this day.
It's hard to stay up until then.You like, it's so easy to put up
barriers. I basically think what I'm going
to do is stay in Shagao until the end of October and then get
another month of travelling the Philippines in and I'll I'll
(03:23):
just go home in December. And do you think that you've
explored Shagao at sort of a, a slow pace?
You've just done things as and when do you feel like you've
become accustomed to what it's really like to live in Shagao?
Or did you do loads of stuff at the very beginning and now
you're and now you? There was that obviously that
middle section in the middle where you now you're just living
(03:45):
your life, going to jiu jitsu and surfing and there's still a
stack of shit to do and you're like, oh fuck, I really should
have been ticking some of that stuff.
Off. Yeah, kind of.
I mean, there's not Charlie Gow's not known for having a a
bunch of stuff to do other than surfing.
Oh, right. But I will say I've probably
seen and done less than you would if you were only staying
for three weeks. Seen and done less, really.
(04:05):
I think that's normal because I like, for the first two weeks I
packed a bunch in and then I waslike, Oh well, you know, I'm
here for so long, I'll just livefor a little while.
And then there's other things upnorth and stuff that I just
haven't done because I just didn't need to because I was
here for a long time. Yeah, yeah.
Well, just so we can visualize it, me and all the listeners,
how long does it take to drive from one end of the island to
(04:27):
the other? Like 2 1/2 hours.
Oh, OK. And you?
Is there a road that goes all the way round the outside?
Kind of, it gets a bit sketchy as you go up north.
Oh yeah, Well, because of the people there, because of the
quality of the road now. Because of the roads A.
Load of wild pigs trying to get their own back.
(04:47):
OK, Well, well, yeah. I mean, whatever you, whatever
decision you do make will be theright one, I'm sure.
I don't know. I don't know if I'm really in a
position to tell you to do one or the other, to be honest.
I I think maybe can I just throwthe cat amongst the pigeons and
ask you a question? That's not going to go well.
Is it a cat among pigeons? It'll have somebody's eye.
Out. But we've spoken about this a
(05:09):
few times on the podcast before,and it is sort of a question
that I've been, it's been at theforefront of my mind over the
last few weeks because I'm aboutto make a big decision as well.
Do you think you're going to go back to shotgun?
Listen mate, I suppose the problem is I've always thought I
was going to go back to somewhere.
If you told me when I left Hanoifor the first time in 2015 that
(05:31):
now in 2025, I wouldn't have been back, I simply would not
have believed it. Yeah, yeah, it's the trouble.
Like categorically, I just been oh, you're an idiot.
Who are you? Cassandra, the ancient Greek
soothsayer? Why don't you fuck off?
But lo and behold, you'd have been correct, wouldn't you?
(05:52):
And now it's very easy to be like, oh, I know I've got my jiu
jitsu here. I'll come back whenever I'm in
the area. But the fact is I am here.
Japan, I ain't been to South Korea, I ain't been to North
Korea. I've never set 1 foot in Papua
New Guinea. There's just so many things that
I want to do which are always going to have a novelty factor
for me. So perhaps the likelihood is I
won't return to Shagao in the near future.
(06:14):
And I'm kind of entering this new phase of my travel life
where I'm not so concerned with making sure I've done everything
I used to really want to check all the boxes and be like, oh,
that waterfall, of course I've been there.
That little pygmy rhinoceros up in the north, of course I've
seen him. But that's not necessarily the
(06:35):
case anymore. I think I would go and see the
pygmy rhinoceros, but the waterfall I'm not bothered about
you've. Obviously lived a very different
experience to a lot of people that just go there for a couple
of weeks. Yeah, exactly.
If someone's like, did you not see that waterfall, you idiots?
Amazing. I'd be like, did you not have
that little hello, hello on thatstand that you only know if
you've been there for three months, did you not?
(06:56):
You're an idiot. Well, the last, the first and
last time I've had a hello. Hello was of course with you
when we were in. I think it was my last day,
wasn't it? In Manila, Exactly.
Bloody abomination, The thing is.
Proof, if proof needs be. Well mate, you will keep us
updated, won't you? Of course I, I don't know what
you're going to do, but I think you have got a lot of things you
(07:17):
want to do. You got a lot of places you want
to see and the shark girls not going anywhere, not anytime
soon. So maybe it's time you pop on a
plane and get over to Borneo. Well, I've just paid another
month's rent, so it seems unlikely.
The flights are going to be so much more expensive towards
Christmas. Alan, what are you doing now?
(07:39):
You haven't got access to my credit card.
I, I think I'm in a phase of life where it's more important
that I learn to stay put and achieve all the things that I
want to achieve from the base before I go making excuses and
like, oh, I've not quite achieved all the business things
I want to achieve. Quick, go to Borneo.
Look at orangutan is like, no, no, stay true to the course.
Start some businesses. OK.
(08:01):
No. So, so are we going to see you
sort of moving from base to basenow?
Are you going to be in each location for longer?
That's probably the case, yeah. That's awesome mate, I can't
wait. Well, a little birdie told me
the next one might be Japan, so you know, I don't need too many
excuses to get over there myself.
Yeah, I appreciate you calling me a little birdie.
It makes me feel self-conscious.Self-conscious.
(08:29):
Most of the things I know have been told to me by you,
actually. So yeah, everybody in in
Queenstown thinks I'm so wise. I like it when you do it.
You got a little birdie, told me, oh, did he, About my life.
This is a very informative bird that keeps on flying on your
windows, though, and espousing information that I also have
told you just moments before. That bird must be, well,
(08:50):
frustrated every time it comes up to you.
You're like, I already know I got it from the horse's mouth.
So don't call it that. Yeah, my goodness, mate, I've
been making some big decisions myself as well.
Tell me about them. Well, I can keep it pretty short
and sweet. I've fallen out of love with
Queenstown, I think, and I don'treally know if I was ever in
love with it. I don't know how long I wanted
(09:12):
to stay here, but I don't think it's quite the town for me.
And it's incredibly difficult tolive here and make huge sums of
money, as all the other backpackers will tell you.
So I've sort of got to that stage where I'm just living here
and working to exist here, whichisn't that fun.
And there's so much to see. And now I've got the camper van
on the driveway. I mean what my what am I even
(09:34):
doing? I'm sorry to hear that mate.
Would you like to do maybe a brief role play in which I play
Queenstown and you break up withme?
Why not? Why not?
Yeah, Well, I have to. Don't know that the rules of
improvisation, you just say yes to everything.
You go with it. Yeah.
Adam, it's been so nice to have you inside of me and you've been
(09:55):
such an excellent inhabitant andI'm just glad you're having a
lovely time here. Well, that's that's the thing,
I'm afraid. I've I haven't been having a
lovely time. There's been, but we've got we.
Well, we've got Ferg Burger and we've got, you know, work
opportunities and the rent is, you know, somewhat.
Extortionate. Yeah, yeah, there's one too many
(10:15):
brownouts for my liking in Queenstown.
Problem with this relationship. Yeah, but you've got a
self-contained van with that canstore it to 24 litres of human
shit so. I mean, I just think the time's
come. I think the relationship's run
its course. I, I did think that, you know,
in obviously at the beginning, there was that initial
attraction there. I was very fond of you.
(10:37):
You said all the right things. But now, after getting to know
you, I've actually seen that it's all sort of surface level
and it's not really much to you at all apart from a few bells
and whistles. OK, it's getting a bit real for
me in this role play. Hold on, are you from Belize?
(10:59):
Oh God, there'll be some long time listeners who will like
that reference. But no, in all seriousness,
mate, it's, it's a good place tohave some fun if you've got eye
watering sums of cash to, to blow, because there are some
wonderful things to do around Queenstown to use it as a base.
I, I really do mean that. I mean, there is a lot of stuff
to do here and it is fantastic. But if you're going to live and
(11:21):
work here in order to try and generate any sort of money to
then propel yourself off into doing some, some really exciting
stuff, then it does get a littlebit difficult.
There's a core community of people here.
But I have found, actually I'm going to go on record saying
this, the backpackers I've come across which are, I don't know,
I would say quite significant interms of size.
(11:42):
We're talking in the hundreds for sure.
They tend to be people that either came here Once Upon a
time on a working holiday visa and just stayed and they've been
here for 10 years, or they're people that are very new to
travel and then have just arrived here and haven't gone
and done anything else just yet.So very rarely do you come
across someone who's been on theroad non-stop backpacking
(12:03):
through like Central Asia or anyof this sort of stuff in
Queenstown. It tends to be one of the two
groups I mentioned from my experience.
Well, I personally never understood the appeal of
Queenstown. I was surprised when you told me
that you're going to be living there.
So there's no great news to me or a shock.
If anything, I'm rather happy for you for just sort of seeing
it for what it is and choosing to leave, and I'm very excited
(12:25):
to. Again, I'm desperate to hear
about your adventures in that van, so please make use of it
and get inside it. That'll be it mate, so you know
what comes next. It's going to be the dismantling
of another life and moving on tothe next one your own.
And this time, I hope, after thelegal complications.
(12:46):
A little birdie told me that that was all being swept under
the carpet. Oh, yeah.
No, no. My own life, of course.
Yeah, it's. Yeah.
Everything's got to get sold. I've got to all get all the
money out of the bank accounts. I've got to quit all the jobs
I've got, you know, all the stuff.
You you become an expert at thissort of thing.
What people think it's going to take six months, including all
of the difficult goodbyes. Usually takes a matter of days.
There you go. Well, I'm excited.
(13:06):
At least one of us will be doingsome hectic kind of travel, so
I'm excited to hear about that. You know me though mate,
Whenever I think about travel, whenever I think about getting
on the road, dismantling a life and just moving about, it makes
me ever so hungry. I'm glad you said that mate,
because I'm absolutely starving.It's rice for breakfast.
Rice for breakfast. You come and have rice for
(13:29):
breakfast. Here it is mate.
It's the latest addition of ricefor breakfast.
Have you missed it? I.
Have missed it because oftentimes when I'm eating eggs
for breakfast I think what an idiot.
Are you still doing the eggs your way or my way now?
I know, but I do think about theway you cook eggs often and it
(13:50):
makes me feel sick. But how many people have you met
that have had your eggs that have said they're the best eggs
they've ever had? Well, this is yeah, because,
because I wanted to tell you this, because I really, I'm
going to use this. They're just.
Going to shut the argument down.Yeah, I am, because I think, I
think it's a hollow compliment to get because I, I think
(14:11):
basically it's just so difficultto even communicate this.
But I I think what you do is make them eggs and look at them
so expectantly that they feel uncomfortable not saying
anything. The person that's eating them,
you eat. Because it's you, I think you go
and sit down that you like servethem the egg.
What I do, I make them the eggs.I go there you go mate.
Got you some eggs. Much love.
And then I walk off. What you do is make them this
(14:33):
mosh handed to them and then sitlooking in their eyes like as if
to say, are these the best eggs you've ever had?
They get increasingly uncomfortable as they're eating.
And then just go, yeah, they're the best I've ever had.
Stop looking at me like that. And there you go.
You're not the first person who said that to me.
The common denominator denominator actually being me
(14:54):
staring them down until they have to say something
complimentary. Well.
There, that's what I think happens.
There is a lot of butter in my eggs.
That's the secret, guys. If you're wondering at home,
what's the difference? I put a hell of a lot of butter
in those eggs and serve them wet.
And there's a lot of butter in this dish that we're going to be
talking about today. It is, of course, the very
iconic, the very famous, the ubiquitous and loved the world
(15:16):
over. It's a butter chicken, mate.
Wow. It was the last time you had a
butter. Chicken would have been when I
was in India. Yeah, I did have a butter
chicken when I was in India, butit might have only been one.
And it's the well. No, it wasn't because you went
to deli and basically I'm led tobelieve, bullied everyone you
spoke to there and to tell you where the best deli but a
chicken restaurant was and went to every single one on the list.
(15:40):
No, no, no, no, no. I didn't do my own.
My own sort of discovery, deadlydiscovery through butter
chicken. I just got a recommendation from
my ex-girlfriend who whom I was with at the time and we went
together and that's the one I talked to you about now.
I mean not. Just to 1 though.
I think I only had what? I just went straight in at the
top. I know it's not like me, is it?
(16:01):
It's not like me at all. If you don't know what butter
chicken is and you're listening to this podcast, I'll be very,
very surprised how however it is.
Of course a bit of marinated chicken and a tomato based
gravy, Few spices in there of course.
And then your coconut and cashewcream.
That's how you have it on Curry Marl in Manchester.
Isn't it sweet? I'll bet.
Well, with cashew cream, yeah, I'll bet it's sweet.
(16:22):
We've never heard of cashew cream in Manchester mate.
And then and then of course, loads of butter or ghee.
The history is really interesting.
The history are you? Laughing at the word gay.
(16:42):
The word gay. But am I going to have to
explain what gay is now? Clarified butter.
Yeah, just carry on. Anyway, the history is really
interesting mate. It dates back you.
You will find this interesting, I know you will because it
involves a little place called Peshawar in in Pakistan.
Oh. Home of the Peshawar Re Naan.
Exactly. Yeah, quite a sweet style of
(17:05):
naan actually. But there's a there's a
restaurant called Moti Mahal Mahal in Old Delhi and people
think that they created this dish in the 1950s.
If you go on the Internet, that's what they'll say.
However, there were people involved in opening that
restaurant way back when the theIT actually moved location to
Delhi after the Partition around19471950, whatever.
(17:27):
But the family involved in that restaurant say they were making
the butter chicken long before that in the 1930s in Pakistan.
Now obviously there are some other Indian restaurants that
are challenging that, so much sothat this restaurant have filed
A lawsuit against one of the other restaurants to the tune of
240 thousand U.S. dollars in damages.
(17:50):
U.S. dollars. Wow.
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's a lot of money in it over, over the
province and the the sort of legacy.
Of the butter chicken well. If you created something as as
world renowned and as as iconic as the butter chicken, the
original recipe, and then someone else is trying to claim
it for themselves and then obviously winning business
potentially off your restaurant as a result, I can understand
(18:13):
how that would that would do some damage it.
Wouldn't have gone that far mate.
Don't think so. You think it would be shut down,
You just get I'll go in there, wouldn't I?
I'd eat both and I'd say no, there's it better, sorry.
OK, so there's big disputes overthe butter chicken.
Yeah, etymology. Big disputes, but how
interesting that it maybe comes from Pakistan as well, because
we didn't have anything like that over in over in Pakistan
(18:34):
from memory. I didn't see the a chicken in
but I mean I could believe that the buttered lamb came from
Pakistan. I think you can have it.
I think you can have it. But yeah, I mean, the best
butter chicken that I've ever had in my life was in Delhi.
It was in a restaurant called Gulati.
I will put the description and in the description I'll put
obviously the notes and the location, that sort of stuff.
(18:55):
If you happen to be in India, inDelhi and you want a butter
chicken. But honestly, the one I had was
nothing like any butter chicken I've ever had.
In a bad way. Like it was, it was.
It was unrelated, almost. Like maybe I'm going to echo
what a lot of people listening to this might echo, which is I
don't if you're choosing a butter chicken, a Curry house,
(19:18):
the the chances are you haven't had that much Indian food.
And I know I said that about thepad Thai for Thailand as well,
but the the pad Thai to Thailandis what the butter chicken is to
India is very rarely outside of India, the most interesting
thing on the menu. It's what people who don't like
Curry. Yeah, that is true.
It's the, it's the. It's that or a korma, isn't it?
(19:39):
Yeah, or a tikka masala, which apparently does have its roots
in in the UK. Yeah.
Do you like Curry? Yeah, I love coconut and butter.
I think you like sugar actually,and not much spice at all.
What's your favorite Curry? Dairy Milk.
This was head and shoulders above most of the most of those
(19:59):
chicken dishes I've ever had made.
It was served in a copper pot. This gigantic thing comes out
chicken legs bone in. You never see that in a Curry
house, do you? No, no.
You don't eat Curry that often, obviously.
I thought about it, but no, turns out you don't.
Huge chunks of chicken bone in and the sauce, It was just
(20:21):
unbelievable. It was much spicier than you
probably would have imagined, which is not something we found
in India very frequently. Yeah, because we famously both
think that Curry in India is notspicy and that the word spicy is
a bit of a mistranslation, meaning fragrant.
Yeah, I think there's probably some truth to that.
Although, you know, I was obviously with my ex-girlfriend
(20:41):
at the time who is Indian. So I said can you please make
sure it just comes however it's supposed to come.
It doesn't need to blow our heads off, but I would like it
to come as it's supposed to come.
Very, very rich. It was, it's a bit smoky as
well. I would have said super
concentrated sort of tomato flavour.
But the the flavour of the butter, I remember having the
first taste and I thought, oh, no wonder they call it fucking
(21:03):
butter chicken. It was unbelievable.
It was so, so buttery, almost tothe point where it was
overpowering. But because of the previous
butter chickens, I'd had. Not because it shouldn't have
been that buttery, but because I'd obviously become accustomed
to just. Are watered down butter chicken,
Yeah. Cashew cream, coconut cream,
whatever sugar and and I don't know like tomato soupy kind of
(21:25):
artificial flavour or whatever it's they use.
Anyway, it was absolutely sensational and I would highly
recommend if you are in Delhi, go to Gulati restaurant.
It is a bit more upmarket. It is middle of the road.
You do have to put your name down and queue outside and this
sort of stuff. It's not that this local joint,
there's just a few chairs by theside of the road.
It is a proper brick and mortar restaurant with, you know, fancy
(21:47):
weight is walking around and that sort of stuff.
But it is absolutely amazing. And guess how much it cost me?
I've forgotten what the exchangewas, so I'm going to say.
You can say in pounds. ₹500. No, it's more than that. ₹1000
But. Yeah, it was just under ₹1000,
which is about £7.50. It's pretty good to have got
that on the second guess, considering I have no idea how
(22:09):
much that is, yeah. Well, I think maybe you won't
remember, but we were having some Talies, which are, you
know, these big platters where you get multiple dishes and
comes with a little bread or whatever sometimes for about
300, three ₹150. OK.
Yeah. So 1000 is quite expensive.
Yeah, Is it certainly expensive for your average Indian fare in
India. But this, like I said, is is a
sort of middle, middle of the road, middle class restaurant, a
(22:30):
bit a market and one of the mostfamous ones, it's got thousands
of reviews of lots of Indian people saying it's the best
butter chicken in Delhi. So.
Why did you not go to Mata Mahal?
I didn't know about it until I started researching this feature
actually a couple of days ago, so.
That's a shame, isn't it? It is a.
Bit of a shame because it is like me to try and to try and go
(22:50):
to those sorts of places that have got cultural significance
or whether there's, you know, sort of dish to sort of try by
the person who used to make it or whatever.
So yeah, bit of a shame you'll. Have to go back to Delhi.
I would like to mate, I'd reallylike to.
I don't know if you're going to be heading to, I don't know
anywhere around there on your way, on your way back home, it's
on the way. I don't know, it's so annoying.
I like the time moves so quicklybecause I would love a little
(23:14):
slow roll to the UK now over land through India.
Yeah, that's there for you mate.Have you not even got the time
to do that if you left early? I mean it's October, middle of
October, I've only got a month and 1/2.
No, not. Really.
Yeah, you've been moving a little bit too quick.
Yeah, especially if I want to swing by Barnier.
So there you go mate. There you have it.
It's got an amazing history, steeped in history, absolutely
(23:36):
delicious. And if you are the sort of
person that orders butter chicken, maybe till the guy in
the kitchen next time you go forone, just make it like they do
at Galatis in Delhi, would you? Quick star rating please.
It's a four out of five. Probably because, well, it is
(23:57):
the best part of chicken I've ever had, though.
Well, as a dish, maybe rate the dish as a whole.
The dish. I think that's how rice for
breakfast should work. You just rate the dish.
Just rate the dish as a whole. Conceptually.
Oh. Just that.
You mean like the generic dish? Not even the one I have.
Well, no, I think. That that one should be the one
that you review, but like you should, you should raise like
the concept of butter chicken and that is the ambassador.
(24:18):
OK, I mean, it's because of how iconic it is and how popular it
is and how much better that version is than all of the other
ones that I've had in the UK. It's a real food memory that
I'm, I'm going to remember for along time.
I like, it's inspired me to havemore and more Indian food.
So I'm going to give it a solid 4.5.
Goodness me, the highest score we've ever had on rice for
(24:40):
breakfast. Knocking Pad Thai so far down
the league table it's fallen offthe bottom into a heap on the
floor. Looking forward to the next time
we do a rush of breakfast review, Adam.
But now it's time for that little special section of the
show where one Brave and Bolden listeners taken to their laptop
or their phone. They've gone to
(25:00):
tripologypodcast.com/tales of a trip and they've decided that
they've got a real blinder of a travel story. 3 minutes in which
to tell their greatest travel story of all time.
Perhaps it's the tale of the time they found that perfect
handbag in a shop and just selected it out and went boldly
(25:23):
down the High Street on the chandelier in Paris.
Or perhaps it's the time they saw that ever so rare creature
lurking in a jungle forest. Who knows what tale of a trip
we're about to hear, but one thing's for damn well sure we're
about to hear one right now. What sort of mood are you in?
(25:43):
What's up Tripology podcast Thisis at homeless dot digital nomad
reporting in from Taipei, Taiwan.
You guys tasked me with giving you an incredible travel story.
And the best thing that I could think of is how I managed to
solo summit the highest mountainin South America, which is the
highest mountain outside of Asia, the second highest of the
seven summits, almost 7 kilometers.
Akankagwa. And I came over with this idea
(26:05):
because I really fell in love with high altitude trekking when
I was in Peru, in Nepal. And it really surprised me how
much of a difference it made when I lived in high altitude
for a while before I did these tracks.
So I figured that I would just work remotely from high altitude
cities and it would give me a big advantage.
Now the death rate of occogwa isabout one in 1000 because 3000
people attempted every year, 1001 in three make it to the top
(26:29):
and about three people die. It's a little bit risky, but I
figured everyone who dies hikingthis mountain dies from altitude
sickness, so I'm just going to acclimatize first, right?
First I spent a month at 2800 meters in Kilo, Ecuador, where I
summed it debatably the highest active volcano, Cotopaxy.
And then I also summed in what'sdebatably the highest mountain
(26:50):
in the world if you measure fromthe center of the earth instead
of sea level, because sea level is different around the globe,
and that's Chimborazo, but 6400 meters above sea level.
And then I spent a month in Juarez, Peru, where I did the Y
Wash track. And right before, before that
trek happened, I had severe foodpoisoning for 8 days and messed
with all of my training. I was running to the bathroom
every 30 minutes, pooping blood.It was horrible.
(27:13):
And then I recovered from that, lost 7 kilograms and got back to
training. Then I spent 5 weeks in La Paz,
Bolivia, where did a 5 or 6 kilometer peak every weekend.
Still lived a regular digital nomad lifestyle outside of that.
Then I went to Mendoza and I flew in in San Diego, Chile,
took a bus to Mendoza and I began to summit.
I began am I trek to summit Akankagwa.
(27:37):
It was 8 days up, two days down.Some challenges that I face
going up there was boredom is 1 issue because you have to boil
snow in your tent once you make it past the base camp and that
was like day 4 the seven that was just in my tent boiling snow
over and over again for fresh water.
(27:58):
And then another challenge is that you have to bring poop with
you everywhere. And literally like ever since I
reached 3600 meters the Paz Bolivia, I had non-stop diarrhea
for like 6 weeks and it was justa bag of diarrhea.
One time I broke it and like fucking diarrhea just oozed
outside the bag. And then I had to embarrassingly
just go to a tour group and be like, hey, can I borrow a bag
(28:20):
Necesito Bago? Hi guys.
Anyways, I made it to the top and I actually spent an hour at
the top, which is incredibly unhealthy for you, but I felt no
headache. And then when I made it back
down, they actually reported me as missing because it took me 18
hours to hike the mountain. But then they realized I wasn't
missing and that was okay. It was all Gucci.
But yeah, highest mountain in South America.
(28:41):
That was an adventure. Wow, what a.
My good. What a tale.
Loved it, man. From from zipping around
acclimatizing to altitude to scatological chaos atop a
mountain. What?
What an interesting story. I'm almost lost for words.
(29:01):
I absolutely loved it. The energy, the language used,
the the fast pace. We have, of course, met him.
We we met him in Pakistan. He was lovingly referred to as
short man. If you haven't listened to that
episode, go back and check it out.
And I do remember him being fantastic at hiking in the sense
that he was not messing around at all.
(29:23):
I mean, he was, he was pacey, wasn't he?
You were surprised at how quickly he did the Everest
region. Yeah, he certainly zoomed around
that Everest region from what hedescribed.
If you thought that was a compelling voice message, go and
scroll through tropology historyand find the episode called Is
Fairy Meadows Worth the hype? That person you just heard speak
(29:43):
is the guy with the incredibly short shorts who we really go on
and on about in that episode. Yes.
Yeah. Incredibly fast hiker.
Very, very interesting. Have you had much experience
with altitude sickness from memory?
I don't think you have. With altitude sickness, I felt
at the very top of Petundus, I was, I was feeling pretty rough.
Certainly the morning after we'ddone, I think we ascended, what
(30:06):
was it, 2 1/2 thousand meters inone day?
Something like that was a bit too.
Quick but you've never like thrown up or had any severe
symptoms? No, but, but, but I think just
because I haven't been at altitude like that for, for long
enough, maybe it does worry me because I'm so inspired to hike
the Everest region and because, you know, meeting Joey and
stuff. I know all the cool stuff that
he gets up to. And I I just think is it a case
of you being susceptible or prone to it or or not?
(30:29):
No, I think anyone can get it. I think that women get it
slightly worse than men and I think that it just hits you,
don't it? I've had it a couple of times.
Was sick in when I was hiking the Everest region, although
very briefly, and it was sick a little bit in Ango in Guatemala.
(30:50):
So I know the feeling can be dangerous.
I mean, you've not been to SouthAmerica, so that's probably one
of the reasons why you've not experienced a La Paz.
Of course, in Bolivia, the capital city, highest altitude
capital in the world. And even if you just fly in
there, there's rough. Oh really?
So even just visiting the city, some people suffer from altitude
sickness. I mean the Paz is high, it's
like 3000 meters. Oh my goodness.
(31:12):
Wow. I mean, he's what a guy to be
around, though, Joey. I mean, he's got a wicked story
and the way he tells it as well was so funny.
I could imagine him bowling around just doing his own thing
because we kind of met him. Do you, do you understand what I
mean when I say this? And Joey, if you're listening,
I, I do still feel this way. He's the sort of person that if
you met them travelling, would end up, but you'd end up forming
(31:34):
a group with them like he would have.
I thought he was going to, like,join us too, and we were going
to be a little trio. But he's like doing his own
thing. He's off on his own.
Yeah. So I mean, he's so sort of
decided. And you got to love it.
You got to love it. It's great stuff.
Yeah, he has all sort of unusualtattoos and sort of a vibe about
him. A very go your own way vibe.
(31:55):
And, and I do want to take the opportunity to say this.
He's such a wonderful example ofa content creator who's he's
very talented and he's flies a drone and he puts great reels
together and they're very aesthetic, the sort of things
that you see all over Instagram.He puts so much work in and I
think his his views are in the millions.
Sometimes he's putting great content out there and maybe not
(32:18):
getting the recognition he deserves.
So go and support him. He's doing some fantastic stuff.
I'm a big, big fan of what he's doing.
Yeah, go and check him out at Homeless dot Digital Nomad on
Instagram. Very nice to see his reels.
And we're excited to see what else you come out with in the
future, Joey. It's all very good stuff.
Now, though, Adam, I'm afraid we're simply running out of
time, so we're gonna have to blast off to the Patreon section
(32:41):
as The Lost and Found happens after the theme music ends for
those that choose to pay for it,and we'll see everyone else next
week. We'll see you there.
Bye.
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.