May 30, 2025 • 32 mins
Join this week's Filipino Pop Quiz, as Adam tests Alun's knowledge of the Philippines! If Alun scores less than 3 out of 5 he'll have to eat a controversial Filipino delicacy!We also discuss the supernatural Filipino spirits: Engkantos. Often associated with the natural world, could they be delivering signs from above in the form of ripe mangoes?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
It's the Philippines tripping point special.
Play the theme music. Hello
and welcome to this episode of Tribology.
(00:20):
I'm Alan and I'm here with the ever patient.
Adam physically here, still here.
It's a wonder that I am here because you've very kindly
sorted out the accommodation forus.
Thank you. A few times in a row we've
extended in this lovely apartment AKA the Tropology
Studio, AKA Tropology HQ. Lovely apartment, isn't it?
(00:40):
It's not as if last week I was physically melting into a little
cup on the floor, pulling my ownperspirations about my face and
hair. No, I'm not going to say thanks
for sorting out the accommodation, but it's a shit
hole. Right.
Yeah, yeah. But I do like it.
I think it's adequate. However, we are in an enormous
building in McCarty City, which I think is one of three towers
on the same complex. The Beacon.
(01:02):
The beacon? Oh, we're just calling it out
live on air. Well.
I mean the beacon aren't responsible for this particular
Airbnb, I mean. We'll be gone by the time this
goes out anyway so fuck em. And the the lift.
The elevator system in this building is unlike anything I've
ever experienced in my in my entire life.
I think the. Most organised, most efficient
lift you've ever used is it? No, no, no.
(01:23):
It's it's absolutely the longesttime I've ever spent waiting for
a lift and inside a lift in the same journey.
Right, OK, well let's talk a little bit about it because I'm
equally frustrated. When you asked me last night can
we extend this accommodation, I was shocked and appalled.
Yeah, the Philippines famously defined by its slow lifts,
(01:44):
elevators for our American listeners.
So, yeah, I just think it's something that's plagued us.
It's something that's eaten an enormous amount into into our
time together in the Philippines.
And even just today when you said I'm going to nip down and
get a coffee, I'll see you in the cafe.
I did say please, please just wait a couple of minutes.
I'll be ready because I can't bear to be waiting for the lift
on my own, not catching that sweet, sweet lift because you,
(02:08):
you know, if you miss it, it's like probably a 30 minute swing.
Listeners should and will know that there's a relationship
dynamic between me and that in India devolved into basically me
making increasing threats to tryand get Adam to leave.
Slightly earlier. It went to the point where I
would just go, Adam, I'm gettingin a tuk tuk at 10.
(02:31):
If you're there, then we'll get in the Tuttle together.
If not, I'm going at 10 and thenI would get in the tuk tuk and
there'd be this thing where Adamwas like panicking in the hostel
trying to get out. This lift is so much better a
deterrent than the talk talks ever were.
In this scenario, I go Adam, I'mgetting in the lift now.
Adam will be ready quick, smart because the waiting time for the
(02:53):
lift is abysmal. It is, I mean, even this cafe
that we went to, I came back slightly earlier than you did
and I made the point of timing how long it took from the very
bottom of the lift to the momentthat I pressed the button
waiting for the lift in the foyer up until the moment that I
exited the lift on the 38th floor.
Fair to say, you know, fair to say we are on the 38th floor.
(03:15):
So it would take a little bit oftime anyway, even if it was a
quick lift. Guess guess how long it was,
bearing in mind it's just up oneshaft in the same building.
You did a scientific experiment,did you?
Well, I just, I timed it and I've calculated also how far I
could drive in a car at 30 miles.
An hour? It took you 8 minutes.
It was 13 minutes out. 13 minutes. 13 minutes.
(03:37):
I'm lucky for some. I was downstairs waiting and
there was a couple there and I sort of, I was doing this really
British passive aggressive huffing, sort of thinking that
they were going to, I don't know, engage in conversation
with someone who was clearly, you know, in distress.
Yeah, I said, do you do you livein this building?
They said, yeah. I said this is maybe the the
longest I've ever waited for a lift.
(03:57):
And they said, yeah, they are slow sometimes.
And I was there looking at my phone.
I thought, fuck it, I am going to time this and maybe we'll
talk about it on the pod. But 13 minutes total time to
wait for the lift, get in the lift.
And then it's also really slow once you're in the lift because
it's got 38 floors. I don't know how many floors the
building's got in its entirety, do you?
Know. Yeah, well, we're actually on
the 37th floor because in classic Asian fashion, the 13th
(04:19):
floor is missing. Yeah.
So it should even be slightly quicker, but it's just
absolutely ridiculous it it does, as you said a couple of
days ago, it stops you from leaving the apartment.
Yeah, I'm not going to be leaving here today.
I think it's basically made me far more productive because I
don't really want or care to seemuch of Manila because I feel
ensconced within this lift basedsort of purgatory.
(04:42):
Yeah, I mean, we had some food at around 4-5 o'clock yesterday
and at the at the restaurant youdid say, well, we just have
something small. I'm sure we'll we're going to
eat later on. And then by the time we were
both in here at about 7-8 o'clock, there's just no chance
I'm ever going back down becauseit's it's a good sort of two
hour turn around time just to goto the restaurant, even if you
(05:02):
went to the base of the building.
There's going to be some people listening to this who might go.
You know, Tripology used to be about hostels and tuk tuks, and
now it's about Airbnb's and lifts.
But you know what? I think there's a funny thing
that's happened with hostile culture hostels in general,
where to some extent you're paying now for the experience of
(05:23):
being in a hostel. I think that hostels are the
best way to meet people, the absolute best thing to do whilst
you're travelling as a solo backpacker.
But the reason that's the case is because they're the cheapest
accommodation or were kind of byproduct of that is that
everyone's in this community hubbecause everyone who wants to
travel as cheap as possible is in the hostel.
(05:45):
I mean, it's transpired such that hostels for the two of us
are more expensive. It's more expensive for the two
of us to buy a hostel dorm than it is for the two of us to get
an Airbnb for the night. A hostel dorm might be 15 lbs a
night. This Airbnb might be $25 a night
and come with a sauna, a swimming pool, a gym.
(06:06):
So hostile culture, man. In the Philippines, I think
Airbnb's might be the place to go.
Yeah, I think we're seeing it the world over.
I mean, do send us an e-mail or get on the contact form on the
website if you've got a different opinion or different
experience. But certainly moving around New
Zealand, sometimes in in cities,you're paying $5060 to stay in
an 8 bed dorm, A10 bed dorm. I just don't understand how
(06:27):
hostels or why hostels are doingit.
Maybe they're trying to recoup some money from, you know, the
2-3 years when they weren't making any money.
I think it's. Because backpacking is getting
so popular and they know that the experience of being in a
hostel is an experience that people seek.
So. So again, it's becoming
commodified, right? Commodifying the literal
experience of I mean, let's faceit, I adore hostels.
(06:48):
I love hostels more than the guy, you know, any other person
apart from you maybe in the world.
I love him. I absolutely adore him, but they
are shit accommodation. Yeah, that's just a by product
that you have to suffer because you want the experience of
meeting a lot of people. You.
Can't sell me the bad accommodation and the
(07:10):
experience. No, they're a byproduct of one
another. I'd rather be comfortable and go
and do activities. So the hostels have to be
cheaper. Yeah.
And I think maybe if there are people listening to this that do
work on the pricing structures for, for hostels, maybe, you
know, Hostile World or whatever,you might liaise with some of
your big hostel groups. James in accounting at Hostel
World listening to apology go fuck I ruined it.
(07:33):
You know, this is this is a pleabecause there you have to
realise, right, there are peoplewho don't stay in hostels
already because they don't want other people in their room or
there's a lack of privacy or maybe the facilities aren't
great. I know some people that wouldn't
stay in a hostel even if it was free.
So the fact that you're then trying to deter people or are
deterring people because of thisprohibitive price tag, that it's
just a no brainer when you look at 22 accommodation options and
(07:56):
you've got, oh, I'm going to be sleeping with potentially 12
people, that's potentially 11. Source. 8.
And it's only $60.00 a night. Only sleeping potentially 712
people, so that is the bonus I. See, are we going to offset the
action with the no? I mean, you're talking like
however many other potential snorers.
Yeah, lack of privacy, smelling whatever.
(08:18):
I don't need to go into detail about the negative aspects of a
hostile dorm, but if it's also then more expensive than a
hotel, don't be. Greedy guts hostels.
Why would anyone do it? We're trying.
We form part of this community to try and keep that alive.
Yeah. Yeah.
And we always encourage people to stay in hostels for that
reason. So now that the price has become
so expensive that it is prohibitive, I think there needs
(08:38):
to be either another offering ormaybe lower the price.
You're going to ruin travel culture if hostels go all
greedy, that's for sure. You heard it at first.
Adam, we went on an excursion because I saved most of my
excursions for your arrival whenI first arrived in Manila.
So we went to, we went to get some food, didn't we?
We did because I'd been here a little while.
I was in charge of navigation because obviously I had all data
(09:00):
set off my phone. How did you think my navigation
and skills transpired? Superb.
What do you think about the bit where I guided us into a one way
sewage system and we walked alongside A sewer and had to
climb over a fence to get onto aconstruction site of the gate?
Yeah, I mean, up until that point, it was scenic.
Yeah, it was really scenic. And I do love going down those
little alleyways and nooks and crannies where you end up
(09:21):
walking past the windows of justresidents, locals, doing their
washing and stuff. I mean, I don't know if you saw
me doing this because I think you were tending to your wounds.
But I did go back and sort of wave to a woman who was doing
the washing up. She, she didn't for one second
say, you know, what the fuck areyou doing walking down this
dirty river? But yeah, I mean, you weren't to
(09:41):
know in your defence that we were entering because we walked
down that river for quite some time.
Well, in my defence, I was catering to your desire to not
be in the sun. As as a newcomer as the
Philippines as an English personwith fairly pale skin.
I was guiding us to the restaurant and you said, oh, can
we walk out of the sun? So I went, oh, let's walk along
this path, which is, you know, covered with foliage.
(10:04):
Yeah, it was tree lined. It was a genuine path, maybe
some benches or whatever. That kind of the benches became
fewer and fewer as the path continued on and revealed itself
to be a sewage system around theback of some houses with a
concrete wall at the end. So we had to scale this brick
wall to escape through three rings of barbed wire I had to
(10:26):
get through. Yeah, you might call it
trespassing. So be careful what you say here,
because we know what happened last time.
Jumped in the construction site,said sorry for trespassing and
then we went about our day and we had a lovely, a lovely bit of
food, didn't we? Yeah, we did have a fantastic
meal. I do always feel a little bit of
added pressure now because obviously I like eating well
anyway, I love eating well with you Filipino food, a lot of
(10:50):
people don't think it's that great.
So you know, I do want to run a some really fantastic dishes
that will go toe to toe with some of the greatest food you
can find in Southeast Asia. So when you say mate, go on, get
online, find us a decent restaurant.
Hopefully I came up Trump. So you like what we ate?
I thought it was the best food I've had in the Philippines so
far. Absolutely, yeah.
OK, well, just for anyone listening, the restaurant is
(11:12):
called Aling's Saucings and it is your typical, you know, on
the corner of a busy St. sort ofAnthony Bourdain esque.
Been doing the same thing over and over again since I think
1954 if I remember the sign correctly.
But it is local small chairs by the side of the road.
You go along. You should have gotten by Bar
Marie or whatever. You got multiple different
dishes you can choose from. What was your pick of the bunch?
(11:34):
Because we had a, we had a pretty decent soup that I can go
into a little bit of detail. I'm a pick of the bunch.
Yeah, it was wonderful. I expected it to be the kind of
beef soup where you're like, there's grizzle in there, you
have to take bits out and put itin the bowl and at the end
there's sort of a bag of bones leftover.
It was actually, I mean melting your mouth.
Because it was liquid. No, it's so the soup was more
(11:56):
like a consummate, like a clear soup and beautiful kind of Bony,
salty, sort of umami flavour, wasn't it Sort of separates, you
see the oil from the meat and the tendons or whatever else
were in there. But it was a bit a little bit
collagen esque gelatinous. Cologenic.
Cologenic. And yeah, it was just a super
(12:16):
fresh couple of vegetables in there.
That was delicious. We also had tilapia, which was,
you think, underwhelming. Bit boring.
Yeah, bit boring. Nothing on it.
Bit of calamansi. Just squeeze that, squeeze that
on there. That was delicious.
And then what else? We had the yeah, of course,
which we're going to eat lots more of.
We'll probably do a feature on the channel.
I can see that making a feature later on in this Filipino
(12:38):
series. From Tasty Pork.
Bits I want to draw attention tothe moment where, when we were
sat eating our food, a mango fell from a great height down to
the parasol above us. And that was because there was a
huge, huge gust of wind with a thunderstorm, inevitable
thunderstorm that was coming. And the parasol almost flew out
the middle of the table at one point.
(12:58):
And I sort of grabbed it as if Iknew what was going to happen.
And then at that point, a mango came from the from the tree
above and almost hit you on the head while you were working your
way through that tilapia. Yeah, I was.
Excited by the prospect of the mango falling.
And they brought us a knife to cut it up and have it for
dessert free of charge. But I was excited by the
(13:18):
prospect of the mango falling because I know something about
Filipino culture that you don't.OK.
And. The mango made me think of it
and wonder and sort of ponder itand think, wow, maybe that is
that thing that happened to me whilst the mango fell.
Right. What is it about Filipino
culture that you know and I don't know?
Do you know about Encantos? No, it sounds Spanish.
Well, it is Spanish. It's from Spanish influence.
(13:41):
I'm going to tell you about it after a brief meditation break.
If you love the podcast as much as we love you, please could you
take the time to rate the show on your favorite podcasting
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(14:03):
Like an encantas, dropping a mango onto an Englishman's head
from a great height is a sort ofcheeky trick.
Let your conscious mind return into your brain.
Tabby tabby PO makiki rampo Adam.
That's what you've got to say ifyou want to ward away in in
Cantos. It means I'm coming through,
baby. I mean no harm.
(14:23):
Don't touch me. Because in Cantos are the sort
of spirits of the Filipino world.
OK, well how did you first learnabout these and how does that
sort of talk about how the the mango fits into the whole thing?
Said to me, oh, you go into the Philippines, you got to be weary
of those in cantos, right? Named by the Spanish who came to
(14:44):
the Philippines to do some colonialist activity.
Baffled by the sheer number of little mythological creatures,
fairy spirit elves that were present in Philippine and
mythology, he went oh, these arethe enchanted, the enganthos,
and it really the idea is snowballed from there.
OK, fair enough. So you think that you were what,
(15:05):
like saved by one of those? Well, in Kantos, what they do if
they like the vibe that you're putting out there, right?
If you're going tabby tabby PO maki irampo.
That's why you said that just before the man go Oh right, I
understand. What a coincidence.
Exactly if if the in Kantos decide we like what this guy's
doing, we like Tropology, we'll support the Patreon over at
(15:29):
patreon.com LG podcast, where we've had a very suspicious
increase in subscribers. If they decide they like your
vibe, they'll bestow upon you great acts of luck.
OK, well hang on then. So do you think that the lucky
part was that the mango didn't hit you on the head, or do you
think it was one of these spirits delivering a free mango
(15:49):
to you as sort of a welcome gift?
That's what I fundamentally believe deep in my heart, is
that in Campos saw us having that dinner and said have
dessert. Did they ask us if we wanted
dessert and we said no? No, because you don't ignore a
gift from an encampos like that.It was a sign from above, quite
literally. The mango fell.
(16:10):
It was a beautiful gift. I for one, really, really
enjoyed it. And and I think thank you to the
Encantos. Some of the things Encantos can
do right, that you might like, they can also, if they don't
like you, if they think, oh, youcoming over here to the
Philippines and not saying our Chan, then they'll give you
boils. OK, watch out for those.
(16:33):
They'll make you feel all sick and I'll so they'll give you,
you know, you'll have a lot of bad luck basically at the hands
of the Encantos if you don't show them respect.
What's really important is that you respect the Encantos.
You deal with them on a level and you treat them like they're
they're very to do with nature. They're very integrated with
Filipino nature. Yeah, OK.
(16:53):
So. Just show them some respect.
Do you think that we appreciatedthe gift from above in a way
that they would approve of? Yeah.
Yeah. We did really enjoy that.
It was. It was fantastic.
And I mean, the the guy at the restaurant was almost ready with
a knife the moment that it fell.Yeah.
So I don't know. Perhaps he knows something we
don't know. Something else the Encantos can
do is mate with humans. Can they now?
(17:14):
Yeah, how, how, how do you know how to tell if you're having
sexual intercourse with an Encantos or is that, is that, is
that blue, you know? You know, if you're having it,
no respect to the Kantos. No, if someone's very, very good
looking or unusual looking or maybe albino or something like
that, people might think, oh, hold on a second, I really
(17:37):
Kantos been at play there. Oh my goodness.
But now I'm going to be sort of dialled in and highly receptive
when we're walking around Manila.
If you see a good looking Filipino you think of being
going on. Of which there are many.
Yeah. So, OK, Prevalent in society.
That's amazing. Do you?
Do you know the phrase? If you're going through it
everywhere, you think an Encantos might be OK?
(17:58):
What are you going to say? Well, because of the way I
butchered the longest place namein the world, I am a little bit
nervous, of course, but you? Know Tabby Tabby.
PO tabby tabby PO. Makiki Ram.
PO makikira ampo. Keep those Encantos at Bay.
And Speaking of Encantos, Speaking of the enchanted,
Speaking of the beautiful, the wonderful and the respectful,
you told me they have something that you want to do.
(18:20):
It's the Philippine special tripping point.
Let's go. Tripping point, Alan, it's that
time again. It's a Philippines special
tripping point. How do you feel?
I mean, you sound incredibly knowledgeable on the
Philippines. I know about the Philippines
(18:41):
mate and what keen eyed listeners who are watching on
YouTube or on Spotify will know is I'm fixed with my gaze on the
camera. The reason for that is this is
one of the first times we're doing tripping point physical
where you're here and the questions and answers are sort
of over to my right facing Adam because he needs to read the
(19:02):
questions because he can't remember them off the top of his
head. So I'm going to be looking very,
very carefully so that no one can accuse me of cheating.
And we've already mentioned briefly, you are going to be in
the Philippines for a while. So it makes sense just to raise
the stakes and make it more difficult for you that I do this
at the beginning of your time inthe Philippines as opposed to at
the end of your time in the Philippines.
I'm sure you'll get 100% right. Because I'd be too knowledgeable
(19:25):
by the end of my time in the Philippines.
Of course, of course. I mean, the questions could
maybe be 50, but we're going to do 5, we're going to do 5
questions. And as we know, in tripping
point fashion, there's always something on the line.
Yeah, if I get all five and thenKantos will drop them.
Yeah, well, Are you sure you still want to answer all 5
(19:45):
correctly if that's the comeuppance?
That's what I get if I do all 5.OK, well why don't this is kind
of a foodie thing, controversial.
There is something of food stuffin the Philippines, incredibly
popular called balut. And I didn't eat that the last
time I came to the Philippines. And it's been one of my food
(20:06):
regrets for a very long time. For anyone who doesn't know it's
it's kind of like a semi fertilized duck embryo.
Yeah, and an egg and it's. Yeah, they they halfway through
the gestation of the fertilized egg, boil it alive and you eat
it. Yeah, so, I mean, look, we're
well aware it doesn't sound appetizing, but I've been told
(20:27):
by Filipino people it's delicious, a few of which were
in Kantos. So it must be pretty.
It must be pretty good. OK.
Why don't we say, if you do, what do you feel comfortable
with? Three out of 10?
Three out of five? Beg your pardon?
Yeah, three out of five. Then I eat it.
OK. If you get less than that, you
eat it. OK.
(20:48):
All right, Yeah, Yeah. And we'll do a little bit on
Instagram and all that sort of stuff to head over there and you
can see one of us eating something that I actually want
to eat and that maybe you don't want to eat.
OK, well, in Kantos, give me strength.
Let's go. OK, here we go.
Question #1 The Philippines is one of the largest archipelagos
globally, but how many islands make up the Philippines?
(21:13):
So this is you get the points ifyou get the number closest to
the multiple choice options you have available to you.
OK. A is 2500 islands, B is 4500
islands, C is 7500 islands and Dis 10,500 islands. 10,000 seems
really extreme. 10,000 Are we talking at high tide or low
(21:35):
tide? It does make a difference.
Whichever tide it was when it was calculated, and I'm afraid I
don't know that information available to me, I let's say
medium tide. And Anthony Bourdain, cooking
show. Yeah, in which Anthony Bourdain,
of course, where he goes to the Philippines, right?
(21:56):
And the guy that he's talking tosays we have X amount of islands
at low tide. Oh wow.
OK. But I don't remember what the
number was. That's a shame, yeah.
Have you got an intuition? I'm.
Going to go with the 7001. I think it's a colossal number
of Irelands. 7500 Final answer Yeah, you're right, it is 7500,
(22:20):
and I've got a little fun fact for you.
I've put more work into this week's tripping point than
almost any other, actually. It's almost as if someone close
in your personal life is demanding more and more work
goes into topology ever constantly.
There are 7641 islands in the Philippines.
(22:40):
Maybe I'll have to put in the description you know specify is
at low tide. Surprisingly, more than 5000 of
these islands remain unnamed on most international maps.
They are literally waiting to bediscovered.
That's a little nod to your Antarctica episode.
So there you go. That's one in the bag mate.
Thank you so much, looking good.#2 The Philippines is known as
(23:01):
the world's largest exporter of what?
It's Antos. It's it's.
Another, it's another and they're just getting rid of
them. Are they selling them to
everyone else? So there's another multiple
choice mate. I know you like them.
A Nurses, B rice, C semiconductors or D Chicken, joy
(23:22):
and jolly spaghetti. Right.
OK. So chicken joy for people that
don't know is there's a there's a restaurant chain here called
Jollibee. I don't think that you can count
that because if a Jollibee franchise opens up overseas,
that's a Filipino franchise. It's not that the Philippines is
exporting it, it's just that thefranchise has opened up there.
(23:44):
And it's a Filipino franchise, so even maybe by default it will
be the world's largest because it's a Filipino franchise.
So if you haven't had Jollibee guys, don't worry, it's not
worth it. Yeah, Semiconductors I don't
know anything about. But they have featured on a
tripping point before, haven't they?
They have. It wasn't from the Philippines.
(24:05):
It wasn't, it was Taiwan, so maybe you can use that as a
guide. I'm gonna go nurses, Adam,
because I know that the Philippines, they send a lot of
people overseas to work. So I'm going to say nurses.
They're very good at being nurses.
It's correct. Oh my goodness, look at me.
Fly, look at me go. Here we go.
I've got another little tidbit for you.
Over 2025% of all nurses in the United States are of Filipino
(24:26):
descent. Wow, that's a high number, isn't
it? It's so.
High. It can only be true. #3 here we
go, you're on a roll. I can almost taste the balloon
now. The world's largest and most
expensive Watt was found in the Philippines.
And Kantos. Is that your final answer?
Because you haven't got multiplechoice mate.
(24:47):
So we're going to have to, we'regoing to have to talk this one
through. Largest and most expensive Watt
was found in the Philippines andI haven't got multiple choice.
That's wild. So I'm happy to discuss this
because I think it could be quite an interesting
conversation. I want to hear your methodology.
OK, Is it? It's going to be like a gemstone
of some kind. Can I just say gemstone?
(25:08):
Well, I mean, that's Diamond, I think.
Are we getting bloody close right off the bat?
Can we try to get a little bit closer?
Because I am absolutely amazed. I don't think it is a diamond so
I'm going to maybe think I'm thinking of like Ruby sapphire.
Can you give me the colour of the gemstone?
I can give you I have written a clue because I knew this would
hassle, right? And I think you might nail it
once you hear the clue. Yeah, I go think jewellery and
(25:29):
pirate ships. What largest piece of gold?
Largest bit of gold Bullying? Kind of, but with the
Philippines, with islands, what do people do around islands,
what a backpackers like to do when there's nice Clearwater,
all this kind of stuff. Yeah, maybe scuba diving, things
like this, something you might oh, it's a Pearl.
It's a Pearl. I don't think you can give me
(25:51):
that. Do you not?
No, thank you. I'll not take the point, but
Pearl's interesting The Lives and Misfits of Pearl was found
in the Philippines. It was, it was and it's, it's
absolutely enormous, mate. I mean, of course I've seen
pictures of this thing. It is gigantic.
It was found in Palawan, which is somewhere I think you should
go somewhere I've been. It's absolutely lovely.
It it weighs A staggering 27. Kilos.
(26:13):
Did it belong to a particularly large oyster?
A. Clam.
Is it an oyster or a clan? I think it was found in the
clan. Yeah, and it was a fisherman way
back when. He hid it under his bed for a
number of years. Must have been uncomfortable.
And and I sort. Of had terrible back issues, his
spine was a horrible. Shave.
I mean, you wouldn't let it out your sight, would you Like that
(26:37):
big, big pale necklace? Well, I can't do anything else.
Well, I. Appreciate that's an amazing
fact. He died of starvation.
It it did. It was valued fairly recently.
How much would you put on it if you had to say a figure?
It's a nice round fucking gigantic number, if that gives
you any. Is it more than 4 million?
Quite a lot more. 40 million. Quite a lot more.
(26:59):
Really. Yeah.
Wow is a nice big, fat round, $100 million for this, for the
biggest, because it's not just an enormous gemstone, it's also
the biggest in the world. So I'm sure that adds a little
bit as well. Yeah, Yeah.
Do you know? What I mean, that's amazing, 100
million. Yeah, and you might be
interested to know I saw a picture of it yesterday.
It's currently displayed inside someone's house who inherited
it, and it is almost encased by a golden octopus.
(27:23):
It looks really really cool. Check it out guys.
How much? The golden rocks discussed.
Less I think, but it was designed by a famous design.
How many questions has that been, Adam?
That's been three questions. You're doing really well.
I. Got 2 right?
You did, so here we go #4 the Philippines boasts the world's
largest underground. What now?
You'll be pleased to know it's multiple choice.
Cock fighting rig. Yeah, just cock rig.
(27:50):
So it's a waste management system.
Yeah. B Shopping mall.
They love to shop. C Colonial Burial Ground or D
River. What are we thinking?
It's definitely not the largest river.
Underground river. Underground river.
I forgot the underground bit. Yeah, yeah, largest.
Underground river. Yeah, I'm going to go with that.
(28:13):
Just in there. Yeah.
I'll be short for time. Yeah, yeah.
I'm gonna go with underground river.
It is right mate located in Fuerta Princesa Subterranean
River National Park, Balawan andstretching an an enormous 8.2
kilometres. Lovely.
That's that is fantastic. It's interesting.
When I was in Palo and I didn't go there, it's quite near to the
airport actually. You can go there on the way to
(28:34):
El Nido or wherever else you're going to go, and you can kind of
view it by getting in a little boat or whatever and going down
the river and it's really cool. OK, that's three out of a four
so far. So I mean that's, that's it then
you're eating a balloon. I'm in.
I'm eating a balloon. I'll take.
What a shame it's not as if you've been on and on about how
much you wanted to eat it. Don't tell the fans that.
(28:56):
Right. You ready for the last question?
Yeah, I'm ready. Here we go.
This is a good one. So you are a massive mixed
martial arts MMA fan. You love UFC, you watch your
boxing. You know what you're talking
about when it comes to that sortof stuff.
So much so that I love watching that with you.
Yeah. So I'm sure I'm sure you're
going to get this one more. Have you ever heard of Manny
Pacquiao? Yes.
Yeah. Very famous Filipino boxer and
politician. Interesting.
(29:18):
That's. Another question had a career
as. During Manny Pacquiao's boxing
matches, something in Manila drops to 0.
What is it? Here we go.
A karaoke singing B crime rates C air quality index or D the
(29:39):
temperature. OK, temperature obviously not
air quality index. Well, it's pretty tall gun.
Yeah, air quality index would take longer than a boxing match.
So it's either crime or what wasthe other one?
Karaoke singing. Karaoke singing or karaoke
singing, possibly because maybe all the bars are showing showing
(30:00):
Manny Pacquiao fights crime. I mean, someone's surely doing
some crime somewhere. It's either crime or karaoke.
It's a toss up between the two. Well, I mean also at this point
you really don't. Doesn't matter which one you
get. It's difficult to predict.
I reckon someone once had a pop at a crime when there's a Manny
Pacquiao fight, whereas I reckonall karaoke bars they're showing
(30:22):
the Pacquiao fight as a matter of course.
I'm going to say there's no karaoke singing during a
Pacquiao fight. It's crime rates.
I mean, surely not. Well, it would be documented
crime when it would be sort of anything that's going in
administratively through the system.
Yeah. So maybe there is someone
somewhere create, you know, doing some crime, committing
some crime, however people phrase it the do crime.
(30:43):
Part of my answer there is because I don't know this is
true, but something rings a bellabout Pacquiao himself being
quite into karaoke. So I thought as a matter of
honour, maybe all the karaoke bars are like, we're going to
show the fight. Yeah, I mean, I know this for it
can be said about Japanese people, but maybe Filipino
people as well. They do just have great voices,
(31:03):
many of them. So, you know, maybe we should
get involved in a bit of karaoketonight, mate.
Me, you and an end game encampos.
I don't know why I call it an Enginhoka.
That Enginhoka is a a place. Oh really?
Well, I'm sure they heard that. And if we don't get any mangoes
today, we'll know why. Yeah, it's because you lost the
(31:24):
game and you're going to eat a balloon as a result.
Go to instagram.com/tropology podcast to see that.
Yeah, and we're going to go overto the Lost and Found section
where we're going to talk about what we're going to do later.
I'm really excited about that patreon.com/tropology podcast.
Yeah, we'll see you there, man. It's comes out 24 hours early.
We have a lost and found section.
It's really good. It's just general chat.
(31:45):
We're going to carry on exploring the Philippines and
having all sorts of adventures over here.
We've got some very, very exciting news coming up in the
next few weeks. So I mean, tell your friends and
go crazy because it's about to get really wild up in this
podcast shit. Yeah, we haven't contacted you
yet. We might be doing that very
soon. Stay tuned guys.
We'll see you there. What is true?
It's the Philippines tripping point special.
Play the theme music. Hello
and welcome to this episode of Tribology.
(00:20):
I'm Alan and I'm here with the ever patient.
Adam physically here, still here.
It's a wonder that I am here because you've very kindly
sorted out the accommodation forus.
Thank you. A few times in a row we've
extended in this lovely apartment AKA the Tropology
Studio, AKA Tropology HQ. Lovely apartment, isn't it?
(00:40):
It's not as if last week I was physically melting into a little
cup on the floor, pulling my ownperspirations about my face and
hair. No, I'm not going to say thanks
for sorting out the accommodation, but it's a shit
hole. Right.
Yeah, yeah. But I do like it.
I think it's adequate. However, we are in an enormous
building in McCarty City, which I think is one of three towers
on the same complex. The Beacon.
(01:02):
The beacon? Oh, we're just calling it out
live on air. Well.
I mean the beacon aren't responsible for this particular
Airbnb, I mean. We'll be gone by the time this
goes out anyway so fuck em. And the the lift.
The elevator system in this building is unlike anything I've
ever experienced in my in my entire life.
I think the. Most organised, most efficient
lift you've ever used is it? No, no, no.
(01:23):
It's it's absolutely the longesttime I've ever spent waiting for
a lift and inside a lift in the same journey.
Right, OK, well let's talk a little bit about it because I'm
equally frustrated. When you asked me last night can
we extend this accommodation, I was shocked and appalled.
Yeah, the Philippines famously defined by its slow lifts,
(01:44):
elevators for our American listeners.
So, yeah, I just think it's something that's plagued us.
It's something that's eaten an enormous amount into into our
time together in the Philippines.
And even just today when you said I'm going to nip down and
get a coffee, I'll see you in the cafe.
I did say please, please just wait a couple of minutes.
I'll be ready because I can't bear to be waiting for the lift
on my own, not catching that sweet, sweet lift because you,
(02:08):
you know, if you miss it, it's like probably a 30 minute swing.
Listeners should and will know that there's a relationship
dynamic between me and that in India devolved into basically me
making increasing threats to tryand get Adam to leave.
Slightly earlier. It went to the point where I
would just go, Adam, I'm gettingin a tuk tuk at 10.
(02:31):
If you're there, then we'll get in the Tuttle together.
If not, I'm going at 10 and thenI would get in the tuk tuk and
there'd be this thing where Adamwas like panicking in the hostel
trying to get out. This lift is so much better a
deterrent than the talk talks ever were.
In this scenario, I go Adam, I'mgetting in the lift now.
Adam will be ready quick, smart because the waiting time for the
(02:53):
lift is abysmal. It is, I mean, even this cafe
that we went to, I came back slightly earlier than you did
and I made the point of timing how long it took from the very
bottom of the lift to the momentthat I pressed the button
waiting for the lift in the foyer up until the moment that I
exited the lift on the 38th floor.
Fair to say, you know, fair to say we are on the 38th floor.
(03:15):
So it would take a little bit oftime anyway, even if it was a
quick lift. Guess guess how long it was,
bearing in mind it's just up oneshaft in the same building.
You did a scientific experiment,did you?
Well, I just, I timed it and I've calculated also how far I
could drive in a car at 30 miles.
An hour? It took you 8 minutes.
It was 13 minutes out. 13 minutes. 13 minutes.
(03:37):
I'm lucky for some. I was downstairs waiting and
there was a couple there and I sort of, I was doing this really
British passive aggressive huffing, sort of thinking that
they were going to, I don't know, engage in conversation
with someone who was clearly, you know, in distress.
Yeah, I said, do you do you livein this building?
They said, yeah. I said this is maybe the the
longest I've ever waited for a lift.
(03:57):
And they said, yeah, they are slow sometimes.
And I was there looking at my phone.
I thought, fuck it, I am going to time this and maybe we'll
talk about it on the pod. But 13 minutes total time to
wait for the lift, get in the lift.
And then it's also really slow once you're in the lift because
it's got 38 floors. I don't know how many floors the
building's got in its entirety, do you?
Know. Yeah, well, we're actually on
the 37th floor because in classic Asian fashion, the 13th
(04:19):
floor is missing. Yeah.
So it should even be slightly quicker, but it's just
absolutely ridiculous it it does, as you said a couple of
days ago, it stops you from leaving the apartment.
Yeah, I'm not going to be leaving here today.
I think it's basically made me far more productive because I
don't really want or care to seemuch of Manila because I feel
ensconced within this lift basedsort of purgatory.
(04:42):
Yeah, I mean, we had some food at around 4-5 o'clock yesterday
and at the at the restaurant youdid say, well, we just have
something small. I'm sure we'll we're going to
eat later on. And then by the time we were
both in here at about 7-8 o'clock, there's just no chance
I'm ever going back down becauseit's it's a good sort of two
hour turn around time just to goto the restaurant, even if you
(05:02):
went to the base of the building.
There's going to be some people listening to this who might go.
You know, Tripology used to be about hostels and tuk tuks, and
now it's about Airbnb's and lifts.
But you know what? I think there's a funny thing
that's happened with hostile culture hostels in general,
where to some extent you're paying now for the experience of
(05:23):
being in a hostel. I think that hostels are the
best way to meet people, the absolute best thing to do whilst
you're travelling as a solo backpacker.
But the reason that's the case is because they're the cheapest
accommodation or were kind of byproduct of that is that
everyone's in this community hubbecause everyone who wants to
travel as cheap as possible is in the hostel.
(05:45):
I mean, it's transpired such that hostels for the two of us
are more expensive. It's more expensive for the two
of us to buy a hostel dorm than it is for the two of us to get
an Airbnb for the night. A hostel dorm might be 15 lbs a
night. This Airbnb might be $25 a night
and come with a sauna, a swimming pool, a gym.
(06:06):
So hostile culture, man. In the Philippines, I think
Airbnb's might be the place to go.
Yeah, I think we're seeing it the world over.
I mean, do send us an e-mail or get on the contact form on the
website if you've got a different opinion or different
experience. But certainly moving around New
Zealand, sometimes in in cities,you're paying $5060 to stay in
an 8 bed dorm, A10 bed dorm. I just don't understand how
(06:27):
hostels or why hostels are doingit.
Maybe they're trying to recoup some money from, you know, the
2-3 years when they weren't making any money.
I think it's. Because backpacking is getting
so popular and they know that the experience of being in a
hostel is an experience that people seek.
So. So again, it's becoming
commodified, right? Commodifying the literal
experience of I mean, let's faceit, I adore hostels.
(06:48):
I love hostels more than the guy, you know, any other person
apart from you maybe in the world.
I love him. I absolutely adore him, but they
are shit accommodation. Yeah, that's just a by product
that you have to suffer because you want the experience of
meeting a lot of people. You.
Can't sell me the bad accommodation and the
(07:10):
experience. No, they're a byproduct of one
another. I'd rather be comfortable and go
and do activities. So the hostels have to be
cheaper. Yeah.
And I think maybe if there are people listening to this that do
work on the pricing structures for, for hostels, maybe, you
know, Hostile World or whatever,you might liaise with some of
your big hostel groups. James in accounting at Hostel
World listening to apology go fuck I ruined it.
(07:33):
You know, this is this is a pleabecause there you have to
realise, right, there are peoplewho don't stay in hostels
already because they don't want other people in their room or
there's a lack of privacy or maybe the facilities aren't
great. I know some people that wouldn't
stay in a hostel even if it was free.
So the fact that you're then trying to deter people or are
deterring people because of thisprohibitive price tag, that it's
just a no brainer when you look at 22 accommodation options and
(07:56):
you've got, oh, I'm going to be sleeping with potentially 12
people, that's potentially 11. Source. 8.
And it's only $60.00 a night. Only sleeping potentially 712
people, so that is the bonus I. See, are we going to offset the
action with the no? I mean, you're talking like
however many other potential snorers.
Yeah, lack of privacy, smelling whatever.
(08:18):
I don't need to go into detail about the negative aspects of a
hostile dorm, but if it's also then more expensive than a
hotel, don't be. Greedy guts hostels.
Why would anyone do it? We're trying.
We form part of this community to try and keep that alive.
Yeah. Yeah.
And we always encourage people to stay in hostels for that
reason. So now that the price has become
so expensive that it is prohibitive, I think there needs
(08:38):
to be either another offering ormaybe lower the price.
You're going to ruin travel culture if hostels go all
greedy, that's for sure. You heard it at first.
Adam, we went on an excursion because I saved most of my
excursions for your arrival whenI first arrived in Manila.
So we went to, we went to get some food, didn't we?
We did because I'd been here a little while.
I was in charge of navigation because obviously I had all data
(09:00):
set off my phone. How did you think my navigation
and skills transpired? Superb.
What do you think about the bit where I guided us into a one way
sewage system and we walked alongside A sewer and had to
climb over a fence to get onto aconstruction site of the gate?
Yeah, I mean, up until that point, it was scenic.
Yeah, it was really scenic. And I do love going down those
little alleyways and nooks and crannies where you end up
(09:21):
walking past the windows of justresidents, locals, doing their
washing and stuff. I mean, I don't know if you saw
me doing this because I think you were tending to your wounds.
But I did go back and sort of wave to a woman who was doing
the washing up. She, she didn't for one second
say, you know, what the fuck areyou doing walking down this
dirty river? But yeah, I mean, you weren't to
(09:41):
know in your defence that we were entering because we walked
down that river for quite some time.
Well, in my defence, I was catering to your desire to not
be in the sun. As as a newcomer as the
Philippines as an English personwith fairly pale skin.
I was guiding us to the restaurant and you said, oh, can
we walk out of the sun? So I went, oh, let's walk along
this path, which is, you know, covered with foliage.
(10:04):
Yeah, it was tree lined. It was a genuine path, maybe
some benches or whatever. That kind of the benches became
fewer and fewer as the path continued on and revealed itself
to be a sewage system around theback of some houses with a
concrete wall at the end. So we had to scale this brick
wall to escape through three rings of barbed wire I had to
(10:26):
get through. Yeah, you might call it
trespassing. So be careful what you say here,
because we know what happened last time.
Jumped in the construction site,said sorry for trespassing and
then we went about our day and we had a lovely, a lovely bit of
food, didn't we? Yeah, we did have a fantastic
meal. I do always feel a little bit of
added pressure now because obviously I like eating well
anyway, I love eating well with you Filipino food, a lot of
(10:50):
people don't think it's that great.
So you know, I do want to run a some really fantastic dishes
that will go toe to toe with some of the greatest food you
can find in Southeast Asia. So when you say mate, go on, get
online, find us a decent restaurant.
Hopefully I came up Trump. So you like what we ate?
I thought it was the best food I've had in the Philippines so
far. Absolutely, yeah.
OK, well, just for anyone listening, the restaurant is
(11:12):
called Aling's Saucings and it is your typical, you know, on
the corner of a busy St. sort ofAnthony Bourdain esque.
Been doing the same thing over and over again since I think
1954 if I remember the sign correctly.
But it is local small chairs by the side of the road.
You go along. You should have gotten by Bar
Marie or whatever. You got multiple different
dishes you can choose from. What was your pick of the bunch?
(11:34):
Because we had a, we had a pretty decent soup that I can go
into a little bit of detail. I'm a pick of the bunch.
Yeah, it was wonderful. I expected it to be the kind of
beef soup where you're like, there's grizzle in there, you
have to take bits out and put itin the bowl and at the end
there's sort of a bag of bones leftover.
It was actually, I mean melting your mouth.
Because it was liquid. No, it's so the soup was more
(11:56):
like a consummate, like a clear soup and beautiful kind of Bony,
salty, sort of umami flavour, wasn't it Sort of separates, you
see the oil from the meat and the tendons or whatever else
were in there. But it was a bit a little bit
collagen esque gelatinous. Cologenic.
Cologenic. And yeah, it was just a super
(12:16):
fresh couple of vegetables in there.
That was delicious. We also had tilapia, which was,
you think, underwhelming. Bit boring.
Yeah, bit boring. Nothing on it.
Bit of calamansi. Just squeeze that, squeeze that
on there. That was delicious.
And then what else? We had the yeah, of course,
which we're going to eat lots more of.
We'll probably do a feature on the channel.
I can see that making a feature later on in this Filipino
(12:38):
series. From Tasty Pork.
Bits I want to draw attention tothe moment where, when we were
sat eating our food, a mango fell from a great height down to
the parasol above us. And that was because there was a
huge, huge gust of wind with a thunderstorm, inevitable
thunderstorm that was coming. And the parasol almost flew out
the middle of the table at one point.
(12:58):
And I sort of grabbed it as if Iknew what was going to happen.
And then at that point, a mango came from the from the tree
above and almost hit you on the head while you were working your
way through that tilapia. Yeah, I was.
Excited by the prospect of the mango falling.
And they brought us a knife to cut it up and have it for
dessert free of charge. But I was excited by the
(13:18):
prospect of the mango falling because I know something about
Filipino culture that you don't.OK.
And. The mango made me think of it
and wonder and sort of ponder itand think, wow, maybe that is
that thing that happened to me whilst the mango fell.
Right. What is it about Filipino
culture that you know and I don't know?
Do you know about Encantos? No, it sounds Spanish.
Well, it is Spanish. It's from Spanish influence.
(13:41):
I'm going to tell you about it after a brief meditation break.
If you love the podcast as much as we love you, please could you
take the time to rate the show on your favorite podcasting
platform? Yeah, go and give it.
Five stars everyone else has. We're just waiting on you.
Thanks for supporting us, it means the world to us.
(14:03):
Like an encantas, dropping a mango onto an Englishman's head
from a great height is a sort ofcheeky trick.
Let your conscious mind return into your brain.
Tabby tabby PO makiki rampo Adam.
That's what you've got to say ifyou want to ward away in in
Cantos. It means I'm coming through,
baby. I mean no harm.
(14:23):
Don't touch me. Because in Cantos are the sort
of spirits of the Filipino world.
OK, well how did you first learnabout these and how does that
sort of talk about how the the mango fits into the whole thing?
Said to me, oh, you go into the Philippines, you got to be weary
of those in cantos, right? Named by the Spanish who came to
(14:44):
the Philippines to do some colonialist activity.
Baffled by the sheer number of little mythological creatures,
fairy spirit elves that were present in Philippine and
mythology, he went oh, these arethe enchanted, the enganthos,
and it really the idea is snowballed from there.
OK, fair enough. So you think that you were what,
(15:05):
like saved by one of those? Well, in Kantos, what they do if
they like the vibe that you're putting out there, right?
If you're going tabby tabby PO maki irampo.
That's why you said that just before the man go Oh right, I
understand. What a coincidence.
Exactly if if the in Kantos decide we like what this guy's
doing, we like Tropology, we'll support the Patreon over at
(15:29):
patreon.com LG podcast, where we've had a very suspicious
increase in subscribers. If they decide they like your
vibe, they'll bestow upon you great acts of luck.
OK, well hang on then. So do you think that the lucky
part was that the mango didn't hit you on the head, or do you
think it was one of these spirits delivering a free mango
(15:49):
to you as sort of a welcome gift?
That's what I fundamentally believe deep in my heart, is
that in Campos saw us having that dinner and said have
dessert. Did they ask us if we wanted
dessert and we said no? No, because you don't ignore a
gift from an encampos like that.It was a sign from above, quite
literally. The mango fell.
(16:10):
It was a beautiful gift. I for one, really, really
enjoyed it. And and I think thank you to the
Encantos. Some of the things Encantos can
do right, that you might like, they can also, if they don't
like you, if they think, oh, youcoming over here to the
Philippines and not saying our Chan, then they'll give you
boils. OK, watch out for those.
(16:33):
They'll make you feel all sick and I'll so they'll give you,
you know, you'll have a lot of bad luck basically at the hands
of the Encantos if you don't show them respect.
What's really important is that you respect the Encantos.
You deal with them on a level and you treat them like they're
they're very to do with nature. They're very integrated with
Filipino nature. Yeah, OK.
(16:53):
So. Just show them some respect.
Do you think that we appreciatedthe gift from above in a way
that they would approve of? Yeah.
Yeah. We did really enjoy that.
It was. It was fantastic.
And I mean, the the guy at the restaurant was almost ready with
a knife the moment that it fell.Yeah.
So I don't know. Perhaps he knows something we
don't know. Something else the Encantos can
do is mate with humans. Can they now?
(17:14):
Yeah, how, how, how do you know how to tell if you're having
sexual intercourse with an Encantos or is that, is that, is
that blue, you know? You know, if you're having it,
no respect to the Kantos. No, if someone's very, very good
looking or unusual looking or maybe albino or something like
that, people might think, oh, hold on a second, I really
(17:37):
Kantos been at play there. Oh my goodness.
But now I'm going to be sort of dialled in and highly receptive
when we're walking around Manila.
If you see a good looking Filipino you think of being
going on. Of which there are many.
Yeah. So, OK, Prevalent in society.
That's amazing. Do you?
Do you know the phrase? If you're going through it
everywhere, you think an Encantos might be OK?
(17:58):
What are you going to say? Well, because of the way I
butchered the longest place namein the world, I am a little bit
nervous, of course, but you? Know Tabby Tabby.
PO tabby tabby PO. Makiki Ram.
PO makikira ampo. Keep those Encantos at Bay.
And Speaking of Encantos, Speaking of the enchanted,
Speaking of the beautiful, the wonderful and the respectful,
you told me they have something that you want to do.
(18:20):
It's the Philippine special tripping point.
Let's go. Tripping point, Alan, it's that
time again. It's a Philippines special
tripping point. How do you feel?
I mean, you sound incredibly knowledgeable on the
Philippines. I know about the Philippines
(18:41):
mate and what keen eyed listeners who are watching on
YouTube or on Spotify will know is I'm fixed with my gaze on the
camera. The reason for that is this is
one of the first times we're doing tripping point physical
where you're here and the questions and answers are sort
of over to my right facing Adam because he needs to read the
(19:02):
questions because he can't remember them off the top of his
head. So I'm going to be looking very,
very carefully so that no one can accuse me of cheating.
And we've already mentioned briefly, you are going to be in
the Philippines for a while. So it makes sense just to raise
the stakes and make it more difficult for you that I do this
at the beginning of your time inthe Philippines as opposed to at
the end of your time in the Philippines.
I'm sure you'll get 100% right. Because I'd be too knowledgeable
(19:25):
by the end of my time in the Philippines.
Of course, of course. I mean, the questions could
maybe be 50, but we're going to do 5, we're going to do 5
questions. And as we know, in tripping
point fashion, there's always something on the line.
Yeah, if I get all five and thenKantos will drop them.
Yeah, well, Are you sure you still want to answer all 5
(19:45):
correctly if that's the comeuppance?
That's what I get if I do all 5.OK, well why don't this is kind
of a foodie thing, controversial.
There is something of food stuffin the Philippines, incredibly
popular called balut. And I didn't eat that the last
time I came to the Philippines. And it's been one of my food
(20:06):
regrets for a very long time. For anyone who doesn't know it's
it's kind of like a semi fertilized duck embryo.
Yeah, and an egg and it's. Yeah, they they halfway through
the gestation of the fertilized egg, boil it alive and you eat
it. Yeah, so, I mean, look, we're
well aware it doesn't sound appetizing, but I've been told
(20:27):
by Filipino people it's delicious, a few of which were
in Kantos. So it must be pretty.
It must be pretty good. OK.
Why don't we say, if you do, what do you feel comfortable
with? Three out of 10?
Three out of five? Beg your pardon?
Yeah, three out of five. Then I eat it.
OK. If you get less than that, you
eat it. OK.
(20:48):
All right, Yeah, Yeah. And we'll do a little bit on
Instagram and all that sort of stuff to head over there and you
can see one of us eating something that I actually want
to eat and that maybe you don't want to eat.
OK, well, in Kantos, give me strength.
Let's go. OK, here we go.
Question #1 The Philippines is one of the largest archipelagos
globally, but how many islands make up the Philippines?
(21:13):
So this is you get the points ifyou get the number closest to
the multiple choice options you have available to you.
OK. A is 2500 islands, B is 4500
islands, C is 7500 islands and Dis 10,500 islands. 10,000 seems
really extreme. 10,000 Are we talking at high tide or low
(21:35):
tide? It does make a difference.
Whichever tide it was when it was calculated, and I'm afraid I
don't know that information available to me, I let's say
medium tide. And Anthony Bourdain, cooking
show. Yeah, in which Anthony Bourdain,
of course, where he goes to the Philippines, right?
(21:56):
And the guy that he's talking tosays we have X amount of islands
at low tide. Oh wow.
OK. But I don't remember what the
number was. That's a shame, yeah.
Have you got an intuition? I'm.
Going to go with the 7001. I think it's a colossal number
of Irelands. 7500 Final answer Yeah, you're right, it is 7500,
(22:20):
and I've got a little fun fact for you.
I've put more work into this week's tripping point than
almost any other, actually. It's almost as if someone close
in your personal life is demanding more and more work
goes into topology ever constantly.
There are 7641 islands in the Philippines.
(22:40):
Maybe I'll have to put in the description you know specify is
at low tide. Surprisingly, more than 5000 of
these islands remain unnamed on most international maps.
They are literally waiting to bediscovered.
That's a little nod to your Antarctica episode.
So there you go. That's one in the bag mate.
Thank you so much, looking good.#2 The Philippines is known as
(23:01):
the world's largest exporter of what?
It's Antos. It's it's.
Another, it's another and they're just getting rid of
them. Are they selling them to
everyone else? So there's another multiple
choice mate. I know you like them.
A Nurses, B rice, C semiconductors or D Chicken, joy
(23:22):
and jolly spaghetti. Right.
OK. So chicken joy for people that
don't know is there's a there's a restaurant chain here called
Jollibee. I don't think that you can count
that because if a Jollibee franchise opens up overseas,
that's a Filipino franchise. It's not that the Philippines is
exporting it, it's just that thefranchise has opened up there.
(23:44):
And it's a Filipino franchise, so even maybe by default it will
be the world's largest because it's a Filipino franchise.
So if you haven't had Jollibee guys, don't worry, it's not
worth it. Yeah, Semiconductors I don't
know anything about. But they have featured on a
tripping point before, haven't they?
They have. It wasn't from the Philippines.
(24:05):
It wasn't, it was Taiwan, so maybe you can use that as a
guide. I'm gonna go nurses, Adam,
because I know that the Philippines, they send a lot of
people overseas to work. So I'm going to say nurses.
They're very good at being nurses.
It's correct. Oh my goodness, look at me.
Fly, look at me go. Here we go.
I've got another little tidbit for you.
Over 2025% of all nurses in the United States are of Filipino
(24:26):
descent. Wow, that's a high number, isn't
it? It's so.
High. It can only be true. #3 here we
go, you're on a roll. I can almost taste the balloon
now. The world's largest and most
expensive Watt was found in the Philippines.
And Kantos. Is that your final answer?
Because you haven't got multiplechoice mate.
(24:47):
So we're going to have to, we'regoing to have to talk this one
through. Largest and most expensive Watt
was found in the Philippines andI haven't got multiple choice.
That's wild. So I'm happy to discuss this
because I think it could be quite an interesting
conversation. I want to hear your methodology.
OK, Is it? It's going to be like a gemstone
of some kind. Can I just say gemstone?
(25:08):
Well, I mean, that's Diamond, I think.
Are we getting bloody close right off the bat?
Can we try to get a little bit closer?
Because I am absolutely amazed. I don't think it is a diamond so
I'm going to maybe think I'm thinking of like Ruby sapphire.
Can you give me the colour of the gemstone?
I can give you I have written a clue because I knew this would
hassle, right? And I think you might nail it
once you hear the clue. Yeah, I go think jewellery and
(25:29):
pirate ships. What largest piece of gold?
Largest bit of gold Bullying? Kind of, but with the
Philippines, with islands, what do people do around islands,
what a backpackers like to do when there's nice Clearwater,
all this kind of stuff. Yeah, maybe scuba diving, things
like this, something you might oh, it's a Pearl.
It's a Pearl. I don't think you can give me
(25:51):
that. Do you not?
No, thank you. I'll not take the point, but
Pearl's interesting The Lives and Misfits of Pearl was found
in the Philippines. It was, it was and it's, it's
absolutely enormous, mate. I mean, of course I've seen
pictures of this thing. It is gigantic.
It was found in Palawan, which is somewhere I think you should
go somewhere I've been. It's absolutely lovely.
It it weighs A staggering 27. Kilos.
(26:13):
Did it belong to a particularly large oyster?
A. Clam.
Is it an oyster or a clan? I think it was found in the
clan. Yeah, and it was a fisherman way
back when. He hid it under his bed for a
number of years. Must have been uncomfortable.
And and I sort. Of had terrible back issues, his
spine was a horrible. Shave.
I mean, you wouldn't let it out your sight, would you Like that
(26:37):
big, big pale necklace? Well, I can't do anything else.
Well, I. Appreciate that's an amazing
fact. He died of starvation.
It it did. It was valued fairly recently.
How much would you put on it if you had to say a figure?
It's a nice round fucking gigantic number, if that gives
you any. Is it more than 4 million?
Quite a lot more. 40 million. Quite a lot more.
(26:59):
Really. Yeah.
Wow is a nice big, fat round, $100 million for this, for the
biggest, because it's not just an enormous gemstone, it's also
the biggest in the world. So I'm sure that adds a little
bit as well. Yeah, Yeah.
Do you know? What I mean, that's amazing, 100
million. Yeah, and you might be
interested to know I saw a picture of it yesterday.
It's currently displayed inside someone's house who inherited
it, and it is almost encased by a golden octopus.
(27:23):
It looks really really cool. Check it out guys.
How much? The golden rocks discussed.
Less I think, but it was designed by a famous design.
How many questions has that been, Adam?
That's been three questions. You're doing really well.
I. Got 2 right?
You did, so here we go #4 the Philippines boasts the world's
largest underground. What now?
You'll be pleased to know it's multiple choice.
Cock fighting rig. Yeah, just cock rig.
(27:50):
So it's a waste management system.
Yeah. B Shopping mall.
They love to shop. C Colonial Burial Ground or D
River. What are we thinking?
It's definitely not the largest river.
Underground river. Underground river.
I forgot the underground bit. Yeah, yeah, largest.
Underground river. Yeah, I'm going to go with that.
(28:13):
Just in there. Yeah.
I'll be short for time. Yeah, yeah.
I'm gonna go with underground river.
It is right mate located in Fuerta Princesa Subterranean
River National Park, Balawan andstretching an an enormous 8.2
kilometres. Lovely.
That's that is fantastic. It's interesting.
When I was in Palo and I didn't go there, it's quite near to the
airport actually. You can go there on the way to
(28:34):
El Nido or wherever else you're going to go, and you can kind of
view it by getting in a little boat or whatever and going down
the river and it's really cool. OK, that's three out of a four
so far. So I mean that's, that's it then
you're eating a balloon. I'm in.
I'm eating a balloon. I'll take.
What a shame it's not as if you've been on and on about how
much you wanted to eat it. Don't tell the fans that.
(28:56):
Right. You ready for the last question?
Yeah, I'm ready. Here we go.
This is a good one. So you are a massive mixed
martial arts MMA fan. You love UFC, you watch your
boxing. You know what you're talking
about when it comes to that sortof stuff.
So much so that I love watching that with you.
Yeah. So I'm sure I'm sure you're
going to get this one more. Have you ever heard of Manny
Pacquiao? Yes.
Yeah. Very famous Filipino boxer and
politician. Interesting.
(29:18):
That's. Another question had a career
as. During Manny Pacquiao's boxing
matches, something in Manila drops to 0.
What is it? Here we go.
A karaoke singing B crime rates C air quality index or D the
(29:39):
temperature. OK, temperature obviously not
air quality index. Well, it's pretty tall gun.
Yeah, air quality index would take longer than a boxing match.
So it's either crime or what wasthe other one?
Karaoke singing. Karaoke singing or karaoke
singing, possibly because maybe all the bars are showing showing
(30:00):
Manny Pacquiao fights crime. I mean, someone's surely doing
some crime somewhere. It's either crime or karaoke.
It's a toss up between the two. Well, I mean also at this point
you really don't. Doesn't matter which one you
get. It's difficult to predict.
I reckon someone once had a pop at a crime when there's a Manny
Pacquiao fight, whereas I reckonall karaoke bars they're showing
(30:22):
the Pacquiao fight as a matter of course.
I'm going to say there's no karaoke singing during a
Pacquiao fight. It's crime rates.
I mean, surely not. Well, it would be documented
crime when it would be sort of anything that's going in
administratively through the system.
Yeah. So maybe there is someone
somewhere create, you know, doing some crime, committing
some crime, however people phrase it the do crime.
(30:43):
Part of my answer there is because I don't know this is
true, but something rings a bellabout Pacquiao himself being
quite into karaoke. So I thought as a matter of
honour, maybe all the karaoke bars are like, we're going to
show the fight. Yeah, I mean, I know this for it
can be said about Japanese people, but maybe Filipino
people as well. They do just have great voices,
(31:03):
many of them. So, you know, maybe we should
get involved in a bit of karaoketonight, mate.
Me, you and an end game encampos.
I don't know why I call it an Enginhoka.
That Enginhoka is a a place. Oh really?
Well, I'm sure they heard that. And if we don't get any mangoes
today, we'll know why. Yeah, it's because you lost the
(31:24):
game and you're going to eat a balloon as a result.
Go to instagram.com/tropology podcast to see that.
Yeah, and we're going to go overto the Lost and Found section
where we're going to talk about what we're going to do later.
I'm really excited about that patreon.com/tropology podcast.
Yeah, we'll see you there, man. It's comes out 24 hours early.
We have a lost and found section.
It's really good. It's just general chat.
(31:45):
We're going to carry on exploring the Philippines and
having all sorts of adventures over here.
We've got some very, very exciting news coming up in the
next few weeks. So I mean, tell your friends and
go crazy because it's about to get really wild up in this
podcast shit. Yeah, we haven't contacted you
yet. We might be doing that very
soon. Stay tuned guys.
We'll see you there. What is true?
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