Speaker 1: Welcome to Everywhere, a production of I Heart Radio. Hi.
Speaker 1: I'm Daniel Scheffler, and this is Everywhere. Every week you'll
Speaker 1: hear me talk about travel commandments. God needed ten, I
Speaker 1: needed just a few more. This week's travel commandment thou
Speaker 1: should throw out the checklist. So I never think of
Speaker 1: travel as a list with little boxes waiting for checking.
Speaker 1: I see travel more of a continuum where it sort
Speaker 1: of never stops, because it never really began. With this
Speaker 1: philosophy comes many where am I wake ups into my
Speaker 1: husband's great frustration exclaims like what side of the road
Speaker 1: am I supposed to drive on? Long live my optimistic
Speaker 1: sense of adventure, I say, But as much as I
Speaker 1: don't have a list, there are obviously places I have
Speaker 1: dreamed of going my whole life and would be so
Speaker 1: honored to go to. Mongolia was definitely one of those.
Speaker 1: A country of shamans and nomad's where falconry, horse racing
Speaker 1: and wrestling in very tight jackets and speedos. It's just
Speaker 1: another day in Legobi. Mongolia is one of those places
Speaker 1: where everything and nothing is what makes it so special.
Speaker 1: They aren't any must see destinations, and nothing about Mongolia
Speaker 1: takes off an Instagram perfect photo opportunity. It has a quiet,
Speaker 1: soothing way about it that invites you, as an outsider,
Speaker 1: to observe and to marvel. My plan was to leave
Speaker 1: the capital city of Ulan Batar and for ten days
Speaker 1: just to horseback ride a big loop throughout the country.
Speaker 1: After about a week in Mongolia, it becomes like a
Speaker 1: healing bomb. My cheeky horse finally starts to evolve it's
Speaker 1: friendly trot to a freedom inspiring cantor across these verdant plains.
Speaker 1: Now that my body has started to move as one
Speaker 1: with this being, I was able to feel the vastness
Speaker 1: of open space. In Genghis Khan's homeland, Mongolia was once
Speaker 1: the largest empire on Earth, and today locals celebrate this
Speaker 1: legacy with a reverence for Khan. He valiantly comes up
Speaker 1: in every single conversation you have. Actually, I was feeling
Speaker 1: a little Genghis Khan myself. I was galloping around the
Speaker 1: steps and all I could see was the biggest sky.
Speaker 1: I felt like a valiant and proud explorer of the
Speaker 1: unknown on my speedy horse. Of course, at some point
Speaker 1: during my trip, mother requested a photo, and her response
Speaker 1: to the photo was is that a pony so yes
Speaker 1: Mongolian horses are a little smaller than other horses, but
Speaker 1: did not determine I was a powerful explorer. On pony back.
Speaker 1: My hands felt thick after a few days as I
Speaker 1: clenched these leather rains, and my thighs were getting their
Speaker 1: best Jane Fonder workout. Ever, I felt that the vastness
Speaker 1: of Mongolia needed a guide, and so a travel operator
Speaker 1: gifted me Zobi. He reminded me of Poe from the
Speaker 1: movie Kung Fu Panda, as he had the same sweetness
Speaker 1: and that appetite, and so together, mostly in silence, we
Speaker 1: let the landscape become our contented distraction. Of course, Zobe
Speaker 1: would every now and then, out of nowhere start belting
Speaker 1: some traditional throat singing somewhere between a frog and edge shearing.
Speaker 1: Was this beautiful sound floating around the Gobi Desert. With us,
Speaker 1: we charged across this beauty of Mongolia, with dry air
Speaker 1: coming off the Congo sand dunes and more of the
Speaker 1: step spreading out aimlessly in all directions. In the distance
Speaker 1: the Altai mountains, and tucked into these mountains are these
Speaker 1: amazing permanent glaziers that have now started to change shape.
Speaker 1: And melt thanks to global warming, but they still contained
Speaker 1: some mystery in the spacelike formations. I think Star Wars
Speaker 1: should come film here. And really that is exactly how
Speaker 1: Mongolia feels a little otherworldly, like you're traveling into another universe.
Speaker 1: But besides for these mountainous fishes, in the southern side
Speaker 1: of the country, there is mostly just open land, endless
Speaker 1: open land. Just think about the luxury of endless open land.
Speaker 1: So wherever you go across the country you find these
Speaker 1: piles of rocks, somewhat giant piles as big as homes
Speaker 1: and others just a couple of dozen rocks heaped on
Speaker 1: top of each other. Locals ladies rocks down combined with
Speaker 1: blue ribbons, and it's called an ubu. It's a shamanistic
Speaker 1: worship to rock and sky. And when you travel, it's
Speaker 1: customed to stop encircle an ubu three times, moving clockwise
Speaker 1: in order to have a safer journey. Of course, if
Speaker 1: you happen to have Mare's milk with you, a little
Speaker 1: splash on the rocks is considered a good offering. I
Speaker 1: was fortunate enough that Zobe had family all over the country.
Speaker 1: Some of them had extra yurts was Mongolians call him
Speaker 1: gears for guests like me. A yurt is around house,
Speaker 1: almost like a tent, but a little more fun, and
Speaker 1: since his family was nomadic, we had an interesting time
Speaker 1: finding them. Entering a gear camp is done with no knocking.
Speaker 1: Mongolians have an open door policy for all the motley
Speaker 1: duo that we are entered and sat down with Zobe's
Speaker 1: large extended family, uncle's, aunt's, grandparents and a host of
Speaker 1: toddlers and newborns. Russian and Mongolia were offered to me,
Speaker 1: and since I didn't speak either, I settled for a
Speaker 1: translated version from ZOBEI food here is meat plus dairy
Speaker 1: heavy and handed out our mass. Of course I received
Speaker 1: the usual are you married? Question, but a Mongolia the
Speaker 1: more important question is can you ride a horse? Due
Speaker 1: to all the goats I think cash Mare nomads enjoy
Speaker 1: the simple boiling or open fire roasting of meat with
Speaker 1: some herbs or plants found on the step. Milk, on
Speaker 1: the other hand, one of the only Asian countries where
Speaker 1: it is celebrated, filters into every meal and even snacks.
Speaker 1: Fermented Mare milk sits in waiting before entering. A Buddhist
Speaker 1: temple all over the country, and as a sort of
Speaker 1: sign of welcome, this almost alcoholic watery fluid is handed
Speaker 1: out as visitors arrive. Besides for the slushy delight, Mongolians
Speaker 1: love to snack on cookies called bortsch, which is simply
Speaker 1: milk curd dried in the sun and then sometimes fried
Speaker 1: and dried again, delicious surrounded by somewhat surreal elements. The
Speaker 1: country's nothingness is its greatest privilege, and also it's great.
Speaker 1: There are no road signs, no real road oads, even
Speaker 1: just the step in the sky. Ever, so often a
Speaker 1: dust tornado comes up out of nowhere and takes the
Speaker 1: meditation a little deeper, and then out of nothing a
Speaker 1: gear tent appears with a family of smiles waving us by.
Speaker 1: For a country of open spaces. Finding the Buddhist temples,
Speaker 1: wild horses and what I would call the Mongolian Olympics
Speaker 1: of archery, wrestling, and of course horse riding can be tricky,
Speaker 1: but they there if you keep your eyes and ears open.
Speaker 1: Some smaller festivals you just happen upon, and they're often creations,
Speaker 1: just from different families challenging each other. I rode up
Speaker 1: to a small festival one morning, and Zobee suggested we
Speaker 1: pick a family and join the festivities. First off, male wrestling.
Speaker 1: Genghis Khan considered it to be one of the three
Speaker 1: man skills, the other two being archery and horse riding.
Speaker 1: When it came to wrestling, I knew how to pick
Speaker 1: a team, the one with the best abs. Of course,
Speaker 1: I watched these stocky wrestlers started their hypnotic gamble. Nothing
Speaker 1: felt disrespectful or conceded or done for the silly fame
Speaker 1: of it. It was just a spawn one for the
Speaker 1: honor of the family, as a way to continue these
Speaker 1: old aged traditions that Mongolia just loves. In fact, they
Speaker 1: found some cave paintings in a province dating back to
Speaker 1: the Neolithic Age of seven thousand BC, showing two naked
Speaker 1: men grappling with surrounding crowds. In the inner Mongolian version
Speaker 1: of wrestling. Anybody part other than the feet touching the
Speaker 1: ground signals defeat. I of course, would lose this match
Speaker 1: right away with my pathetic kneeds. There are also no
Speaker 1: weight classes, age limits, or even time limits in a match.
Speaker 1: This I found amazing, So it's not uncommon to see
Speaker 1: a toddler wrestling a grown man. During these Nadam festivals,
Speaker 1: archery seemed a little more serious to me. The Mongol
Speaker 1: bow was re curved and composite, and I was ready
Speaker 1: to geek out on bows right there, right now. But
Speaker 1: I'll give you the smaller version of my study. Basically,
Speaker 1: the distinctive recurved shape means that the tips of the
Speaker 1: bow to which the string was attached is bent in
Speaker 1: the opposite direction of the draw, dramatically increasing velocity and impact.
Speaker 1: And composite means various elements were melt into each other,
Speaker 1: cured and left for years in a storage room where
Speaker 1: humidity and temperature was regulated. At the end of the
Speaker 1: curing process, bows were tested, and if the procedures weren't
Speaker 1: followed precisely, the bow would buckle or ripper part in
Speaker 1: the archer's hands while being drawn. I watched the speed
Speaker 1: of the arrows and the precision of each archer's ability,
Speaker 1: and I knew exactly why I wasn't competing horse riding
Speaker 1: as a competition. I understood better than the other two.
Speaker 1: I've spent many a day at the races in England
Speaker 1: playing defend the hat. I struggled when the Royal family arrived.
Speaker 1: Because some of those hats I really just couldn't defend,
Speaker 1: But I digress. After spending a day at basically the
Speaker 1: Mongolian Olympics, I really felt I was starting to understand
Speaker 1: the Mongolians. They had such pride in country, such love
Speaker 1: for doing activities together, that they basically engineered flash Olympics everywhere.
Speaker 1: I took to my horse and started to ponder about
Speaker 1: this great country. I was experiencing the unexpected, with no
Speaker 1: formal plans. I was letting Mongolia's or me, and the
Speaker 1: moment I let go of these checklists and I have
Speaker 1: to see ideas, Mongolia just bloomed. I was without plans,
Speaker 1: and Mongolia rewarded me with its spontaneity. As the sun
Speaker 1: was coming down over the step, I felt the country
Speaker 1: was so eternal and borders seemed so far away that
Speaker 1: I couldn't evengauge at sizing. Genghis Khan was smiling down
Speaker 1: at me from the sky and through every pebble and
Speaker 1: every bush. Maybe he was even ready to challenge me
Speaker 1: to a little horseback riding, and I was ready for anything.
Speaker 1: Now for a slight respite, and we'll be right back
Speaker 1: with everywhere after a word from our sponsors. Thanks for
Speaker 1: sticking around his more of everywhere. As much as Holly
Speaker 1: doesn't remind me of Genghis Khan, she does love a
Speaker 1: good Genghis Khan, so here she is. Yeah. So one
Speaker 1: of the really interesting things that's come up in recent
Speaker 1: years is genetic study around Genghis Khan. Like you mentioned
Speaker 1: that he comes up all the time when you're visiting there,
Speaker 1: and it is entrenched in their culture. Starting in the
Speaker 1: ninety nineties, there was an interesting genetics project where it
Speaker 1: became apparent that there was a really unusual mutation on
Speaker 1: the Y chromosome. I don't know how much you know
Speaker 1: about genetics, but the Y chromosome is associated with your
Speaker 1: sort of standard male model. Those are the what are
Speaker 1: considered the male genes. I know about male models. You do, Oh,
Speaker 1: great with the work. Fine, it's going to be a
Speaker 1: different story now. But but this one mutation they found
Speaker 1: in eight percent of the males in sixteen of the
Speaker 1: Asian populations they were studying. It sounds like a small number,
Speaker 1: but it's a large percentage for a genetic mutation. And
Speaker 1: it was also determined that the most recent common ancestor
Speaker 1: of this group that had this mutation lived approximately a
Speaker 1: thousand years ago, and the thing that started showing up
Speaker 1: in headlines was that approximately sixteen million men around the
Speaker 1: globe are probably related to Genghis Khan. There was a
Speaker 1: scientific paper done about the study, written by tatianaal I
Speaker 1: may be pronouncing that wrong and her colleagues, and they wrote, quote,
Speaker 1: the pattern of variation within the lineage suggested that it
Speaker 1: originated in Mongolia approximately one thousand years ago. Such a
Speaker 1: rapid spread cannot have occurred by chance. It must have
Speaker 1: been a result of selection. The lineage is carried by
Speaker 1: likely male line descendants of Genghis Khan, and we therefore
Speaker 1: propose that it has spread by a novel form of
Speaker 1: social selection resulting from their behavior. That's fascinating, it is
Speaker 1: so this whole idea is that because we have long
Speaker 1: heard of how Genghis Khan conquered and took over places
Speaker 1: that basically like he was spreading this gene so quickly
Speaker 1: that it has become pervasive throughout a lot of these populations.
Speaker 1: So his son did a similar thing. His son Tushi
Speaker 1: apparently had forty sons of his own. Then if they
Speaker 1: were reproducing a similar rate, you see where we get
Speaker 1: to this sixteen million number over generations. But here's the thing.
Speaker 1: All of this is conjecture. I mean, it's some scientific evidence,
Speaker 1: but the only way that we could ever say absolutely
Speaker 1: Genghis Khan is the nexus point for this happening would
Speaker 1: be to test his DNA. Well, that's not going to
Speaker 1: happen right Well, as I'm signing into my twenty three
Speaker 1: and me account while we speak, I cannot see that
Speaker 1: I'm related to Genghis Khan. I do, however, see that
Speaker 1: I'm I share a paternal line with King Louis the
Speaker 1: sixteen Ah, which makes sense. It makes sense why I
Speaker 1: love you so much, because you know I love King Louis.
Speaker 1: He was a mess, but I he caused many problems,
Speaker 1: but he's one of those people that I feel like,
Speaker 1: if you took him out of the the world stage
Speaker 1: and the royal position he found himself in, if he
Speaker 1: were just a kid that I had met in high school,
Speaker 1: He's exactly the kid I would have tried to take
Speaker 1: under my wing and protect, which is what you do
Speaker 1: with me, but less because I'm a mess, you don't
Speaker 1: really need it. So here's the thing, though, do you
Speaker 1: want to know why it's going to be impossible to
Speaker 1: test his DNA because we don't know where he is.
Speaker 1: Very purposely, no one knows where he is. So the
Speaker 1: legend so he died when he was on a military
Speaker 1: campaign in China. We don't know the cause of his death,
Speaker 1: but the legend goes that his successors actually killed anyone
Speaker 1: who saw his funeral procession. They didn't want anyone to
Speaker 1: have seen him in anything but his strongest position. So
Speaker 1: being dead is not your strongest position usually, And so
Speaker 1: as his body was to taken back to the Mongol capital,
Speaker 1: they were just killing anybody who saw them along the way.
Speaker 1: So there were eight hundred soldiers in this entourage and
Speaker 1: they the estimate is that they killed more than two
Speaker 1: thousand people while they were traveling back with his body.
Speaker 1: But then once they reached their destination, those eight hundred
Speaker 1: soldiers were also killed. And then his corpse was buried
Speaker 1: in an unmarked grave. They wanted his rest to be undisturbed.
Speaker 1: Horses trampled the ground so that there would be no
Speaker 1: evidence of a recent burial. There are some rumors that
Speaker 1: say a river was actually shifted purposely to cover the site.
Speaker 1: We don't know if that's true or not. But even
Speaker 1: though there are lots of scientists and historians and researchers
Speaker 1: always trying to kind of triangulate the most likely position
Speaker 1: of his remains, odds are long we will ever have
Speaker 1: them to test and find out if he really is
Speaker 1: the source of this genetic mutation that has become relatively
Speaker 1: common in a in a genetic sense. Well, isn't that
Speaker 1: a fun trip to do? Tracing the history of Genghis Khan?
Speaker 1: I mean, I went to Mongolia with this idea that
Speaker 1: I wanted to understand a little sense of him because
Speaker 1: I'm fascinated with him. Biggest empire, this incredible warrior and
Speaker 1: all on a little pony. And I mean, like all
Speaker 1: of the really large scale claims made about him in
Speaker 1: terms of how many people he massacred, and how efficient
Speaker 1: he was, and how ruthless he was in his approach
Speaker 1: to seizing power. And then when you do put it
Speaker 1: in the perspective of on a little pony, then it
Speaker 1: becomes slightly comedic. But really, I mean, this is a
Speaker 1: figure that is so massive it's still a huge part
Speaker 1: of Mongolian culture. To talk about him today, well, what
Speaker 1: I loved him out Mongolia, and there's this incredible reverence
Speaker 1: for their culture and love for country. Ellahan Ella my
Speaker 1: dog who's here with us today. As per usual, she's
Speaker 1: soon to have her doggy DNA done because I spend
Speaker 1: my whole life with people stopping me in the side
Speaker 1: of the street, especially in Central Park, telling me what
Speaker 1: breed is. She's a Vishla. She's a Vishla. I'm like,
Speaker 1: why am I speaking to you? Who are you? Or
Speaker 1: people stopping there like I see a ridge back? Great,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for this information. Imagine I did
Speaker 1: that to your child in Estrola. I see a little
Speaker 1: gangas Khan and him, and oh my goodness that that's
Speaker 1: a fast way to get slapped, I think probably. And
Speaker 1: it's interesting because twenty three and me, I mean, it
Speaker 1: has spread in a way than is really fascinating. As
Speaker 1: much as I'm related to that king, good old Louis
Speaker 1: my husband direct descendant of no other Marie Antoinette. Isn't
Speaker 1: that romantic? It is deeply somehow our genetic streams have
Speaker 1: pulled us not to be related. When you seek direct
Speaker 1: descendant of her, then he too would have to be
Speaker 1: related to Louis sixteen. You mean like from their child. Right,
Speaker 1: If he's a direct descendant and Marie Antoinette, he would
Speaker 1: have to be the child. Did she have children? Yes?
Speaker 1: How many with him with Louis? Yes? There, come on,
Speaker 1: she had children with everyone. No. Didn't she sleeput around? No?
Speaker 1: The rumor is that she in axel Von person and
Speaker 1: fair and potentially resulted in a child. But she and
Speaker 1: Louie definitely had children together. I think that I put
Speaker 1: like our family trees together, and it showed that he
Speaker 1: comes from her side of the family and I come
Speaker 1: from his. So yes, he's probably from the Austrian side,
Speaker 1: but not her issue. And then you're probably from the
Speaker 1: French side. I'm a lot more French than what I
Speaker 1: thought I was. Maybe that's right. Adore you so oh sweet? Okay.
Speaker 1: So the other thing that I would love us to
Speaker 1: talk about Mongolia is it's one of the only Asian
Speaker 1: countries that really celebrates daring in a way that I've
Speaker 1: never seen that anywhere else. These cookies that I kind
Speaker 1: of got obsessed with while I was there, that's just
Speaker 1: basically like fermented milk dried and it's beautiful, delicious thing,
Speaker 1: and they make them by hand. Like these cookies have
Speaker 1: fingerprints from the lady who's making them. Yeah, you mentioned
Speaker 1: like it's kind of a dried milk hered essentially. How
Speaker 1: sweet is it as a cookie? Well, it's most sour.
Speaker 1: It's really my palate. It's that like surry strange fermented
Speaker 1: kaffir taste, which Michael hates. I know, you don't seem
Speaker 1: thrill them either. So this is what I also really
Speaker 1: love about Mongolia. They do their tea with salt. It
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, so unbelievably delicious. It makes perfect sense to me. Well,
Speaker 1: they call it sutai, which is basically just tea with milk,
Speaker 1: and then they add a little salt and they use
Speaker 1: green tea for this, and that's unbelievable. So Mongolians take
Speaker 1: milk from cattle, from camels, from horses, from yaks, from goats,
Speaker 1: and from sheep, so it's kind of this amazing thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a vast range of sources. And then arach is
Speaker 1: this milk alcohol that comes from the fermented mare's milk.
Speaker 1: And I almost wish that everyone in the whole world
Speaker 1: can taste this because it's so unique. It's just like
Speaker 1: almost alcoholic milky substance. It tastes like water down Keffer,
Speaker 1: but more fermented, and you have it as you as
Speaker 1: you're about to go into a temple. You'll have a
Speaker 1: little swig and you lave Vanka. This is like a
Speaker 1: milky version of Vanka. Oh interesting, Yeah, I might like it.
Speaker 1: I think you will. Now everyone for a time out,
Speaker 1: except for sponsors. We'll be right back with more everywhere.
Speaker 1: Welcome once again to everywhere. Let's half back to it.
Speaker 1: Welcome back. Now. I'd like you to meet John Reed,
Speaker 1: who's based in Bhotan and is the head guru of
Speaker 1: the Amman Resorts, possibly the best hotels in the world. Morning. John,
Speaker 1: it is such a pleasure for me to be talking
Speaker 1: to you once more. Thank you so much for spending
Speaker 1: time with me. Daniel, It's great to see you again
Speaker 1: and and have you joined us on your journey through
Speaker 1: the country. Let's talk a little bit about throwing out
Speaker 1: the checklist and how you do that yourself personally, and
Speaker 1: how Bhotan slash Asia is all about throwing out the checklist.
Speaker 1: Wow um, throwing out the checklist? I mean, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: going to start that by saying that I always think
Speaker 1: getting lost is the best thing that can happen to you, because, um,
Speaker 1: you end up discovering a nook or cranny of a
Speaker 1: of a small city or town or just out in
Speaker 1: the countryside, and you end up walking into a little
Speaker 1: hole in the wall or being invited into somebody's home
Speaker 1: and having the most beautiful experience with the local persons.
Speaker 1: Of course, when I go to a destination myself, I
Speaker 1: I do look at some of the highlights of what
Speaker 1: I should perhaps take in, but then a lot of
Speaker 1: what I personally like to do is just start walking
Speaker 1: and enjoying the neighborhoods in the districts, and and taking
Speaker 1: him what's there, and you suddenly come across so many
Speaker 1: beautiful things that that are never on a tourist checklist
Speaker 1: or or even on your own checklist. So to say
Speaker 1: that's what makes travel so special is if you are
Speaker 1: so bound to a rigid schedule and minute by minute,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna have fun. I mean, you're you're you
Speaker 1: truly are busy checking the list. And travel is about
Speaker 1: the journey, It's not about the destination. Right, How does
Speaker 1: the average person, the average aspirational let's call them traveler,
Speaker 1: how did they tap into that? Because I guess the
Speaker 1: amman in some ways, that's prohibitively expensive for some. Flying
Speaker 1: across the world is prohibitively expensive for some. So somebody
Speaker 1: like I talk about you can go to New Jersey
Speaker 1: and have an amazing time. How does that average person
Speaker 1: tap into this philosophy you think, I think we're it's
Speaker 1: a matter of taking that step, so to say, and
Speaker 1: just letting go. You know, I come from Louisiana, and
Speaker 1: every time I go home for a visit, I as
Speaker 1: much as I enjoy in New Orleans, and New Orleans
Speaker 1: has so much to offer. I love to just get
Speaker 1: in the car and drive north south east west and
Speaker 1: just stop at a little dinner, have a great meal,
Speaker 1: interact with whoever's there, chat with the people behind the counter,
Speaker 1: find out what's going on. You know, sometimes you never
Speaker 1: know there's a little state fair or something going on.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, often the most important thing is
Speaker 1: taking that step of of engaging um and communicating and
Speaker 1: and doing it with no no agenda, And suddenly you're
Speaker 1: introduced to many things which people wouldn't otherwise come across,
Speaker 1: or it certainly wouldn't be it would never be on
Speaker 1: their checklist. But more than that, you are you're engaging
Speaker 1: beautiful people who as well, very often they're so keen
Speaker 1: to share. I think it's so important just to let
Speaker 1: go and and be guided so to say. Well, I
Speaker 1: think to me, the kind of key to that, to
Speaker 1: overcome the fear of travel is to tap into love,
Speaker 1: like if you can just put that into the world
Speaker 1: instead of fear. I think a lot of people travel
Speaker 1: and they're scared to speak to strangers, they're scared to
Speaker 1: open up. But once you let go of all that
Speaker 1: and you just able to pull that love into your heart,
Speaker 1: it happens naturally, right, like it just keeps happening. And
Speaker 1: all these magical experiences have happened to me not because
Speaker 1: I'm in a state of fear, but because I'm in
Speaker 1: a state of love. Like I want to accept and
Speaker 1: give love in this reciprocal way. If you get onto
Speaker 1: a plane, let that kindness and love start from the
Speaker 1: moment you start traveling, and then take that with you.
Speaker 1: Take that idea of I don't only want to take
Speaker 1: from your country, from your place, I want to also
Speaker 1: return this generosity in this love. I dream of Bhoton
Speaker 1: so often because it, to me, is one of the
Speaker 1: most magical places I've ever been. And as a travel
Speaker 1: right to people ask me what is your favorite place
Speaker 1: you've ever been, and my answers always Botan. It's like
Speaker 1: nowhere else. You arrive with the craziest flight where you
Speaker 1: think you might die as you see Mount Everest to
Speaker 1: your side, and the plane dips down into this incredible valley,
Speaker 1: down the rabbit hole, and you're in a magical kingdom.
Speaker 1: That's Bhutan. Definitely h Some people say that there's so
Speaker 1: many layers to Bhutan, and and there certainly are. But
Speaker 1: I think one of the things that makes Bhuton so
Speaker 1: amazing is this incredible strong sense of community and how
Speaker 1: much people care for each other and look out for
Speaker 1: each other and do things for each other. We've even
Speaker 1: in our big, booming, dred and twenty thousand metropolis of Tempo,
Speaker 1: you you see this care and love that is extended.
Speaker 1: But I think, particularly if we're we're talking about those
Speaker 1: coming from as example, North America, from the US English
Speaker 1: speaking countries, first and foremost, you don't have that that
Speaker 1: language barrier at all. I mean, you're able to engage
Speaker 1: with people the level of intellect that's here. Surprisingly here
Speaker 1: we are this little landlocked country in the Himalayas. But
Speaker 1: the level of education that's here, the number of Boutaneese
Speaker 1: that go outside the country for higher education, whether it's
Speaker 1: the US, UK, across Europe, Australia, they come back with,
Speaker 1: you know, high level degrees and whatnot. And the Boutsanse
Speaker 1: are very worldly and they thinking it's it's amazing. Quite
Speaker 1: often you see them staying on top of the news
Speaker 1: what's happening in the world. So you can have that
Speaker 1: conversation and and have that understanding on on both sides.
Speaker 1: So you've got that, then you've got this amazing backdrop
Speaker 1: of this pristine country with beautiful forested mountains. You know,
Speaker 1: by by policy, by law, ument of the country must
Speaker 1: remain under forest cover, so you've you've got this this
Speaker 1: policy to maintain the environments. And then this is all
Speaker 1: supported with the government's Policy of Gross National Happiness g
Speaker 1: n H. So they do have commission that that works
Speaker 1: hand in hand with the government to ensure the well
Speaker 1: being of the people. Really truly, I mean it's in
Speaker 1: it's behind the economy, it's behind the environment, it's it's
Speaker 1: cultural and social preservation, uh, tied in with with the
Speaker 1: Buddhist religion as well. We are a democracy where we're
Speaker 1: now in our eleventh year of being a democracy. But
Speaker 1: His Majesty the King um is still very much involved
Speaker 1: in the in ensuring the well being of the people.
Speaker 1: There is this benevolence that comes very much from the
Speaker 1: top and filters its way down through the government. And
Speaker 1: so democracy is truly there. It's it's we don't see
Speaker 1: the ego that we see, you know sadly in other
Speaker 1: countries these days, Um that is driving so much of
Speaker 1: governance and it is truly about looking out for the
Speaker 1: well being of the people. So guests pick that up
Speaker 1: very very quickly when they come into the country. They
Speaker 1: walk away quite humble. They walk away very often in
Speaker 1: tears because we see people that that come in who
Speaker 1: you know, with that do have a lot of wealth.
Speaker 1: They've got multiple homes, we've got multiple businesses. They're very
Speaker 1: very successful. And so guests go away from Bhutan and say,
Speaker 1: these people, the Bhutanese really don't have a lot of
Speaker 1: wealth in terms of financial wealth. They may have a
Speaker 1: nice home, or they've got their farmland and whatnot, but
Speaker 1: they don't have a lot of gadgets and and this
Speaker 1: and that, and and I think people walk away and
Speaker 1: they say what they have truly is I have each
Speaker 1: other and that is something that's missing my life. And
Speaker 1: and so many many guests that come through this going
Speaker 1: to many tourists walk away with this beautiful message in
Speaker 1: their heart. And we see a lot of guests actually
Speaker 1: coming back to Bhutan and the real when we ask
Speaker 1: you know you're you're coming back and it's you know,
Speaker 1: it's not about checking Bhutan off that checklist. I come
Speaker 1: back because I want to be reminded of how the
Speaker 1: Bhutanese live and take that message back home with me
Speaker 1: and not only live at myself, but share it with
Speaker 1: my family and friends. Tell me about the first time
Speaker 1: when you went to Bhutan, how that felt for you.
Speaker 1: The first time I came to Bhutan was actually in
Speaker 1: September two thousand one. I had been invited up on
Speaker 1: a wrecky trip basically to um scout out the locations
Speaker 1: for where we were planning to build our Almand Cora
Speaker 1: lodges across the kingdom. But it was more so an
Speaker 1: opportunity for my wife at the time and I too
Speaker 1: make a decision whether we wanted to live here or not.
Speaker 1: We were living at in Bali. I was the general
Speaker 1: manager of Almandari there and anyway, we we arrived and
Speaker 1: you know, we were so gracefully and warmly welcomed by
Speaker 1: the Bhutanese, by our hosts. It was amazing, just that
Speaker 1: immediate warmth that you felt as you came into the kingdom.
Speaker 1: And then everywhere we went, everybody again was just gave
Speaker 1: you this warm smile, warm welcome cusa pola or just
Speaker 1: good morning, good evening. Um. English is the language for
Speaker 1: education here, So in that first visit it was quite amazing,
Speaker 1: just that immediate interaction you could have with pretty much
Speaker 1: anyone in on the street and in the shops and whatnot.
Speaker 1: But we did this amazing journey all the way across
Speaker 1: all of the valleys Paro Timpoo, Punica, Folbjica and then
Speaker 1: out to Boom Tang, and then the day we came back,
Speaker 1: this is where the story starts to get a little
Speaker 1: bit special and emotional, So excuse me if I pause
Speaker 1: it occasionally at the time. But as we we came
Speaker 1: back from boom Tug to tempo Um, we had a
Speaker 1: big roadblock and and there was big trees and everything
Speaker 1: that had come down a big landslide, and so that
Speaker 1: had to be removed. It took several hours. But what
Speaker 1: was amazing is there was probably about fifty cars lined
Speaker 1: up and and everybody broke out their tea, and everybody
Speaker 1: broke out their biscuits, and it just sort of became
Speaker 1: a very impromptu social gathering and everybody just chatting and
Speaker 1: catching up and sharing all of their goodies together until
Speaker 1: everything was cleared. But then when we got back to Tempo,
Speaker 1: it was the evening of September eleventh, two thoe and um.
Speaker 1: As I say this, I get goose bumps on my arms.
Speaker 1: But we we arrived into the capital, we had no
Speaker 1: idea what was going on across the world in the
Speaker 1: United States, And very quickly we got a phone call
Speaker 1: from our our joint venture partner who said, guys, this
Speaker 1: is what happened. I'm watching television now. And at that
Speaker 1: time they were just a handful of television sets in Bhutan,
Speaker 1: and so we had a very sleepless night trying to
Speaker 1: call home, called relatives to see if people were okay.
Speaker 1: We couldn't get a line through at all. I had
Speaker 1: family in Washington, D C. And New Orleans, where I'm from.
Speaker 1: And then the next morning we we got up early
Speaker 1: and went to our partner's little local hotel and they
Speaker 1: did have a television, so we're watching CNN and whatnot.
Speaker 1: And on my flight original flight in there was an
Speaker 1: American woman that was married to a Frenchman who was
Speaker 1: doing NGO work here in Bhutan. She managed to track
Speaker 1: me down at this little hotel and and call and say,
Speaker 1: there's a special ceremony today at the Main Zong in Timpoo.
Speaker 1: His Majesty the King has invited any Americans who are
Speaker 1: here in the country to please join the special ceremony
Speaker 1: in light of the tragedy that's happened. So I asked
Speaker 1: our joint venture partner, you know this is something I
Speaker 1: should go, and he said, absolutely, you must go. So
Speaker 1: my wife and I got dressed in the best travel
Speaker 1: clothes that we had went to the main Zong, the
Speaker 1: main fortress where the seat of government in His Majesty's
Speaker 1: offices in Timpoo, and so lined up around the outside
Speaker 1: of this beautiful fortress in the chief of protocol to
Speaker 1: call our names down and off we went. After a
Speaker 1: few minutes and entered, walked up a set of stairs
Speaker 1: and into what was an amazing prayer room. But as
Speaker 1: we stepped through the threshold of the door into a
Speaker 1: very sort of dimly lit room. The Chief of Protocol
Speaker 1: read out our names, Mr. And Mrs John Reed from Moman,
Speaker 1: and out came a hand and it was His Majesty
Speaker 1: the Fourth King, and he my condolences, you know, and
Speaker 1: my my feelings to you and your countrymen. So in
Speaker 1: we went, and we entered a room and beautiful altar
Speaker 1: room with beautiful Buddhist statues and other deity statues, and
Speaker 1: there was the four queens, many members of the cabinet,
Speaker 1: other members of the royal family, and about thirty five
Speaker 1: monks sitting on the floor. And we all sat, and
Speaker 1: the monks started chanting and praying, and after a while
Speaker 1: we were invited to go up and light a bank
Speaker 1: of a thousand butter lamps. We all stopped and we
Speaker 1: were lighting these butter lamps. And here I am shoulder
Speaker 1: to shoulder with with the Queen. Here His Majesty the
Speaker 1: King there and and it was such an incredible and
Speaker 1: emotional moment. And so Her Majesty the Queen, one of
Speaker 1: the queens lean and said, do you understand what this is?
Speaker 1: And I said, no, your majesty, and she replied, she said, well,
Speaker 1: these butter lamps are to guide all of the souls
Speaker 1: that have been lost in this horrible tragedy over the
Speaker 1: last twenty four hours. And so with that we we
Speaker 1: finished lighting all of these butter lamps. And then we
Speaker 1: went and sat back down, and the monks chanted and
Speaker 1: prayed for another twenty thirty minutes, and this beautiful ceremony
Speaker 1: was over. That had truly been done to give a
Speaker 1: guiding energy and light to the souls that had been lost.
Speaker 1: And as we finished in his majesty the King and
Speaker 1: their majesty is the queen mothers were starting to file
Speaker 1: out of the room. They came to us each individually
Speaker 1: and embraced us and gave us a big hug and said,
Speaker 1: you know, we hope that you've been in touch with
Speaker 1: your family and you haven't lost anyone, and have you
Speaker 1: been able to touch base with friends and whatnot. And
Speaker 1: as they're speaking to us, I mean, I'm hye to
Speaker 1: hie with one of the queens and tears are streaming
Speaker 1: down her face. We've had that engagement with each of them,
Speaker 1: and then off they went, and I just thought to
Speaker 1: my self, I'm in in the most remote you know
Speaker 1: Harry of the Himalayas. In this country, this kingdom, I
Speaker 1: know very little about. I've only been here for a
Speaker 1: few days, and I have no idea what's happened with
Speaker 1: my family back in the United States. I can't get
Speaker 1: in touch with him. And yet these amazing, beautiful souls,
Speaker 1: these beautiful people, have embraced me as one of their own,
Speaker 1: as a fellow sentient being, with so much outcring of
Speaker 1: love and true emotion and sort of taking responsibility for
Speaker 1: me and and those of us that were there. And
Speaker 1: my wife and I had promised ourselves that we would
Speaker 1: not make a decision about moving to Bhutan or not
Speaker 1: until we were basically back in Bali and settled and
Speaker 1: make that decision. But as we left the altar room
Speaker 1: and we were walking down this set of stairs, she
Speaker 1: looked back at me, and I just looked at her
Speaker 1: and I said, I think the decisions made and she said, yes,
Speaker 1: that you know what happened on that one day. That
Speaker 1: tragedy is symbolic of Bhuton in terms of the true
Speaker 1: sense of community and how much people care for each
Speaker 1: other across the kingdom, and how much they care for
Speaker 1: travelers when they come into the kingdom as well. It's
Speaker 1: truly outstanding, um that you you see this outpouring of
Speaker 1: of care and grief and and support between members of
Speaker 1: the community and to anybody that comes into the country itself.
Speaker 1: I well, we don't have the talk anymore. Thanks John.
Speaker 1: That was so beautiful and that is so indicative the
Speaker 1: reason why I travel, not for any other reason but
Speaker 1: to find that exact humanity. And it's a testament that
Speaker 1: in all this chaos in the world, constant chaos, that
Speaker 1: there is always a place where people will find kindness
Speaker 1: in their hearts and a way to see you as
Speaker 1: not different but exactly the same. Thank you most welcome.
Speaker 1: I'm so grateful and let me say you know, as
Speaker 1: we say in Bhutan, tashi delay, may all good things
Speaker 1: come to you. Thanks for hanging out with Ella and I.
Speaker 1: You can connect with us on Instagram and everywhere podcast.
Speaker 1: I couldn't have done this by myself, of course, so
Speaker 1: a big thanks to my executive producers Christopher Has and
Speaker 1: the loveliest of loveliest Holly Fry and then Chandler Mays
Speaker 1: and Casey pegram my lead producers, plus that gorgeous original
Speaker 1: music by Tristan McNeil. Big love, guys, So this is it.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Daniel Scheffler, and I have a plane
Speaker 1: to catch. I'll be seeing you everywhere. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from I Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.