Joe Rogan Experience #1410 - Ash Dykes

1. 0:03 – 0:55

   Salt lamps, skepticism, and settling into the conversation

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:03

      Do you think a salt lamp's real? Do you think that thing does anything?

   2. ADAsh Dykes0:06

      I don't know. I don't know how much you'd need, hey?

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:08

      Well, it, it keeps-

   4. ADAsh Dykes0:09

      You'd need to be-

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:09

      It's got a hat on it.

   6. ADAsh Dykes0:11

      Yeah. (laughs) Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:11

      So it's not being taken too seriously.

   8. ADAsh Dykes0:13

      And that's actually a big one. You're getting a lot smaller than that, don't ya?

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:16

      Yeah, I saw that one. That was the biggest one you could find on Amazon, so I got that.

   10. ADAsh Dykes0:19

       Yeah. Yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:19

       'Cause I'm a glutton.

   12. ADAsh Dykes0:22

       It's, uh-

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:22

       I like big things. Big salt rocks.

   14. ADAsh Dykes0:25

       Yeah. Why the hell not?

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:25

       Yeah, why not?

   16. ADAsh Dykes0:26

       Why not?

   17. JRJoe Rogan0:26

       I'm like, "I want a big one."

   18. ADAsh Dykes0:27

       Do it. Yeah.

   19. JRJoe Rogan0:28

       It's very, uh, very flashy. Do you think that does anything though?

   20. ADAsh Dykes0:32

       I don't know. Good question. It's, um ... What is it? It just lets the, the air off and you're just breathing in the natural salts, aren't ya? Helps with the sleep as well. Helps with the sleep.

   21. JRJoe Rogan0:39

       But how is it doing that?

   22. ADAsh Dykes0:40

       I don't know.

   23. JRJoe Rogan0:41

       Just by, by being in the room?

   24. ADAsh Dykes0:42

       Yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan0:42

       Hmm. Maybe I should have them everywhere.

   26. ADAsh Dykes0:44

       Well, isn't it the light underneath as well?

   27. JRJoe Rogan0:45

       Is that good?

   28. ADAsh Dykes0:46

       It just sets off-

   29. JRJoe Rogan0:46

       So the light? The heat from the light?

   30. ADAsh Dykes0:47

       The heat sets off ... Yeah, I believe so.
2. 0:55 – 2:01

   First Welsh guest: the Welsh dragon gift and why Wales is a great training ground

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:55

      So you asked me before if, uh, if you were the first Welshman.

   2. ADAsh Dykes0:59

      Yes.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:59

      I think you are. Is that the case, Jamie?

   4. ADAsh Dykes1:02

      Really?

   5. JRJoe Rogan1:02

      Do you know if that's the case? Somebody might've snuck in and didn't tell us.

   6. ADAsh Dykes1:06

      There we go. Yeah. Yes, I could be the first.

   7. JRJoe Rogan1:07

      What is this, uh, thing that you brought?

   8. ADAsh Dykes1:08

      So I thought, if I'm the first Welsh person, I've gotta bring-

   9. JRJoe Rogan1:11

      Keep this, try to keep this like a fifth from your face.

   10. ADAsh Dykes1:13

       Sure.

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:13

       There we go.

   12. ADAsh Dykes1:14

       I gotta bring a Welsh dragon for ya.

   13. JRJoe Rogan1:15

       A Welsh dragon?

   14. ADAsh Dykes1:16

       A Welsh dragon. So this is on our flag in, in Wales.

   15. JRJoe Rogan1:19

       Wow.

   16. ADAsh Dykes1:19

       Goes back, uh, a l- a long time ago since we were, like, protecting ourselves and pride.

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:26

       Wow. It's cool looking.

   18. ADAsh Dykes1:26

       Don't really know the history, but there we go.

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:28

       So this is a classic Welsh dragon?

   20. ADAsh Dykes1:30

       Welsh dragon, yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:31

       Oh, okay.

   22. ADAsh Dykes1:31

       Give his name like one of the coolest flags in the world. You just got this big, big raging dragon on a flag.

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:37

       That is pretty cool.

   24. ADAsh Dykes1:37

       So I thought, if I'm the first Welshman, I gotta, I gotta bring you a, uh, the red dragon. (laughs)

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:43

       Look at it right there. There's some, some images of it.

   26. ADAsh Dykes1:44

       There we go. Yeah. Have you been to Wales before?

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:47

       No.

   28. ADAsh Dykes1:48

       No?

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:48

       No. How badass is it? Should I go?

   30. ADAsh Dykes1:51

       It's, yeah, beautiful. It is a good place. Lots of mountains. Right on the coast there as well, of course. Forests, lakes. Good for training. It's where I do all my training actually.
3. 2:01 – 3:34

   Mission Yangtze: walking 4,000 miles from the Tibetan Plateau to the sea

   1. JRJoe Rogan2:01

      Speaking of training, Ash, tell everybody what you've done.

   2. ADAsh Dykes2:04

      So I've recently, only five months ago now, five and a half months, came back from achieving, uh, my third world first record in walking the entire length of the Yangtze River in China. So it's the third-longest river in the world. Uh, the longest to run through a single nation. So it's 4,000 miles. It took 352 days. Um, and it's from the Tibetan Plateau in the west of China. Uh, so you're talking 5,100 meters above sea level, which is equivalent to Everest base camp, and, and yeah, 4,000 miles later, 352 days, you end up near the, near Shanghai where it pours out into the East China Sea.

   3. JRJoe Rogan2:42

      You know what I thought when I heard that you did this? I thought two things. One, I thought, "This guy's insane." Like, where, what kind of willpower does it take to walk and hike 4,000-plus miles? But the other thing I thought is this kind of validates a lot of the ideas that people have always had about human beings migrating from Africa and through Siberia and-

   4. ADAsh Dykes3:01

      Yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan3:01

      ... through the Bering Strait. Like-

   6. ADAsh Dykes3:03

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan3:03

      ... if you can do that, what you did, what you did is not dissimilar, you know?

   8. ADAsh Dykes3:08

      That's it. Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan3:09

      It's-

   10. ADAsh Dykes3:09

       You got trails all over the world, don't you?

   11. JRJoe Rogan3:11

       And you're just doing it for a, a world record. Imagine if you were doing it because you were trying to stay alive.

   12. ADAsh Dykes3:15

       Exactly.

   13. JRJoe Rogan3:15

       You're trying to keep your family alive.

   14. ADAsh Dykes3:16

       Yeah. Yeah. I tell you what, yeah, we would have had ... Oh, there's so much, so much history in journeys that mankind have, kind of taken on since-

   15. JRJoe Rogan3:25

       Yeah.

   16. ADAsh Dykes3:25

       Wah. I'm reading, um, Sapiens at the minute.

   17. JRJoe Rogan3:28

       Oh, it's great.

   18. ADAsh Dykes3:28

       I only just started.

   19. JRJoe Rogan3:29

       Yeah.

   20. ADAsh Dykes3:30

       But that's just mind-boggling with the numbers, you know?

   21. JRJoe Rogan3:32

       Mm-hmm.

   22. ADAsh Dykes3:32

       It takes you right back, and it's like, "Whoa. Whoa."

   23. JRJoe Rogan3:34

       Yeah.

4. 3:34 – 5:30

   Finding the ‘true’ source and finishing properly: precision, planning, and mindset

   1. ADAsh Dykes3:34

      But, um, yeah, so the source of the Yangtze, it was actually only discovered in 2009, the true and scientific source.

   2. JRJoe Rogan3:42

      Really?

   3. ADAsh Dykes3:42

      So, yeah, that gives us ev- We had to do two ... It took over two years of planning. So it was a case of working heavily in China, um, finding out whether this had ever been done before. It took ... We had to get different teams involved, uh, globally. Um, and then we discovered that ... I was always, I was always preparing to go from the traditional source, which is most famous for, for the source of the Yangtze be- uh, Yangtze River being there. But then we only discovered about a year into the planning that actually there's a true and scientific source found by the same guy who mapped the traditional source, yet he partnered up with NASA, used all the satellite technology, was able to correct us wrong. It's slightly longer the tr- than the, uh, traditional source. And that was it. We're like, "Right, this, this gotta be the true and scientific source."

   4. JRJoe Rogan4:25

      How much longer is it?

   5. ADAsh Dykes4:27

      It's probably only a distance of 20 to 30 miles, which that's only really a day's trek, but it was s- more close to Tibet. It was more south, uh, southwest of China, so it was closer to the Tibetan border, which means it's a little bit more sensitive. So it, it was tougher to go from, from the true and scientific source for sure, but it's the longer one. If you're gonna walk that distance, you've gotta do it the proper way.

   6. JRJoe Rogan4:49

      Yeah, I agree with you.

   7. ADAsh Dykes4:50

      You know?

   8. JRJoe Rogan4:50

      I'm glad you think that way.

   9. ADAsh Dykes4:51

      Mm-hmm.

   10. JRJoe Rogan4:51

       But obviously a person that's willing to walk 4,000 miles would think that way.

   11. ADAsh Dykes4:55

       Yeah. (laughs) That's-

   12. JRJoe Rogan4:55

       Like, you wouldn't s- (laughs) you wouldn't skip on 20 miles.

   13. ADAsh Dykes4:58

       Yeah, an extra day. Right.

   14. JRJoe Rogan4:58

       Could you imagine if you skipped on 20 miles and everyone was like, "Well, you did a pretty good job."

   15. ADAsh Dykes5:02

       Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

   16. JRJoe Rogan5:02

       "But actually, Mike over here just did the whole thing."

   17. ADAsh Dykes5:05

       Exact- yeah, yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan5:05

       "The actual scientific one."

   19. ADAsh Dykes5:06

       That's it.

   20. JRJoe Rogan5:06

       "He's the real one."

   21. ADAsh Dykes5:08

       Well, that's h- That happened towards the end as well, so coming up near Shanghai, there's an official s- uh, point of where the Yangtze pours into the East China Sea. And they're like, you know, "You only have to go to this, this point." I'm like, "No, I am walking to where the land ends."

   22. JRJoe Rogan5:22

       Hmm.

   23. ADAsh Dykes5:22

       So that took me an extra, only an extra couple of days, but could you imagine finishing and it's like, "Oh, you didn't quite make it, did ya? You were close."

   24. JRJoe Rogan5:28

       Oh.

   25. ADAsh Dykes5:28

       "But you didn't quite make it, so I'm walking-"

5. 5:30 – 6:45

   The emotional endgame: storms, visualization, and finishing ‘numb’

   1. JRJoe Rogan5:30

      What is the feeling like when you know you only have two days left?

   2. ADAsh Dykes5:34

      Oh, man. Well, we were hit by storm, Storm Nakima, so it was one of the biggest storms they've had in the past 30 years, uh, and that put me into hiding, you know? I had to shelter up after everything that I'd faced over 350 days, you know?

   3. JRJoe Rogan5:49

      Mm-hmm.

   4. ADAsh Dykes5:49

      Um, and that stopped me only a couple of days before I crossed into the East China Sea, before the finish. But at that point, it's almost I had visualized the completion over and over again in my head. I'd played it so many times of what it would be like, what it would feel like, what it's ... You know, everything to, to cross the finish line, that almost when that day happened and I did cross the finish line-... I almost over-visualized.

   5. JRJoe Rogan6:13

      Hmm.

   6. ADAsh Dykes6:13

      I didn't feel anything. It's just like, "Well, so it's about damn time." You know?

   7. JRJoe Rogan6:17

      Wow.

   8. ADAsh Dykes6:17

      Yeah. Uh, and I belie- you know, the law of attraction, visualization, I've always been a big believer in that, and same with Mongolia and Madagascar, which were my previous expeditions. Uh, I almost lost my life on both of those trips. By the time that I'm suffering, I'm just constantly visualizing. You know, I was focusing on recovering, getting better, but visualizing the finish, keep getting up, keep pushing on.

   9. JRJoe Rogan6:38

      I wanna get to that.

   10. ADAsh Dykes6:39

       Mm-hmm.

   11. JRJoe Rogan6:39

       I wanna, I wanna get to those. But I, I wanna, I wanna ask you, when you decide to plan this trip-

   12. ADAsh Dykes6:45

       Yeah.

6. 6:45 – 10:09

   Food strategy on long routes: ration packs, protein cravings, and fast-food reality

   1. JRJoe Rogan6:45

      ... so y- how much had you learned from the first two crazy trips that you had, and how did you calculate, like, how much food you're gonna need, where you're gonna me- need pit stops-

   2. ADAsh Dykes6:55

      Mm-hmm.

   3. JRJoe Rogan6:55

      ... were you gonna be able to ... Like, how did you do it?

   4. ADAsh Dykes6:57

      So with that, we're always looking for communities along, on a long route. You know, if there's a community, there's food. And so, and actually that brings me back to the traditional and then the true scientific source. If we went from the traditional, we'd go maybe one week or one and a half weeks without coming across any locals, so we'd have to carry a week and a half worth of ration packs in our backpack.

   5. JRJoe Rogan7:18

      Hmm.

   6. ADAsh Dykes7:19

      But the s- true and scientific source sent us back, I think it was two or three weeks we couldn't find, um, any community along the way via satellite and via the people that we were ... They are my logistics managers.

   7. JRJoe Rogan7:32

      That is-

   8. ADAsh Dykes7:32

      So that meant we'd need to carry-

   9. JRJoe Rogan7:33

      ... the craziest way to try to visit people.

   10. ADAsh Dykes7:36

       Yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan7:36

       Find them through satellite as you're trekking through a forest-

   12. ADAsh Dykes7:40

       Yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan7:40

       ... and then try to get food.

   14. ADAsh Dykes7:42

       That's it. And we're always maximizing it as well, so we're saying, "Okay, if that's three weeks, so let's carry food for three and a half or four weeks."

   15. JRJoe Rogan7:49

       Yeah.

   16. ADAsh Dykes7:49

       Because if that community is now empty or abandoned, then we're out of food.

   17. JRJoe Rogan7:54

       What, what are you carrying for food?

   18. ADAsh Dykes7:56

       I would carry, uh, ration packs, so ... And the ration packs were pretty good. We had, like, chicken tikka masala, spaghetti bolognese, um, carbonara, and each ration pack was around 800 kilocalories.

   19. JRJoe Rogan8:08

       And are you using, like, hot ... Are these dehydrated?

   20. ADAsh Dykes8:12

       Yeah. That's it.

   21. JRJoe Rogan8:13

       Okay.

   22. ADAsh Dykes8:13

       So you just boil the water, boil the whole water-

   23. JRJoe Rogan8:14

       And you pour it in there.

   24. ADAsh Dykes8:15

       You wait about 15 minutes and it's good to go.

   25. JRJoe Rogan8:16

       It's like a mountain house, like that kind of a deal?

   26. ADAsh Dykes8:18

       Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan8:19

       Mm-hmm.

   28. ADAsh Dykes8:19

       Yeah, similar. That's it. So, um-

   29. JRJoe Rogan8:20

       Wow. You must be so looking forward to regular food by the time that's over.

   30. ADAsh Dykes8:24

       Big time, yeah.
7. 10:09 – 15:14

   Language barriers and wilderness living: tents, sleeping systems, and calorie deficits

   1. ADAsh Dykes10:09

      I was craving fats, craving protein, and yeah, you're right, it did get ridiculous. I was going to these, you know, fast food re- ... And I, I ... The translation, I could speak Chinese a little bit. I could-

   2. JRJoe Rogan10:17

      I was just gonna ask you that.

   3. ADAsh Dykes10:18

      I could get by. But some-

   4. JRJoe Rogan10:19

      Now, when you say Chinese, like which dialect?

   5. ADAsh Dykes10:22

      Oh, there's over 100 dialects, yeah. So that's where it got difficult.

   6. JRJoe Rogan10:25

      Oh, no. (laughs)

   7. ADAsh Dykes10:26

      Uh, so even ... Yeah, oh m- it was nails. It was nails, really difficult. So order-

   8. JRJoe Rogan10:31

      Do you speak Mandarin? What do you speak?

   9. ADAsh Dykes10:32

      Yeah, basic Mandarin.

   10. JRJoe Rogan10:33

       Basic Mandarin.

   11. ADAsh Dykes10:34

       This is, yeah, yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan10:34

       Okay.

   13. ADAsh Dykes10:35

       Enough to just about get by. But I w- I skipped all of the basics and went straight into the sentences, where are, w- "Are there bears here?"

   14. JRJoe Rogan10:44

       Are there bears here?

   15. ADAsh Dykes10:45

       "Where are the wolves?," uh, do you have water-

   16. JRJoe Rogan10:46

       Where are the wolves?

   17. ADAsh Dykes10:47

       ... food, you know, shelter?

   18. JRJoe Rogan10:48

       Oh, my God.

   19. ADAsh Dykes10:49

       So, yeah, I skipped a lot of the basics, went straight into the-

   20. JRJoe Rogan10:51

       Dude, those are two questions I don't ever wanna hear.

   21. ADAsh Dykes10:54

       Yeah. (laughs)

   22. JRJoe Rogan10:54

       Are there bears here and where are the wolves?

   23. ADAsh Dykes10:57

       Yeah. Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan10:57

       Not, not are there wolves here? Where are they?

   25. ADAsh Dykes10:59

       Where are they?

   26. JRJoe Rogan11:00

       Fuck, man.

   27. ADAsh Dykes11:01

       That's it. We're hearing-

   28. JRJoe Rogan11:01

       And you're out there walking.

   29. ADAsh Dykes11:03

       Yeah.

   30. JRJoe Rogan11:04

       For a year.
8. 15:14 – 30:47

   High altitude and predators: wolves, bears, and being unarmed in remote China

   1. JRJoe Rogan15:14

      Like, what, what was that like knowing when you started, like, "Here, ready? All right, bye, Ash. Bye."

   2. ADAsh Dykes15:20

      Um, it was, it was-

   3. JRJoe Rogan15:21

      "See you in a year." (laughs)

   4. ADAsh Dykes15:22

      Oh, man. Da- yeah, it was exactly that. It was exactly that. It was daunting. It was, uh ... So before we got to the, before we got to the source of the Yangtze River, we lost, I think, four members. When I say lost, they survived, but they got altitude sickness. Um, they were fearing for their lives 'cause of the bears, 'cause of the wolves. So before we reached day number one, before we reached the start line, we've already got four members of the film crew, of guides, uh, evacuated, taken off the mountains, which brought me off the mountains as well 'cause I needed to regroup with a different team.

   5. JRJoe Rogan15:54

      So everyone was scared and people also got altitude sickness and got fucked up?

   6. ADAsh Dykes15:59

      That's it.

   7. JRJoe Rogan15:59

      How high are you up there?

   8. ADAsh Dykes16:00

      We are just over 5,000 meters-

   9. JRJoe Rogan16:03

      Oh my god.

   10. ADAsh Dykes16:03

       ... at this point. Yeah. So it's equivalent to Everest base camp, I'd say-

   11. JRJoe Rogan16:06

       Oh my god.

   12. ADAsh Dykes16:07

       ... which you can get altitude sickness from. One of the guides did that-

   13. JRJoe Rogan16:09

       That, that's really fucking high. That's 15,000 feet, right?

   14. ADAsh Dykes16:12

       That ... it's about that, yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan16:13

       Ugh.

   16. ADAsh Dykes16:13

       Yeah. So it's, uh, it's-

   17. JRJoe Rogan16:15

       Ugh. And there's wolves up there?

   18. ADAsh Dykes16:16

       There's wolves, yeah.

   19. JRJoe Rogan16:18

       Ugh.

   20. ADAsh Dykes16:18

       There's, there's bears, yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan16:19

       You can't even run.

   22. ADAsh Dykes16:20

       That's it. (laughs)

   23. JRJoe Rogan16:20

       You got no air.

   24. ADAsh Dykes16:22

       Yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan16:22

       What ... How helpless would you feel at 15,000 feet when you see a pack of wolves? You're like, "Uh, uh."

   26. ADAsh Dykes16:27

       Oh, man. Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan16:29

       And they're looking at you like-

   28. ADAsh Dykes16:30

       Exactly.

   29. JRJoe Rogan16:30

       ... "Hey, you don't look too good, buddy."

   30. ADAsh Dykes16:31

       Yeah. It's the bears that scared me the most.
9. 30:47 – 35:31

   Tech and safety systems: solar panels, GPS, sat phones—and getting robbed in Mongolia

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:47

      But when you're, um, walking, what kind of equipment are you using? Are you using a GPS? And if so, do you have, uh, solar panels that you're using to gather electricity?

   2. ADAsh Dykes30:56

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:57

      Like, what are you... Is that what you're doing?

   4. ADAsh Dykes30:58

      So, yeah. We would take solar panels. So we had solar panels, we had the, uh, a couple of power banks. So we'd use the solar panel to charge the power bank, and then that would charge, like, the, the GPS, the, um, the cameras, uh-

   5. JRJoe Rogan31:09

      Can I ask you how you do that? Are you, are you putting it on the back of your backpack as you walk?

   6. ADAsh Dykes31:13

      That's it, yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan31:14

      Okay.

   8. ADAsh Dykes31:14

      We would just strap it to the top of the rucksack.

   9. JRJoe Rogan31:16

      Okay.

   10. ADAsh Dykes31:16

       Um, and you know, it's... Mongolia especially is known as the Eternal Land of Blue Sky.

   11. JRJoe Rogan31:21

       Mm-hmm.

   12. ADAsh Dykes31:22

       Um, and where I was wasn't too far, so we did have a lot of blue sky with decent sunrays. I was able to charge the power bank, and that power bank could last up to about a week and a half of charging, depending on how I use it-

   13. JRJoe Rogan31:34

       Really?

   14. ADAsh Dykes31:34

       ... and when I'm charging.

   15. JRJoe Rogan31:35

       S-

   16. ADAsh Dykes31:35

       So it was really, really useful.

   17. JRJoe Rogan31:36

       That's incredible.

   18. ADAsh Dykes31:37

       Mm-hmm.

   19. JRJoe Rogan31:37

       So, when you're walking, like how, how much does it take to... Like, what is the milliampere hour in the-

   20. ADAsh Dykes31:42

       So what is it? Um, I think, I think I studied it by how many charges I can get from the iPhone, so I think it was seven or eight or eight charges from 0% on the iPhone-

   21. JRJoe Rogan31:53

       Mm-hmm.

   22. ADAsh Dykes31:54

       ... to 100%. Seven to eight straight charges.

   23. JRJoe Rogan31:56

       Okay.

   24. ADAsh Dykes31:57

       Uh, and that sometimes requires quite a bit. Sometimes I was just charging the GoPro or the little satellite, um, satellite phone.

   25. JRJoe Rogan32:03

       And you're able to get that full charge just from that solar panel in how long?

   26. ADAsh Dykes32:07

       Just from the power bank, yeah. The solar panel would take a good while to charge up the, the power bank. So what I did is I took-

   27. JRJoe Rogan32:15

       Like a good while, a couple of days?

   28. ADAsh Dykes32:16

       I'd say a couple of, uh, a couple of days to get to 100%. Yeah, for sure, for sure. 25 to 30% per day I think it was.

   29. JRJoe Rogan32:23

       That's interesting. So it seems like you could almost get everything you need just in while you're walking every day.

   30. ADAsh Dykes32:29

       That's it, yeah.
10. 35:31 – 45:09

    Sensitive regions and authorities: documents, tracking data, and ‘escape and evade’ weeks

    1. ADAsh Dykes35:31

       So that's there. But in China, no. I had difficult situations with the authorities, with the police.

    2. JRJoe Rogan35:39

       They were trying to get bribes?

    3. ADAsh Dykes35:40

       No, they were just... I was in a sensitive area, you know, to get to the source... The planning, it took over two years, so I needed government support, I needed national park access, I needed, um, um, an, a green development foundation, which is like an organization, to make me ambassador, uh, to make me doctor for a year, to be able to get all of this access that when, when I went through the motions of getting these different organizations on board, that would give me access to the authorities and allow me to get to the source. It was, uh, it was mi- it was, blows my mind now. It was really, really difficult to get off the, off the ground, um, but we did that, but still, we were so close to Tibet that the Tibetan police would, would come over, uh, and threaten to, you know, get rid of us.

    4. JRJoe Rogan36:25

       Oh.

    5. ADAsh Dykes36:25

       ... uh, deporters and whatnot, so that came as a worry. But again, I carried 13 different documents, all stamped, all official, all signed. So I had to show them that. I had to use the satellite phone, call into the Beijing team, use as translation. Uh, I think that one time, they made me delete all of the information, all of the tracked information that I needed for Guinness World Record. They made me delete that, but luckily-

    6. JRJoe Rogan36:45

       Why?

    7. ADAsh Dykes36:45

       ... it was backed up, 'cause they didn't want to have me seen walking this region. It was quite sensitive there. So, but I was definitely in China and definitely in Qinghai Province. Um-

    8. JRJoe Rogan36:56

       Sensitive how so?

    9. ADAsh Dykes36:57

       Just because you've got Tibet and you've got China, and they're very close to each other. So I needed to make sure that I was always in, in China. But sometimes you'd get the police to come over too.

    10. JRJoe Rogan37:06

        Did they think that you were a spy or something? Like, what did they think?

    11. ADAsh Dykes37:10

        I had, yeah, no idea what they thought, but, uh, it came as a shock to them. They were also very worried for my safety. So there was that angle as well, that they were saying once they found out it was official, it was legit and they had apologized, they, they'd actually followed me on the, the Chinese social media, you know, followed the journey. So that was great. But after that, they did say, "We are just, you know, bringing you in for your protection. There's bears, there's wolves. We've not seen a Westerner out here in I don't know how long."

    12. JRJoe Rogan37:35

        Oh, right.

    13. ADAsh Dykes37:35

        So that got tricky, and there was one stage where they, they said, "Y- you need to be on the other side of the river." So they drove us 40 miles back on ourself to a bridge, dropped us off on the other side, and we had to do those 40 miles all over again. That was day six into the journey.

    14. JRJoe Rogan37:49

        Wow.

    15. ADAsh Dykes37:49

        And we were desperately trying to get off the mountains, and now we were just dropped back 40 ... We had to walk those 40 miles again. No way around it. Nightmare. (laughs)

    16. JRJoe Rogan37:57

        Fuck, dude. Fuck.

    17. ADAsh Dykes38:00

        So yeah, it was really tricky. The, the source around that area, really sensitive. And it was just ... Uh, and then we found that the locals would call the police as well. They would radio to the next ger, to the next ger, to the next ger, until eventually there was s- phone signal and they would call the police. And the police would often rock up at 2:00, 3:00 in the morning, just at our tent. They had the location bang on. They rocked up, like, "What are you doing here?" Um, so we found out that the locals were amazing, very hospitable, but they were worried and they didn't know if they'd seen a Westerner, do, do they report it? Would there be trouble if they don't report it? So they did. So it came... It pretty much went from Mission Yangtze to almost mission escape and evade. We had to escape this sensitive region that we were in, but we had to evade the locals 'cause we realized that it was them calling the, the police. That went on for about three weeks.

    18. JRJoe Rogan38:46

        I would think they would maybe think that you were an escaped fugitive. Right?

    19. ADAsh Dykes38:49

        Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

    20. JRJoe Rogan38:50

        'Cause if you think of a fugitive from America-

    21. ADAsh Dykes38:52

        Could be.

    22. JRJoe Rogan38:52

        ... or the UK is trying to get away.

    23. ADAsh Dykes38:54

        Yeah.

    24. JRJoe Rogan38:55

        Like, what better way to just jump into the middle of nowhere in China and walk?

    25. ADAsh Dykes38:59

        Mm-hmm.

    26. JRJoe Rogan38:59

        I would think.

    27. ADAsh Dykes38:59

        Yeah, that's it.

    28. JRJoe Rogan39:00

        That's it.

    29. ADAsh Dykes39:00

        Yeah, potentially. Or just, again, a threat from-

    30. JRJoe Rogan39:03

        You look like you could be a fugitive.
11. 45:09 – 56:44

    China’s media ecosystem and modern life: local social platforms, VPNs, and perceptions

    1. ADAsh Dykes45:09

       Yeah, it was pre-... It went pretty big in, in China. We would have journalists. We'd have Chinese celebrities. We'd-

    2. JRJoe Rogan45:14

       And they'd walk with you?

    3. ADAsh Dykes45:15

       And they would trek with us, yeah.

    4. JRJoe Rogan45:17

       Ooh. That's weird.

    5. ADAsh Dykes45:17

       We'd sometimes organize events where it'd be rock climbing, we'd be teaching them how to belay off the cliff and-

    6. JRJoe Rogan45:22

       Were, like... Do they have Instagram in China?

    7. ADAsh Dykes45:25

       No, so I had to get all of the different social media, uh, platforms for... There you go. That's pig's liver.

    8. JRJoe Rogan45:30

       Whoa.

    9. ADAsh Dykes45:30

       So they ma- marinate it in vodka and chili, and you blow it up.

    10. JRJoe Rogan45:34

        And you're drinking it? No, you're blowing it up?

    11. ADAsh Dykes45:35

        Blowing it up. That's pasha worm. So that's like a rare delicacy. You can eat it raw straight from the Yangtze River.

    12. JRJoe Rogan45:41

        How sick did you get?

    13. JVJamie Vernon45:42

        Mm-hmm.

    14. ADAsh Dykes45:42

        Yeah, I-

    15. JRJoe Rogan45:43

        You had to have some serious stomach bugs going around, eating that stuff.

    16. ADAsh Dykes45:45

        Yeah, I tell ya, over the past decade, I've eaten all sorts. The, the lot. So there's, like, the... Towards the east. So it was super interactive as well. It was-

    17. JRJoe Rogan45:53

        So these kids all knew that you were doing this?

    18. ADAsh Dykes45:55

        Yeah. Yeah. There's a news channel there as well.

    19. JRJoe Rogan45:58

        Oh.

    20. ADAsh Dykes45:58

        And we were creating a documentary.

    21. JRJoe Rogan46:00

        Oh, that's pretty cool. And-

    22. ADAsh Dykes46:01

        At one point, it got pretty-

    23. JRJoe Rogan46:02

        ... good hospitality?

    24. ADAsh Dykes46:02

        Yeah, amazing hospitality. They were so friendly. At one point, Adidas got wind of it, and they invited me out to launch... Do you know Jet Li?

    25. JRJoe Rogan46:09

        Yes.

    26. ADAsh Dykes46:10

        He had a, a co-branded range between himself and, and Adidas. So it was like a photo shoot, GQ, Adidas, and Jackie Huang, who's like a big movie star. Uh, and I just jumped at the chance. It was one day off, one day in, in Shanghai, then straight back into the wilderness. And that was crazy contrast. One minute in the wilderness, next minute, flying out to Shanghai. Got all of these stylists, makeup artists. Like, whoa. Photo shoot. Boof. Straight back.

    27. JRJoe Rogan46:33

        Yeah.

    28. ADAsh Dykes46:33

        And that was g-... They wanted, like, a face of the East to re- represent the, the brand but also a face from the West. So I came from nowhere. So it was great, you know. Lots of people started getting wind on it. A- again, I had to start, I think, eight to nine different social media channels in, in China 'cause they have their own platforms. They don't have Google. Instagram's banned YouTube, et cetera. So yeah, I had a great team, 100 Films in Beijing, who, who really helped support, set all of this up when we were translating and getting-

    29. JRJoe Rogan46:58

        Was, was there a certain point in time though when these people going with you, they're like, "Hey, bro, I'm done. You're on your own"? And was that kinda weird, like when the crowds-

    30. ADAsh Dykes47:05

        Yeah. Yeah.
12. 56:44 – 1:05:35

    Origin story: shoestring ‘reckless’ adventures, survival learning, and the Muay Thai pivot

    1. ADAsh Dykes56:44

       So the first, yeah, was Mongolia. That was 2013, 2013.

    2. JRJoe Rogan56:49

       And how long did that take?

    3. ADAsh Dykes56:51

       That took 78 days. So it all, so it all pretty much started, you know, living in, in Wales there, you know. I went from high school, I went on to college to do an outdoor education course. Uh, I was working various different ... So my first job, what was it? 14, 15? Fish and chip shop, $4 an hour, you know, grinding away. And then I went into waiting on, then I went into lifeguarding 'cause I heard that the lifeguarding money, for a young teenager, well, 16, 17 is pretty well paid. And then it was from there that I started to save up as much money as I can. Got rid of my little, um, jalopy of a car, bought myself a little bicycle, cycled to and from work just saving the pennies, and eventually left at age 19. And the first place I went was China, uh, Great Wall. I was only there for two weeks. I left China. When I look back on the map, I thought, "China's a big place. I've barely even touched the surface, you know. I need to get myself back there." But after that, it was just various reckless, l- extremely low budget adventures held around Southeast Asia. When I say low budget, it's like buying a bicycle for $10, finding string on the side of the road that we would use to strap the rucksack onto the back with. No pump, no pu- no puncture repair kit, and we're about to cycle over Cambodia-

    4. JRJoe Rogan58:00

       What?

    5. ADAsh Dykes58:00

       ... Vietnam, over 1100 miles.

    6. JRJoe Rogan58:02

       Why wouldn't you get a puncture repair kit?

    7. ADAsh Dykes58:04

       No map. Just saving the pennies. We actually got a tent that was about-

    8. JRJoe Rogan58:06

       Oh, my God.

    9. ADAsh Dykes58:06

       I know, man. Uh, we got a tent that was $5. Found out the hard way it wasn't waterproof. Just reckless l- silly things.

    10. JRJoe Rogan58:13

        You made it on the bike, though?

    11. ADAsh Dykes58:15

        Made it. The bikes broke-

    12. JRJoe Rogan58:15

        No punctures?

    13. ADAsh Dykes58:16

        ... 17 times in total. I was with my friend, Matt Norman, you know, both ... I, I named mine Little Elder. Uh, ridiculous. And I think the bike's maybe on my Instagram. Ridiculous little bicycle. Basket on the front, a little pink bell. Off we went, both of us. Uh, bikes broke 17 times in total.

    14. JRJoe Rogan58:32

        How'd you get them fixed?

    15. ADAsh Dykes58:34

        We would rock up at, at local, at the locals' and just rock up, see if they can help, and they would fix it. Really hospitable. Um-

    16. JRJoe Rogan58:40

        Did somebody have to translate to you then? Were ... Did, did you have a translator with you?

    17. ADAsh Dykes58:44

        No.

    18. JRJoe Rogan58:44

        No.

    19. ADAsh Dykes58:45

        So we were just out there. We were just, you know, rock up with a smile. I think smiling is the biggest, um, communication sign, isn't it?

    20. JRJoe Rogan58:52

        Sure, sure.

    21. ADAsh Dykes58:52

        They don't see you as a, as a threat. The barriers are down. I'd point at the problem and then they would help me, help me fix it.

    22. JRJoe Rogan58:56

        Right. If you walk in like a dick with a flat tire-

    23. ADAsh Dykes58:59

        Yeah.

    24. JRJoe Rogan58:59

        ... that's not good. (laughs)

    25. ADAsh Dykes59:00

        Yeah, that's it. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we'd just r- rock up, they would sort us out.

    26. JRJoe Rogan59:04

        Wow.

    27. ADAsh Dykes59:04

        We'd be chased by dogs, hit by mopeds, dodged by lorries. So that was the first away-from-home adventure. I'd say that that was the catalyst.

    28. JRJoe Rogan59:12

        You said dodged by lorries?

    29. ADAsh Dykes59:14

        Yeah.

    30. JRJoe Rogan59:14

        What does that mean?

Episode duration: 2:36:54