Joe Rogan Experience #1410 - Ash Dykes

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   Do you think a…

   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. 15:00 – 30:00

   Yeah. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan15:00

      get that healthy paleo food while they're out there in the mountain.

   2. ADAsh Dykes15:03

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan15:03

      But the, the ... What's undeniable has, has gotta be for you is that once you've made those steps-

   4. ADAsh Dykes15:09

      Mm-hmm.

   5. JRJoe Rogan15:09

      ... the first steps for the first day, that you have this monumental thing in front of you.

   6. ADAsh Dykes15:14

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan15:14

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

   8. ADAsh Dykes15:20

      Um, it was, it was-

   9. JRJoe Rogan15:21

      "See you in a year." (laughs)

   10. 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.

   11. JRJoe Rogan15:54

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

   12. ADAsh Dykes15:59

       That's it.

   13. JRJoe Rogan15:59

       How high are you up there?

   14. ADAsh Dykes16:00

       We are just over 5,000 meters-

   15. JRJoe Rogan16:03

       Oh my god.

   16. ADAsh Dykes16:03

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

   17. JRJoe Rogan16:06

       Oh my god.

   18. ADAsh Dykes16:07

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

   19. JRJoe Rogan16:09

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

   20. ADAsh Dykes16:12

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

   21. JRJoe Rogan16:13

       Ugh.

   22. ADAsh Dykes16:13

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

   23. JRJoe Rogan16:15

       Ugh. And there's wolves up there?

   24. ADAsh Dykes16:16

       There's wolves, yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan16:18

       Ugh.

   26. ADAsh Dykes16:18

       There's, there's bears, yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan16:19

       You can't even run.

   28. ADAsh Dykes16:20

       That's it. (laughs)

   29. JRJoe Rogan16:20

       You got no air.

   30. ADAsh Dykes16:22

       Yeah.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Uh, I'd say a,…

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      encouragement did you get from people that you told the story to and how many people were like, "You can't do this. You're gonna die up there"?

   2. ADAsh Dykes30:06

      Uh, I'd say a, a healthy mix. For those who had seen the previous adventures that I'd done-They had a, um, they had hope. They held hope and-

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:15

      They had faith in you.

   4. ADAsh Dykes30:16

      Yeah, they had faith. "Come on, surely he's got this." They were like-

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:18

      They knew you'd already accomplished two amazing things.

   6. ADAsh Dykes30:20

      That's it. And it was never done recklessly. First, it was never really done for the record. There was always environmental angles, sustainability, awareness, et cetera. Um, but it's also the planning. So, it's no- n- I used to do really reckless stuff, we'll get to that, but now it's meticulous planning, it's the details. Looking at what can go wrong, but also learning how you can possibly overcome it-

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:41

      I love a-

   8. ADAsh Dykes30:41

      ... to make it back home.

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:42

      ... a good cliffhanger. I'm glad we're gonna get to that.

   10. ADAsh Dykes30:44

       Yeah. (laughs)

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:44

       Reckless stuff.

   12. ADAsh Dykes30:45

       Yeah, yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:45

       Let, let that sit for a second.

   14. ADAsh Dykes30:46

       Yeah.

   15. 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?

   16. ADAsh Dykes30:56

       Yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan30:57

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

   18. 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-

   19. 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?

   20. ADAsh Dykes31:13

       That's it, yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan31:14

       Okay.

   22. ADAsh Dykes31:14

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

   23. JRJoe Rogan31:16

       Okay.

   24. ADAsh Dykes31:16

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

   25. JRJoe Rogan31:21

       Mm-hmm.

   26. 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-

   27. JRJoe Rogan31:34

       Really?

   28. ADAsh Dykes31:34

       ... and when I'm charging.

   29. JRJoe Rogan31:35

       S-

   30. ADAsh Dykes31:35

       So it was really, really useful.
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Oh. …

   1. ADAsh Dykes45:00

      of the way, um-

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:01

      Oh.

   3. ADAsh Dykes45:01

      ... for the first sort of half of the expedition. And then the second half was super interactive. Opened it up. People would join in, organized-

   4. JRJoe Rogan45:08

      Oh, so people knew about it?

   5. 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-

   6. JRJoe Rogan45:14

      And they'd walk with you?

   7. ADAsh Dykes45:15

      And they would trek with us, yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan45:17

      Ooh. That's weird.

   9. 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-

   10. JRJoe Rogan45:22

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

   11. 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.

   12. JRJoe Rogan45:30

       Whoa.

   13. ADAsh Dykes45:30

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

   14. JRJoe Rogan45:34

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

   15. 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.

   16. JRJoe Rogan45:41

       How sick did you get?

   17. JVJamie Vernon45:42

       Mm-hmm.

   18. ADAsh Dykes45:42

       Yeah, I-

   19. JRJoe Rogan45:43

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

   20. 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-

   21. JRJoe Rogan45:53

       So these kids all knew that you were doing this?

   22. ADAsh Dykes45:55

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

   23. JRJoe Rogan45:58

       Oh.

   24. ADAsh Dykes45:58

       And we were creating a documentary.

   25. JRJoe Rogan46:00

       Oh, that's pretty cool. And-

   26. ADAsh Dykes46:01

       At one point, it got pretty-

   27. JRJoe Rogan46:02

       ... good hospitality?

   28. 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?

   29. JRJoe Rogan46:09

       Yes.

   30. 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.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:01:59

   So you think by…

   1. ADAsh Dykes1:00:00

      and Myanmar. They were teaching us berries that act as a mosquito repellent. Like, you can pop them, rope them in your skin, it'll repel the mosquitoes. Teachings, teachings how to hunt, uh, how to gather, uh, what berries or what leaves were edible, what plants weren't edible. Uh, how to build rafts and shelters using natural resources. You know, normally bamboo, banana leaves as a bed, or as a slanted shelter to, for the rainwater to run off. It was amazing. We just continued these s- sort of adventures around Southeast Asia. Hopped over to Australia.... found some work as an Australia Power and Gas, I think it was, uh, knocking on people's doors. I thought, "This isn't me. This is wha- not what I'm traveling for. I'm in a suit now and," you know. Um, I remember I was shadowing a, my boss. We walked up to this drive and there was this guy at the end of the drive doing all of these pull-ups. At that point, I'd become quite unhealthy, put a bit more weight on. I wasn't sticking to the training, I wasn't sticking to a, to a good diet. And he jumped down, he wasn't interested in the Australia Power and Gas, but he mentioned something like, "Yeah, I respect you guys out here, 40 plus degrees Celsius, 108 Fahrenheit, um, knocking on people's doors in your suits trying to sell them a good deal." And one of them, my boss replied something cringe-worthy. He said something like, "Yeah, but we get paid a lot of this. You know, I drive a Skyline." So unnecessary. And the guy replied, the guy who was doing the pull-ups, "It's not all about the money, it's the lifestyle too." And all of a sudden that was a slap in the face for me, that's why I started to travel. So the next day, I quit the job, got myself a little bike with my friend again, and we just carried on, cycled, uh-

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:01:29

      So you think by your-

   3. ADAsh Dykes1:01:30

      ... southern Australia.

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:01:30

      ... your boss saying something douchey, that sort of leaned you in the right direction?

   5. ADAsh Dykes1:01:34

      Yeah. I was th- I was thinking for a while, "This isn't, this isn't me." You know?

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:01:37

      Yeah.

   7. ADAsh Dykes1:01:37

      "This isn't..." You know?

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:01:38

      It's foolish.

   9. ADAsh Dykes1:01:40

      Yeah. Yeah. I was doing something that it wasn't, wasn't in my-

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:01:44

       Right, right.

   11. ADAsh Dykes1:01:44

       You know?

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:01:44

       But his behavior is foolish.

   13. ADAsh Dykes1:01:45

       Yeah. Oh, and knowing his behavior, that was the sort of-

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:01:48

       Yeah.

   15. ADAsh Dykes1:01:48

       'Cause I was looking at this guy, and I was like, "I'm not stood on his side."

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:01:50

       Mm-hmm.

   17. ADAsh Dykes1:01:51

       "I'm stood with my... This is the way that I'm going, this is my boss."

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:01:54

       Right.

   19. ADAsh Dykes1:01:54

       And he would eat, like, fast food every single morning, you know, KFC, man. I was just like, "This isn't how I'm, um..."

Episode duration: 2:36:54