Venture Step

Dalton Anderson (00:00.606)
Welcome to Vintros Step Podcasts, where we discuss entrepreneurship, industry trends, and the occasional book review. Today, we're getting global. We're ditching the boardrooms and the tech announcements and just the progress that society is making towards this AGI milestone. And we're going to talk about some travels that I've had over the last year or so. I spent one month in Mexico City, two weeks in Tokyo, and then two weeks in Seoul.

So I thought it'd be cool to do a comparison of the cities. What are my thoughts about them? And just overall share my experiences. So today's agenda is the discussion of these three mega cities, Mexico City, Tokyo and Seoul. I'm going to talk about food, some culture stuff, some things to do, some things you should do. If you want to do them, you've got to plan ahead. Some cost comparisons, nothing.

nothing too spreadsheety, but kind of opinion-based as of, you know, X state and just, okay, how would you get around the city? Do you need to download certain apps? What do you need to do? Et cetera. But of course, before we dive in, I'm your host, Alton Anderson. My background is in a bit of a mix of programming, insurance, data science offline. You could find me running, building my side business or lost in a good book.

If you'd like to view the podcast and video or audio format, you can watch the video on YouTube. And if audio is more your thing, you can view the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. And of course on YouTube.

So.

Dalton Anderson (01:46.992)
Mega cities and the characteristics between a city and a mega city is, the population. So Tokyo, Seoul, and Mexico city have a lot of people like 20 million people. And I think in the surrounding areas of Tokyo and Mexico city, it's upwards to 30 plus million people. think Tokyo is at 38.

Not the exact, I'm not sure the exact number for Mexico City, but it's a crazy amount of people. And there's some unique challenges with having that many people, especially in Mexico City with the elevation of Mexico City, with all the cars and people and transportation and Tokyo. It's just difficult to get around. It's an older city. They've got to modernize the infrastructure. Same thing with Mexico City. And it's just...

Yeah, I mean, there's a crazy diversity of ideas and thought process of how to live your life and everyone's making their own way. And if you're from a city, you're like, yeah, that makes sense. Like that's not really unique, but you have to understand my perspective. I have never really been in cities very much. So I went from no city ever, or like maybe a little city, like maybe 400,000 people to

Just this massive.

Dalton Anderson (03:17.95)
complex intertwined cities like Mexico City, Seoul, Tokyo. And so that's my perspective. So I was like, wow, this is crazy. I've never seen this in my life. And you might've lived that life your whole life and like, it's gross. There's so many people, blah, blah. Didn't get that experience. My experience was a little bit different, but once again, this is my experiences and my opinion. Okay, so the first thing that we want to touch on for Mexico City, Seoul and Tokyo is

the cost. So I would say that Mexico City is the most reasonable, but Mexico City is expensive for just, I would say like Latin America or like the Americas. Like if you compare it like America, like a nice, like North American content, like if you compare like U S and Canada, obviously Mexico City is cheaper than New York. But if you compare

Mexico City to Rio. Rio is cheaper. Mexico City is quite expensive when you compare those other countries. Like if you exclude the US, Canada, and you include South America and Mexico and Central America, those cities are definitely cheaper than Mexico City. Mexico City is very expensive in comparison.

But the food is very reasonable. Housing is reasonably priced. I stayed in La Cundessa, which is a very nice, I would say historical district with a lot of old shops and restaurants that have been around for 50 plus years. Very interesting neighborhood. It was one of the first, how do I say?

planned like an, like an, the planned affluent neighborhood. Like it was a plan, like a city like that involves city planning. And it was supposed to be like an affluent neighborhood, like back in the day, which it was, and it has a lot of history. It's right next to Chacaltopec, which is a huge park that we'll get into later. And it's, it's very, it's very situated. Like it's right next to Roma, two to two, which is like this, you know, when you go to Roma, it's a little bit more like a financial district.

Dalton Anderson (05:40.926)
And it's a great place to live. And it was definitely reasonably priced. wasn't it wasn't super expensive or anything like that. But I was staying in an older building that didn't have heat, which I don't suggest you do because it gets super cold at night. For me, at least, you got to think I'm from Florida and I've never really been anywhere cold. So cold is like 5050 degrees, like less than 50 is cold. And Mexico during the wintertime, it gets pretty cold. It doesn't rain, but it gets pretty cold.

And yeah, it was brutal. It's brutal. Like the first two days I was there, it was hard to get out of bed before like 10, because I was just freezing. And so I had to change my schedule and I started doing pushups in my room to warm up, pushups and squats. could get warm and get the day started and get some clothes on. But yeah, it gets cold. If you don't have heat and you're living in an older building, your building is going to be the outside.

And so it's like 38 degrees in my room and I'm shivering when I'm out of my bed. So it was tough. So keep that in mind. Try to get a place that has heat. My place didn't have AC, but it's during the winter time. So it didn't really matter. But yeah, no heat was tough. It was tough.

Food is super reasonable in Mexico City. There's a lot of street vendors that you can get food for like a couple bucks, three bucks, tacos, like street tacos are like $2. It's not, it's not in the U S where street tacos like 18 bucks and it's like two small tacos in Mexico city. You'll get, you know, decently portion street tacos for the equivalent price. So if you have a small taco, it would be like $2 if you translated that into.

into the US. And so the food culture and the price is great in Mexico. You don't have to worry about it. It is more expensive than other cities like in Central and South America.

Dalton Anderson (07:56.526)
Seoul has very reasonable housing I would say. The price of housing wasn't that difficult to get something reasonable but nice. I stayed in a really nice district called...

Gundam, Gundam, Gundam, Gundam, yeah, Gundam. So I stayed in Gundam and it's a super nice, I keep saying super nice, but it's a.

Dalton Anderson (08:25.572)
area known for luxury that involves shopping and food, but it also has like some hole in the walls, but it is a nice area to stay and it's centralized enough where you can get anywhere easily with the different train stations. like three different train stations, like super close to my house and they would take different lines.

So they would go different directions. So you can get anywhere in the city with like a three minute walk. Very nice. But it was difficult to walk because my leg was hurt at the time. So that was that sucked. We'll get into that later. Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo is expensive. Like the food is cheap, but the housing is expensive. The place that I booked was in Shinjuku and it wasn't in downtown Shinjuku, but it was like on the outskirts of Shinjuku. So

If I wanted to go downtown into downtown, Shinjuku is like a three minute walk to get there, which is close enough, in my opinion. And my leg worked at the time, so it wasn't an issue. And I was super close to the station and it was like a I think a two minute walk to not Shinjuku station, but another station, a different one. My dog just just broke in my room, a different a different station.

that is

connection to Shinjuku station, I would say. Like if you took a different line, you can get to Shinjuku station. It was like one stop. It was very centralized in Shinjuku and I was able to get to different places, but it was expensive and I felt like I got scammed for my Airbnb that I booked. The Airbnb that booked that was showing a patio and this other stuff, spacious washer dryer.

Dalton Anderson (10:23.836)
refrigerator, it did not, and a desk, a work from home desk. It had the desk, had a mini fridge, not a refrigerator, and then it did not have a washer and dryer, and it wasn't very spacious for the desk area. So I wasn't very happy with the whole situation with my Airbnb that I booked and

Tokyo, but it is what it is. made the most of it. and also the curtains were towels. They weren't real curtains. And so they didn't really block out the sun that well. So I had to purchase something for my face because I was working Eastern time. So it was very important that I get some sleep and it would the sun going through the window and shining on my face. That was difficult.

Okay, so yeah, but in Tokyo, the housing was expensive. Like it was either this place or like a basement that apparently smelled like like mildewater. Those are like kind of the two options. And my range was was anywhere from like 1500 to 2000 to live somewhere. I didn't really want to spend 2500 to 3000. I feel like that's a lot. So I booked what I had, you know, I have a budget.

of what I wanted to do because I also wanted to do extracurriculars and these other activities and extrusions. And so I don't want to spend so much money just like for housing. That that's how I wanted to do it. But yeah, no, the housing was was expensive and the place that I booked, unfortunately, didn't really match his description. But the food is so cheap and the yen Japanese yen is an all time low. You can get food.

the best food you ever have in your life for like $5. And then you could book another, can order another and another, and then you're stuffed for two days and it's only like 20 bucks. super good, cheap, great. I don't know. The food in Tokyo is just unmatched and you'll hear about it a little bit later. Healthcare. So fortunately for you, unfortunately for myself,

Dalton Anderson (12:50.278)
I had to seek medical attention in Mexico City twice. And I also had to seek medical attention in Tokyo. So in Mexico City, they have private and public health care, I would say. Like there's private doctors and there is public. I didn't necessarily, let think. No, I didn't use the private sector of health care. I used the public.

because I didn't need anything seriously, I didn't need anything serious done. I was just sick.

So there is a unique system that I quite like where each pharmacy has a doctor tied to the pharmacy. So when you're sick, you can just go to the pharmacy. There's going to be a doctor. It's normally on the side of the building and there's like a separate waiting area. And so you go there, you wait, the doctor sees you, you don't need an appointment, you don't need anything. And the visit is free, but it's customary to tip the doctor.

I tipped a little bit more than I think other people would because it was from the US and I really know how to navigate it. So I asked my friend and they said, this is reasonable if you want to be nice and help them out. Like this is a good amount. But other than that, like over this amount is too much. And I don't remember what the actual amount was off the of my head because I went in January. So it's close to a year now over something so small. I don't remember.

But I mean, the service is great. You can get your medicine within three minutes or so. Like you just bring your script over to the pharmacy. The pharmacy gives it to you. It's super cheap. The service is great. It's not expensive. And it's quick. Like I loved it. was great. Like it was great. I did it twice. I was sick, unfortunately, twice. So I had to get medicine.

Dalton Anderson (14:53.298)
Yeah, it was awesome. I mean, it was so quick and it was clean.

had a great experience in Mexico City with healthcare. So fortunately, I did not have to seek medical attention. I might have to sneeze, I might have to be myself.

Dalton Anderson (15:18.194)
Okay, I sneezed. All right. So soul didn't seek medical attention. Tokyo. I was playing sports and we'll talk about it in a little more detail later in the episode, but I was playing sports and someone made a tackle on my leg and I tried to avoid the tackle. Well, actually it was more of like a deflection thing. I got the ball, I was going to go around him and he stuck his leg out behind himself, which is

not something you're supposed to do really in pickup. And I was going to step on his leg, like going like full speed. And I didn't want to break the guy's legs. So I tried to avoid his leg and my leg got caught underneath all my weight. And it kind of just sprained my ankle. I had a third degree sprain. So I thought I broke my ankle because I couldn't put any weight on it. So I had to go to the hospital. And during that hospital experience, I went to, I think, four different hospitals.

And it was turned away each time. They just said like, they won't take me. They didn't say they're busy. They just like, yeah, we don't want you here. Like we're not going to, we're not going to help you go somewhere else. And I was like, okay, where do I go? They're like, I don't know. It doesn't really matter to me. And I was like, like this, this whole situation sucked. Honestly, it was horrible because my leg was killing me. I couldn't really walk and everyone was turning me away. was really difficult to communicate to each other because

They don't know English. I don't know Japanese. And so there was a huge language barrier. And overall I was over, I was confused. I didn't really understand why they wouldn't help me. They were just say like, Hey, we're not taking you. Like we won't, we won't. Yeah. Like go somewhere else. I'm like, why? I'm like, like just because like, okay. All right. I'll go somewhere else. But like, that's not cool. Like I'm, clearly injured, but sure.

because my leg was all my ankle was all swollen and like purple. Once it started getting all purple, I was like, got to to the doctor. I had another five weeks abroad and not home. So I had another four weeks abroad. And then.

Dalton Anderson (17:34.568)
Well, I had another three weeks and then I had another week in Las Vegas. So I wasn't going to be home for a long time. So if I broken my ankle, I was going have to make a decision on either going home or getting the right cast set up. You know, mobilize my leg, all sorts of stuff. I didn't want to be walking on my ankle for four additional weeks with a broken ankle. So I tried to go to hospital and it was very difficult.

more difficult than it should be. And it did not go well. And the only reason I was able to see a doctor is this man saw that I was I wasn't necessarily frustrated. was just like, don't I don't really understand what's going on. He knew English very well. And he has some kind of fashion company that I would like to talk about later, not in this episode, but at some point, because he was so nice and like and those are the times where I'm like, I wish that

Like those, those people had a platform, you know, like they're just really genuine humans. Like I'm not paying him any money. He doesn't get anything from me. He doesn't know me. And then he's, he let his wife go ahead of him to the hospital. He stuck by, talked to me in English, helped translate, called out the hospital for not helping me and made calls to different hospitals for me to request because the hospital said that they called and they really didn't.

Cause he's like, like what the hospital say? I was like, they were like, you know, like they won't the other hospital. They called the other hospital for me on my behalf. Cause I couldn't call and they were like, no, like no. And he's like, okay, let me verify that. don't, I don't trust that guy. And so he called in the hospital. He's like, yeah, no, no, like we could, we could see you later on. Like if you come like in an hour, we could see you.

And so like that's, that's how, and then they worked it all out. Like, Hey, I'm international. I don't know English that well. mean, I know English. I don't know Japanese that well. And this is my issue. Like, do you have the facilities to accommodate either the language barrier, of course, and then also like, what kind of X-ray machine do you have? Like, can you, can you do ankles? Blah, blah. So it all worked out only because of that guy. And he has a company.

Dalton Anderson (19:57.886)
a fashion company that's pretty cool. And I would like to talk about his company at some certain point in the episode. And I wish that he does.

I wish that he does well, right? Like without him, I don't think I was gonna be able to go to the hospital. Okay, so unfortunately Tokyo's experience was quite poor. Public transportation, public transportation in Mexico City is great. I would say I would not use the train. So in Mexico City they refer to the metro as the bus and then

Because in Spanish, a Metro bus is a bus. so that's where they, it's switched. So train is train and Metro is the bus. And in other cities, like if you say, I'm gonna take the Metro, like it's a train. So there was a bit confusion there. But I would take the bus. There's the inter-circuit and outer-circuit bus route. And so there's the inner-circuit, which is like the inner-circuit, which is.

Obviously it's inside the outer circuit and they connect at certain points, but they have, they basically take a loop around the city in certain spots. And I would combine your transportation with both Uber, the inner circuit, outer circuit. And then I would also use their biking system. I think they have city bike. pretty sure city bike. Yeah. So they have city bike and you sign up no problem. Register.

use the City Bike, it's not the City Bike app, it's a different app, but they're City Bikes. And they have bikes everywhere. There is a...

Dalton Anderson (21:49.99)
I say large.

Dalton Anderson (21:55.464)
There are many roads for the bikes that are protected, which I think is called class one or class A separation, which has an actual barrier where the car would have to drive over the barrier to hit you. And then they also have a lot of areas that have cones, not necessarily cones, but.

like soft guide rails where they have to run over. I don't know what they're called, but you know what I'm talking about with the little poles that are glued on the ground. And if you hit it, it's like hard plastic, those kinds of things with, with reflectors on them, blanking out on the name. But you know what I'm talking about. So biking is huge. I biked everywhere in Mexico city. Every like, it's just an easy way to get around. It's like one of the best ways to get around.

And so I would combine the bus with bikes. That's how I would do it. The biking can be dangerous, but I was okay with it because, hey, when I totaled my car in undergrad, I biked for four years on the streets in bike lanes and doing various things. I was fairly comfortable with biking. It could be a little overwhelming, but once again, there's the...

a lot of the main places, like the main streets and areas, they have a protected lane for bikes and there's a right side, like an ongoing and like there's an on there's two lanes. It's a it's a two lane bike road. So it's pretty cool. And. Yeah, you shouldn't have any problems doing that. I was doing some other sketchy stuff with the bike. I wouldn't recommend doing now. Just I would just go on the roads like the little bike lanes and stick to that and.

then if you're unable to do those things, then go on the sidewalk or something. Like, and walk your bike. Don't ride your bike fast on the sidewalk. That's not cool. So, not much biking. Some scooters. People scooter around. I didn't see very many bikes. People scooter for sure. I don't think there's as much reliance on bikes because their train system is so great. That's something I didn't talk about.

Dalton Anderson (24:19.048)
about Mexico cities, the Mexicans were confused about the train system. I would play these sports communities. I played this pickup soccer and these other things. And I kind of made some amigos from doing that. And they're like, man, I don't even understand the train system. It's so confusing. You don't have internet down there. It's hard. So just don't even deal with it. Do the bike and the bus. And that's what I did. It worked out just fine.

Cause I was trying to do the train a couple of times and I was like, man, like I was telling them, was like, man, this is so confusing. It's so hard. And they're like, yeah, I don't get it either. So don't even worry about it. So SOOLS, less reliance on bikes. I didn't see bike lanes, like protected bike lanes and their Uber is a taxi. Same thing with Tokyo. Your Ubers are taxis, not ride sharing.

Trains, trains are phenomenal in and the buses are phenomenal. So you don't need to bike, you don't need to do anything. There's stations everywhere, there's bus routes everywhere. You can get anywhere you want to throughout the city with a train. And it could take you an hour, it could take you 10 minutes, wherever you're trying to go. But it can get a little confusing. The only caveat with Seoul,

for navigation is you have to download Navver. Google Maps doesn't really work in Seoul. So you have to download an app called Navver. A lot of stuff in Korea is, I would say, homegrown, where a lot of their things are built inside the country, Navvers, their Google Maps. They have some other stuff where...

it's built in house because or like within the country because South Korea has a lot of enemies and they feel better about building it themselves. Cause they can control what's going on. And a lot of times you have to register like who you are to use the apps. It's a little bit more than Mexico city or Tokyo. It's not as chill for navigation.

Dalton Anderson (26:35.804)
I had an issue with navigating because they do have an English version, but the English version is nowhere near as good as the Korean version. And even if you use the English version, when you type it in Korean, it works better. So what I was doing was if I was trying to find like 24 hour gym or 24 hour restaurant or something like that, I would type it in Google Translate and then I would put it in Korean in the app. But the issue is everything comes back in Korean.

And so you're like, man, what is this? I don't even know what this is. And so that's why when I get the food section in Korea, I have like no idea because a lot of the stuff I had in Korea is like only in Korean. I don't really know what it was. But yeah, Seoul's transportation system is world class. It does require you to have these like T money cards. And so when you get the airport, you want to...

go to the first ATM, because if you wait, depending on which airport you go to, you'll need it for both, because one you'll take the bus, and another one you'll take the train, and both of those you need to have the T-Money cards. You have to go to the ATM, get out.

It depends how long you're staying there, but I would get out, if staying there for two weeks, I would get out 5,000. If you're staying there for a month, get like 10,000, 10,000, 10,001, which isn't that much. But anyways, and if you're taking the bus, you need 20,000 just for the bus ride, by the way.

But you need to get out the money before you get to the place. Like the airport I went to, I don't remember the name. There's two of them. So it's 50 50. One's a bus, one's a train. But to take the train, you need the T money card or cash and you might as well have the T money card because it makes it a lot easier and, and or cash, but you can't cash without the ATM. The ATM is on the other side of the airport. So as soon as you get, as soon as you land, go to the first ATM and then go.

Dalton Anderson (28:43.326)
to where you need to go. Like either take the bus or the train, whatever. Because if you don't, you're gonna have to walk with all your luggage all the way back to the other side and it's like a 30 minute walk. So don't do that, because that sucked. And I did that with my leg hurt. Yeah, it was no good. So one improvement for the Seoul airport that I went to, and it sucks I don't remember the name, is they need to put an ATM next to the transportation area.

like Tokyo. When I went to Tokyo, I think there's two airports in Tokyo and I don't remember the two that I used. Both of them. That's why I'm kind of confused. But when you're going to the airport and you land and you're going to leave and go to wherever you're going to go, there's a section with ATMs and your transportation card, the SUCA cards. So I had a SUCA card and it's basically like just

Same thing with the T-Money is tap to go and you can add money to it in Seoul and in Tokyo if you have an iPhone. I couldn't do it with Android, but it said you could, but I was having issues with it. You can add the card to your wallet and then you can add money to it without having to get cash, but you need cash to get the initial card. After that, you can just do electronic transfers to the...

card, which is decent. But in Tokyo, I had the Suka card so easy, so quick. just go to the ATM. They've got people helping there. They know English and they just let you know, if get the card, put cash on it, put as much as you think. Hey, if you're here for a month, put X amount, blah, So easy. Get on the train and then you go to the city. quick clean. Seoul and Tokyo.

The stations are immaculate. Like they're so clean. There's no litter. The stations are old, but look brand new, I would say. they're just, everything is just well kept. There's no litter. It's not very dirty. The trains are gray, very clean. No incidents. You won't have any incidents. Like I know you see those videos on public transportation, people freaking out.

Dalton Anderson (31:10.078)
They're on drugs or something like that. That never happened in Tokyo or Seoul because there is this huge emphasis on like a social etiquette. Maybe too overarching sometimes. Like it is a culture shock, but people keep to themselves. They're very quiet. It's rude to talk on the public transportation unless it's like late at night, like after a party, then that's fine. Like after everyone's partying. But if you're going on a work trip,

like during rush hour or something like that. No one's talking really like they might whisper, but you can't really hear anyone. Okay. So moving over to things to do Mexico city. So like there's an arts and culture section and then there's a food section. So arts and culture, I highly, highly, highly suggest that you go to check out the pack. So boy is to check out the pack.

is like the forest of check out the pack and people just call it check out the pack. But check out the back park. Check out the park is the largest. Urban park in Latin America, it has several museums, a zoo, workout areas. It's it's like a cornerstone of the culture. People have a lot of pride at the park, like you'll see people bringing their families, you'll have.

you know, double dates. They've got picnics going, everyone's got their picnic stuff going on. There's a lot of picnics. There's a lot of families there, people running biking. It, and then there is a

say like a market where you can get food and

Dalton Anderson (32:57.118)
little knickknacks or whatnots, I would say, like custom made, know, like handmade whatnots from just artists in the, the, at the market. And it's just overall like such a great place. And I've spent so many days there and loved it. I still need to explore the whole thing, but for you to explore the whole thing, I think you need like,

bike or a scooter. It's so big. it's crazy big. mean, it's got a zoo, like multiple museums.

huge lake and there's just so much going on in Czechloupec. And that's where I would go to work out. So I'd go there and there's this place called like the Gladiator Bars or something like that. Like if it's translated in English, like the bars of the Gladiators, I think. And it's just a whole bunch of like crazy jack dudes that are working out and they're doing pull-ups and muscle-ups, like slow controlled muscle-ups.

and they're just doing all sorts of crazy calisthenics. Yeah, no, this is it was great. I love I loved it. I love Czechoslovakia. And then there's another place that I suggest in Czechoslovakia is also double the size of Central Park, just to put that perspective. So it is massive. And then there's museum or museum. So you're my man. So you're my going to mess this up on going to mess this up. I have no problem saying these words.

not on the podcast, but when I get on the podcast, I'm like, I don't have the skills to display on the show, but it's this big silver building that looks really cool. It's like curved. I would go in there. It's great. Start at the top, work your way down. They've got a lot of interesting art pieces and sculptures. Highly suggest it. I would also go in the bathrooms. I'm a weird guy. Like I like to go to places and look at their bathrooms and look how cool they are.

Dalton Anderson (34:58.824)
great bathroom in there. It's like this whole like white grand desk, like marble, like with the, yeah, just it's great. It's really cool. The place is cool. Their bathrooms are cool. So no problem. So Castillo de Chacaltepec, which is the Chacaltepec castle, it's the king's castle and it was his residence back in the day. Originally Chacaltepec was a royal park, I would say, where that place was

for the Royals and the family, the family that was related to the Royals. And afterwards, a certain ruler of Mexico City, don't remember the name, said like, hey, I don't want to live here anymore. I want to share this beauty with the people. And that's when Chacalopec became a public park and the castle was opened up to the public. And the park was as well and they made

made museums out of the buildings that were pre-existing and built on top of it as well. Like Chaco de Pec Castle, Casio de Chaco de Pec is a place where the king used to live and his family. And you can tell that a king used to live there because it is nice and it's on top of the hill, like massive, massive hill. And be ready to walk when you go.

it's so high up and they fought wars. America got in a fight with Mexico and there was a war fought between the Mexicans and the Americans and that was like the last stand. That was the capital. It'd be like a war on like Washington DC. Like that's the last stand. Like that's where the government is, that's where the ruler is.

And they held it down for weeks, like from artillery to other stuff. And they just kept fighting. Because when you go there, you see pictures of it. The hill is so big. You're at such a disadvantage unless you just starve out the people that are there. I mean, it'd be difficult to siege that place. OK, next place. also the Castilla de Teca de Pac has a beautiful view.

Dalton Anderson (37:27.774)
of the city and how big Chacal de Pec Park is and highly suggest that you go, even if you're not a museum person, you don't necessarily have to go to the museum. You can walk all the way to the top just before the entrance and you can look around and look how beautiful the city is and the skyline and these other things. Highly suggest. OK, so the next one is Paseo de Bellas Artes is the Palace of Fine Art. It's a white building with a. Golden orange roof.

And it's beautiful. There's sculptures outside. They do concerts in the, not in the building, but on the outside of the building. There's a big courtyard where there's concerts, live music. People go there with their kids, their families. And overall, mean, it's just, just the outside of the building is amazing. And to go in, it's the same. It's the same level. It's the same level you see on the outside, it's on the inside. It's beautiful.

astounding sculptures and overall like a lovely place to explore. Highly suggest. Okay, so Pyramid of the Sun or Pyramida de Sol. Pyramid of the Sun, I went, I did a hot air balloon tour and the tour of the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon. And then I also did a tour of the caves, which was really cool.

And also our tour guide gave us a tour of some of the stuff that people do that's tradition in Waukaoka, I think is how you say it. There is mascal, producing mascal, which is a traditional alcohol that has a strong smoky flavor. How you make that, you make that with like a.

these other ingredients. I don't really want to get into it as much. There's Mascale and then there is some some fruits that were offered and some sculptures that are used like with the lava. Not the lava, but the obsidian rock. Yeah, I was thinking of obsidian because when you play Minecraft, I was thinking about lava rock because when you play Minecraft, it's a separate topic. But when you play Minecraft, you make obsidian with

Dalton Anderson (39:52.776)
having lava blocks of a source lava block and you put water on it and it becomes obsidian. So that's why I thought lava rock, obsidian rock. And they make these like beautiful sculptures and, and they also produce the muskal, some other stuff. So there's some cultural things that I thought were really cool. If I had to go back, it's a long day. Like you get up at like four in the morning, a van picks you up and you just

You're just going at it all day, really. So you get put in the van, it's an hour and a half drive or something like that to get there. You eat, they're prepping the hot air balloon, you sign in, you sign off your waiver for your life or any liability if anything happens. And also, this thing you're doing, you need a book ahead of time. You can't just...

try the next day. You've got to book it two months in advance and then you also need to make sure that you don't cheap out. Do something that is well regarded. Use a vendor that has plenty of reviews and not some random group because you could die on a high art balloon. If things aren't done correctly, you could die either from

running into other air balloons because there's hundreds of other air balloons in the sky or during the landing or like there's just so many, mean you're literally floating in the sky on a balloon. So you could die at many points. So just make sure that you're not getting a deal. Like if it's like 50 bucks, go the other way. I mean it should be 250 bucks to like 300 bucks for the hot air balloon per person. Okay.

Anyways, so you gotta book this in advance, but the hot air balloon, amazing. One of the most surreal things that I have done in my life, it's hard to describe how crazy it is with all the other balloons you're flying in the sky. it's like the great discovery, I don't know, like all these people are explorers and we're all flying on the hot air balloon to discover for the first time a historical.

Dalton Anderson (42:16.442)
monument called the pyramid of the sun and we're all fascinated with the event and everyone is is all in an amazing experience loved it so cool so cool and when you land you have champagne and celebration and then afterwards they bring you back and then if you're doing the tour then they'll take you your tour guide you'll meet your tour guide and then they'll take you to the city they'll take they'll use their car and stuff

I would skip on the tour guide. Our tour guide was great, by the way. Our tour guide was great. But it's a long day. You gotta think about it. You're getting up at 4.30, you're going there as an hour and a half drive, and then you are eating breakfast, and then you're taking off early in the morning.

and the whole hot air balloon thing is like a couple hours. So they want to get you positioned. You have to wait for certain air. The air space gets crowded, so you've got to wait your turn and all this other stuff. And you're not the only one, like you're not the only group trying to get the same view. So you've got to be strategic about it, right? Like you don't want to be in too early, you don't want to be in too late, et cetera, et cetera.

So the hot air balloon is a feat in itself and could potentially be overwhelming when you include the tour, because the tour is like five hours plus another four for the air balloon. And then you have these other vendor things on top of it. It's a long day and there's a lot of walking. There's a lot going on. And I feel as if we could

If I had to go back, I would get rid of the tour of the pyramids because you get pretty close on the higher balloon like you're like 30 feet above the pyramids.

Dalton Anderson (44:20.154)
If you skipped out on the tour after the air balloon and then you did the cultural activities, I would call them like talking to the guy's friends or the or her friends about what they do and some of the stuff that they make like, you know, one one guy and like making like Moscow for like five generations. Another family like for four generations have been making these like sculptures using using traditional methods and they explain how they do it. They share their culture. They share their cuisine. They should.

They share a little bit about their family. Like you go to their house and you get to learn how they live and in different things. You share a beer together and you could buy some stuff if you wanted, but there's no obligation, but it is nice thing to do. Yeah. Overall is I would do that. And then the cave tour was crazy. Like the tour guide said like him and his dad used to go in the caves and explore. Cause the people used to live in the caves.

forgot the exact reason, but people used to live in the caves and they made a whole like network in the caves. And basically the caves are dug because one that we needed somewhere to stay. And then the other piece was they were dug to make the materials for the pyramids. And so there's miles and miles and miles of caves. And it can get really dangerous because if you don't know where you're going, then you get stuck and they're all intertwined.

It's difficult to move around. It's not the most spacious sometimes, but a really cool experience. the tour guide said he used to go on like camping trips for like three weeks in the caves and like he'd bring food and they'd come back with his dad. He's also part of like some rescue group or was part of a rescue group to help people like find people. Like you're just telling them like, like I can't find my kid. Like he went into the caves. I can't find him and him and like some other people would go and like find the kid or like find the

find the deceased body or however the situation plays out and at least give the family closure. Like, hey, like here's your deceased loved one. Unfortunately, like this is situation, but now you have closure. Those kinds of things. Amazing, love the cave. So cool. Moving to food for Mexico City, there is tacos, tacos, tacos. Like tacos are amazing in Mexico City. So good.

Dalton Anderson (46:44.616)
The barbacoa, the al pastor. mean, just, just the carne, the pollo. Like it's great. mole. Mole is like a sauce and it has a whole bunch of ingredients and it's, like a slow like delicacy like to create. Like it takes a long time. Mole. I had mole. had mole. Mole and mole. I had, I had mole at a really nice restaurant. Suggest it. It's super good.

and must try when you're there. Street coin, street corn. So good. Easy, easy, easy on the list. You can get it from a street vendor, a couple bucks.

Tortas, think were my favorite tortas are a, I mean, depends on how they're making it, but when I had it, it was like this thicker bread and tomatoes, avocado, chicken, bacon, some sauce and some other things that made it unique. It's not just like a chicken, bacon, avocado sandwich. It's got some other unique qualities to it. Tortas are so good.

So, so good. Like my favorite when I was there. Charquettes. Charquettes are these like little chip things. But I had charquettes. I had charquettes more when I was eating breakfast. So you can you can like bake the charquettes and like a sauce and some other stuff with like chicken, steak, eggs, beans. You have that for breakfast or lunch. So good. Cal stomach is supposed to be the hangover cure.

And so I had cow stomach when I was really sick. You can have it when you're like sick or hangover, whatever. But cow stomach, I had cow stomach at this like place I've been doing like making cow stomach and they're famous for it for like a hundred years. It was really good. I got the large though. It was a lot. It was a lot. don't think I'd be able to do it twice. Like it was, it was, was, it was a bit much. Like it's a lot of stomach to eat.

Dalton Anderson (48:49.276)
And it's got an odd texture. And I think that the texture started getting to me at the end. the the broth, the juice that that the calcimic was was in was very good. But it's a calcimic soup. So it's like soup. And then there's calcimic chunks in it. But stomach has like a weird texture. It's like these weird little like arm membrane arm things on the yeah, on the lining. It's odd. It didn't taste bad, though. It was pretty good. So

Street food shout outs, the potato guy. So there's going to be when you're there, there's like this sometimes it's really loud whistle. Like you can hear it from blocks and blocks. I'm not going to do an impression of it because I don't want to hurt anyone's ears, but it's so loud. Like it will wake you up. You'll know. You'll know. Like you can hear it. I feel like you can hear it from like miles away, like not miles, but like a mile. Like if each block is a quarter mile, I mean, you could definitely hear it from four blocks.

100%. And you know exactly where and who and what they're selling. They're selling these sweet potatoes that they've made. They slow cook these potatoes. He's like a potato guy. Must try. Do that. Also, when you're eating from like street vendors and not a restaurant, I would request, and this is what the locals told me from the soccer community. They said, don't get vegetables. Sometimes the street, unless it's a well-known,

Reputable street vendor, you need to request no vegetables because sometimes the vegetables won't be as washed as well as they should be and you can get sick.

Okay, so that was Mexico City. There's a lot in Mexico City because I was there for a month and I wasn't working. I was working Eastern time, but Mexico City is on Central. So Seoul was a bit difficult because I hurt my leg. So there's not really that much. Like I kind of explored the city, but I stayed in my little area and took the train different places. But I didn't get to do as many unique cultural activities simply because my leg was

Dalton Anderson (50:59.922)
really hurting and I needed to get some rest. So I didn't, I didn't venture out as much as I did in these other cities, but food, Bippa Bop, I think that's how you say it in English. Bippa Bop is like a rice veggies, like meat with like a raw egg in the middle. They serve it with a raw egg or they'll give you an egg and, then you'll crack it and put it in there. First mistake was I was like, I thought it was like a, like a

cooked egg, like a boiled egg, and it wasn't a raw egg, so the first time I did it, I cracked it. And I went, wait, this is a raw egg. And then I was looking at what everyone else was doing, and everyone put it in the middle, and they stirred it up. It's great, it does take a bit to get used to the raw egg part. I don't really eat raw eggs where I'm from, so it was a different. It was really good, suggested, but bib-a-bib-a-bop.

Okay, the next one is Kim, Kim, she, Kim, she guy, guy, Kim, guy, Kim, good guy. Korean chili, I would describe it as like, it's like the stew that has like pork scallions, onions, sometimes tofu. And it's a very common, like Koreans do and is a staple of Korean cuisine. Korean fried chicken.

my goodness. Korean fried chicken is so good. It's crazy good. I had fried chicken so many times there because it's amazing. It's incredibly, I'm at a loss for words how good the fried chicken is there. That's probably one of the best meals, definitely the best fried chicken I've had in my life is in Seoul. And one of my friends is telling me that the

history between Koreans making fried chicken was when America was in the Korean War and helping out Korea. So Korea, South Korea didn't become North Korea. There was an African unit over there, like with the black Americans and they were cooking fried chicken and the Koreans were curious about it. After

Dalton Anderson (53:24.057)
after they shared.

the recipe or such with the Koreans, the Koreans kind of took it off on their own and made their own version of fried chicken. So it's Korean fried chicken. And it's so good. So, so good. In Seoul, the cafe culture is very strong. Seoul has the most cafes in the world, I'm pretty sure, like per person, I think. And there's a cafe everywhere and they're super nice. make, some of them make,

Not all of them. I mean, there's cafe shops like a coffee shop. I'm talking about like a proper cafe where a cafe slash bakery, I would say, like they're making their stuff in-house. They make their own bread. Obviously, they don't make their own meat, but they make their own bread and they make like gourmet sandwiches. They have expensive teas. The best teas I've had in my life were in Seoul. So if you go to these nice cafes, mean, your tea might be like 15 bucks, $12.

but it's so, so, so, so, so good. Like, my goodness. So good. And they have these, the pastries. The biggest thing that I had was the teas and then how beautiful the cafes were. Just, I mean, sometimes breathtakingly nice. And then the breads that they had. I really liked the olive bread sandwiches. So I would get all of bread sandwiches.

I would say I didn't know it was olive bread at first. I was like, what are these black things? But it was all of it. So was like, wow, this is so good. So loved it. Extraordinary. Cafe culture. Not much of a coffee person, but coffee is really big in Seoul. I'm more of a tea person. So big tea, not much coffee, great teas in Seoul.

Dalton Anderson (55:23.844)
In Tokyo, I went to the Tokyo Skytree. You have to book that in advance. If you want to get to the top level, book that in advance. I highly suggest you go. It's beautiful. It puts in perspective how massive the city is. It's just...

The scale of it is difficult to comprehend. And you're like, wow, there's so many buildings and it goes on forever. Like I can't even see that far. And you just see building, building, building, building. And it's so densely packed and it makes it, it makes you understand why when you go take the train during rush hour, you're packed in to the point where your, your face is like on top of somebody's shoulder.

Dalton Anderson (56:11.762)
Yeah, just. The scale of Tokyo is hard. To comprehend, Tokyo Skytree gives you that perspective, and there's a great bar there that's got decent drinks and you can hang out there for a bit. I would suggest that you go to the top floor if you get the chance. I didn't get to do that, but it was high enough like the building is massive. I don't know the max height of the Tokyo Skytree, but it's the biggest.

building in Tokyo. And it's basically just a tower that just goes up forever. I was definitely like 600 or 700 feet in the air. So I was high enough. could see, I could see as much as I could see. I don't think it makes much of a difference from the level I was at versus the top level. It's going to be similar, you know, like it's more of a status thing. I went to the Tokyo Skytree and I was able to book the top level. The top level is more expensive.

and it's booked out. So I would suggest that you look to book accommodations a month in advance. And then I also went to the Shinjuku Queen National Garden. It's beautiful, massive. There's lots of gardens, little walkways and small wooden bridges that you walk across this little stream. It's really cute. If you had a girlfriend, definitely bring her there or partner.

It's a great spot. It's a great spot and they... I wanna say. There's gardens, there's walking trails, there's little spots that have picnics. It's great. So beautiful. And then has a good view of the skyline. It's not up in the air, but it's like a weird contrast and you'll get that in Seoul and Tokyo, especially in Tokyo, where you have these...

modern skyscrapers next to like a traditional temple. And just the contrast is interesting. It's interesting to see.

Dalton Anderson (58:17.424)
Okay, there's another thing that I wanted to do in Tokyo that I didn't get to do and that was to climb Mount Fuji. Mount Fuji was on my list of things to do and they close the ability for people to climb or go to the summit of Mount Fuji. I don't think that the summit is closed but climbing the mountain is closed. It closes, I think I got there in September.

Ninth, I think it closes on the sixth of September. think I mean, it's it's early September that they close. They close the ability for you to climb. So unfortunately, I wasn't able to go. Me and my friend were going to do that together. And that was one of the big reasons I went to Japan. And and I really wanted to do it because I've never done something like that before. It could be a great mental challenge and be worth.

be worth all the work that you have to put in to get there and it'd be beautiful view. could see the skyline of the city and just climb a mountain. That would be the first real mountain that I've done. The other one like barely counts. mean, there's others that I've been on, but I didn't climb them. Like I rode up and did some snowboarding. I've only done that once. So not very experienced in that regard. So was something that I wanted to do. And unfortunately it was

Just closed, just missed it. So keep that in mind if that's something you wanna do. Also, I would recommend that you book accommodations on the mountain and sleep there and then get up so you could see everything early morning. If you don't, it's like an eight to 10 hour trek up and there's an eight to 10 hour trek back. And if you said you wanted to do it in the middle of the night, Japan.

Obviously doesn't want you to do that. It's very dangerous to do so. Only the most experienced climbers or hikers should be doing those things. I'm not in that skill set, as I previously said. So that's not what I was going to do. But if you're very experienced and feel confident to do that, go ahead. But it will be very dangerous. So I wouldn't suggest it if you aren't experienced. I was going to climb the day before, say the night and in the morning, look at look at, you know, the whole shebang.

Dalton Anderson (01:00:43.014)
and then descend the mountain, which takes another 10 hours, and go to the onsen, relax, chill. That's what I was gonna do. Okay. So that was Tokyo, arts and cultures, food, ramen. Ramen is everywhere. A lot of times you order with like a vending machine, with a ticket like you put in your yen, similar to how Seoul, but Seoul is a touch screen kiosk.

Tokyo, a lot of the places where these vending machines you put in your yen, you click a button, it pops out this ticket, you give it to the cook, the cook cooks it, and then you eat it, and then you leave. But there is no communication unless they're asking you options like, do you want, what type of ramen do you want? You can make a base like a miso or some other things, or soy. How do you want your noodles? You want them thin, thick? You want them hot, cold? There's a whole bunch of things that you could do if you.

want to go that route, some shops that's declared in the order that you're given, like giving them or other shops you have to order and then you are, you're requested to provide your options and the server or someone else helping out. Like the sous chef will help get that and they'll give it to the chef and they'll start making it. Ramen's really good. Love it. I'm little bit ramen out though. Like I can't.

I can't do a ramen for six months. Like it's just, it's too much. Like there's so much salt in ramen. I don't know how you could, you could consume ramen once a week, let alone more than once a week, but it is a part of the culture. Ramen definitely, definitely get your slurp on. You want to, if you think it's super good, it's okay to slurp the ramen. Like you'll be in a ramen shop and you'll hear like a lot of like slurping.

of the noodles and the soup shows respect like, this is really good without saying like, it's really good. Once again, it's like different from culture in the US, but you're in a different place. So embrace their culture. Tempura is like this thin batter and it's thin batter that's deep fried and it's typically done with vegetables or some other things like you could do with meats, but

Dalton Anderson (01:03:06.076)
The best meal that I had was a katsudon tempura. So the katsudon is like fried pork. And then I had tempura vegetables under rice with some sauce. best, one of the best meals I've had that are fried chicken. Best, the best thing. Like it's so, so good. And it was cheap. It was like eight bucks. And I was like, this is the best meal I've ever had for $8. Like under 10 bucks, best meal I've ever had. No.

No, no thoughts. There's no other contender for that quality of food for that price. Can't be done. be done. Yakitori. Yakitori is like skewered Japanese shish kebabs, but they're they're not shish kebabs. But people know what shish kebabs are. But yakitori is skewed chicken. So it's on a skewer. It's chicken. And, you know, it's typically done with like steel or bamboo or something like that.

And it's really good. So I suggest you do that. And then you know how I feel about Katsudon. Love it. Love it. Tempore and Katsudon are the best. And then there's this other one that I had a good experience with was just Okum... Alright, I'm gonna try my best. Okumunayaki. Okumunayaki. Okumunayaki is a fried cabbage pancake with meats, eggs.

onions and so they fry it with the meats and the onions and the other vegetables and then they scramble some eggs or they kind of leave it liquidy depending on like what you want to do. my, so good. I probably put that second. Maybe fried chicken in tempura vegetables with katsu don would be tied first with Korean fried chicken.

but Okumonoyaki, definitely second. So good. Hi, this is Jess.

Dalton Anderson (01:05:10.622)
Okay. all right. I lost myself. So it was right here. Okay. So we're done with, we're done with, done with food and culture. So the big thing for me, and I think it's big to talk about three things. when you're going somewhere, there's some, some universal languages. So there's food, sports, and maybe arts and culture. So museums,

food, sports, those are the things that.

language barriers don't have effect on. So if you know how to play a sport or you understand R or something like that, no matter what language you speak, you'll be able to communicate with each other through these shared experiences. And one of the things that I'm good at or decent enough is sports and I'm athletic. So sports is a great way for me to make friends and integrate with the community that I'm temporarily living in. And so it is important and elevates my experience if I'm able to play sports in that area. In Mexico City,

has a great fitness and sports culture. So on Sunday, the city shut down, like downtown, like for miles. Like all the main streets are shut down every Sunday. Wait, every Sunday or every other Sunday? Definitely once a month for sure. It's been a while. I did it twice. So I there for a month.

Did it twice, I saw it once and I was like, wow, that looks really cool. What is that? Got some more information. Then I did it the next weekend.

Dalton Anderson (01:06:55.42)
I don't know. I think it might be every weekend. might not be. It's often enough. I was able to do it twice in one month.

Maybe it's every other week.

or once a week. It's not that important, whatever. But they shut down the city, all the main roads are shut down for bikes and runners only. And there's thousands of people running and biking, sometimes with their family, they're serious runners. mean, it's got everyone. It's got all shapes and sizes. It's got elite runners to, just wanna get outside and be with my family or my friends or I wanna do something fun. Incredible.

Incredible. And if you don't have a bike, you can provide your license and once you return the bike, you'll get your license back. Or you can use the city bike ride share thing I was talking about earlier. That's what I did. You can just book it for the day or like eight hours or something. It's not that long. I think it starts at eight and ends at two or three p.m.

So it's some time. mean, if you're running, that's a lot of running. But if you're biking, it's not that bad. You could do a couple of loops. It's like, I think like six miles, seven miles loop. So you could do like 14 miles, see the city and you could see the city in different perspective. And it's a shared experience with everyone and everyone's super excited. And afterwards people go and drink and they get food and they go to the restaurants with their family or friends. Great experience, highly adjusted. The next thing that I think is really important with Mexico,

Dalton Anderson (01:08:32.738)
and was something I wish the other cities had was they had a pickup app called, let's see, Sport 12. Sport 12 community app allowed you to sign up and play different sports. think they had tennis, pickleball, and soccer, but soccer is our main one. So I played soccer, which they would call football in Mexico. So I played some football and I was judged. They have referees, have

they have people that judge you like on your ranking and then they'll rank you up and you can play more competitive games and unlock a different ability. Not a different ability, different venues. You could play different venues, bigger ones, like bigger venues, more people watching, et cetera. And fortunately enough, I played great in...

in Mexico City and I was ranked as advanced. And so I got to play with the elite players and I got to play at the cool venues and all the other stuff that comes with being the top dog and also made team of the year for the app. So that was really cool. An honor for that experience. And yeah, overall, I loved it. It was great. It was a great way for me to meet people and interact and

and share, and so I played a couple times a week, three times a week, twice a week, something like that. Luckily I didn't get injured like I did in Tokyo, but awesome, awesome experience where I learned a lot about the culture and people and things to do, things not to do. Great, highly suggest it. And even if you're not good, there's co-ed games, there is elite co-ed games, there's beginner co-ed games, there's games for everyone, there are different times. The advanced games are gonna be at

the more preferable times, but the beginner and intermediate games will be whenever that they have the ability, but like the prime time, like 8 p.m. is gonna be the advance and maybe like a 6.30, six is gonna be like the beginner. And then they might have it at like an intermediate coed game. And then 8 p.m. they'll have X, Z. But it's not just one area. Like they'll have games all across the city.

Dalton Anderson (01:10:56.296)
from this app, they might have, on a given day, they might have 20 ongoing games. So like, hey, like I'm a beginner, or I wanna play advanced co-ed or whatever. Like your venue that's close to you might not have that, but a venue in a 10 minute bus ride will have what you're looking for. So there's games all across the city, so cool. Loved it, loved it, it was great, it was great. Soul, I didn't have the leg.

I wasn't missing my leg, but my leg wasn't functional after I injured it in Tokyo. But before I injured my leg, I did do research in advance and I couldn't find anything regarding like pickup soccer, pickup volleyball or any of those things. So I wasn't able to do those things, but they do have a gym culture. So they've got a lot of like really nice gyms and people like working out there. So I was able to pick up a gym membership. That's a little bit more complicated.

than it should have been, I guess, because a lot of gyms, they only want you to have a gym membership if you have a Korean bank account. So I think that's a way of saying, like, hey, we only want like people who live here to use the gym. If you don't live here, like, please don't use this. But some gyms are except accepting of people that are on vacation to just have a one month membership. You might pay like an extra 20 percent to do so, but it's worth it.

And I keep to myself and it one of the one of the cool things when I was at that gym. It was like called like Premier Fitness or something like that, as you translated in English. Was everyone had matching clothes like for me, I was thinking Squid games, like everyone had a matching shirt and shorts, and so you don't really stick out, but also it's difficult to do laundry in a lot of places because a lot of places are small in Tokyo and Seoul and also Mexico City.

And so instead of doing this gym laundry that you're, if you go to the gym every day, plus your regular clothes, that's 10 pairs. No, no, that's sorry. I was thinking, yeah, no, if I'm talking about business clothes, like during a business week, you have, you have 10 pairs. That's a lot of clothes. Like that's just for yourself. Like what if you have a partner or if you have a kid, then you, then you might be at 20 articles of clothing and 30 articles of clothing, depending on the situation.

Dalton Anderson (01:13:18.75)
That's too much really for your, your washing dryer and your dry doesn't work that well. So you might have to go to a laundromat or you might have to do something else. It's just easier if the gym takes care of it for you. So I wear their clothes and work out and those outfits. It was fine. It was pretty cool. We all were in the same clothes that were, were matching twins. so that was great. Tokyo.

They have a great pickup culture. I use this app called Meetup. Meetup's a social app that you can use for networking or some kind of like speed dating thing, or you can use it for sports. I use it for pickup sports. I played soccer and volleyball. I played soccer on top of like an eight story mall overlooking the city during sunset. And I could see

Mount Fuji and all sorts of stuff. It was amazing, amazing venue. Played, that a couple of times. And I also played volleyball with a different group and I played in a stadium, a volleyball stadium. Not sure how that worked out, but.

I'd never played in a gymnasium with such a high ceiling because it's made for like highly competitive volleyball games. And so when you spike it and someone blocks it and it might go up, it might go, you know, 90 feet in the air. So that's what the gymnasium was accounting for. And it was crazy. And there's a whole, there's a whole like seating section, like two levels towering over the volleyball area. Pretty cool stuff.

I really enjoyed volleyball. wish that I could play some more volleyball back home where I'm living right now. There's no pickup volleyball. If I wanted to play pickup volleyball, I'd have to drive like 40 minutes, 45 minutes. And if you're only playing for an hour, I I might be driving double the amount of time I'm playing. So we'll see there. We'll see what comes of it. The first thing I have to do is fix my ankle. So I did volleyball. Very cool to meet people playing volleyball. think volleyball might be a little bit more social.

Dalton Anderson (01:15:33.338)
There was more Japanese people playing volleyball. There was definitely some Japanese people playing soccer, but it was more of expat, like people from Africa, people from Spain, UK, those kind of things. Definitely a lot of Japanese, but more English for soccer. then volleyball was like, I was the only English person. Like there was one other person that spoke English. Other than that, two people out of a group of like 30.

I don't need to speak English. I don't really need to talk to people, but just pointing it out in this episode, I'm not like, you need to speak English because I speak English. No, I just kind of keep to myself. I don't get to talk that much, nor do I talk. I didn't really talk at all in Seoul or in Tokyo, only when people knew English. But a lot of times people don't. So I would talk at work, though. So that's fine. That's enough for me, right?

So I played I played soccer a couple of times, crazy venues played, played volleyball about twice. And then I mentioned earlier in the episode that I was playing soccer and I was passing this guy and he put his leg out behind his behind his leg. So his leg was basically tripping me and I was either going to step on his leg or try to avoid it. And I tried to avoid it. And then my leg got stuck underneath and

basically all the weight landed on on the top of my like pinky toe slash like other toe to the right. I was like your ring toe. I don't know. And yeah, and my ankle just just snapped like it just it just collapsed and it was just so much force on my ankle. And within within like 30 seconds, I was like, Yep, I'm not playing anymore. Like I've sprained my ankle several times at grade one.

It's fine, whatever. Like this is definitely something I've never sprained my ankle that bad before. I blame the turf. Two people got injured on my team besides me and we had to get replacements. Like one guy injured his ankle. One guy injured like, think his ankle, not including me. And then someone injured their knee. But yeah, the turf, just didn't have that much gif. Like it was really, really rigid. So.

Dalton Anderson (01:17:56.626)
And I was wearing these turf shoes. I typically don't wear turfs, but I got them because I was playing pickup back home in the US and was getting a little more serious. I purchased some turf shoes. But man, it's very grippy and. Yeah, I got hurt bad and I've never heard my ankle that bad. And then so I was was kind of what like limping off like I couldn't I couldn't put any weight on it like right away, like within within 15 seconds, I was like, yep, I can't walk on this.

And then I was, I was like near the goal and I was kind of crawling away and somebody shot it and just hit me like straight in the stomach, like a, like a fast shot, like a laser, like to the stomach. And then like the force kind of like lifted me off the ground and everyone was like feeling bad. And my friend was laughing at me and I just, I just ate it. I was fine. Fortunately, I'm glad they didn't hit me in the face. That would have sucked.

probably like chip my tooth or something if they hit me in the face. But yeah, I hurt my ankle really bad. And my friend, he's never sprained his ankle. He was like, man, you're fine, dude. Like, get back in the game, man. Like you're good. Like, you know, stop being a wimp. I'm like, dude, there's no way like, look at my ankle. It's so swollen already. He's like, Yeah, it's gonna be swollen. Like you heard it. And I was like, that's not how it works. It's not gonna get that swollen that quick. Like, there's something up like this is bad. This is really bad.

And I was like, you'll understand later on when I'm not able to walk at all. And yeah, he was like, yeah, no, you just need to get back in the game, you need to walk it off. And I'm like, that's not how it works. And then he was really upset when I was like, he was like, yeah, so you're gonna run the marathon next week. And I was like, no way, there's no way, I can't do it. And then he was really upset with me. He was like, you're already saying no, you don't.

Like you're not even giving me a chance. And I'm like, man, like look at my leg. Like it's literally been 20 minutes and it's swollen, swollen. So yeah, I hurt my leg. My friend didn't really understand. And then like three hours later, he was like, my goodness, like it might be broken. I was like, I was trying to tell you. I was trying to tell you that you weren't listening. So that was my experience. Unfortunately I got hurt, but I made the most of my trip.

Dalton Anderson (01:20:21.628)
You've got to, you got to throw an audible out there every now and then. One thing I would do was I would, next time I travel, I would only play advanced games. I'm not, I'm not going to play beginners with beginners because that stuff wouldn't happen with beginners. No offense. I'll play beginner stuff back home just to, you know, to, to let people be involved. But when I'm traveling abroad, I can't get hurt like that because one it's expensive and two, kind of kills your trip. If you can't make the most of it.

And so if I had like Mount Fuji planned or these other things, like I wouldn't be able to do it. I wasn't able to do my marathon, which I trained for nine months for. So that that was unfortunate. mean, it is what it is. mean, next time I will make different decisions, be different circumstances. Sometimes I will be a little bit more risk adverse for my body when I'm playing sports abroad. And I'll play with advanced groups and not beginners.

And maybe I could work something out with a signer like, hey, because typically you play like beginner, but I could play one beginner match and then I'll move to the advanced and then that's who I'll play with. But my performance in Tokyo for soccer wasn't very good. I was working Eastern time and. I was an eating as well as I should have been before the for the match and just I was just tired and. It was difficult, so my my performance was poor, so it wasn't really a big.

a big contributor anyways. I scored, I scored some goals, I like nine on the first day, because it's multiple games, maybe nine to 10. And then the second time I played like nine to 10. And the third time I got hurt like seven minutes in eight minutes in after I scored a couple of goals though. That was it. Okay. So last, I think the last, the last chapter of this is safety and language and just like the human element. So Mexico city is unfortunate.

circumstances of like the people, I would say the most beautiful people that you'll meet. Like they're vibrant, they're caring, they're hospitable is how they would describe themselves. Like we're hospitable people, like we love to share, we love to share our culture, we love to share our foods. They're hospitable if you're respectful and want to know about their culture, like they're more than willing to share. It's the only unfortunate piece is the

Dalton Anderson (01:22:46.482)
government has been riddled with corruption for a long time. And I think a lot of corrupt governments might be potentially corrupt, but Mexico City.

The people in Mexico are beautiful people, but the government that which oversees sees them has made questionable actions consistently for a long time and have been in bed with the cartels for quite a while. In bribes and all the other stuff that comes with that. And the people know they're just like, hey, like I've lived here with my family, my family's here. We've lived here for generations.

Like I hope one day that the government will improve and fix itself and where we fix the government. But I don't want to leave. love this place. It's got so much history. It's got so much culture and the food is great, which is all true. Like all that stuff is true. Like Mexico City has so much history and stuff and just cool things. But the it's vibrant social atmosphere. It it's great. Some precautions. I didn't party in Mexico City because, hey,

I don't know the language my first time out and about. didn't want something to happen. I get in trouble. I just, I just didn't want to partake. Like I was like, Hey, the risk here is too high. So I'm not partaking and I'm all by myself too. So I was doing everything alone. So I, I wouldn't necessarily, I was walking at night late, but I wasn't necessarily partying and like getting diligently drunk, which I don't do anyways. But if, if you were doing those things,

I don't really suggest that you do them in Mexico City unless you're with like a lot of friends. I wouldn't do it alone, especially if you're a woman. It's not overly dangerous, but I was. Was walking around and and you know. You don't see women walking at night alone like they're with a man or they're with a group of women. They're together.

Dalton Anderson (01:24:49.223)
You occasionally see men walking around, but a lot of times if you're out and about, you're not alone.

And I love Mexico City. There's a lot of stuff about how Mexico is so dangerous. Like you'll you'll you'll walk around, you'll get killed. They'll take your money or whatever. Like Mexico within the city. Within the city, like downtown Mexico City is very safe, like very safe. You go on the outskirts of Mexico City and you go to like these places that are run by the cartel. It's so dangerous. But inside Mexico City, the cartel isn't very active.

unless you're doing like cartel like activities, then like you're not gonna interact with the cartel, obviously. It's the same thing like New York, like there's gangs in New York or Chicago, but unless you're doing gang activity, you're not gonna interact with those people because they're in a different area. I wouldn't say a different area, but they're on like a different social spectrum than you are. So unless you're on that spectrum, you're not gonna necessarily receive those signals, like if you're a radio or something.

that. So tune your frequency to what you want. That's not what I want. So I'm on a different frequency. But overall, very safe. I wouldn't travel at night alone. I would I was doing so, but I didn't see other people doing that. And very great, great city, great people. One thing I will say is like I was blown back by.

the Mount of Missing People. So when I was there, there was a protest about all the missing people and they put up, they had these, the city put up these walls around the Golden Angel, because people would like protest like on the Golden Angel, which is like a big like statue that has historical reference and you know, city and blah, blah, But it's this Golden Angel and they put up these walls because people would go and protest on it. So they put up these huge walls, like 10 foot walls and

Dalton Anderson (01:26:51.79)
On the walls they had just missing people papers. So you think about like a 10 foot wall all around this huge perimeter and the whole thing is filled with missing people, like thousands and thousands of missing people. And it's just people like trying to find their family members that were supposedly just vanished off the face of the earth and they can't be found anymore. And I saw that, but before I saw that, what was an eye opening experience? One time I was playing soccer. was like, wow, like Mexico City is so sick. Like I love Mexico City.

And I was walking out after playing soccer and I was seeing like 15 missing children on the, like the community poster, like, hey, help us find these children like they're gone. I was like, wow, that's a lot of children. Never seen that many missing posters before. And then I saw that protest when I was biking. They had all the missing people on the walls. And I was like, wow.

Dalton Anderson (01:27:50.088)
that that's sad. And you know, those people are gone, probably like they're not coming back. But once again, it'd be nice to have closure.

Soul would be, I would say polite, reserved, willing to share their culture if you're interested. That happened a couple times. It's more common in Mexico City where like they know you're a foreigner, they'll share some dish with you for free or share some experiences with you just because if you're eating or doing whatever. Soul is somewhat like that. And it's...

It's nice. It's a nice experience that people are willing to share. And there is real no, no notable items regarding safety like Seoul's crazy safe. You'll see women walking around at like four or five a.m. alone. No problem all the time. Keep in mind that I was working Eastern Time in Seoul in Tokyo. 13 hour time difference. So I was up during the night all the time.

Dalton Anderson (01:28:59.964)
all the time was up during the night. the women, when I was seeing these women, they were partying, doing whatever, they're walking about at night, three, four, five a.m., all alone, no problem. Like people do that all the time. They'll see that nonstop. Same thing in Tokyo. So they're very friendly, they're helpful. Overall, no issues, I didn't have any issues in Seoul, per se. I would say they're more

more willing to help and more willing to share than the experience I had in Tokyo. Tokyo has a strong emphasis on social etiquette, being respectful, just again, observing the cultural norms, not, same thing in Seoul, like not being loud on the public transportation, not being overly...

Huh. I lost my-

Just be respectful and observe what other people are doing and just mimic that behavior. That's what they want in Tokyo and Seoul. Definitely for public transportation, don't go on there smelling bad. Don't make a lot of noise. If you're gonna play music, have headphones. Just all sorts of normal things that people would potentially expect but might not necessarily follow in other areas. It's followed to a T there.

Overall, yeah, no, Tokyo, people in Tokyo were super nice. Less sharing than Seoul, 100%. Less sharing, like unless you really needed some help, they're not gonna talk to you. They're not gonna share like, this is a legacy, all this other stuff. Like they're gonna serve you to the best of their ability. But other than that, they're not going to interact.

Dalton Anderson (01:30:55.816)
Climate, I went to Mexico City during the winter time. Pretty cool stuff, loved it. It was cold at night, like 30s. So I went during the summertime. It was really nice, maybe 70 degrees, 60 degrees during the day, maybe upwards to 80. And then at night it would get cold, like 30s, 40s.

Tokyo, similar experience, but hotter. It'd be like 90s during the day, and then we'd drop down to like the 50s and 40s at night.

But yeah, Tokyo during the day was pretty hot for other people. I'm from Florida, so I loved it. It was great. I didn't mind it. So that's my experience. So we discuss Tokyo, Seoul.

Mexico City, there's unique experiences and challenges in every city. And I would encourage you to explore, but the grass isn't always greener on the other side. There's cultural and societal issues in every place that you live. And so the place that you live in isn't necessarily the worst in the world. And if you go somewhere else that other people are talking about and emphasizing that they do much better than what

your community does, maybe in that one area, but not in all areas. So just keep that in mind when you are fantasizing about different places.

Dalton Anderson (01:32:35.566)
Yeah, and if you've been to these places or have any other suggestions of places where I should go and travel to, I would love a suggestion. This this experience is definitely these experiences definitely been eye opening for me as someone who hasn't been to very many cities. And these are these are the cities I've been to. Like I've been to New York when I was a kid. I've been to Washington, D.C. I've been to L.A. I've been to Dallas and I've been to Austin. But I think that's it.

And I've been to Atlanta. So in Miami, if you count like, because I would count Miami, but I've been to a lot of Florida cities, but not not these massive cities like the like a mega city. I've only been to probably New York, but that was when I was a kid. And if you want to include Washington, D.C. in that, then I've been to Washington, D.C.

What do you think? What are some places I should go to in the US that are that are must sees? What is the next place that you would want me to experience if you were me? Like I went to this place. I loved it. Or or what were your experiences in these places? And also, I would like to shout out some some folks to people that have been interacting in the podcast pretty often. So it's Jobin Jobin, but different. You have frequently been interacting with.

the channel and the podcast in general and your comments are reasonable, positive, encouraging and I just really appreciate your frequent interactions with the show and I hope that the content that I'm making is continually engaging and keeps you coming back. There's another person that stuck out to me and his name is Alan Williams. Alan R. Williams.

And he made a comment about the reflection 70 billion parameter model episode that I had like a couple of weeks ago, five weeks ago. And that was his first comment. And I don't know if he was, is his subscriber or anything like that. Cause sometimes it doesn't show me like people are subscribed or not. That's not important. But his overall comment was thought provoking and very detailed and based in logic and overall

Dalton Anderson (01:34:55.006)
great commentary regarding the episode and what your readings were and how you felt about the situation. And yeah, overall I agree and I appreciate you taking the time to type that out because I know that that was a lot to type. So yeah, I just appreciate the comment and I hope that, you know, once again I'm creating additional content that you find interesting and I hope that other people found the comment that you left interesting and thought-provoking for themselves. Plants for next week.

I hope to do the computer used podcast episode. I hope to get to that. I didn't get to it this week. Over the weekend I went to a wedding and last week I was traveling and every other week I was traveling. So I've only been back in the US for a couple weeks and I have to schedule some stuff with some guests. I wanna do some content about insurance. wanna get like why insurance is expensive and.

And what is the history behind the personal lines, insurance, commercial lines? How does a product insurance product actually priced? And then I want to put some insurance vendors on on the show that are solving problems. So I think giving you the proper background of how insurance functions as a whole would one, make you more educated in your day to day life about insurance, because it is a fundamental piece of the economy. And then the next thing would be.

hey, like here's the problems that we're currently having and here's how these vendors are going about solving some of these issues. But once again, I appreciate you listening to this episode. Wherever you are in this world, good morning, good afternoon, good evening. I hope that you enjoyed this episode and I hope you'll tune in next week. See ya, until then, goodbye. Have a great day.