Earth's Most Misunderstood Countries | Soul Boom

Añadido: 2026-06-04

[00:00:00]What universals have you found of people all around the globe?

[00:00:04]>> I've been to every country in the world, 197. I've always liked people. I've always been curious about how others live their lives. I've been traveling non-stop for 15 years and in those 15 years I have noticed a bigger bigger shift in the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer. There are places, man, it's it's hard to even comprehend how people are living. And we live in this beautiful bubble in America. A lot of people are just oblivious to what is really happening in most of the world. Definitely most of the world. I generally have hope for most places. The biggest takeaway I've had from visiting every country is that we are all the same. It's so cheesy. It might sound so lame, but if I'm in a tribe in Africa or if I'm walking around Tokyo, people want to be connected to family. They want to feel loved and they want to be loved. They need to work to keep a roof over their heads to support their family. People laugh. They have a sense of humor. All over the world, humans are humans. We all bleed red.

[00:00:55]It's a beautiful thing to see whether you're in a big city or in a village town. People are welcoming and people are dying to share their culture with you. You just have to be in a position to let them share their culture. There's this fear that we have. We're being thrown [ __ ] by the government, by the media, by war. Tell me about your trips to Iran and what people need to understand about the Iranian people.

[00:01:16]>> Yeah, thank you for bringing that up.

[00:01:22]Hey there, it's me, Rain Wilson, and I want to dig into the human experience. I want to have conversations about a spiritual revolution. Let's get deep with our favorite thinkers, friends, and entertainers about life, meaning, and idiocy. Welcome to the Soul Boom podcast.

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[00:02:33]Enjoy the show.

[00:02:35]What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?

[00:02:38]>> The grossest thing is fermented shark in Iceland, but I've eaten >> I ate that.

[00:02:43]>> Yeah, it's pretty bad. It It is.

[00:02:45]>> It's so bad.

[00:02:46]>> It's horrific.

[00:02:47]>> It I can eat most anything and it it made me gag.

[00:02:51]>> Same. Just opening up the thing, I just I can smell it now.

[00:02:55]>> Yeah. Oh, it's it's the worst.

[00:02:56]>> But I've tried literally everything. If it's a delicacy, I'll eat it. Live octopus in Korea. You take it out of the tank and put it in your mouth in one bite. I've tried dog. I don't like it, but I've tried it. I've tried testicles of every animal. I've tried uh >> You've tried testicles of Have you had elephant testicles?

[00:03:12]>> Not elephant. Those would probably be like this big. Um, I recently tried baboon with the Hzab tribe in Tanzania.

[00:03:18]We hunted baboon and they hunted baboon.

[00:03:20]I I shadowed them and then they cooked it over the fire and and we ate it and that was cool.

[00:03:24]>> Tastes like chicken.

[00:03:25]>> It's a little gameier and stronger. Like you have to chew really hard, but it's it's not like that bad. I was a really scared to eat it and then I was like and then I drank blood from a dead carcass of a goat with the Masai tribe of Kenya.

[00:03:37]They do it like daily. I just like to to to do it. If people are doing it, why not?

[00:03:43]>> Wow, that's crazy. I love what you do because it highlights the universality of humanity and kind of like Anthony Bourdain, you highlight such heart and humanity every place you go. some of the craziest and most beautiful and uplifting tribes and cultures and experiences on the planet.

[00:04:09]>> I've been to every country in the world, 197.

[00:04:11]>> And how old were you when you finished that task?

[00:04:13]>> I wanted to finish before 30 and then co hit so I finished at 31.

[00:04:16]>> Okay.

[00:04:17]>> Yeah. I'm now 34.

[00:04:18]>> That's an amazing story.

[00:04:19]>> I've always liked people. I've always been curious about how others live their lives. And you brought up Anthony Bourdain. He was my role model in middle and high school. I uh would watch his shows, multiple shows with my father and we I just like would I remember watching him in Iran and being like that looks unbelievable.

[00:04:37]>> That episode was incredible, >> right? And I got the goosebumps, man.

[00:04:40]Like that and I just remember him like the way he gets into houses and his whole thing is food, but food is just a gateway to the culture and the people >> and the way he's able to just connect with local people and just human to human, forget everything else.

[00:04:54]>> Yeah. Sometimes he would talk about politics or current situations in countries but it wasn't a political show at all in my opinion. It was just like >> these people are living these lives.

[00:05:02]What do they eat? How do they dress?

[00:05:04]What religion are they? What what's meaningful to them? And that has stuck with me. So that just as I was traveling I kept meeting interesting people and then I started making videos about them and then it just kind of took off. So I still like am giddy about my next videos. Everybody asked me the question, "Aren't you tired? You've made over a thousand videos. cuz you've been to every country and I'm I can't wait like for my next trips like >> what is your next trip?

[00:05:26]>> Western Sahara.

[00:05:28]>> Yeah.

[00:05:28]>> Okay. Yeah.

[00:05:29]>> You know where that is?

[00:05:30]>> I do know where that is. It's north of Moritania and south of uh Morocco and uh >> near Algeria. There's disputed territory there.

[00:05:38]>> Yeah. Yeah. And it's who's it's under control of Morocco, right?

[00:05:41]>> Yeah. Policario is like the Algerian side and Morocco Morocco thinks it's theirs. So if you say it to Moroccan, they will think it's theirs. This is getting you're going to get a lot of comments on this, but I'm actually going to go in through the Algeria side.

[00:05:51]There's um um refugee camps on the border and I'm able I got a permission to like enter Western Sahara through the refugee camps. So that'll be interesting. But I just came from Myanmar. I'm sure that place is interesting.

[00:06:04]>> You sent me some great photos from there. Yeah.

[00:06:06]>> Have you been there?

[00:06:07]>> I No, I haven't been to Myanmar.

[00:06:09]>> You've been to a lot of places.

[00:06:11]>> India. You've been around?

[00:06:12]>> I've been to a few places. Thailand, Vietnam, India, >> Iceland.

[00:06:17]>> Uh Iceland.

[00:06:18]>> Ghana.

[00:06:19]>> Ghana. I've seen that. Yeah. You saw you saw those episodes. You go to some dangerous places and in some dangerous ways. So, you're not just going to Western Sahara, you're going in through a refugee camp, right?

[00:06:30]>> I had no idea there were refugee camps there. Is this because of an ongoing longterm civil war?

[00:06:35]>> There has been a long conflict between Morocco and Algeria for control of the land and the there's different cultures living there and so the people living in the border towns, they're sent over to the other country living in refugee camps. So, I I actually don't know too much more than that. And that's I like to be spontaneous when I travel and I like to learn when I'm there.

[00:06:54]>> So, you're not going to overly research there?

[00:06:56]>> Never. Never over research. I just like to put myself in the position with a local good local guide. Local guide is key that they're >> they're passionate about their culture.

[00:07:06]They speak good enough English to communicate to my audience and they're cool and they're not shy and awkward on camera. If they check all the boxes, that's all I need. I will just show up like Port Al Prince Haiti was probably the most scared I've ever been. I'm happy to talk about it, but had a great local fixer. We call them fixers in our community guide and um we went into this this gang and and that was like a I just put my full trust in him, which is what I've done since day one and and I'm still alive. Never been kidnapped, robbed, mugged, believe it. And no one believes me. One time um in Georgia, I was buying street food and I took my wallet out and some homeless woman grabbed my wallet, but then I grabbed it back from her. That's the only time I've ever had something snatched.

[00:07:46]>> Wow. Wow. Yeah.

[00:07:47]>> Not cameras or camera bags or anything like that cuz that's >> No, I I should really knock on wood. You have a good piece of wood here. Uh I don't want to get kidnapped or kidnapped my biggest fear. I mean, I go places where that's a serious concern >> and kidnapping would be >> rough for on every measure.

[00:08:04]>> Well, let's let's talk about Haiti for a little bit since you brought it up. When did you go and what was your trip like?

[00:08:11]>> I went to Haiti 2 years ago, so that must have been 2020.

[00:08:15]>> And you flew into Porta Prince. You had a fixer and he brought you in to meet gangs.

[00:08:20]>> Yeah. His name is Sean. Um, we went to >> City Sole. Yeah.

[00:08:26]You seem like you've know it or been there.

[00:08:28]>> I've been there.

[00:08:29]>> What year did you go?

[00:08:30]>> I went to Ce sole about 10 years ago or so. There were a lot of gangs there, but this was before the president of Haiti was assassinated and the gangs started running a muck and and they now control >> maybe a third of the country.

[00:08:47]>> It's sad. Super sad. Um they control that whole city to that whole community which is right by the airport. And I went in with my guy Sean, just me and him. Um, and we crossed the checkpoints, which was not easy. I've crossed hundreds of checkpoints in my life. This one, you have guys with huge weapons with tattoos all over their faces, with girls in their teeth, and they're looking in the car like, "Who's this guy?" And Sean makes arrangements with them that I'm coming, and I had to pay some bribe to whoever to for the chief to get access. And I was like, I I I remember curling my toes so hard in my in my shoes that my toes were sore the next day. It was crazy. And if if you watch that video, you can see on my face how scared I was. But terror >> I just went cuz like >> But what made you decide to go film with the gangs as opposed to just going to Haiti? Cuz there's parts of Haiti you can go to that are not gang.

[00:09:36]>> I'm soon going to go to Cap in the North. I've heard great things about it.

[00:09:40]>> This story was just specific on this community. I had heard about this community. I knew that gangs controlled it. And there's still there was like 20,000 people at the time when I went there living there, like regular innocent people. And so that piqued my curiosity like who are these people? How are they living? And I know it's super sad and terrible, but I want to know what's happening. Like >> just like you, like I'm extremely curious. I want to know everything if I can. And nobody has gone there. Like CNN, whatever, Vice, they're too scared or couldn't get access.

[00:10:08]>> Yeah.

[00:10:09]>> So >> you were the only one who kind of went in >> correct >> since the gangs over the last five or six years have completely controlled that territory. They always partially controlled it. But >> And what did you learn? What did you What did you find?

[00:10:23]>> It was extremely sad. Right off the bat, I walked into a community and there had just been some heavy rains. And I walked in a house of a a woman and her husband and four kids and the house was about half the size of this room and water was up to just below my waist.

[00:10:37]>> And they they look on their face, they just nothing like refrigerators gone.

[00:10:41]Like everything was like beds like it it was like an empty it was like an empty house with just water in it. And they were all just standing in it. The kids were outside the house cuz they they're too short to stand inside the water. And the mom and dad were I literally I was touring around the neighborhood and I happened to catch them when they were just they were just standing there.

[00:10:57]There was nothing on the walls. They were just standing there and it was so sad. They didn't have any money to buy anything. And I mean that goes beyond that's that that's beyond the gangs.

[00:11:06]That's just like it was just extremely sad. And the whole country is it's it's one of the most unfortunate situations I've ever seen. I think it's worse than Yemen. I did a road trip through mainland Yemen for 10 days.

[00:11:16]>> Yeah.

[00:11:16]>> And up until Haiti, Yemen was the worst the most poverty and the most in unsanitary living conditions I had ever seen until I went to to Haiti.

[00:11:25]>> Yeah. It's a complicated history. And I've been working in Haiti since the earthquake in 2010.

[00:11:31]>> Okay. That's 15 years ago.

[00:11:32]>> Yeah.

[00:11:32]>> So before that, I think it was Okay.

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[00:13:50]Okay. Is is a is a is a tough word. I mean, Hades always had its issues, you know, whether it's an authoritarian uh dictator like Papa Doc or Baby Doc, >> right? and its troubles with democracy, its troubles with foreign intervention.

[00:14:05]Um, but also it's, you know, it has this incredibly complicated constitution.

[00:14:10]When they have a presidential election, there's like 300 people run for president and most of those people, if not all of them, want to run so that they can profit from it, you know. Did you have any hope for Haiti visiting there or was it hard to find any? I mean, it's hard going into the gangs cuz they're not exactly like doing humanitarian.

[00:14:32]>> I did tour around Port Prince also and went to some nicer restaurants. But >> I don't know. Hope is a good question. I >> which is which is very funny, right?

[00:14:40]Because you can go up to Pesanville 45 minutes drive and you can eat at like a four-star Lebanese restaurant and that's 45 minutes away from where these gangs and where that couple is standing in the water.

[00:14:52]>> You mentioned most big cities in third world countries are like that. I spent a lot of time in Manila. Diana's from the Philippines. You will find literally Beverly Hills neighborhood and right across the street. I could hit a golf ball to where this community is and it's like the biggest slum in Manila and it is right next door. It's like a like a freeway separates it.

[00:15:10]>> Wow.

[00:15:10]>> And and a lot of the world is like that.

[00:15:12]American cities are not that different.

[00:15:14]You can be in Beverly Hills.

[00:15:16]>> True.

[00:15:16]>> Drive half an hour south and you're in Compton.

[00:15:19]>> Very true. Yeah. You know, it may not be like like total like ghetto and tin shacks and stuff like that, but that line between the halves and the have nots >> is really severe.

[00:15:33]>> I've been traveling non-stop for 15 years. And in those 15 years, I have noticed a bigger bigger shift. And the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer. And it >> really even just over 15 years.

[00:15:41]>> Yeah. Even just 15 years. Yeah. Like I revisit cities over time and I see that Johannesburg is another one. Like there are places, man, it's it's hard to even comprehend how people are living. And we live in this beautiful bubble in America. You know, we're in California right now. Like a lot of people are just oblivious to what is really happening in most of the world. Definitely most of the world. I generally have hope for most places. I have to say like I don't know like they need a full regime change which I don't know when or how is going to happen anytime soon. And until that happens, I don't know what's how it's going to get better. I It's so sad. I really think about Haiti often and I want to revisit and go to some nicer places because it's beautiful.

[00:16:22]>> Listen, um Haiti at its best was still colossally broken and so many systems are not working there. And now with the gangs owning huge chunks of various cities and farming communities and these gangs are absolutely ruthless and they're kidnapping >> shopkeepers that sell, you know, watermelons and wanting $1,000 for for them. They're not just kidnapping like rich white people or or the elites.

[00:16:53]They're uh >> anyone >> merciless. there does need to be some kind of a real scourge there to, you know, kind of start over and and and a massive rebuilding. And I don't see the United States as being willing to undertake it or Canada or France or other people that have, you know, meddled in Haiti for hundreds of years.

[00:17:12]So, >> uh I don't know how that's going to happen.

[00:17:14]>> And the United Nations >> brought kalera to Haiti. So the Haitians don't trust the UN. Uh cuz all of these Nepalese troops came in from the uh United Nations and brought chalera, polluted the rivers. 10,000 people died.

[00:17:29]>> A water disease, right?

[00:17:30]>> And they never took responsibility for it or paid people off. And then Brazilian troops came in from the United Nations. Did you hear this? And they were doing sex trafficking.

[00:17:39]>> Jeez. So, Brazilian United Nations troops were uh it it was it's just it's been nightmare after nightmare for that poor country. So, we try and educate rural girls in remote areas and hopefully give them an education and scholarships that they can move forward in their lives and in some way contribute to the success of Haiti.

[00:18:03]>> Wonderful that you're doing that and I would love to take part and and share that message and build that in my narrative.

[00:18:08]>> Wonderful. Yeah.

[00:18:09]>> Yeah, that that that would be great.

[00:18:11]>> What uh universals have you found of people all around the globe?

[00:18:17]>> What do you mean by universals? Just like how they act?

[00:18:20]>> Yeah, I mean how different are people there really from Borneo, from Bolivia, from Deuke?

[00:18:29]>> Great question. Deuke, Iowa.

[00:18:31]>> Yeah.

[00:18:32]>> Why did you How did you throw that one in there?

[00:18:34]>> I don't know.

[00:18:34]>> Debuke.

[00:18:35]>> It's nice. Nice place. It >> is a nice place. I play golf in Debuke.

[00:18:38]Shout out. You played golf in >> Debuke?

[00:18:40]>> I went to college in Madison, Wisconsin.

[00:18:41]So, I played golf all over the Midwest.

[00:18:44]>> All right. Yeah.

[00:18:45]>> Who knew that we'd have a golf course in Debuke?

[00:18:47]>> A couple of courses out there. Um, how's that lava lamp looking?

[00:18:50]>> Okay. It's growing a little bit.

[00:18:52]>> Yeah.

[00:18:52]>> You're keeping an eye on it?

[00:18:54]>> Keeping an eye on it.

[00:18:55]>> Okay. It looks like it's like a there's a rat skull in it now.

[00:18:59]>> It's changing shapes every >> uh Okay. The biggest takeaway I've had from visiting every country is that we are all the same. It's so cheesy. It might sound so lame, but no matter if I'm >> We are the world, we are the children.

[00:19:11]>> If I'm in a tribe in Africa or if I'm walking around Tokyo, like people, they want to be connected to family. They want to feel loved and they want to be loved. Um, they need to work to keep a roof over their heads to support their family. They need people laugh. They have a sense of humor. All over the world, humans are humans, right? We all bleed red. and and it's it's a beautiful thing to see whether you're in a big city or in a village town any experience I've had people are welcoming and people are dying to share their culture with you you just have to be in a position to let them share their culture that's something I've realized too like everyone is almost every single person would if someone from Usbekistan came to LA and it was your wife's friend or someone's friend you would love to take show them something like it would be your honor your duty to like make sure this person is enjoying themselves in your hometown. And I have felt that everywhere. Uh Burundi, I've been there a few times. I love that country. Um Namibia, like people are so genuine. And there's this fear that we have. We're being thrown [ __ ] by the government, by the media, by war, by rape. And it's terrible that we are just consuming this 24/7. You never see PO Afghanistan has never had a positive headline ever. I I've been Afghanistan four times. I've made 20 videos there. It's one of my favorite places in the world. Wow.

[00:20:32]>> And all my videos have been positive.

[00:20:34]Afghanistan is a beautiful country. It's right where the east meets west. So you'll see different faces. You'll see white faces. You'll see red heads like me.

[00:20:41]>> Yeah.

[00:20:42]>> People were speaking to me.

[00:20:43]>> Ginger Afghans.

[00:20:43]>> There's ginger Afghans. People there were speaking to me in in Dari or Farsy, which is what they speak. And I was like, I don't understand. Um you'll see like Asianlooking faces. Um the Hzari, which is which is a tribe. 10% of the country is Hzari. And they look Chinese, but they're Afghans. Wow. And then you'll see pashtune which are like the Taliban are all ptun. So that face with the beard is they're pun but there's like 80 more ethnic groups in Afghanistan. Crazy. So the silk road went right through Afghanistan. So you'll see these beautiful little towns and villages with these old historic mosques and mausoleiums from the 14th century 15th century kind of like Iran.

[00:21:18]And it is just unbelievable. Like historically it's amazing. Then you have the mountains and the desert and all different climates. I've never seen mountains like I've seen in Afghanistan.

[00:21:28]I've never tried fruit. Okay, I'm a big I love fruit. The best cantaloupe and plums and cherries and strawberries by far is in Afghanistan. It's and I can tell you as someone who's been to every country, it's not even particularly close. They have the best climate for growing fruits and there's and it's like 20 cents to buy a watermelon this big.

[00:21:48]It's really >> I remember having some kickass apples in Morocco.

[00:21:52]>> They have good apples in Morocco >> cuz they grow oranges up in those Atlas Mountains and I was like, "Wow." cuz I come from Washington State. That's the apple capital. I was like, >> standard.

[00:22:00]>> This is a damn good apple.

[00:22:01]>> I've had apples in Morocco. They're good.

[00:22:03]>> Um, so yeah, >> but that's amazing. We need to do a fruit tour of Afghanistan.

[00:22:06]>> Great great fruit. Um, I love the tea culture. They're extremely hospitable.

[00:22:12]Um, they're kind of like Iranians. I mean, this will also get comments in in your thread, but it used to be the same country back in the day, and then they speak the same language, but um, so the same way that Persians are very over-the-top hospitable, they even have a word for it. It's called Tarov in Farsy, which is like like you you purposely will go out of your way to be obnoxiously um like welcoming. Like I'll open the door for you, but like if you try to open the door, I'll like slap you away to open the door. Or like when you pay the bill at the restaurant, it becomes like aggressive that they will want to treat you. They have that in >> Afghan. I went out with some Iranians to dinner and I went over to the waiter and gave them my card and had it prepay and they were they they flipped out. They I thought they were going to attack me. I thought they were going to punch me. I was like, easy.

[00:22:59]>> Yeah, they're like that.

[00:23:00]>> Yeah, >> Afghans are like that, too. They're humble >> and they dress traditionally. It's a it's an outfit. I think it's called a shavaramis. It's an Arabic word. But >> are like a th which is like these these long dresses for men and it's one color and a lot of them wear the headscarf.

[00:23:17]And >> the difference between Afghanistan and Iran is Iran they're way more hipster and modern and cool with those glasses on and like trendy things. In Iran and Afghanistan, there's none of that. Very few people have smartphones. They have flip phones. So, you don't have this culture of like everybody scrolling. And they're just so unbelievably nice. I don't know how else to tell you. They will There was a moment in a village where I was just passing by and this man forced me to come in his house and he wanted me to stay the night in his bed and he was going to sleep on the floor.

[00:23:46]And I was like so polite. I was like, I can't do it. And he he was like grabbing my shirt. He's like, no, this is your bed for the night. We want you to stay here. And I have not had that anywhere else. So I >> Wow. I I know we don't have a lot more time, but I would talk about Afghanistan for an hour. Um >> one of your favorite countries next door to Afghanistan is Iran.

[00:24:04]>> Yes.

[00:24:04]>> And we referenced the Anthony Bourdain episode of Iran, which was uh such a beautiful piece of Yeah.

[00:24:10]>> Tell me about your trips to Iran and what people need to understand about the Iranian people.

[00:24:16]>> Yeah. Thank you for bringing that up.

[00:24:18]Iran has 100 million people, 120 million people, and it's the most misconceived country in the world.

[00:24:25]>> Yeah.

[00:24:26]>> It's the biggest gap I've ever seen between the government and the local people. Every country in the world, there's they're not the same. The government is not an exact indication of how the people are. Maybe in Scandinavia, it's more similar than others, but in Iran, I went there during Ram I've been there four times. I went the first time during Ramadan with Deanna in 2018.

[00:24:46]Nobody was fasting in the public eye.

[00:24:48]You couldn't even drink a sip of water on the streets, but everybody and people were just bad mouthing the government and people were just the country is not a religious country. That's what people need to understand. Most people don't pray five times a day.

[00:25:01]>> Really?

[00:25:02]>> Oh yeah. The majority of people in Iran do not pray.

[00:25:05]>> Do you think that this changed since the revolution in 7980 that it became less religious? Are you and are you only talking about the cities or small towns and villages as well?

[00:25:16]>> Small towns are more religious for sure.

[00:25:17]Yeah.

[00:25:18]>> But I'm talking about overall if you had to take a population of Iran. This is a fact like my my tour guide Amin who's a really good friend of mine who I've gone with him every time and he's really wellversed in everything Iran, culture, history, current politics. Yeah. He gave me he told me 75% of people uh don't pray five times a day. And I I don't know if that's I don't know how you would be able to measure that but I >> I have visited >> I I have visited northsoutheast west center on the border of Pakistan on the border of um of uh Turk Manistan on the border of Armenia uh borders of Iraq I the Kurdish regions I've cities I've traveled all extensively and I would say that most people they all would talk [ __ ] about the government before 1979 Iran like Thran was like Paris you know people would go to the beaches and bikinis and There were drinking parties, bars everywhere. And the US had really good relations with Iran. They had embassies. I don't know about really good relations, but you could fly back and forth. There were embassies involved.

[00:26:13]>> And women could go to college, become doctors, and it was very progressive in lots of ways.

[00:26:18]>> Correct.

[00:26:18]>> Right.

[00:26:19]>> And then the Islamic regime took over in 1979. And that's why it's called Tangelas here. There's a million over a million Iranians here. A lot of them came to LA because the weather >> and they're great people. They're great.

[00:26:29]Aren't they great people? Great people.

[00:26:30]>> They're unbelievable people. Um, but the country has just gone backwards since 1979. And I don't know what's going to happen. I hope that I hope for the people there that there will be a regime change, but who know? I think it's so strong that I don't see it happening.

[00:26:44]>> Yeah.

[00:26:45]>> Unfortunately.

[00:26:46]>> Yeah. The the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Council, the RGC, uh, has an iron grip >> on all of the systems. Correct. And they're armed to the teeth and they're not afraid to use their weapons against the Iranian people. And as we saw, 20, 30, 40,000 people killed in demonstrations and they're still getting arrested. Terrible.

[00:27:06]>> They're going through footage and you you can read about it. They're they're just hauling people in off the streets from protests that they took part in, you know, four or six months ago or something like that cuz there's now a media blackout. There's no internet.

[00:27:20]There's no social media.

[00:27:21]>> And they're using this opportunity to even though a lot of the top leaders have been killed, it's apparently just >> it goes deep. It goes really deep. I'm not sure exactly how we have a real regime change and and democracy brought to Iran.

[00:27:36]I I don't see it happening unfortunately, but the people are lovely and I went to some crazy underground party. You know, it's it's a dry country. They don't serve liquor and you can get arrested if you drink. But underground in Iran, they're popping bottles and I've never seen more people like drink. There was like four handles of vodka this big on a table of like 20 people and in an hour they was gone.

[00:27:56]They're they're like there's some smug black market smuggling going on in Iran.

[00:28:01]But besides that, the same thing they said about Afghanistan with the history and the beautiful architecture and all that stuff is all prevalent in Iran. But the people are so lovely and they live in a country that's oppressed and internet such a basic thing that we don't even think about. I'm trying to contact my great friend who's been my guide on every trip and he'll respond once a week. you get the one check mark on WhatsApp which means it wasn't received on his phone and then he'll text me like hey I didn't have internet for the last week and somebody had a star link that I know and I'm connecting next door like wow it's crazy >> yeah I know as a member of the Bahigh faith and that's the the birthplace of Bahigh um most of the Iranian people are very warm to bahigh and and loving and understanding it's the regime >> that really >> hates the Bahigh faith and what it stands for and views Bahigh's as spies for either England or Israel or the United States or whatever is convenient.

[00:28:58]>> Yeah.

[00:28:58]>> And imprisons them and tortures them without any question. But >> I have yet to meet an Iranian that didn't say, "Oh, I know Bahigh. I love Bahigh. They're kind and good people."

[00:29:10]>> Um, and they don't they don't see them as a threat. So, >> I may have told you this the last time I saw you, but I traveled in Iran with me and my guide and my camera guy and another local. And the camera guy, uh, it was a local camera guy in Iran. He was Bahigh. And I remember making a joke cuz it was a Muslim, a Jew, a Christian, and a Bahai. It was the four of us. And we were in the car walking to a bar.

[00:29:33]>> Yes, exactly. We were joking about it.

[00:29:35]And he was like, um, don't tell anyone I'm Bahigh.

[00:29:39]He wasn't in my video, so I'm okay talking about it now. Um he's like we go to temple in someone's house and we pray in someone's house and we meet on Friday or what? Yep. But um I unfortunately I can't let anybody know I could be my family could be killed.

[00:29:53]>> And he told me that and I was thinking >> this religion was born in your country.

[00:29:58]>> Yeah.

[00:29:59]>> 150 years ago.

[00:30:00]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:30:01]>> And you can't even openly be that in your own country. Like >> name me another place. I haven't thought about this until now, but maybe another situation that's the same where religion is born in a country and it's illegal to be well the Daly Lama lives in India because he can't live in China.

[00:30:17]>> But I don't even know if that's true.

[00:30:18]You you can still be a Tibetan Buddhist in Tibet.

[00:30:21]>> Correct.

[00:30:22]>> But uh you can't be a follower of the Daly Lama in Tibet because he is an enemy of the state of China, >> right? which is now importing tons of Han Chinese to Tibet and changing the entire makeup of the of the of the area.

[00:30:36]>> I did a story with the Weaguers a year and a half ago uh in Shing Jang province of China and they also are sending a lot of Hanchinese people there. Are you familiar with what's happening out there in western China >> uh >> the genocide >> well with the weaguers and the work camps and and whatnot. I know a little bit about it but I'd love you can you can fill me in. This is like a tour around the world. I'd love it. Uh, I wasn't able to mention those things because I I would be first of all, my guide would be arrested and probably killed. I would be banned from China and it wasn't my mission to to go there and like expose the labor camps. People can do their own research. And I I said that in the video. I was like, you can read what you want about this place, but I'm here to document the culture. And the Weaguers, there's millions of them. They ethnically look almost Turkish or Tajik with their little, they're Muslim.

[00:31:24]They're the little hats on and they have the they're they're like more white than anything else like white facial features and they're bigger humans than like small little short Chinese like it's in the same way that India I said is different in everywhere you go. China is huge, right?

[00:31:39]>> So they have this they have beautiful culture like markets um they have mosques and they were they didn't want to take me to one cuz they didn't want me to showcase their religion and I and I pushed it. I was like guys like and I had to have a guide there. You can't just freely walk around.

[00:31:54]>> Sure.

[00:31:55]>> In fact, I left the guide and I freely walked around and I bought a goat at a market and and g offered it to a family as a as a gift that that a kid that was taking me around and then I got um stalked by the police and the police came to our hotel and they sat me in a room. They had like GoPros strapped to their chest and there was all these lights on that like I was being filmed and they made me open up my camera and they said they asked me questions like, "What are you doing here? Why are you here? Why did you leave the guide? Why did you go to this restricted zone?" It was 20 minutes away from the city. Why'd you go restrict his own zone? And they he he made me delete every video on my camera, but they didn't know the trick that on Sony you can simultaneously record on two SD cards. I did that on purpose. So I I knew that if I ever got caught >> I'll just throw away I'll just give them >> you little rebel. Wow.

[00:32:41]>> Yeah. So I kept all the footage. Um >> I got the goat footage. They tried to get my goat footage.

[00:32:46]>> I got the footage. What? Why were they so threatened by you going into a weager town and giving a goat to a kid?

[00:32:53]>> They don't want any outsiders there.

[00:32:55]They're skeptical. Like in Tibet, it's a restricted zone.

[00:32:58]China knows what they're doing. They they've killed reportedly over a million Muslim weaguer Muslims over the last 10 years. They're sent to labor camps just because their religion. And so they didn't want they didn't know who I am.

[00:33:10]I'm I'm I'm white and they don't and I have a camera on my hands. So it's different if I'm just Joemo just like enjoying the day with just enjoying but I I have to document everything. That's part of me. So I think the cameras what were skeptical and I needed some kind of permit to enter that region which I think was [ __ ] They just said that.

[00:33:29]So it's a restricted zone. China's weird man. I love China. There's so much beauty there and I will keep going back there but like the restricted zones are weird. And like I've been to Dandong which is a city on the border of North Korea and like yeah I was also kind of there was like spies around me and they stopped me and I guess that's not shocking because it's near North Korea but China when you're in China you feel like 24/7 you are being watched >> and you are >> even in the taxis.

[00:33:56]>> Yeah, >> there are cameras in the taxis. You can see them. They're not even hidden cameras. There's like it's about this big. It's like a size of a quarter and it's like on both sides with a little lens on it and like two of them and like everywhere and a lot of it's all facial recognition now even not only in the airport it's like you walk into a McDonald's and they'll like scan you.

[00:34:14]It's crazy and it doesn't make me feel comfortable.

[00:34:17]>> Yeah.

[00:34:18]>> Would it make you feel comfortable?

[00:34:19]>> No. No.

[00:34:19]>> I don't like that. But this is this is where it gets a little weird like uh in contemporary American culture, especially kind of on uh kind of reactionary internet culture, there are, you know, bad guy countries and countries that we need to kind of like ban and and whatnot. And but no one really talks about China, right?

[00:34:41]>> Because there's just too much money.

[00:34:44]There's too much business. And no Hollywood stars will speak up about you know hundreds of thousands of weaggguers being killed or put in prison camps or work camps or what have you. So you have someone like John Cena, you know, he accidentally said something about China and they got mad and he had this apologetic video, please China, forgive me. And he spoke some Chinese cuz he wants to sell his movies in China and he wants to be a big star in China. But >> we people don't. This is one thing that is very frustrating to me about folks in their 20s is that they they read about something online and they and they get behind some movement, but they're not really researching what's going on in the world. We can talk a lot about Gaza, but no one's talking about South Sudan, which has been Gazaike. Yes.

[00:35:34]>> For 20 or 30 years.

[00:35:36]>> Um, no one's talking about Eastern Congo. No one's talking about what's happening in Yemen. And no one's talking about what China is doing to repress and and kill its part of its own populace.

[00:35:50]>> So we can talk about Iranians gunning down their own citizens in the streets, but you you won't hear any administration talk about what China is doing to the weaguers. So where do we draw this line? What is your perspective having been to all of these places about how young people can kind of better understand current events?

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[00:38:24]>> I always tell people the best education you can have is by actually going and like meeting people eye to eye cuz you you know this like you don't learn until you do, right? Like physically do. It's hard. No one it's hard for someone just to go to Western China. It's expensive and it takes a lot of time and people frankly don't even know how to get the visa or what to do there. Sure. Um, but I think watching videos about it, I don't want to sound conceited, but like >> watching Drainsky videos is a great place to start.

[00:38:53]>> I try to take people on a journey and show them real life and how people are living. Um, and I I really stay non-political. Like I don't have a political agenda at all. The only time I will be slightly political is if I'm in Syria during a war and all the buildings behind me are completely destroyed. I can't just not talk about the war. So all kind of >> right but that's not even politics.

[00:39:16]That's just like basic human decency and correct suffering and you know basic justice issues >> and if there's >> you're not saying I'm pro-Assad or anti-Assad or anything like that. You're just like >> right >> often times people want to talk about politics. That's great. I put the camera on them and I'll ask general questions but I I'll never share my opinions because >> I in many ways I'm just apolitical. I'm a humanist and I just try to connect with people and share their stories because they're beautiful, frankly. And if I happen to meet a gangster or a criminal, well, I also want to know what they're up to. Like, I'm not trying to bend the rules. I'm not trying to say I'm trying to show the world what it is.

[00:39:58]M >> there are these conflict zones all over the world and so many of them don't get any attention by Americans or young Americans. What's your take on that? Um having having visited those places, >> I think it's terrible. I think it's horrible that Americans either don't know or don't want to speak up about these other places. It's not sexy >> or don't care enough to dig a little deeper. like Russia Ukraine was a hot topic for four years. I haven't seen a single article. It's the war is still going on by the way. I have a lot of friends in Ukraine. There's still devastation happening still. Um Odessa recently been Monarch, which is where I went recently on the border of Russia, half destroyed. But it's not sexy to talk about it anymore. Um because now we're talking about Iran. I I think it's devastating that uh we're not educated enough as as a all of us. I'm talking about Americans specifically, but we're so fixated on what's happening within and we do have a large country. Let's say if you're from Singapore, for example, like it's tiny.

[00:41:01]>> Yeah.

[00:41:02]>> You drive 30 minutes and you're in >> the size of a golf course >> and and most countries are really small.

[00:41:06]It's something to think about. the US, 40% of Americans don't have passports because to their defense, they think they don't need it because they can go to a beach, they can go to the mountains, they can go here, they can go here and other countries can't do that.

[00:41:19]So America is so big that we because it's there's so much happening and there's 400 million people. We just want to consume what's happening here and we're >> that's what's normal. That's what's taught. That's on the TV. Like no one watches global who watches global news here in a in a household. they're watching the local news station or maybe the um national news.

[00:41:40]>> They're watching a news station that is politically biased whether on the left or the right that's delivering a certain brand of siloed news.

[00:41:48]>> So >> that they that they don't question that they accept as fact.

[00:41:53]>> But that's the root of the problem though because I spent a lot of time in Europe. I spent two and a half years of my life in Europe. They're all educated about the world about conflicts. They all speak multiple languages. They travel once again European countries are small. It's easy to get in a car and drive two hours from Czech Republic to Slovakia to Romania. So that's one >> and it's easier to fly from Switzerland to North Africa or to Asia or the Caucuses.

[00:42:17]>> I keep I keep bringing that up because that is true. We are kind of like I keep looking at the Mex I can see the US and the in a globe right there. We're just this isolated kind of like how Australia is isolated. We are connected to Mexico and Canada, but we're still isolated compared to the rest of the world. It takes a long flights to get around. So that's that's a problem, but we can't fix that problem. We can't fix the fact that we're isolated. So I do think that we need better news.

[00:42:42]>> We need >> Yeah.

[00:42:44]>> Yeah. Right. I think that's one >> we need centrist news >> that you can trust that doesn't have a bias, >> right?

[00:42:51]>> And that isn't afraid to report on world events.

[00:42:55]>> And that just doesn't exist >> on YouTube. Some c I have a good friend named Johnny Harris. I was in Myanmar with him two weeks ago and he reports on non-political things like we're talking about and he's building a whole community of other reporters that are doing the same. So it does exist on YouTube, but how you going to find it on YouTube? You got to you have to physically go on search and search like niche western China. I'd rather it be on the TV where people are sitting at dinner in Tennessee and they're being fed >> Yeah. Slowly they're being fed these things and >> but no one under 70 is watching TV while and and watching >> watching the news and eating dinner, right? So >> they're on their phones.

[00:43:33]>> Yeah.

[00:43:33]>> So then >> they got to get it on their phones.

[00:43:35]>> Yeah. But that's that's the problem there. These algorithms are tough, man.

[00:43:38]How good are the algorithms?

[00:43:40]>> There are universal qualities of spiritual belief and practice.

[00:43:45]>> Um it's very easy to look at differences. It's very easy to kind of say, well, Buddhists don't believe in God and in Islam it's all about Allah, you know, and so they're so so different. And it's like, >> yeah, but there are a lot of similarities, right? Both have a concept of charity and philanthropy and service kind of baked into the identity, right?

[00:44:08]There is a longing for transcendence from this the mirror human experience of like pooping and [ __ ] and eating and you know what whatever it is we're trying to do you know zooming and there is always a concept of kind of a universal love y >> that overrides everything >> um that we are more than just material that the that the that the experience of being alive is more than just atoms and molecules. that the experience of our of our human journey continues after death.

[00:44:43]You know, ceremonies around death have have been part of Yeah. have been part of uh human culture for a 100,000 years.

[00:44:52]The the earliest evidences of spiritual belief are in burial sites where people are buried with the stuff that they will need to continue their journey. Why did humans always believe that the journey continues? This is in every culture of the world. Every culture of the world has some concept of something great, a god, a divine spirit. I mean even Buddhism that has you know reincarnation or bodhisafas coming down like well what is driving that? What force >> is driving that? I mean that's very clear in Hindu in the Hindu tradition.

[00:45:24]But >> so there are these universalities that are kind of married with the human experience that I think are really valuable to look at >> across the board in all religions.

[00:45:34]basically you're saying >> in all religions and all cultures >> I guess religion does just teach you to be a better human like do good >> what >> to do good that's that's one of the universals yeah a kind of a a moral guidance a moral compass of kind of like hey you can do better every religion has a a kind of a concept of like we have kind of a lower or animal nature and we have a higher nature that we strive that is also backed up by science with like >> thinking happening in the prefrontal cortex the base brain and the amydala that's all, you know, fight and flight.

[00:46:09]>> Um, so yeah.

[00:46:11]>> Yeah, >> I think that's really well said. I agree. I fully agree.

[00:46:14]>> So, one thing we ask every guest on the show is this word soul, this crazy word soul. How would you, world traveler Drew Binsky, >> uh, define the word soul?

[00:46:26]>> Oh man, that's a tough one. Um, soul to me means humanity. Everybody in the world is beautiful. They're kind souls.

[00:46:36]They're living humans. They were born the same way you were born. They're going to die the same way you're going to die. And being able to see that eye to eye and experience that. And it it it humbles you. I I look at myself when I went to Hebrew school when I was 13. I remember I learned that Muslims were bad people. I guess I went to the wrong Hebrew school. But I remember thinking that like Islam is scary and this is like this religion hates us and and all my best friends are Muslim now. Like most of them of my 10 best friends in the world, like seven of them are Muslim.

[00:47:07]>> And frankly, I love I love Islam. I love it. I scream it out loud. Like I think it's beautiful. And so that that has given me soul.

[00:47:16]>> The word soul can mean many so many different things. But and I would never have had these experiences if I didn't go to a country like um Oman or Yemen or Syria and and had these experiences with with with there's two billion Muslims in the world and I think the religion is very peaceful and very beautiful.

[00:47:32]Unfortunately, it's the 0001% of them that screwed up for the world and make all the headlines. So connecting with people deep down inside, having moments with them and being able to share that with the world >> is something I'm eternally grateful for.

[00:47:47]M >> I actually can't believe I do this for a living cuz I I love doing I would do it if I don't get paid.

[00:47:53]>> So, I'm really grateful and lucky that I got in at this at the right time and that I was able to build this team and and I feel like we're just getting started. I hope when I'm 60 I'll still be able to You'll be 90. No, you'll be 85. I'm 34. Wait, did I do my math right? Yeah, you're 25 years older, right? Totally blinked.

[00:48:13]>> 26 years older.

[00:48:14]>> Yeah. So when I'm 60, you'll be 86, which you'll do still be running this podcast, I hope. And I hope to have >> Will you have me on your show?

[00:48:23]>> Yeah, of course. And I hope to be able to tell many more stories.

[00:48:26]>> I have my walker and like a little IV.

[00:48:28]>> Exactly.

[00:48:29]>> Yeah.

[00:48:29]>> And my CPAP and we can go traveling together.

[00:48:32]>> Sure.

[00:48:33]>> Yeah. I love it.

[00:48:34]>> But I want to I want this to keep going.

[00:48:35]I don't want this like >> I finished the country. That was such a great goal of mine to visit every country. Everyone's like, "What are you going to do next?" And I'm just like, I want to keep finding pockets of the world that no one knows about. And there's infinite amount of that.

[00:48:47]>> Yeah.

[00:48:48]>> Right.

[00:48:48]>> Absolutely.

[00:48:49]>> Like throw a dart at a country. I want to go there and I want to go where the dart lands in the country.

[00:48:55]>> Apparently, there's a town in Haiti where they're the descendants of Irish uh workers and railroad workers and you go to this town in Haiti and they have like red hair and white skin.

[00:49:05]>> That's awesome.

[00:49:06]>> And you know, there's a lot of places like that. Well, Drew, thank you so much for coming on. It was a pleasure.

[00:49:11]>> I admire what you do. You've built a beautiful travel empire with gorgeous stories and you're bringing the world together. So, thank you for your work.

[00:49:18]>> Thanks for having me, Rain. Uh, let's do it again soon.

[00:49:21]>> Okay.

[00:49:22]>> Haiti.

[00:49:23]>> Haiti. I'm I Are you serious?

[00:49:25]>> I'm totally serious. The Soul Boom Podcast. Subscribe now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get your stupid podcasts.