 All right guys, this is the behind the scenes look at April 2017 This video is going to have clips from Japan and Thailand But it started at the beginning of the month in the airport in Brisbane We're getting ready to go to what is now probably our favorite country on earth Japan Before we got to Japan you might have asked yourself well, how did you get around Brisbane? Answer the cheapest rental car available which happened to be a bright pink a little Mitsubishi car Which was actually pretty fun to drive So we wound up going to Japan the prettiest part of the year in April which is when the cherry blossoms are blooming So if you don't like cherry blossoms You should probably exit this video because there's a bunch of footage and pictures of the beautiful Japanese cherry blossoms so we had a very short stay in Tokyo before we got on a train and headed down to Kyoto Kyoto is supposed to be the center of the religious Temples and the religious organizations. There are tons around Kyoto So I thought that would be an opportunity to get a good interview You're watching footage right now from the bullet train going from Fuji Yoshida down to Kyoto I think this train goes a hundred and sixty miles an hour at its top speed. It's pretty fun So this is footage from once we got into Kyoto. This is actually the the stairs that I'm going to our be Airbnb There's a pretty funny part coming up that I wanted to show you guys. I got such a kick out of it This is a pretty humble residence, but it served its job pretty well, and it was very cheap for the area But you see that little nook on the right. Well, there was a washing machine What you're looking at is water spilling on the floor That was the drain pipe for the washing machine was just leaking on intentionally Onto the ground then threw a hole in the floor down to the earth can't say I've seen anything like that one I'm currently waiting at the train station to be picked up by the Zen Buddhist monk here in Japan massive massive failure so far now about 40 minutes late because Language barrier and oh man, so He's been really really kind meaning up with me that I feel pretty stressed right now So fortunately it actually turned out pretty well had a reasonably good interview was a very nice guy This is a picture outside of the temple of our conversation, and then things got really good This is video footage from what's called the philosophers walk in Kyoto Which is this river that's lined by beautiful cherry trees that were in blossom We got about a million pictures as you can imagine as did everybody else So we're in Kyoto, Japan right now walking down the philosophers path Enjoying the cherry beautiful cherry blossoms. This is a great place for contemplation and for lots of selfies So pretty much the whole path was packed with people but for good reason because it was pretty incredible Like I said at the beginning of this video if you don't like cherry blossoms look away Because here are some more We also got to experience Japanese sushi, which is incredible One morning we walked outside of a training facility where there were sumo wrestlers that were doing their Daily training and then one night we went from Kyoto into Osaka, which is the second biggest city in Japan Which was also gorgeous just a bit rainy out after Japan my wife flew home, and I went down by myself To Thailand it was a pretty crazy Experience it was definitely the most difficult stretch that I've had so far because I wound up with what they call Bangkok Belly the first night I got a flight into Bangkok and then the next morning I was going to Chang Mai, but the place that I got the Airbnb that I booked didn't have air conditioning I didn't realize it at the time that the listings had something like Cooling fan or something and it was literally like a fan in the room And it happened to be about 100 degrees at the time in Bangkok. It was all right, but it wasn't exactly Luxury this is footage from something that you see all over Thailand Which are street markets tons of food tons of clothing Tons of guests and in this case raw meat sitting out So like I said I flew to Chang Mai because Chang Mai is supposed to be the place in Thailand where you had again the center of Buddhist religion there are temples Everywhere in Chang Mai and there were monk chats Which is where the local Buddhist monks are trying to learn English and the way they do that is by speaking to English speakers and tourists who want to talk to them about Buddhism or anything else So naturally that was a perfect opportunity to get a set of interviews What you're seeing right now is what is also ubiquitous in Thailand, which is called the tuk-tuk's which are these Three-wheeled motorcycles that will overcharge you and take you anywhere in the city Even though they greatly overcharge you compared to other transportation you can get it's still dirt cheap So I had three successful interviews while I was in Chang Mai, but I also had two massive failures where I thought I was going to be speaking to monks and For whatever reason the monk chat wasn't where I thought it was wasn't when I thought it was Wasn't going on. This is the first example of that Today I'm going to Wat Phra Dwa Su Kep, which is a temple at Buddhist temple at the top of a mountain. I took an Uber most of the way there, but now there's this throw-boating Line of steps. I'll show you here. I made it up But I when I got up to the top I asked around and people didn't know what I was referencing So whatever site I saw there were monk chats here turned out there wasn't and then I wound up getting lost At this very large Buddhist temple at the top of a mountain in Chang Mai So I kind of got myself lost half intentionally I was looking for this monk tuk up on the temple at the top of this mountain Nobody seemed to know anything about it. I really couldn't speak well enough English to direct me to the place So I went to this meditation center and no talking policy. There wasn't a monk chat there So I'm just kind of exploring now Turns out I'm kind of in a little of nowhere. So if I die You know say hi to everybody for me. I Think I think this path will take me to some kind of Civilization have many thoughts even on my experiences here Just observing not even having a conversation with a monk, but just observing some things so Hopefully I'll get around to talking about those if I don't end up dead in the jungle. We'll see The temples themselves are Absolutely gorgeous This is a picture from what's called the wat su tep Which is supposed to be one of the most sacred sites in Chiang Mai, but I found to my surprise totally to my surprise Actually was very uncomfortable in a lot of these temple locations just because the amount of Wealth and effort that the Thai people put into their idols to their statues To the things that they worship was staggering to me the quality of living in Thailand is fairly low and yet an incomprehensible amount of wealth has been poured into religious worship which seems Not only incompatible with the Buddhist teachings, but it also kind of strikes me as a unfortunate Set of cultural values that I don't agree with Regardless, that's the behind the scenes video for April. So as always Thank you guys so much for your consistent support. I hope you will find these interviews of value So thanks again. We'll see you next month