The Grey NATO – 190 – One Month In Sri Lanka
Published on Thu, 28 Apr 2022 06:31:29 -0400
Synopsis
This episode features a wide-ranging conversation revolving around James and Jason's interests in watches and travel. James discusses Jason's recent Roldorf encounter and some of the podcast episode's details and behind-the-scenes aspects. Jason provides an overview of his recent trip to Sri Lanka, including sights he saw, the current economic/political situation, and the challenges presented. They chat about Jason's watches, the lack of certain creature comforts in Canada, Sri Lankan cuisine, and more. The bulk of the discussion centers around Jason sharing his experiences exploring Sri Lanka, its culture, cuisine (particularly surrounding curries), and some of the hurdles faced by its residents.
The episode also includes two segments: one highlighting an upcoming follow-up interview with a watchmaker centered around Roald Dorf's Instagram page, and another where James talks about a Film Club collection he curated for watching films and TV shows in a streamlined way. Overall, it's a laid-back, loose conversation between the two friends surrounding Jams' love for all things Roald Dorf and Ghoshani's homeland, with James providing thoughtful commentary about embracing different cultures.
Links
Transcript
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| Jason Heaton | Hello and welcome to another episode of the Graynado, a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 190 and it's proudly brought to you by the recently formed TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support. And if you don't happen to be part of that supporter crew, but you'd like to be, Please visit TheGrenado.com for more details. James, gosh, it's been a while. It's been a couple of weeks. Yeah, I know. I caught Cole's episode, which was fun, but I got a little misty listening, thinking back to our chats. |
| James | Yeah, it was great of Cole to help cover for that episode. It's always nice to sit and chitchat with Cole. I'm, yeah, I'm missing my, my weekly dose of Jason. Um, um, as, as I know that you're, you're having, um, uh, you know, uh, a good visit in, in Sri Lanka, but I'm, I'm looking forward to having you back on the normal schedule at some point soon. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. The schedule is a bit challenging, right? I mean, it's, uh, gosh, what time is it? 8 30 PM here. And you're like 11 AM. So we, you know, we've got that challenge and then what was it? Uh, couple of weeks ago, we ran that film club episode, which I think was another, another good one. So that was, that was fun to listen to from here, given, given that we recorded it back in way back in March. |
| James | Yeah, for sure. And I think that one came together really nicely. And I did want to make a quick note right here at the top of the show, a big thank you to Kyle Martin, who noticed that I forgot slash neglected to put the entire listing of the film club in the show notes would have made the show notes really long. And Kyle went ahead and made a letterbox portfolio for the TGN Film Club. Wow. The link is now in the notes. It's in the final paragraph of the notes for episode 188. And you can now see like a whole collection and it's visual. And I'm thrilled. This is great. Oh, that's awesome. So a huge thank you to Kyle for making that. It really simplifies, you know, now when we do eight, I'll just be able to use this link again and people can see all the videos that have been picked. So that was super rad. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, that's great. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. And I also want to, um, mention a quick note here. Um, you know, given that I've been away from the U S for now pushing over three weeks, uh, close to a month by the time this episode goes live, any TGN supporter kit orders that have come in and I've seen several, um, and thank you for those, uh, over the past few weeks, uh, those, those supporter kits, uh, that come as a part of a new, Membership to the TGN crew have not been shipped. I will be doing that as soon as I'm back in the US, uh, in the first week of May. So I want to thank everybody for their support, first of all, and for your patience. I had put a note on the, on the order page on the website that, uh, that things won't be shipped until May, but I do appreciate, or we, we both appreciate the support and, uh, and the patience while you wait for your, your strap and sticker. So anything else we should chat about before we dive in here? Roldorf, what's what's happening there? I've been following that from a distance. And boy, what a what a story. I mean, it sounds ups and downs there. What's the latest? |
| James | Yeah, so the latest is is I'm still recommending people follow as closely as possible to Roldorf's Instagram because that that's how you'll get the latest. You know, breaking news is not really well served when this episode won't go up for six days. But yeah, the emails that we talked about on the last episode and that I put all over my Instagram, they were able to effectively delay the demolition for the better part of 24, almost 36 hours. And in that time, more discussions were had about what valuables were still left in that area, both business valuables and personal valuables for some of the people that were living in the old hotel building. Since then, they've started demolishing the building, which is the decision the city made is it wasn't safe due to structural and asbestos and other things like that. This is a huge blow to those businesses, to the people who lived in those areas. There's a lot of people impacted here. And as far as the Rolldorf scope goes, it looks like they were able to salvage something as, as the building came down, uh, as to what, I mean, this was just, um, yesterday afternoon. I don't have a full kind of scope on what that is. So yeah, my, my suggestion is that, um, keep your eyes on the Rollorf Instagram. If you want updates on this and when the story is kind of somewhat more complete and hopefully we can start focusing on next steps and how we can support, you know, not only my very good friends at Rollorf and co, but also the, just the people, the other people affected by this, uh, fire. We'll have more news in the future, but between my Instagram and Roald Dorf's, that's probably a good place to keep your eyes up for the latest in news. Because again, there is a delay when it comes to things in the podcast. And as I said in the last one, my heart goes out to everyone involved. We'll update you as we can. And like I said in the last episode, I'm more than happy to have Jason on to speak about the experience and what the plans are moving forward. probably a little early, um, to, to do that at this point. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. And I suppose for, for, for people who are listening in from far corners of the, of the world here, Australia and Europe and wherever else, um, you know, the, the significance of, of Roldorf, I think to TGN and the reason we, we talk about this is that, you know, Jason was a TGM, TGN guest. He's a, he's a friend of both of ours. And, and, you know, Roldorf is, is, is pure, you know, it's, it's core TGN stuff. I mean, he's, he's, he's a friend, he's a watchmaker, he's a diver. He's, he's, he's just a good all around guy. And then they carry a lot of the brands we talk about and he hails from, or Roldorf hails from your former hometown. And I just think it's, uh, you know, that's what you do. You step up for, for, uh, for your friends and chums and that's what we're trying to do here. So, yeah. We'll stay in touch and keep an eye on how that's going. |
| James | For sure. So I guess, you know, aside from that, I don't know that we have a lot of other chitchat just because we haven't been, you know, most of this episode is going to be, you know, kind of a download about your Sri Lanka experience. But why don't we do a little bit of watch stuff first? What's on risk today? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I mean, this is kind of an interesting tie in to kind of where I am. I mean, you know, having spent pushing a month here in Sri Lanka, I think I mentioned last time that I had brought a few watches here. Um, today I'm wearing the CWC again. This is the Royal Navy auto diver. And you know, it's, it's been interesting to see how, what's important here, you know, what, what, how the days play out, what I put on my wrist. And, and to be honest, I mean, you know, when you're, when you're traveling watches kind of fade from importance and, and what you choose for the trip in general, It seems important before you go. And it is because then once you're on the trip, you're like, you look at your wrist and you're like, boy, I'm glad I chose this one. Cause it's all I've got. And even though I brought three watches along, I've really just been wearing the CWC and I swapped it for the tourniquet for, for about a week in there. Um, nice, but you know, some watches just kind of fit a venue well. And I think, uh, you know, kind of a no nonsense, you know, Navy dive watch that not many people recognize on a NATO straps, just sort of perfect for, swimming in the pool and running around the paddy fields and going for rabies shots and, you know, riding around in a, in a tuk tuk around the streets here and stuff. It's just, it felt like the right pick. And so it's served me really well here. |
| James | I mean, those are great watches. I, I had on the courts when you sent me, uh, just recently, and I'm going to get a whole lot of use out of that this summer. Uh, you know, a great watch for rentals at the cottage and dock jumps and the rest of it. As far as me for today, I'm back on the Seiko Monster. I'm back on it. |
| Jason Heaton | I forgot you had that already. |
| James | Gosh. I don't know. It was in the watch box and I was moving some stuff around. On the last episode, I talked about the 39 millimeter Aquastar, which I like quite a bit, but I have it on a bracelet right now that I haven't sized and that's for photos and that kind of thing. Um, I'm still working through my review for that one. So I just threw the monster on, you know, it's a nice sunny day here in Toronto today. And, uh, I was wearing a ridiculous Patagonia fleece and it kind of suits that, uh, that kind of vibe. So hoping to make it to the cottage this weekend. Um, and I think that's what will come with me. The loom is just so, so handy to have in a space where, you know, uh, the lighting is a little bit, uh, last, uh, uh, last century. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I mean, it, it isn't that true. I mean, it's one of those, uh, equally here. I think, you know, we've had power cuts and with jet lag and things, you know, I'm spending a lot of time trying to figure out what time it is in the dark and, and good loom is, turns out to be quite important. And this, the CWC is, it's a new old stock piece from 2004 with, with a tritium dial. So it's, it fades a bit, but I can still read it at, you know, three, four in the morning if I need to. And of course the tornic Rayville glows really well. So that's been, oh yeah, that's been good. But, uh, so you're, you're just biding your time until you get that, white dial carbon doxa, right? |
| James | Yeah, yeah, that carbon dox is not definitely not leaving leaving my mind, you know, between the the loom dial version or the shark hunter. I really I really am a fan of both of those. And I think I'll probably get a chance to see the whole range again. I'm actually going to New York. Well, by the time this episode comes out, I'll be very nearly getting on a flight to come home from New York. But I'm going to New York for a few days for a product launch. uh, next week, uh, that I can't quite talk about. I actually don't have all the, I could talk about it cause it'll be launched by the time this comes out, but I have almost no details. They're being quite secretive, but it is an exciting dive watch sort of product, uh, which should be cool. All of you will know about it by the time this episode comes up. I have to say, you know, I'm obviously fortunate enough these days, regardless, just to be spoiled with choice. I'm surrounded by Aqua stars and Seiko. Yeah. CWCs and all sorts of stuff. So I'm certainly not hard up for options. And it might even be a good time to start consolidating, moving a few units and stuff I haven't worn in the last year and see about getting down to a more comfortable number. It's that running math we all have that half the time you ignore the stuff that isn't really on your table or your watch box or whatever. you have to consider it sometimes. So I guess we'll see. |
| Jason Heaton | It's funny too. You know, you mentioned the cottage and I think, you know, having come through a long winter and despite spending a month here, winter seems to be that season when, at least for those of us that experienced proper winter, um, I don't know, it feels like you're sort of, you're sort of shuffling through your collection and you're getting a little restless. You're trying one on one day, one on the next day. But then when summer comes, it feels like that's when like, Almost like every summer has a defining watch. I remember a couple of years ago, I think it was two summers ago, you were spending a lot of time at the cottage and you were wearing your SPB Seiko. That was like the summer watch of that year, you know? |
| James | Yeah. And I think last year is probably the Synchron Military. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. Isn't it funny how that, which I wore a ton. For some reason, summer brings that out. I think you just do more in the summer and you kind of, you know, there's always a watch of that year, you know, in my mind. |
| James | Well, I mean like my lifestyle outside of the, like my lifestyle throughout winter, the most like genuine activity, I get a shoveling snow, which you can do in any watch or no watch, you know, it's not really required. Summer comes and you like bust out, right? Yeah. Yeah. And I'm, I'm moving around and you're, you're kind of jumping in and out of the car a lot. You're trying to be like mobile, more mobile than I might be, you know, in winter you got to find a jacket and where do you leave your boots and are the, are your socks dry? And the rest of the summer, you're just kind of like in and out all the time. Yeah. And, um, and I'll spend, a minute filling, uh, you know, a kiddie pool for, so you want something with some water resistance and something that can take a knock against the Jeep if I'm working on it and the rest of it. So yeah, it's a, it's, it is kind of a different, a different scene, but man, am I excited for summer? Yeah. Uh, really, really excited for a, it's supposed to be a nice warm weekend this weekend. So looking forward to all of that, hopefully, uh, hopefully all of that kind of, uh, uh, cooperates and we don't end up with a bunch of surprise rain, but, uh, that's okay too, I suppose. Yeah. Want to get into the Sri Lanka download? Yeah, let's do it. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. This is a bit of a ramble episode, I suppose, just sort of a download of what's been going on here. |
| James | Yeah. I think probably the right place to start would be, you know, maybe give people an idea of why you decided, like, I mean, obviously you go to Sri Lanka with some, previous to the pandemic, with some frequency. Yeah. But for folks who maybe don't know that context or maybe come to the show in the last couple of years, why Sri Lanka? Why for so long? That sort of thing. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. So, you know, I made my first trip to Sri Lanka back in the year 2000 and, you know, we used to come almost annually. Uh, but since, you know, the pandemic, uh, it's been over three years since we've been here and Gushani's got family here, her folks live here and extended family and friends. And so this was a bit of a long overdue visit to check in on people and just spend some time. And it made sense, you know, given the length of the journey to get here, to, to really put in some extra time. And we thought to, to do a month here, Uh, it could also be a bit of a proof of concept, I guess, so to speak, to, to see how we could do living here longer term, because eventually our plan might be to spend several months here, you know, possibly even half a year here, half a year in the U S um, kind of splitting time. So we wanted to see if we could make it work work-wise, you know, recording podcasts, writing. And for her, she's got a team, a work team back home that she has to, you know, do meetings with, uh, daily and, So she's been working nights to kind of hit the overlapping schedule because we're, we're 12 and a half hours off of Minneapolis time. So, you know, largely we've made it work and it's been both the best time to try this and the worst time because Sri Lanka is going through some serious challenges right now. So I guess we figured if we can make it work this month, it's probably a sense that, that we can. we could we could do it in the best of times as well. So it's so far it's been going it's been going as best as we could expect. |
| James | What's your what's your sort of like average day like? Because I know you're not keeping normal hours and certainly Ghoshani isn't like you'd said she's she's kind of dealing with. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, she's in the other room here doing, you know, Zoom meetings all night long. She starts her work day, if you will, at about 6 p.m. and works until 1230 or one o'clock. because it's a 12 and a half hour time difference. And she has a lot of meetings with her team back home. And, you know, for me, I'm following a more regular schedule. And then when she gets up in the morning, we usually go and do something and we, we spend time, you know, running errands and visiting friends and family and just sort of doing our daily stuff. I try to get out and I try to exercise every morning before it gets too hot. Um, we might go for a walk together. I've been running and there's a pool here, so I've been swimming. uh, quite regularly. But, uh, you know, everything here just kind of takes a little bit longer. It's just harder to get about, um, for one reason or another. So it feels like, you know, today, for instance, we went to visit some, some friends that live on the other side of town. And so we had to flag down a, one of these, uh, these tuk-tuks, these tri Shaw three wheelers that kind of everybody uses to get around here and, and with traffic and the fuel shortages and other things, it just took a while to get there. And then in the middle of that, there's, they're, they're doing, they're doing these rolling power outages to accommodate the, the fuel shortages that are happening in this country. A lot of the electrical power comes from diesel and coal, both of which have been in short supply here. So there's all these kinds of challenges that you're, you're navigating day to day, which we don't have back home. It kind of has made us appreciate how, how easy life is on a day to day basis back home. Absolutely. |
| James | maybe for folks who haven't caught the news or, or don't follow your Instagram that closely. What's the kind of the, the, the, you know, elevator explanation of, of the crisis going on in interlock. I know it's a very complicated sort of longstanding thing. That's kind of hit a boiling point recently. Is that accurate? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I would say that's, that's accurate. The perfect storm of the pandemic. And then they had some, some pretty tragic terrorist bombing episodes on Easter of 2019. And I think the combination of those two things really put the country in an economic tailspin that was exacerbated by some pretty, pretty egregious mismanagement of the economy by a fairly corrupt government that's largely populated by an extended family. And what that's led to is a diminished, um, tourism industry here, which is kind of a primary industry here. And so that's meant a shortage of foreign exchange currency, which they use to buy everything from, you know, diesel, um, from India to, to power the electrical system here and, uh, you know, foods and medicines and things like that. So what's happened is that has really affected day to day life for the average Sri Lankan. And so now we're seeing, a month of protests. I mean, this all kind of kicked off right when we arrived on April 1st and it's progressively escalated to the point where, you know, there, there, there's some violence in the streets, there's some road closures, um, very long queues for, for people to get fuel at, at fuel stations. And then, as I mentioned, these, these regular, um, scheduled power cuts every day, which has been very disruptive, you know, and especially in a hot climate when you just want a spinning fan to kind of keep the air moving across you. It's, it's, it's pretty miserable to have three hours of kind of just sitting, twiddling your thumbs in the dark with no fan going. Um, not to mention trying to work and, and this is for us. And, and I'm, I don't mean to complain horribly because Gashani and I have it pretty, pretty well here. We've been able to navigate it, but for the kind of the average person here, it's, uh, it's been a real, a real crisis. And I think that's, that's resulted in a lot of these, massive protests that you're actually seeing here and places all over the world. |
| James | And, uh, so you're, you're in, uh, the city proper for the most part where you have, you've been able to kind of get around and visit some of the countryside, et cetera. |
| Jason Heaton | We are staying in an apartment building. It's actually the same building that Kashani's parents live and we rented a unit just down the hall from them. So it's been pretty convenient. Oh, nice. Yeah. It's been, it's been pretty nice. And I think for the, for the most part, we're able to kind of do our shopping within walking distance. Uh, as I mentioned, the, the apartment building has a 25 meter outdoor lap pool, which I adore. I love swimming laps outside. It's just something so novel to me. You don't get to do that at home very much. Um, and then there's these, these rice paddy fields that are just down the street that have a kind of a jogging path or gravel path around them that I try to get around every day. So that's kind of the, the day to day routine. And then, Uh, if you want to go further afield, you have to, you have to get one of these, uh, you can, you can get a taxi, which are kind of few and far between, or these very numerous, uh, little three wheel kind of motorized rickshaws, they call them tri-shaws or tuk-tuks here. And that's kind of the best way to get around here. But those guys are facing the fuel shortages to the point where, you know, they, they have to wait for hours to fill up and, and then of course it doesn't last very long. And, and so they're, uh, it's just complicated their, their lives and in turn people that are trying to get places. So, you know, on the other hand, it's, it's still a fabulously beautiful country with incredibly friendly people. And we, we've done a couple of excursions a little further afield. We, in our, I guess our first full weekend of being here, we went with Kashani's parents to, um, there's a kind of a big Lake just South of the capital city, Colombo. And, Uh, in the middle of the lake, there's an island with a house on it that was built in the 1960s by a Danish architect who was working here. And now it's kind of a private rental facility. So we, we rented it for the weekend and, and there was a small staff there that, that kind of cooks for you and looks after you. And we just had a really nice relaxing weekend there. And then we just got back a couple of days ago from, uh, several days up in kind of the mountainous interior of the country. which was about a five to six hour drive from where we are. And we, um, stayed right in the middle of a, of a big tea estate. It's all, it's where all the Ceylon tea is grown. And it's just this incredibly picturesque, beautiful part of the country, just steep hillsides, lush greenery, jungles, um, you know, tumbling rivers and waterfalls and things like that. So it's, it's my favorite part of the country. I think it's, you know, it's much cooler up there. It gets up to, you know, the, the, the towns up there, you know, five, 6,000 feet above sea level. So it's a, it's much cooler. And so it's a nice respite from kind of the tropics, you know, the, the, the humidity down here. And so we, we spent a couple of days up there and we did some, some hiking, uh, which was, was just really wonderful to do. You know, I, I don't usually think about hiking when we come here and we haven't done much of it in the past. And so we've just really kind of, went into it with a lot of gusto this time and did a couple of full day, really long hikes up into the mountains, which was, which was great. |
| James | Yeah. Any other plans for any other excursions or, or little adventures before you have to pack your bags and come back? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. So we, we fly home a week where we're recording this on a Friday and we're actually flying home a week from today. And so we've got this weekend starting tomorrow and we're planning on driving down to the South coast. We haven't actually spent much time on the, on the seashore here. And so we're going down there to, to spend some time in the very Southern tip of the Island, um, for, for three nights and, uh, just kind of hoping to get in the water and maybe do some snorkeling and just kind of take in some, some ocean time. Yeah, that should be nice. And, and, you know, we, we, there's a kind of the culture here is, is you know, a lot of people, especially tourists, don't, you don't come here and rent a car like you might, uh, in other parts of the world. People largely employ drivers, um, who have their own vehicles. And so over the years, we've actually typically gone with the same driver. Um, it's kind of this older, older gentleman who has one of these, these Toyota high ACE vans. Um, and he, he knows the country like the back of his hand. So he takes us around. And so, you know, it's been complicated for him to kind of, strategically figure out where and when to get his diesel to fill this thing up. And so he's, he's, he's game to do it. He's going to pick us up tomorrow morning at about nine o'clock and we're going to head down. It's a couple of hour drive and uh, we're just going to stay in kind of a smaller hotel and uh, and just, you know, take it as it comes, just kind of relax and get in the water as much as we can. And so looking forward to that, I always kind of like to mix the mountains on a trip here with, with the seaside. I think, you know, it's, It's what the country has to offer. You know, I mean, a lot of places are one or the other. And I think the thing I love about Sri Lanka is it's got, it's got all of that. |
| James | So yeah, for sure. That's a, that's, that's, yeah, it's, it sounds like a really interesting place to spend this much time. My apologies for any noise on my part. I've just extricated my rabbit from the room where I record. Normally he's a quiet animal, but I guess he is not enjoying this conversation or he also wishes he was in Sri Lanka. I'm not sure. Cause he just trashed his cage in the background. Jason, you know, I'm curious because I think you and I have a love for the types of food that come from this part of the world. But, you know, given some of these limitations and the overall issues with everything going on, they're still managing to eat pretty well. So getting your fill of all their local delicacies. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, definitely. Yeah. I mean, you know, the thing is, is that the food that I love the most in Sri Lanka is the really simple stuff that They call it, I'm probably mispronouncing it, but they call it gamay food, which is kind of loosely translates as village food. And it's really just kind of the basic curries that are kind of traditionally eaten here. And, you know, if you go to a restaurant or a hotel or something, a lot of times they'll give you a menu that has kind of these attempts at kind of emulating Western cuisines or kind of a more upscale type food. I've always been disappointed when I try those. I think that the simplest stuff is the best here and, and it's rice and curry. And you know, we, we had an episode with Ghoshani on, gosh, it's been a year or two now. And, and we talked a little bit about food and she gave a, a recipe for some, some food and, and you know, people seem to resonate well with that. But you know, that's, that's what we're reading here. So curry is pretty well eaten and served three meals a day. So, you know, for, Sounds terrible. Yeah, right. I mean, I, I, I do kind of cling to a few standbys from back home. I can't live without a bowl of cereal. So, you know, there's a grocery store just down the street here that we can walk to and, and you know, I can get cereal and milk and, and uh, I usually have that first thing in the morning, but then it's, it's full on curries and it's very healthy eating. I mean, this is, you know, it's, it's rice with any number of, largely vegetable curries. So they, they curry everything here. I mean, they'll, they'll do, I had a really good cashew curry one day. Um, cucumber curry, mango curry. I had that for lunch today. Oh man. Jackfruit curry, beetroot curry, and then doll, you know, which is like a staple here. Lentils, um, have that almost every meal. And I don't really eat a lot of meat curries. My favorite is actually a fish curry that they make with, with a fish called sear fish. And it's this kind of thick, huh? meaty fish and it's just in this lovely stew. Man, that sounds good. And it's, it's aromatic. It's, it's like rich and spicy. And Ghoshani laughs and her, her father, who's a wonderful cook. And he, he's always pushing food in my face every day here. He's always trying to get me to eat more and more. And he's just, I think he's just loving the fact that I'm just, I'm just eating curries and Ghoshani's like even getting sick of it. She's like ordering other stuff off of menus. And I'm just like, no, keep it coming. |
| James | So, I haven't met many curries that I couldn't be best friends with. And I guess the other kind of pluses is like, if you're in a scenario where your access to resources, even things like power, is somewhat challenged or needs to be rudimentary, a curry makes a lot of sense, right? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's very simple. It's very easy to eat and feed a lot of people. It's the cheapest. I mean, it's incredibly inexpensive. We ordered, there was actually a place, it was kind of funny, we were laughing because we've been cooking here at the house or when we've gone out of town, we've eaten at these hotels. Um, but, uh, today I guess there was this, this takeout place or actually they deliver, I can't remember what it was called spice and curry house or something like that. And, uh, we ordered from it for the first time and they have Uber eats here and, and Gashani ordered from Uber eats. Uh, she ordered like this, a couple of packets of, of, of vegetarian curry, plate sort of thing. And it was delivered within half an hour. I get this message on my phone, you know, uh, PayPal is, you know, paid out to Uber eats whatever. Um, and it was something like, uh, for, for two of us, I think the total cost came to like $3 and 22 cents or something, you know? I mean, it's just, okay. I mean, coming from a different part of the world, I mean, price discrepancies are going to be, obvious and for people here that that's normal. But it's just absurdly cheap, especially that kind of food. And it was just it was wonderful. So you can eat cheap and you can eat healthy and it's just incredibly flavorful. If you like curries, it's just there's no end to it. And it's one of my favorite things about about about coming here. So it's been great. And then you know, I think I'd mentioned to you that, that I'm kind of craving the one thing, one of the things I'm missing about home, I guess, is a good strong cup of pour over coffee, which I brought some coffee. I just, I can't seem to emulate the same setup as at home. And, and Sri Lanka is a tea country. I mean, when we were in the hills, that's what they grow there. I mean, it's world famous Ceylon tea. And so I, I drink tea several times a day. You go to visit somebody's house, they, they bring out the tea and you know, you have it in the morning and you have it in the afternoon and whatever. And I love tea, but there's just, you know, something, Something about a good strong cup of coffee that I'm kind of missing these days. Yeah. |
| James | Yeah. Yeah. I mean, admittedly, I was bragging about my cup of coffee as we got this phone call. Um, I'm, I'm deep into a, a gift bundle that I got, um, of, uh, uh, big 10 from Turks West in Vancouver. It's my favorite coffee in the whole world. And I'll make sure to get you a bag for your return to, uh, I'll need it too. |
| Jason Heaton | Cause I'll be I'll be having some fierce jet lag. |
| James | That's, uh, yeah, that's going to take you. That's going to take you some time. We're going to, we'll have to record it some weird times to suit the new sleep schedule. |
| Jason Heaton was unsure in the recording who was speaking | Yeah. Right. |
| James | Right. All right. Well, I mean, aside from, um, aside from maybe not having coffee, what, what, what did you take with you that you're pretty happy that you took anything, anything you'd recommend to somebody visiting that part of the world that's maybe outside of the, the stuff they'd find on an outside guide or whatever. |
| Jason Heaton | it's really hot here. You know, it's, we're talking upper eighties and I think the humidity is, you know, always pushing a hundred percent and then you get these kind of deluge monsoon rains here, which kind of cranks up the humidity even more. And so I found that, um, you know, if you bring like anything, you know, you think, Oh, I'm going to wear like a nice button down cotton shirt or a polo shirt. I mean, if you're anything like me, it'll be, soaked with your own sweat within an hour of wearing it. And so, you know, what I've found is, is I've been kind of living in some kind of quick dry, uh, t-shirts, you know, like the kind of shirt you wear running or exercising or whatever, and they just drive very quickly. And then, uh, you know, it's shorts. Uh, I, I bought some, um, Eddie Bauer guide shorts that I kind of live in here. Swim trunks, of course. Yeah. Standard age had, I've got a few of their cotton t-shirts, which have been great kind of for the, you know, cooler evenings and things like that. And then, uh, our friends at, at triple lot design sent over a bit of a care package. And before I went, uh, they heard that I was going and they said, Oh, I can send you some hot weather gear to try out. So they sent me, um, uh, kind of a nice pair of, I think it's their Paladin maritime swim trunks, uh, another pair of shorts. Kind of a quick dry polo shirt, which I really like quite a bit. And then this prototype backpack, which I've made really good use out of. So they actually sent us two backpacks. One is from a material called VX and then the other one's from Dyneema. They're both like sailcloth materials. So from, you know, the sport of sailing, you know, what sails are made of. So it's really tough. It's very lightweight. Uh, highly water resistant and, and these packs are just, they, they crunched down to nothing. So we kind of threw them in the bottom of the duffels to, to bring over here and, and we use them for everything from running for groceries to, you know, the hikes we were doing up in the Hills. We were, you know, taking water and rain gear and food along and, and those have been great. And then they also, I, I had gotten a pair of their ghost wing boots, which are kind of a mix between like an approach shoe and a, and a hiking boot. with really great grippy Vibram soles. And admittedly, I live in those, those plastic or rubber Birkenstocks, you know, 90% of the time here, I know you've got a pair and they're just like, they're great shoe. Yeah. But when we did hiking, you know, I, I, I had the ghost wing boots and they've been, they, they were just fantastic for kind of some of the jungle hiking we did where it was kind of slippy and, and uh, you know, rocks and roots and kind of crunching through some, heavy overgrowth and that sort of thing. So, so those have been great. So, you know, day to day, I guess it's mostly shorts and t-shirts and those rubber Birkenstocks. But then there's this really versatile piece of clothing here that I wish would catch on more. And every time I like post a picture of it, people like, Oh, you're wearing a dress or you're wearing a skirt. It's like, no, this is a sarong. You know, I don't know if you know what a sarong is. I think in India they call it a lungi or something. |
| Jason Heaton was unsure in the recording who was speaking | Okay. |
| Jason Heaton | It's, it's the simplest piece of clothing. It's, it's a tube of, of cotton. Uh, cloth, you know, so it's basically like, like picture, if you get out of the shower and you wrap a towel around yourself, it's, it's like that, except instead of an open ended towel that you have to tuck in to kind of keep closed, it's, you kind of step into this tube and then you cinch it around your waist and off you go. And it's, I sleep in it every day. I wear it kind of half a day, you know, as I'm getting up and having breakfast and that sort of thing. And it's just super comfortable. So that's great. Everybody wears them here. I mean, you see them, you know, you see guys like doing roofing jobs, wearing them, which I Yeah. It seems like high potential for wardrobe malfunctions, but, uh, they, they know what they're doing, but, uh, no, it's, it's great. Temperature management, I guess. It is. It is. Yeah. |
| James | So that makes sense. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. That's kind of what, what's been on the gear list and then, and then the watches I mentioned, but you know, it's, you really just kind of have to plan for, for, you know, sweating for, you know, for hot weather and, uh, yeah. I have to admit, I don't know, you know, I lost a fair bit of weight since the last time we came here and I don't know if that's the root cause of it, but I'm just dealing with the heat so much better this trip. Like I used to come here and it'd be fairly miserable and I've been, I've been kind of doing okay ever since we landed. I thought it'd be a bit of shock, you know, coming from a long Minnesota winter, I thought I'd be really suffering, but this trip more than any other, I've been, you know, just kind of, tolerating the heat really well. So I've really been pleased about that. Oh, nice. Well, I'm glad to hear it. Cause it's kind of the limiting factor, you know, like when you go somewhere, you know, if you go to Mexico or, you know, the Caribbean or anywhere where it's like really hot and humid, I think it's always the biggest source of, you know, misery seems a little bit strong word, but you know, at some point you're just like, Oh, I got to get in the air conditioning. Well, we've, we've lived largely without air conditioning, you know, not only because of the power cuts, but because it's, uh, you know, don't always need it. We're just, as long as you have a fan going, it's been pretty tolerable. |
| James | Yeah. I've always been like, I've always had a pretty big preference towards warm to even very hot weather. Um, but it, it always depends on how, what the humidity is like, right? Like if you are really hot day, um, you know, in, on the peninsula in, in Mexico is one thing, uh, a really hot day in, you know, when I used to spend some time down in central Mississippi, Eastern Mississippi, It's a whole different thing. And then, you know, my one or two, the one time I had an experience, you know, well into the hundreds in Nevada, in Las Vegas, I was kind of blown away by, oh, maybe I don't like heat quite as much as I thought I did. This is unbelievable. I wanted to go down the street to find, you know, a souvenir. And that walk felt like I was, you know, looking for, seeing mirages that weren't simply, you know, hotels and casinos and stuff like that. Yeah. I, uh, I miss the heat a lot, but I think I'm a little bit more wired towards the way that it's hot in this part of the world. |
| Jason Heaton was unsure in the recording who was speaking | Yeah. |
| James | I think you'd, I think, and then I'm always so impressed by, you know, locals in, in any climate, right. Who are just used to what the normal is. Yeah. And, and whether it's an insanely cold climate or an insanely hot climate, um, you know, in, in where you and I live, Jason, we kind of have a spread, but we, you get Pat, well, you don't really get patted for how cold it can get in, uh, in, in Minnesota, it gets proper cold. But yeah, uh, yeah, it's, it's, it's interesting to see how it affects kind of different people. Yeah. Maybe, maybe the white thing is a, is a factor that would, it would make sense to me, but I wouldn't be able to explain necessarily the science behind it. |
| Jason Heaton | Also, you know, the other, well, I think for one thing, one thing that exacerbates the heat here is not only the humidity, but we're six degrees above the equator and the sun is noticeably intense. You know, it's just the radiant heat. kind of baking the top of your head is incredibly noticeable here. Um, more, more than anywhere else. I mean, I can, I could argue that Minnesota summer, we get well into the nineties Fahrenheit with high humidity and I can be out cutting the grass or, you know, gardening or riding a bike or whatever it is. And, and it's okay. You know, I'll get hot, but, but here you add in that just that baking heat of the sun and it makes a noticeable difference. Yeah. I mean, the tropics are an interesting place. And I think, you know, not only the weather, which, you know, we, we always jokingly people kind of know us for talking about the weather at the top of the show, which we, we didn't do today actually. But, um, you know, here, the weather is such a different sort of thing because it's, it's always kind of the same, you know, it's, it's very hot there. Often there will be an afternoon, absolute deluge, you know, just monsoon rains that kind of flood the streets. Uh, but you know, there isn't that, variety where, you know, Oh, there's a cool front coming and tomorrow will be 20 degrees cooler and we'll get a thunderstorm. And then, you know, like you get back home and long-term, I'm not sure, you know, if, if, if that would bother me, if I would kind of crave the variety, but, uh, yeah, I know you always, you always hear that from people, you know, who moved to LA from other parts or you'll move to Southern California from other parts of the States. |
| James | Like they, they, what they end up saying they miss a season. Um, and maybe not one specific season specifically, but the fact that other places, maybe where they grew up or whatever, had this cycle, right? Where things kind of came and went. Yeah. I would have been, you know, I, you, you got most of the seasons when I lived in Vancouver, but we were very padded when it came to winter, which I think is kind of ideal for me. Yeah. But yeah, no, I think that, that sounds, I mean, sounds like a complicated, but a, but a, but a good trip. You know, the other thing I'm, I'm curious about asking about is like, what are the bugs like the, the what's, what's the, the insect living scenario? Uh, Cause that for me is as I get older has become more of a thing, you know, the, the mosquitoes, even just the mosquitoes here in Ontario can be enough to ruin, ruin a day. And we don't have to deal with any of the kind of bigger, gnarlier stuff that often exists in warmer clients. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I mean, I I'm struck by how being here is, I kind of was joking the other day with Kashani saying, you know, a lot of, a lot of what we're doing here feels a little bit like camping, you know, especially with the power cuts, like sitting by candlelight, you know, in the heat and then like with no electricity. And then, um, there, there's a severe cooking gas shortage. Like people don't, there's no like central gas in the building here that you turn on the stove and cook something. You're like, everybody has gas canisters that you have to source and hook up and use. And, um, now that there's a gas shortage, we've been doing all of our cooking on like a little electric hot plate, you know, and it feels like, like a camp stove, you know, like I'm trying to cook, pasta the other day on this tiny little hot plate and it took forever to do. And then you have, you're kind of living in the elements, you know, the weather and the, and the rain and things like that. But also you're, I feel very close to nature here. There's a lot of just bugs and reptiles and critters about, I just, before we did this call, we had one of these scheduled power cuts and without the fan going, it was really hot here. So I went out to Um, the pool in pitch black, you know, I kind of navigated by Braille, you know, down the hallway of the building outside to the, to the pool and got in the pool. And I love that sensation of being in a, in water at night. Absolutely. And I was looking up at the dark sky kind of floating in the pool, trying to cool off for a few minutes. And these huge flocks of these fruit bats that they get here, we're flying overhead and these things are the size of large crows. I mean, they're huge. And you know, if you see a bat, like, you know, probably where you live and where I live in Minnesota, they're like these little flitting things that you can sort of tell by the way they fly. I mean, these things, they flap slowly and they look like a big bird and they're, they're bats and they're just dozens of them just flying across the night sky. And it's just fascinating to me to watch. But then every day when I wake up and I get up, you know, Ghoshani who goes to bed much later than me, she sleeps in a bit. But every day I get up, I go out and it's a little bit dark and the, in the other room here in the kitchen. And I, I flick on the light and I like, I have to do this survey of the kitchen because inevitably every morning I kill like a Panerai sized cockroach. There, there, there's always like at least one in the kitchen every single morning and they're massive. And so I take off, I mean, you know, this is the routine every day. I take off one of these, rubber Birkenstock slippers. And I hop around the kitchen, like whacking on the countertop, you know, chasing this giant cockroach and they're black and they're shiny and they're just fast. And it's like, Oh, it's just, I still haven't gotten used to that. So there, there are those lurking around. And then, um, the mosquitoes here are, you know, they're potentially dangerous. I mean, they carry dengue fever and a number of other horrible diseases. Um, And the problem with them is that they're much smaller than the ones we get in Minnesota. So, you know, Minnesota, you can kind of see them, you can feel them when they land, you can feel them when they bite and here they're just kind of small and, and sneaky. And so in the evenings we always have to close the balcony doors here to kind of keep them from coming in. But other than that, I mean, we, we have a few geckos that are kind of lurking around the apartment, which I, I do like them and they, they take care of a lot of the bugs, which is good. And then, you know, other reptiles, uh, you know, I think I'd posted a few shots on Instagram, you know, there are these incredible, um, dinosaurs monitor lizards that are, they're just, they're, they're like right down the road here. I went for a walk the other day and there was one that had a frog sticking out of its mouth and it was kind of crawling along down by this canal down alongside of the road. And then this other bigger one, there's kind of two main species, kind of a land-based monitor lizard that that's the one I saw. And then, the, the water monitor, which is bigger, kind of came up out of the water and saw the other lizard with the frog in its mouth and kind of gave chase. And I was watching this whole scene and I was like, this is like, if I was filming this, like this would be like a viral YouTube video. It's just, it was wild. I mean, they're just, they're just crazy. So yeah. And then of course you got the retina, the dogs and, and you know, that I'm suddenly gotten skittish about, which I'm not happy about because of my bite a couple of weeks ago. But, uh, you know, hopefully I get over that bit of, Canine PTSD. |
| James | Yeah. With the geckos, that was always something like... I grew up in Ontario, basically where I live now, and we don't have lizards that run around here. It's not warm enough for enough of the year, right? Yeah. And I remember the first time I went down and spent any time in Mexico, even the people I was with thought I was a bit of a weirdo because I was so delighted by the fact that we might have a squirrel. they have a gecko or an anole or... And then even like I said, when I spent some time in the American South, you go outside and on a rain gutter or whatever, there's just a lizard sitting there having the time of his life in the sun. I find that delightful. That hasn't changed since I was a young man. I think that's so much fun. I am curious to get... I'm sure people will be wondering, you and I chat more frequently than just the podcast, but the scenario with the bite has turned out to be largely okay, all things considered? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I mean, it's been, it's been such an educational experience. You know, I, I remember I was bitten by a, like a neighbor's dachshund when I was riding my bike when I was a little kid. And, and, uh, I remember it hurting. It kind of chased me on my bike and bit my leg, but it was, it was the neighbor's dog. Wasn't rabid, didn't have to deal with it other than treating the wound. Um, but yeah, I mean, this was the, we re when we recorded last, it was the day that I had gotten bitten, you know, since then. So that first day I had to get, you know, dozens of these horrible, immunoglobulin serum shots, you know, all over my, my leg around the wound. And then I had a series, had to get a series of four rabies vaccine shots, you know, in my arm, you know, just like I have with, you know, tetanus and COVID and shingles shots over the past two years. So yeah, that's been, it's been an eyeopening experience to just kind of experience the hospital scene here, which, which has been very different from what I'm used to in the U S but you know, largely, painless. I've, I've been well taken care of and the wounds are all but completely healed. I do have the, the one deeper puncture wound on the inside of my left leg is, is the pain's gone, but it's, it's still kind of a bit of a scabbed over wound. But uh, yeah, um, we had to find a hospital. I was scheduled for the, the, the protocol was day zero, day three, day seven and day 14 and on day 14 it was the day we were up in the hill country. So we had to, find or go to the closest general hospital that we found out had the anti-rabies vaccine to kind of complete the 14-day protocol. And so I had to go there, but yeah, it was just a shot in the arm. So bad, I guess. Pretty quick in and out of the hospital. So yeah, so no frothing at the mouth, no, you know, no strange symptoms. Hydrophobia. |
| Jason Heaton was unsure in the recording who was speaking | Yeah, clearly not with your time in the pool. |
| James | Yeah, right, right. Uh, well, hey, I, you know, we're getting up on, on a full show here, but I, I am curious, you know, a month, a month in, in not an unknown place, but in, in a different sort of spot than you've been in for the last couple of years. What are you looking forward to when you get back? You'd mentioned coffee, but what's the first couple of days look like when you make it back and you're just dealing with, uh, you know, jet lag. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. You know what I miss? I miss driving. Um, I mentioned we here, we, we get driven a lot or we take these tuk-tuks around and I guess I realized going on a month here now that I just miss being behind the wheel. Um, the driving here isn't very appealing, especially in the city. It's very congested and a bit chaotic, but, uh, I miss my Land Rover. You know, I, I, the, the week before we flew out here, I dropped off the defender at the shop where we bought it a couple of years ago. And, and not knowing the, this is a bit of an aside, but not knowing the history of the timing belt, uh, in that truck. I was always a little bit wary about doing longer road trips in it, you know, because of the timing belt breaks, you've, you're in a world of hurt and expensive repairs, et cetera. So I asked them to take care of, you know, the timing belt, just replace it. And, uh, it also was needed a new alternator. So I had them do that. And then a couple of other things. So I feel like that truck is like got a new lease on life. It's waiting for me back home. The weather's getting nicer. I kind of just can't wait to, to get in and just drive, you know, |
| James | Come visit the cottage, man. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, seriously. I mean, we're ready. I mean, we're like, I can't wait to do like a road trip. I'm just kind of bust out this summer and do something a little bit further afield. But, uh, but, but yeah, driving and then, um, you know, just not, I mean, I guess I'm looking forward to not sweating all the time. I think we're, we're managing fine. I said, you know, handling the heat. Okay. And whatever, but everything's just, everything's just a little bit less it's not that it's difficult, it's just less easy than it is back home. And sometimes you just want to get up and have stuff work. You know, you want the electricity to work and you want not be sitting in your own pool of sweat waiting for the electricity to come back on and things like that. So this has given me an appreciation for not only a simpler life and kind of the life that people lead here, but an also an appreciation for, for what I have back home. So it'll, it'll be good. It'll be good to be back. |
| James | that sort of experience. And we've chatted about this on, but even just before we started recording, but also just on, on our Slack channel, uh, you know, it is that, that kind of soulful experience of like, Oh, so like, you know, I have it so easy in many ways, right? Like it's, it's, it's valuable to have that perspective shift, especially after a couple of years of essentially being inside and feeling like, like even our local areas were under a lot of stress and then to realize what the day-to-day life is, even with or without COVID in other parts of the world, definitely helps to frame some of the things that weigh on you, I think. So I think that's maybe a tangential benefit of an experience like you've had this month. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah, totally agree. And I don't mean this as a plug for my own Substack, but I've been doing weekly dispatches from here for my paying subscriber network over on Substack. And even if you aren't paying to subscribe, I think there's a trial signup, even if you want to just check it out, um, with no risk, uh, you can certainly do that. But if you're interested in reading kind of more long form insights into what I've been up to here, you can certainly go check that out. We can throw a link in the show. We definitely can. |
| James | And, and I, I think you're well deserved a plug. I don't think that's out of line at all. Uh, but yeah, the, the dispatches have been great. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it's been, it's been, it's been a month. Yeah. So, but that's, that's kind of the deal here. I mean, we, We were going to record this next week. You're off to New York and I'm off to hopefully the South coast. We'll get down there and, and, uh, I can maybe give, give the final debrief on that next time we record, which will be when I'm back in, uh, in Minnesota. That's a weird thought. I can't believe that. |
| James | Yeah. And then, you know, as, as a, as a measure of housekeeping with Jason coming back kind of right at the end of April, the, um, April Q and a will absolutely happen, but it'll probably be the first week of May. Yes, that's so it'll be delayed a few days. It's still going to be there. We're not going to skip it or anything like that. We have lots of great questions. Actually, you guys have been amazing sending in more and more questions. Some of them are hilarious as well. It's I'm looking forward to this episode, but it will be a few days later between my trip to New York next week. And then so we'll record it the week after the first week of April and I'll put it up immediately. So just keep keep an eye on the supporter feed. And obviously, if you want to get in on that and you're not on the supporter side, then you can get into it for as little as $5 a month. But you can check that stuff out at thegranator.com if you would like. Jason, you want to put a wrap on this one and get to some final notes? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, let's do it. Mine is an article from our friends over at Time and Tide Watches, and it's actually a story that is related to, I believe he's a TGN listener. I know that I've exchanged a few DMs with him over the years on, on Instagram, Jack Shepard, Shepardson, I believe. And it's, it's really kind of one of those great intersections of watches and, and kind of human interest. And so Jack was interviewed by a guy named Henry who writes for, for time and tide. It's a series they have called every watch tells a story and, and it's entitled how a Seiko diver connected Jack with a daredevil uncle he never got to meet. And, So this is a story about, about Jack's Seiko 6309 and how it belonged to an uncle of his. Jack is from Australia and, and his uncle had this watch, um, and, and had gotten it, you know, back in the seventies when he was regularly diving. Um, and then sadly he, he actually died, uh, in a diving related accident. And, and the watch was kind of somehow just, you know, left in a box or in care of the family. Um, and, and then Jack's aunt one day kind of turned it over to him. And, and, you know, Jack being a bit of a watch guy kind of took interest in it and in the background of it. And he learned more about his uncle and kind of found all these great old photos of his uncle and the incredible life that he lived. I mean, he was not only a diver, but he restored and raced cars and motorcycles. And, and, you know, he, he just kind of lived the, the, the life. He was a small plane pilot and whatever. And he wore this Seiko diver through much of it. And now Jack owns that watch. And it's this wonderful kind of a little bit melancholy, but, but warm story of, of how he inherited this watch from an uncle that he never really knew, but that had lived, you know, lived a life of its own, you know, before Jack even knew about it. And, uh, I, I, I like the story not only for the story, but I think, you know, some of these photos, I mean these, these scanned film photos of his uncle, you know, so cool on a motorbike, just kind of living it up, kind of, you know, classic kind of, you know, seventies hairstyles and clothing and, and, and these great old, uh, these little great old cars. I think this is a, I'm not sure what kind of car this is. It might be like an Austin Healy or something. And it's just like, yeah, just, uh, it's just a really cool story. So, uh, You know, Jack had made me aware of that a while back and I recently revisited it. And, uh, I think it's, it's a worthy story to check out. So give it a go. |
| James | Absolutely. Yeah. I think this is a must read. I don't, there's no reason to belabor the point, hit the show notes, check it out. This is a killer story with some fantastic illustration, uh, and well told. I mean, this is, this is the heart of watch enthusiasm. This is the heartbeat of why we would want to do something like TGN is it's great to talk about these things as they exist as justice products. Yeah. But give them enough time and they become something else. They become these little metal, like we've said in the past, totems or little, like almost like family members of their own or memories of people. Right. And I think this story kind of encapsulates all of that and it does it with a really jaw droppingly beautiful beat up old Seiko. I love it. It's, it's, it's fantastic. Really, really fun. Uh, and a great, a great job by these guys on the story. |
| Jason Heaton | Certain watches do this to me, but like you see a photo of it and Like immediately you want to put on a Seiko, like Seiko has that magnetism and he's got it on a, on a great NATO, which, which looks fantastic. But it's like, there's just such magnetic watches. They immediately speak to that kind of just, just go do stuff kind of element more than almost any other kind of watch. So yeah, good, good story. |
| James | Yeah. When I first clicked the link on this story, it made me immediately want an SRP. like 777 or similar, like something in the vibe, but you know, I still, you know, we don't talk about the SRP that much these days, but it used to be one that we talked about a ton when it was a little bit more new. And this, this watch has all of those. It's just a great story. These are, these are rad. Good job on these guys publishing it and telling it properly with the taking the time to get the images and the rest of it. You know, these stories really tend to balance in the way that you can connect visually with a different time. And when you have the photos, it makes all the difference. So well done. Yeah. Yeah. And for my final note, this is a sort of a summary time-lapsey sort of video from a really great YouTube channel called Woodness Goodness. And it's called I Built a Cabin in 2020 Start to Finish. It was published January of 2021. So it's been around for a while. It's got a lot of views. I'm sure some of you have seen it. It's just essentially a really beautifully shot, kind of nicely edited a 28 minute summary of building a cabin, but there's no talking. You just kind of watch it come together. And some of it's kind of done in sort of a fast sort of time-lapse sense. But everything from building the structure or planning the structure to building the footings, to building and raising the walls, to putting in the windows, to the cedar siding. I love this kind of stuff. I found it super calming. And, uh, and it definitely gets me in the mood for, you know, putting together stuff at the cottage this summer, um, won't be anything as nice as this. Uh, that's a kind of outside my skillset. You can tell these guys definitely know what they're doing. Yeah. Sometimes you watch these things and I really, you know, I have a couple of these channels on my YouTube where people are building a cabin and maybe it's done over the course of five or 10 episodes. And as you're watching, you go like, well, how does, how does that decision work out when you finish the room or put in your power or put in lights or whatever in this, you can kind of watch it come together. in a way that I just found really pleasing and kind of relaxing. And if you've got a half an hour and you'd like to kind of be transported at very high speed to the kind of almost natural growth of a cabin, if you will, it's a really cool video and I really enjoyed it. And Woodness Goodness is absolutely worth a subscription. |
| Jason Heaton | I love that name. So where's the cabin built? I watched this certainly probably right after we're done here, but where is it? |
| James | I'm actually not sure where it was built. Let's see. I'll also include in the show notes, FieldMag, one of our faves, did a really good Q&A with these guys. So it took them 55 days to make the cabin, which I still think is pretty remarkable. Yeah. And it looks like Charlottesville, Virginia is where the folks are based. As to where the actual cabin is kind of specifically, I'm not sure. But definitely check out the channel. Check out this Q&A. I'm sure there's even more answers in here. really, really cool stuff. The cabin ends up looking great. It's the kind of thing that I would like to build eventually on, on the cottage property, kind of set back in the woods. Yeah. Uh, once the, uh, the cabin, the, the sort of house that we're working on now, uh, is, is in a somewhat higher state of condition. Yeah. Uh, so yeah, this is, I'm, I'm really enjoying these. It's, it's given me, I've, I've started to notice that like a lot of my YouTube viewing is, is people building cabins in the middle of nowhere. Uh, there must be something kind of calming. You know, it's more Dick Pranicki. This is certainly less rustic than what Dick put together in Twin Lakes, but I think definitely worth a watch and a great follow on YouTube as well. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, this is like, you know, we did that interview with Marshall a while back. Watching someone rebuild a watch, I'm really hooked on a lot of like, Land Rover repair video stuff or just car repair stuff where people are disassembling like a gearbox, putting back together or building a cabin. Like I love watching somebody that's like skilled and like does something methodically. It's just, it's like you said, it's very calming. A lot of it is way outside my skill level, but especially anything related to carpentry. So I will probably watch this right after we're done and it'll send me off to sleep tonight. That sounds great. |
| James | Yeah, well, thanks. Thanks, as always, for making a little bit of time in the with the time change and the rest of it and the power cuts. And I'm glad we were able to put this together and keep on schedule for for these episodes. And I'm looking forward to just, you know, having you back only one hour away. And as far as the time zone goes, it'll be good. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And I hope you have a great trip to New York. I can't wait to to see the photos, read the stories and chat about it probably next episode. So that's. |
| James | Yeah, we'll definitely have something to chat about next episode might even have a special audio kind of thing to drop in. I'm not really sure yet. It depends on if I can get it made. Yeah. Uh, I assume by the time this episode comes out next Thursday, the, the watch in question will be out. So just keep an eye on Instagram and, and, um, and Hodinkee and the rest, uh, if you want to see some coverage of a, of a cool dive watch, um, that should be out by then. |
| Jason Heaton | Very cool. Yeah. And, uh, you know, thanks everybody again for the, the patience with the supporter kits and, uh, I will be back, uh, stateside next week. And as always, thanks so much for listening. If you want to subscribe to The Show Notes, get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting the show directly, and maybe even grab a new TGN signed NATO, please visit TheGreyNATO.com. Music throughout the episode is Siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive. |
| James | And we leave you with this quote from Santosh Kalwar, who said, Never stop just because you feel defeated. The journey to the other side is attainable only after great suffering. |