#7 – Hippies in Nepal and tribal life in Papua New Guinea

Marnix backpacked through Nepal, Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia. He then lived with a tribe in the jungle in Papua New Guinea for a full month.

About this episode
Today’s guest Marnix is a professional chef on a very high level. He does wild experimental stuff with food, like using liquid nitrogen, extreme heat, and serving 30-course meals.

He ended up working at one of the most high-end restaurants in the country while he was basically still a kid, and started his own business when he was in his late teens. By the time he was twenty-one, he was running a successful catering business.

And then, he decided to sell everything, give it all up, and travel the world.

He backpacked Nepal where he lived with local families, and joined spontaneous hippie-festivals in the mountains. After that, he traveled through Singapore and Malaysia, and lived and worked in Australia for a year.

His next stop was Papua New Guinea, where he, though chance, ended up living in the middle of the jungle with an indigenous tribe for four weeks. The lifestyle there was very primitive; no electricity and running water. Real jungle life, a three day, off-road jeep-ride away from modern civilization. He was the first white guy to visit that village since the 1970s, and they adopted him into the tribe. Needless to say, he has very interesting stories about that adventure.

When he came back to The Netherlands after that 1.5 year adventure, we was very much a changed man. He’s one of the most free thinking, or some might say most spaced-out, human beings on the planet. Funny guy, too, we had some good laughs. We got a bit philosophical too here and there. I had a great time talking to him.

By the time we finished recording, I asked Marnix if he got into drugs at all during that big adventure, and he had many wild stories about that, as well. Separate interview-worthy stories, so that’s going to be the next episode. Dropping acid in the woods of Nepal, partying like a rock-star in a pent-house in Australia, and getting high on some jungle brew with the tribe in Papua New Guinea are among these.

This episode’s a bit out there, and if you like this one, you’ll probably like the next one even more. Part two will be released on Oct 23, 2017.

Enjoy the show, ladies and gentlemen!

The show

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Contents
00:04:50 – High-level cooking
00:11:40 – Leaving to Nepal
00:19:50 – Singapore and Kuala Lumpur
00:23:39 – Working in Melbourne, Australia
00:33:42 – Making music in Melbourne
00:38:27 – Going to Papua New Guinea
00:43:20 – The merits of being sociable
00:46:30 – Going into the jungle
00:52:50 – Becoming a part of the tribe
01:00:25 – Tribal languages
01:02:55 – How do people party in the New Guinaen jungle?
01:09:45 – Coming back home & the importance of friends
01:17:00 – The next plan: hippie-van life & WWOOFing
01:23:39 – Surfing
01:28:30 – Go outside
01:30:48 – Future plans
01:36:30 – A wild night in Melbourne
01:43:55 – To travel or not to travel
01:48:03 – Camera talk

Recording details
Recorded on July 6, 2017; in the Kralingen park in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.