A Kazakh Villager Offered His Wife to Explorer Ash Dykes

You know the guys when I rocked up to that community, super friendly, really look after me. That's nice. And you didn't speak their language? Didn't speak their language. You know one funny story actually in the Altai Mountains, it was a Kazakh family. So I'd always try to eat and rest up with them where I could. It was a Kazakh family in their sort of hut in the middle of the Altai. Rocked up 45 minutes inside, sipping on their chai, their tea, eating whatever they gave me. And towards the end I was like, right, it's been 40, 45 minutes. I need to make a move now. And just as I was about to say that, I looked at the guy, the man of the hut. It was a man and his wife, a girl, he's looking at me very weird. You know, I slightly squinted, slightly closed like he's thinking of something, you know. He looks over to his wife, was girlfriend, and he looks back to me, looks back at his wife, and then all of a sudden right there and then in hand gestures offered me his wife. Whoa. Right there, I like that. That's sort of ancient. Does he do this? No, he just pointed to the bed and then pointed at us and then I didn't know what to do, you know. I was like, whoa, you know. She's not? No, not really. No, I was trying to get rid of her. That's it. She's yours now, bro. Yeah, it was awkward silence for about 10, 15 seconds. We were all exchanging looks. She was looking at me. I was looking at her. I just put on a fake laugh. A couple of seconds later, he laughed with me and I made a swift exit. She continued breastfeeding a child. So she was breastfeeding. He wanted you to take a piece. Yeah. Woo. And I was like, is it one of those things that this actually happened or will I leave and they're having a big joke right now and they're laughing away at the fact that, you know, you just never know, do you? I'm going to guess if they live in tents in the middle of nowhere and there's five tents and it takes forever to get there, those people are probably freaks. They're probably doing some weird freak shit. They probably have no attachment whatsoever to sexuality. Or maybe it's like you're here, don't you? To be really hospitable. That's super hospitable, you know, but you do hear old school exploration. I've heard it before, but I didn't think in this generation, this day and age, that'd still be going on. Well, they probably live in like old school Mongolians did. Yeah. You know, they're just a little wild sexually. Right. Yeah, in the far west. So that was a Kazakh family. So they would have come over the border, which is like mountain. You've got the outside mountains, always separate. So this was in Kazakhstan? This was West Mongolia. West Mongolia. There's a heavy population of Kazakh. They're the ones that actually hunt, you know, the eagles riding their horse. They've got the eagle perched on their hand. They get foxes, wolves. How different do they look? They look like Kazakh is more of an area that's closer to what? So Kazakh is right on the border. So you've got Mongolia sandwiched between Russia up north, China down south. Because just the name Kazakh. Yeah, and then directly on the west, you've got Kazakhstan. Oh, okay. Yeah. But yeah, another one. I think that's the second largest land. Our first largest landlocked country in the world. Mongolia is the second largest landlocked country in the world. Dude, and you're walking through this. Yeah, walking. So gangster. And that was my first trip there as well. So I didn't have the money to do a recce like I did with China and Madagascar. I'd never been to the country. I rock out with the trailer. When you show up at someone's tent, do you offer them something for food? Like how do you work that out? I had a piece of paper translated. It described who I was, what I was doing, why I'm here. And you're hoping they can read. Yeah, that's it. Hoping. And some you're right, some couldn't. But again, you see a guy looking a mess. Big beard down, looking in pain, looking hungry, looking skinny. You pretty much know straight away you need shelter, food, water. So they did every time and they were so friendly. So you're counting on people being nice to you. That's amazing. And that's all I've ever done. It's a human rate. I love it. I love people. They're just so friendly, so hospitable. Even the UK. Cycling in the UK is when I was 20, I was raising funds for the NSPCC. It was illegal sometimes to camp in a city. So go on knocking someone's door. Knock, knock, knock. Do you mind if I set up my tent in your front garden or back garden, please? Wow. Only had the door slammed on me once. But he was an old guy, probably felt friendly. He just looked at me, slam. He went back inside. Okay. Archie Bunker. Yeah. Some families, yeah, they were fine. And that's amazing that you that, but did you have any funds? Like, could you give them money for food if they weren't willing to give it to you for free? Yeah. What did I take? So I took paper and pens for education purposes. They love if you can give their child like paper, pens, the child's will just be, kids will just be playing with that, you know? So you had like a barter thing going on. Yeah, almost. But sometimes they just wouldn't accept it. They just plainly simply like, no. I had that a lot in China as well. So, but you didn't have any money. Did I have cash? Yeah, I had cash with me. But you never offered anybody any money for food. Oh, no. Did I? No. Yeah, no, maybe I did. Maybe I did. Yeah, but they were just again, they wouldn't accept it. Wow. Especially if I was sleeping the night, I would 100%. I'd take it and they'd be like, no, no, they'd stuff it down my trailer. They, you know, yeah. And then I learned that was it. Then I learned that it was offensive to offer them money. Because you're in their environment and they know for themselves. If they see, I had a guy once run me down on a horseback from the distance, coming at me at speed and it was all just to give me a bottle to take away with tea inside. So I try again, try not to offer. You came a distance. I've been watching you for 10 minutes. Coming from a distance, from a distance, little girl, just to give me hot water tea. So yes, I learned that it was offensive to give the money. It's almost saying that I'm better than you. I have money. You don't. But they're rich in life. They've got all of the livestock, the products they want to be given. And you're in their harsh environment. So I was like, wow, that's cool. So that's why I stuck to the paper and pens. What a life changing experience that must have been. Yeah, walking through a place where you don't know any language at all. Meeting these people and having them take you in and feed you. Yeah. Yeah. It was incredible. Did it renew your faith in people at all? What's that? Did it renew your faith in people? It did. It enhanced, I would say. It enhanced, yeah, everywhere. All of the different countries and the travels that I've done, the people have just been absolutely amazing. And I'm always trying to give back in return. Sometimes they'll take it, which makes me happy. Sometimes they're just not interested. And they're like, no, I don't want any money. In China, they gave me loads of food. They gave me accommodation. They then gave me breakfast. They gave me three days worth of food to take away with me along the Yangtze. And they just wouldn't accept my money, wouldn't accept anything. Then I'm like, no, you know, all the best. Wow. Incredible.