Budo Brothers Adventure- Part 3
RECAP OF PART-2:
- Decided to randomly show up to an apparel manufacturer's facility unannounced
- Hit all our checkmarks; One and done!
- Ended up locking down an agreement to get our gear manufactured out a world-renowned facility
- Finally got to know what it feels like to be called Master by baby turtle found in a sewer
- Learned how to cross the street in Vietnam and survive to tell the tale
In case you missed it, the full story behind part-2 can be found here.
PART-3: THE FINALLY!
As seen in part two, the only way to cross the street in Vietnam is to just do it! It was this “Screw it, let’s do it” attitude that ended up being the main theme of our trip.
Did we have any idea what we were doing? Hell no! But we're just going to figure it out on the fly, and course correct along the way. Which leads us to one of our favorite quotes:
“A missile cannot change course until it is launched”
That’s really what this trip was really about: Launching new ideas, and having some fun along the way.
WATCH THIS VIDEO:
TIME TO DESIGN!
After getting incredibly excited about our new manufacturing partnership, the next step was to go dream some new products. Manufacturers stick to what they are good at: making stuff! As the customer, it is our responsibility to bring them concepts to mass produce. So we decided to fly up North to meet some incredibly talented tailors. Our goal was to design as many new products as we could dream up, come back with a duffel bag full of prototypes.
RUSTY GYMS, TRANSLATION APPS, AND TOBACCO BONGS
After touching down from a quick 1hr flight, we decided to get a lay of the land and sneak in a quick workout. We end up stumbling across this rusty outdoor gym that no one was using, so it only made sense for us to go test our resistance to tetanus. Not going to lie, not sure what was rustier: us, or the jungle gym. After a "weak-sauce" workout, we decided to hang out by this peaceful lake and take in the beautiful smog.
Suddenly, we hear a gentleman whistle at us as he waves for us to come over.
“Time to go make some new friends.” We didn’t think twice about going over to shake hands with Djung (we think that's his name.) As soon as we introduced ourselves, we both realized that Djung doesn’t speak a lick of English, and we obviously speak ZERO Vietnamese. Enter “google Translate” – A blessing that saved our asses countless times!
Djung offered us to take his weights for a test drive. Well, when communication is not going all that smoothly, it's better to just shut up and squat.
After an awkward bonus workout, our new friend Djung offers to buy us a water and share some bong-enabled Vietnamese tobacco.
Skeptical, we used google translate to make sure we were not about to get high on PCP or anything like that. To which, he assured was "all natural Vietnamese tobacco." ... Makes sense, we should totally smoke some unknown substance out of a bong with some random dude we met 5 minutes ago... What were we getting ourselves into?
After a few good laughs (mainly at us coughing our asses off) our new friend Djung points to his other buddy and says “MA-FEE-AH”… like an idiot, I start sounding it out wondering what the hell he was saying, and then I realize that we are hanging out with the Vietnamese Mafia, which was later confirmed by GoogleTranslate. Regardless of their impressive combined jail-times, they were some of the nicest dudes we met all trip.
HOW IT ALL WENT DOWN:
OPERATION DOWNTIME
After spending an entire week hammering out some new product designs, it was time for some downtime. No better way to unplug than to go hit up a houseboat tour in the middle of the ocean.
There was one tour that offered morning Tai Chi lessons... SOLD!
It was really nice to just check out. No internet. No cell service. No shortage of good times!
During a nice dinner one evening, our captain announced that we would be able to go squid fishing at night. Best part is, whatever you catch, they will grill it up for you for as a late night snack.
NEXT MISSION: CATCH A DAMN SQUID!!
It is with a heavy heart that I inform you of our failure to catch a damn thing.... but we had no problem keeping other passengers awake with our obnoxious impromptu dance parties.
THE JOURNEY DRAWS TO A CLOSE
We met some amazing people during our travels, and were fortunate enough to partake in some incredible experiences.
But, by far, the part that we are excited about more than anything: The new products we have coming soon!