AtW Podcast, Episode 21: Sam Dreiman

My guest for this episode of the podcast is Sam Dreiman. His first trip to China was just before the 2008 Olympics. He has been living in the country, on and off, for the last six years. Other than China, we talked about his upbringing in Africa, my trip to Antarctica, his time biking down the World's Most Dangerous Road, and North Korea. Sam is a fascinating character who has spent much of his life traveling around the world; I had a great time talking with him.

Here's the show, available for download in your favorite format:

[Download] [iTunes] [Stitcher] [Podcasts.com]

Thanks for listening! What did you think? Have you been to any of the places we discussed? Let me know in the comment section below.

Show Notes:

The Antarctic Treaty has been in effect since 1961 and expires in 2048. One interesting facet of the treaty is that all scientific observations obtained on the continent need to be made freely available to the public. Also, drilling for oil and military occupation are both forbidden. This could have some scary implications when the treaty expires.
I talked about Mount Roraima during the show. Here are some stats from the Wikipedia page:
- Roraima has a maximum elevation of 2810 meters (9220 feet)
- Its prominence is 2330 meters (7671 feet)
- It was the first tepui to be climbed, in 1884
- The route I took is the only one that doesn't require any climbing gear
- The scenery for the movie Up was based on several tepuis, including Roraima. I found a good article about the Pixar team's visit to the region.
- My next book will include the story of my own experience climbing Roraima, so stay tuned.
Cerro Sarisariñama is another tepui, famous for its sinkholes. The largest of these sinkholes is 352 meters (1155 feet) wide and 314 meters (1030 feet) deep. The Eiffel Tower would easily fit inside of it. The mountain has only been reached by helicopter, on a limited number of scientific expeditions. Could there be dinosaurs lurking at the bottom of one of these sinkholes?
The Yungas Road in Bolivia was named the World's Most Dangerous Road by the Inter-American Development Bank in 1995. During our podcast, Sam told his story of riding a bicycle down this road. I wrote about my own experience there on pages 236-247 of my first book.
The Ryugyong Hotel is a 105-story pyramid in Pyongyang, North Korea. An Egyptian company finished the exterior, but its interior is still vacant.