🇨🇿🇭🇺🇩🇪 Interloper(s)

Hello Adventurers, 

More often than not, history is a stormy affair…which is why it felt apropos to be welcomed by a constant rain of terror this week in Czechia, Hungary, and Germany. I didn’t enjoy marathoning in the sheets of rain — nor getting hit by splashy tidal waves of dirty gutter water (launched from passing vehicles) — but I’m not complaining either; my slight discomfort is/was nothing in comparison to the abject miseries — as well as the atrocious horrors — these parts endured, enforced and/or exported in much of the 20th century.

My vibe is to always document a place true; then and now, and add context if something off-putting is simmering. As such, you probably won’t find this week’s issue of the newsletter to be the lightest or the funnest read…but I nevertheless hope you find it informative and/or insightful; especially given how regressive these modern times are starting to feel (e.g. the return of the hotheaded strongman, a seemingly thawing Cold War…or mutation of it, and the political flock of brain-frozen hawks denying history’s lessons…while parroting unchecked ca-caw calls for conflict). All that shit sucks so bad!

Anyhoo, this issue of the newsletter recounts things seen — as well as things felt — on five marathons of Prague, Budapest, and Berlin this week. Let’s get into it, and learn from it. Oh…and trigger warning…the dispatch ‘bout Prague herein discusses suicide and the final essay mentions an article about rape…so avoid those sections if needed.

- Ben Pobjoy

P.S. Thank you to the longtime homie Dylan for responding to a pain point I shared last week…and informing me that British citizens do not need a tourist visa for Vietnam. Bless you Dyl Dog!

ALSO, the ‘August Batch' of Pobjoy Postcards visited Buckingham Palace on a marathon last week...and were posted from a marathon in Berlin this week. If you want to receive a monthly, one-of-a-kind handwritten postcard from me on my Marathon Earth Challenge, you can subscribe here.

2023 TREK TRACKER

Where in the world...record am I?

• Countries visited: 49

• Flights taken: 52

• Kilometres flown: 79,342

• Marathons completed: 160

• Kilometres trekked by foot: 7,627.4

• Total kilometres trekked since 2015: 70,719

THE LAST MONTH: IN REVIEW

Stats and anecdotes from August 2023

I finished August with 160 marathons in the bank / them executed in 48 different countries since the start of the year. Said another way, I am two-thirds of the way there to setting a new world record. The good news is that everything is on schedule, I’m feeling good physically, and I’m now dialling up the intensity of things; regularly doing 1,000+ kilometre-by-foot months, and doing 21 marathons in August alone (meaning I’m starting to push beyond ‘the conservative 20 marathons a month’ I was doing up until that point as a form of load management / injury-minimization).

Going slightly above 20 marathons in August was a real feat because it was my birthday (so there were social obligations), I booked five months of travel and accommodations through the rest of the year…done over the span of a few days (which is time-zapping), and I made time to hang with the missus since I’m abroad on this ‘leg’ of the Marathon Earth Challenge for three months. Basically, everything got sorted (to the best of my abilities), and now I can ignite my afterburner across the world-at-large.

August was good to me; the majority of it was spent in Toronto where I could cook and consume nutritious food in my kitchen as well as recover nightly by pulverizing my legs / hips / ass cheeks with my Theragun Mini (do note, I’m too much of a wimp for the more powerful Theragun model). Yes, my mind was bored marathoning Turonno but the luxuries of home let my body heal…so I’m once again ready to thrash my body abroad as my mind is engaged by places-new-to-me. And yo, I’ll take the latter any day of the week…mind over all bodily matters, bb.

All that said, I had to break in two new pairs of shoes these past few weeks (Norda 001s are my dailies, and Nike Zegama Trail Runners are my backups)…done in the rain; so I got two regular blisters and two blood blisters…which is just how it goes. Me? I’m more stoked that my dumb-ass ‘Leprechaun Santa Claus’ beard has rounded a figurative bend to start growing downwards as opposed to outwards…so this subjective facial progress has distracted me from my objective foot-y regression.

I am going into the third and final act of the Marathon Earth Challenge, and it is never easy…but the majority of the work is behind me…so I’m moving forward by just taking things day by day, and being really grateful for this opportunity…and grateful to have a body that is somehow holding up!

RAPID WEEKLY RECAP

A speedy synopsis for time-crunched readers

• The Wildest Thing: I’ve been in England, Belgium, Czechia, Hungary, and Germany these past 10-ish days…and I cannot believe how much cheaper the groceries are here (like, compared to Toronto). Us Canadians are known as ‘hosers’ because we’re getting financially drained by the monopolistic, price-fixing grocer robber barons in Canada🙄

• The Biggest Obstacle: I’m over my ‘North America to Europe’ jet lag…but this project is a 24/7 thing when I’m abroad. Like, I fly a coupla times a week, and some days I get to the airport at 6AM and other days I get to the airport at 11PM. As such, I have to force myself to sleep in weird ‘pockets’ each day — even if I’m not tired — and it is a bizarre exercise🥴

• The Lesson Learned: It’s a long story but I was having a billing issue with my telco (shocker!), and couldn’t resolve it (due to account permissions / running the clock / having to leave town). Anyway, my brother Elliot recommended I get an eSim from Airalo, and it has been a wallet lifesaver. You need a newer, unlocked smartphone — and the tech-challenged will find the eSim installation process a tad hard — but it is worth it🤓

FIELD NOTES: PRAGUE, CZECHIA

Looks can be deceiving

Ladies, remember when you fell under the spell of that attractive drummer from the cool-but-struggling rock band…and 45 minutes into the first date, you realized the guy was a painfully dorky motherfucker? Like, the prospect of a one night stand wasn’t gonna be worth the price of a cymbal stand…yeah, that’s Prague. 

Yes, the city centre is aesthetically charming…but it is fucking goofy; super touristy — and clogged by ‘em — and tailored to their dimwit desires (e.g. souvenir shops, novelty snacks, and rides in silly old time-y vehicles). It’s a controversial, work-in-progress ‘hot take’ on my end…but I have an emerging theory ‘bout nation states who were oppressed by / repressed under decades-long regimes; that once unshackled, they’re either culturally vibrant epicentres vis-à-vis re-possessing the freedom to return to their true selves (e.g. The Baltics) whereas others — like Czechia — emerged into freedom so cash-strapped that they bent to be whatever was demanded of ‘em by tourism’s moronic market. Thankfully, I only had a single day in Prague to bang-out one marathon…but it wasn’t all for naught.

Overall, I have deep affinity for Eastern Europe; it’s so textured; historically, politically, and visually. Like, I love marathoning the periphery of these places where there are blocks and blocks of drab Soviet-style apartment complexes along grand boulevards, full of burdened locals who off-gas this ‘no fucks left to give’ vibe. It’s just so raw and real. And Czechia has that, and I dug it most.

But Prague’s got the iconic Astronomical Clock and the 14th century Karlův Bridge adorned with the super dark sculptures and there’s the funny narrow alley, and the Klementinum with the stunning Baroque library…and that stuff — as well as much else — is indeed good. But for me, it wasn't enough…’cause it was surrounded by so much cornball stuff. That said, Prague has this history of alchemy (due to Rudolf II), and IMO it is the saving grace; because the place is full of some dark / macabre heavy metal crap…and I think the tone / imaginativeness of said pseudoscience created the conditions for some amazing-yet-dark public art to take root.

You can’t talk art — as it concerns Prague — without acknowledging the creativity of David Černý. His sculptural contributions dot the city, and are conceptual bangers; most notably ‘Man Hanging Out’ which depicts Sigmund Freud (who was born in these parts) hanging from a bar over a street (as ode to one of Freud’s phobias; being the fear of his own death). This specific sculpture has the affect of seeming like the silhouette of an actual human hanging from a noose (like, if you have bad eyesight like I do), and it is really jarring when you come across it. Anyway, there’s loads of good Černý work in Prague and I’d encourage you to hunt it down should you visit. Now take a deep breath…

Nuselky Bridge is a seemingly ordinary bridge in Prague; y’now, just high up and concrete-y and sorta ubiquitous-looking. However, up to 300 people have taken their own life by jumping from the bridge since it was built in the 1970s. This is fundamentally very, very sad…and I am conflicted about including these types of things in the newsletter…but I’m making an exception because of the 'Of One's Own Volition' sculpture by Krištof Kintera under said bridge; a bent street light — where the lamp is always on and illuminated — and pointed upwards at the bridge (pictured below). Like, shinning up at it.

I don’t know what the artworks means — because I purposely didn’t read the artist statement about it — because sometimes it’s enough to just simply feel how art makes you feel, and then draw one’s own conclusion (be it right or wrong, accurate or not). And I just hope — naïve or not — that the sculpture would maybe help a distressed person feel seen and/or be a life-saving reminder that some light can proceed a moment of darkness (because everything is a season).

I’ve been lucky to have never lost anyone in my orbit to suicide, but I’ve lost more than a handful of people to overdoses…and I just wish my historical community — being the punk rock community — did a better job of looking out for people / not glorifying nihilism / not romanticizing being a junkie. Pain is real and life is strange, and these matters are beyond my understanding…but for what it’s worth, I know we all want you here.

FIELD NOTES: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY

Loose vibes, tight grip

Straight up, my two days in Budapest kicked my ass…and felt par for the course. Day one — the only sunny day I had this week — was a 38°C / 100°F scorcher, and the second day had 20 millimetres of rain; just a total soaker. And it felt very much like I was in Viktor Orbán’s Hungary…under a thumb that wasn’t my own.

The Marathon Earth Challenge is a strange project orchestrated by a weirdo (i.e. me) — and even through I’m at the reigns — I often find myself wondering why I voluntarily pay to go to some questionable places (because one’s dollar is one’s vote). Specifically, questioning why I go to non-democratic countries and/or the democratically-challenged countries I’ve hit this year (like Egypt, Türkiye, and Azerbaijan)…that are antithetical to my values. They’re all interesting to examine but sorta make you feel icky; Cairo’s got the heavy-handed military gats everywhere, Istanbul’s becoming less tolerant, and bananas Baku is straight ‘cult of personality’ autocracy. And I don’t know…I’m either too curious or too contradictory. Who knows? Not even me!

And yeah, I hit Hungary which the European Parliament says is no longer a democracy but now an electoral autocracy. And I knew this going in because I read the news, and know this because my brother lived there / went to law school in Budapest…which Orbán effectively shut down. Plus, Orbán himself is anti-gay and anti-race mixing, and stereotypically far right in all his positions…and therefore a darling of Conservatives. Like, even Tucker Carlson is his lapdog. And I think I go to these places to study how they become what they are, but mostly as this ‘stress test survey’ where I’m trying to determine how much people are willing to take / sacrifice in terms of their rights or the wellbeing of their neighbours…and for what in return? And what this ultimately says about us humanoids.

And you know what? Budapest is a pretty fucking rad city to visit…because devilish Orbán is an intelligent social engineer; he’s fine with letting us eat cake / get indulgent / be distracted by flashy or grand things…as he’s in the kitchen — and behind the scenes — cooking up structural changes (and incrementally tightening things like a slow strangle too imperceptible to notice until you blackout).

So everything in Budapest presents as superficially fine…and the illusion is compelling…like, if you didn’t know any better and/or are just there for a short while. Like, I bet a reach-around still feels good when you’re simultaneously being pickpocketed…and that’s the rub in Orbán’s Hungary.

But shit, Budapest does slap; there’s architectural grandeur-as-leftovers from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ruin bars in neglected buildings, an impressive central market, an underground labyrinth where Count Dracula aka Vlad the Impaler was once imprisoned, a church in a cave, and a train line completely operated by kids (no, I’m not kidding). Plus, many of the buildings are still bomb and bullet pockmarked from the Siege of Budapest.

I hit much of the aforementioned — excluding the children operating heavy machinery — and my fave thing was Memento Park, being a collection of statues from the communist dictatorship when Hungary was thirsty for the Soviet Bloc. I just love the scale and stylization of this Soviet shit; it’s so dramatic and exaggerated and angular and sexily macho (albeit toxic masculinity in practice due to the violence, and gaslighting snitch-ness). Furthermore, the park had the most mental gift shop full of vintage communist tchotchke for like pennies.

Anyhoo, Hungary has long been a place of invasion, occupation, repression, revolution, and traitorous collaboration (be it Nazi, communist or autocratic)…just consistent in its fucked-up-ness regardless of the ideology. And some Hungarians endorsed the aforementioned while others endured it as some opposed it. Apparently, as long as there’s things like big outdoor hot tubs for us to relax in, it seems like us humanoids are generally fine letting others drown…like, don’t tread on me…but it’s totally fine to tread on others.

Howeves, when the political culture is that fucked up, none of us can act surprised when it eventually fucks us (which it always does). So I pissed in visited the Széchenyi Thermal Bath in my final hour in Budapest, and bounced elsewhere.

Also, George Soros is from Budapest…and conspiracy theorists (being antisemites peddling that global Jewish cabal nonsense) love to hate him…despite being pretty silent ‘bout all things Koch. The irony!

FIELD NOTES: BERLIN, GERMANY

Everything served to you on a platter

There’s no better time to visit Berlin than now. It really is ‘place as parable’ in these times of populism and Putin and proxy wars. And that’s precisely why I dedicated one day to marathoning East Berlin, and another day to marathoning West Berlin…to straddle as well as criss-cross the scars of division and fragmentation and apathy and mistrust and the refusal to see other humans…as humans (aka humanity’s greatest folly).

Nazism, the Holocaust, the World Wars and the Cold War…they represent the worst of us but offer us the best ‘never again’ lessons on really duh things we shouldn’t repeat…lest we’re hellbent on our collective extinction (which I hope us doofuses aren’t). But if so, catch me in the metaverse? Like, that’s where us dead-body plebs will go...as the living billionaires blast off and upload themselves into outer space stations. FUN TIMES!

The subject matter in these German parts is dark and dense. And I think we’d like to believe the bad is dead…but ultranationalist extremism lingers here as does the spy craft. At least the latter makes for a good podcast series on occasion. And yo, I’m not singling out Germany, ‘cause Russia is allegedly trying to whack people in Czechia too.

But Berlin is a trip. And I have been coming here for decades, and have marathoned it lots over the years…and it sorta makes me feel like the laziest visitor because it just has everything imaginable at your fingertips; like history, politics, music, art, festivals…I could go on and on. And it is all like world-defining stuff. No half-stepping here (Ampelmännchen or not).

While Berlin is a contemporary powerhouse of culture, you just gotta hit all the historic stuff…to learn and reflect: there’s an OG chunk of The Wall (pictured below), the Brandenburg Gate, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and lots more.

My fave is Checkpoint Charlie (pictured above)…yes, sorta for the historical significance but more so because of the McDonalds beside it now. I really think this contemporary scene — akin to pop art politics — really speaks volumes about American foreign policy and American interests; you become our ally, and get McDick’d in the end. I’m honestly surprised that Checkpoint Charlie hasn’t been turned into some contactless payment Amazon hub at this point…but hey, anything is possible when everything is up for grabs!

Heavy trips are important to do from time to time — just to expand one’s perspective / come to grips with the stranglehold of reality — but no one wants a total shite trip either…luckily, Berlin offers the best of both worlds, like of all worlds.

I’m always gobsmacked by the wheat paste posters promoting all the cultural programming there; it’s the newest and the coolest music concerts, crazily niche book and film festivals, the emerging avant-garde art stuff, the heavy-hitter legacy artist stuff, etc. The shit over here is thinking person’s stuff…all killer, no filler.

Me? I really fart around with the whacky stuff while in Berlin; I swing by the crazy-ass squats, forever love the airport-turned-public-park, go to off-beat museums, etc. The whole place — excluding Mitte — is just this super dirty, covered-in-graffiti wonderland of creative offerings and döner kebobs. It doesn’t even matter if you lack plans — or find Berlin confusing (which it is…’cause it was physically divided for so long) because you’ll inevitably bump into dope stuff. Like, I unintentionally came across General Idea’s AIDS Sculpture on this visit. And architecturally, no visit for me is complete without getting up-close to the Fernsehturm…or marvelling at the sci-fi futurism of the Bierpinsel (pictured below).

Really though, I dig the cool AF young people in Berlin; be they locals or transplants; now looking like Neo from The Matrix in black black black Rick Owens garb with the ironic Oakley shades and the crop tops and the baggy pants and the ‘90s leather coats. Old creatives — like those who never cut it as real artists / made the splash they hoped they would — like to dunk on the young freaks in Berlin…and I never understood why.

I love that Berlin is — and hopefully always will be — a messy Mecca for makers; trustfunders or otherwise. And I love the insanity of the young people there who are like, “Yes, I make noise music and live in a squat with my theatre troupe and do ‘stick and poke’ tattoos out of a dumpster and just walked a Demna Gvasalia show in Milan, yada yada.”

It is all so ridiculous, and that is what it is to be young; unapologetically untethered from the bogusness of adulthood. It has never been easy to be a young artist — like, the Toronto scene just took a massive hit — so I’ll forever be glad that Berlin exists. It really does offer us so many lessons — and warnings — about culture. And me loves all the public washrooms there too. Flush!

BEST LOCAL THING-Y

Dried rhubarb…in trail mix? The Seeberger packaging on the shelf in the German grocery store caught my eye, and not ‘cause of the merits of its graphic design…but because of the enlarged ‘detail photo of rhubarb’ on it.

When I’m on the road, I eat a lot of trail mix (so I don’t wither)…like, anywhere from 200-300 grams a day because it is an easy way to get 1,000-2,500 calories into my system; be it for breakfast or late-night dinners in airports — or at my accommodations — when everything is closed.

Basically, trail mix is super clutch for me; it is calorie / nutrient dense, satiates me, doesn’t require cooking / can be eaten right outta the bag, it’s shelf-stable, something I can eat in the heat or rain, something I can fit in my backpack, and something that doesn’t get crushed in my backpack. The functionality of it is second to none.

Now If you buy the stuff from bougie places in North America, it’s always a fortune. However, us cheap-asses know you can always find it for pennies on the dollar in Middle Eastern grocery stores. Anyway, I eat loads of trail mix…so I’m like a connoisseur of the stuff…and I have never ever before come across a mix with rhubarb in it!

This specific 150 gram bag of Seeberger trail mix was only $3 USD, and had peanuts, banana pieces, blanched almonds, dried physalis, dried cranberries, and the dried rhubarb…and it was amazing. Most of the mix was pretty stock…but the inclusion of atypical rhubarb made it notable; adding a sour / tangy sweetness to things, with the dried rhubarb chunks having this texture that was in-between a dried date / jujube / Twizzler. It was so good that I automatically emailed a CEO I know at a dried fruit / nut mix making company back in Canada…and begged her to start using rhubarb, LOL.

Also, I’d encourage any visitor to Germany to hit the mainstream grocery stores there (I like the Rewe chain). The food is real, there are sooo many healthy options, and much of the packaging is innovative in how environmentally friendly it is. Basically, Germans prolly wince if they have to shop in North American grocery stores…they’re junkier and more wasteful in comparison.

POBJOY'S GLOBAL PRICE INDEX

This is an on-going documentation of how much things cost in different places around the world. Here are some of the things I bought in Prague, Budapest, and Berlin (all prices converted to USD):

• A single 43 minute-long public transit bus / subway ride from Václav Havel Airport Prague to the city centre: $1.81

• A single 34 minute-long public transit bus ride from Budapest Ferenc Liszt Airport to the city centre: $6.31

• A single late-night 50 minute taxi cab ride from Berlin Brandenburg Airport to the city centre…so my Airbnb host wouldn’t kill me at midnight (he was home, and I was staying in his spare room): $81.77 (ouch)

MARATHON MUSINGS

On the repetition of ignored lessons and/or ouroboros eating itself to death

How much would I be willing to take? And what would compel me to rebel…like, if I could even muster the courage? In Europe — especially now — I find myself thinking ‘bout variations of these questions as I marathon places where war once broke out, genocide happened or repressive regimes took hold (be it Nazi, communist or autocratic)…as war / invasion grips Ukraine today.

And I think we’d like to believe we’d each be the righteously defiant outlier on the right side of history…but history is a skipping record of Holocaust, Apartheid, and unspeakable horrors of that ilk…where the masses are often obedient / apathetic, and let atrocities happen over and over again. It’s bleak…but when push comes to shove, it seems us humanoids will indirectly shove others off a cliff…like, if it extends the chances of one’s own self-preservation.

Yes, regime change can happen overnight…but warnings always predate it; because hell comes into view as storm clouds on the horizon…long before the thunderous terror strikes. And yes, some support it, some fight it, some flee it, and some are just frozen by it (this NYT piece about rape and trauma reframed how I think about our response to horror). And all of it is unthinkable madness.

Anyway, I recently read that America has forked out $113 billion USD for its proxy war in Ukraine…which is just a staggering amount…and unsurprising since America has been at war for 93.5% of its existence.

And I guess what I’m getting at, is that history demonstrates that singular political leaders / political parties / political movements are the entities that usher in chaos; which generally affects us masses more than them (because they’re often in ivory towers).

As such, I have a conceptual proposal — for a new international law — that I think would yield less war and more peace; those who get us into war (i.e. political leaders and the members of political parties / political movements that support it) have to immediately go to the front line of the conflict where they must be joined by every member of their family (i.e. spouse, kids, parents, siblings)…with no special protections…as the bullets and bombs wizz by ‘em, and rip into ‘em.

To date, the architects of aggression rarely suffer the brunt of their actions…and if they did, I’m sure things would be a lot better for the majority of us.

As-salamu alaykum…as a behaviour, not a sign-off.

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