■ Been on Rhodos this week visiting some old friends we all met on the channel last year. This was the owner of the shop I bought the Achilles Bronze Helmet from. He's been in this business since he was 16 when he started working in his father's shop. He was ecstatic over the high volume of you viewers who'd come to his shop to buy vases and bronze helmet replicas of ancient Greek artifacts this past year.
He said he wanted to write me a thank you letter on a number of occasions but didn't know how. He said Brits in particular had come in droves but also Norwegians, Germans and Americans. Even a couple of Pesky Swedes!
He said he simply didn't believe that so many customers could come from some video on the internet as this was not really his realm. Now he was a believer though. He even invited me to stay at an apartment he owns for free.
Again it was incredibly hard not to buy everything in his shop but after 1 hour + browsing his shelves, even picking a vase to get, I settled on this stone carving, which is an immaculate copy of a famous Athenian potterer named Exekias' greatest work, called 'Dice-Players', made 2500 years ago.
I instantly recognized the motif from a book I've been reading about Classical Greece and inquired about purchasing it. He said a number of people had done so over the years but he'd denied all sales as he loved it so much and the artist is now dead so he can't get a replacement.
He was happy for someone he respects to purchase it though so we came to an agreement.
Can't wait to add it to the shrine where the bronze helmet from last year resides ⚔️
The video I made from his shop last year is this one: https://youtu.be/cEsw7C-t7-w
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■ The Muk Muk Lady says hello 🐙 (picture 3 & 4) and is thankful many of you have visited the floating house since the video. This was the last photo from there as I was leaving by boat back to Cat Ba island. Here is the video for those who haven't seen it: https://youtu.be/Fsgwcw2D-eI
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■ My last day in Vietnam, I swung by Văn Tribal Art, where I bought the old earrings and ancient money bars, to see the owner for the first time since the antiques shopping spree. She said many of you had visited to buy lots of things and she was very grateful for the video. She also promised to look into selling unique peace pipes (top request from you viewers).
She just have to find a place to procure them first. I suggested the old Dragon Peace Pipe vendor in Sa Pa could help with that. Looking forward to going shopping there again some day in the future.
Here's the video with her: https://youtu.be/Rk4z49Yh0xU?si 🎬
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■ Not only did she come up with the name, she handpicked the wardrobe too! Lilly is numero uno makeover artist and a certified legend: https://youtu.be/efwmwH77n8s 🎬
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■ NEWS: I am uploading a third version of the village stay in Sa Pa as I type this. For those of you who have been reading these updates and comments underneath them, I’ll give you some thoughts.
First of all vids getting in trouble after uploading is nothing new. Videos get set in limited state and/or 18+ & demonetised/copyrighted for music all the time. I mentioned it happened in Mexico when I drank from a clay figure shaped as a voluptuous hottie. It also happened with my original Cobra video 5 years ago just to name two vids you may know.
The Mexico one was same day. The cobra vid out of nowhere 6 months later as suddenly it was graphic , algorithm stopped pushing it completely and vid went from couple of thousand views per day to under 100 and of course no ads despite it having done well and had no problems up until then.
Neither of those times (nor any other of about a dozen I can recall) did I bother to take vid down and re-upload. I just accepted it and moved on to next vid.
That’s what I would’ve done now also the very first time it happened.
The only reason I haven’t done so is that this is a video that has the potential to do a world of good for the family we’re trying to help and maybe even the region they live in and Sa Pa itself. (A big vid showcasing a unique experience like this can attract thousands to visit a place)
So no, this has nothing to do with me being upset one of my vids don’t have ads (as some of you claim). That happens all the time and I am probably the only YouTuber you know who would ever upload controversial vids without even trying to put ads in the first place and knowing said vids will cause many to hate me and even lead to loss of future income.
Both my first CopperCab vid and my Helicopter hog hunt vids I uploaded knowing I could not put ads on either of them.
I also knew both would create s shitstrom, get me tons of hate and mean some people leaving. Simon my friend even said No way! You can’t upload that! (Helicopter vid)
I said: watch me and have kept vid up ever since.
As I’ve said in other posts if you don’t have ads on a vid YouTube will not push it like it does other vids and with 18+ label there is no way it will ever be in search when normal tourists search for homestay in Sa Pa or even Vietnam videos.
Some of you subscribers will see it but that’s it.
It is very hard to create buzz and drive business in the direction of entrepreneurs or organisations but we’ve done it here countless times with:
Oberdan (Rio ice cream vendor from Favela),
Cyrus (Peru street vendor & guide),
Martina (Florence guide),
Sunil (hundreds of thousands raised for his cancer foundation and 170+ kids given treatment & help)
Kumar (taxi driver in Nepal who now lives in a 5 story mansion)
many restaurants, hotels, barbers, Masai tribe, even pork lady in Vietnam who wanted my photo the other day and showed me our original vid from 5 years ago
Each one of the individuals above got a huge boost from viral videos with them in it and Oberdan have said many times since, that his life changed ever since he meet this man in his posts on Instagram where he posts photos of me and him together when we walked around with the ice cream van that time.
I know how to do this and we HAD a big chance to do that again here with Mama Zee (although I personally think that chance has now flown by due to this community guidelines debacle which truly killed what by now would've been momentum of the first vid and for reasons I've explained in previous posts can't be replicated with re-uploads).
However for at least some attention to come her way, it does require that the main vid with her, which will always be the first one, gets reach outside my normal subscriber base, shows in search and is pushed by YouTube to travellers and potential visitors to Vietnam.
And that can only be done if it’s in good standing and have ads. That’s YouTube and I generally don’t have an issue with that obviously. Every company is run for what pays the bills. (those of you saying post on so and so platform aren't actually reading what I've been writing. Only here on YouTube can I create a buzz around a destination or individual enough for it to make a substantial difference in their life)
Now YouTube itself is being incredibly difficult, vague and troublesome with this particular video. I honestly didn’t expect any issues at all as I edited first one seeing as I blurred whatever could be seen as mildly controversial (preparing a chicken the way most of the world still does).However plants growing in a field, me referring to roosters by what they are actually called, BBQed pig’s head about to be eaten, more plants, intestines being eaten by ducks, intestines being cleaned, blood soup on a dinner table and on and on….
The potential issues with this vid now that I’ve heard all of your suggestions (plus the 3 YouTube gave themselves on the first vid), it’s absolutely insane what is deemed offensive and 18+ these days.
So this vid, 3rd attempt, is so watered down and bad compared to the first one (which I also thought too watered down already) it is outright embarrassing! It’s tragic the benign stuff I’ve had to cut entirely out from what is nothing but a leisurely walk up a mountain to a chicken dinner.
But we try again!
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■ The market prices may be a bit of an outrage but the cost of a beer is not. Met up with two long time viewers yesterday (great guys) and had 14 beers in a bar with a balcony 🍺 Total Price: $16 US! If you haven't seen the latest market hunt yet, it's an outrage: https://youtu.be/bux1dV3xwpI 💰
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Northman with a penchant for history, freedom and travel