American travels to Kurdistan (Iraq )
What is going on guys? And welcome back to our next video and I'm very excited because I'm actually at the airport probably a bit of Deja vu if you've been watching the channel since when I first left to Lebanon two months ago here again, with my dad saying, bye to him I'm gonna be, heading over to a country so I'm not gonna reveal where I'm going until the very end of this video so stick around and let's do it! Dad, love you. Love you, man! Be good, be careful. Alright, I'll see you later! Be safe. Alright, maybe I am gonna tell you guys where I'm going. So, I went to check in and I was like-- She was like, Where are you going? What city? I was like Erbil, she was like Oh, where? and then so, I was like Erbil, Iraq. I was like I'm probably the first person to ever fly from Milwaukee to there or one of the only. She's like I've never once in the time I've worked here, which it sounded like for many years, had someone fly here so I thought that was really funny and so now I have my boarding passes and I'll fill you guys in on the way if there's anything exciting going on but um, got a stopover in Philly then Doha, Qatar, and then Erbil. So, it's about 2 p.m. now or about 12 p.m. now and then
I'll be there at 8:45 p.m. if there's no delays. So, let's go ahead and do it. So, this airport is just one of three stops we're gonna be doing. It's pretty quiet here as you can see the airport is quite empty and there are not that many flights coming in and out of here I'm pretty like anxiously excited to get there because there's going to be like you know like an American going there it's just gonna be like a once in a not so common time experience to go there. So, I'm ready to change perceptions on this place and show you guys.
Alright, guys so just to recap on the story. So, I got my boarding passes I have one from Milwaukee to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to Doha, Doha to Erbil, and it was funny like the lady said I'm literally like the first person in her entire career to fly from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Erbil, Iraq so… that's, uh, that part I had to laugh but it's also what I expected like on the drive here I was telling my dad I was like I bet I'm gonna be like the first person that's ever flown this route so like basically I wanted to share like my expectations of what I think it's gonna be like because places are always so much different than I perceive and you know that happened in Lebanon the last place that I was just at where you know I had no idea what to expect I had seen so many things in the media and it ended up being one of my most favorite countries of all time and I heard Iraq in general has like some of the most kindest people, the most hospitable people so it's gonna give Lebanon some competition here. I don't really know fully what to expect but what I did hear is that Erbil is a pretty modern city. One guy who's from there, an Iraqi American, told me that it's basically like the Dubai of Iraq so I was like that's pretty sweet because that means it's super modern and they say Kurdistan in general is quite safe I think I saw a blog post of it, a tourist hasn't been killed since, uh, 2005, so hopefully that stays that way yeah it seems like there's night life there there's a lot of cool markets we've got a great itinerary we're gonna be doing so much over the next like couple of weeks that I'm over there 10 weeks-- 10 days to two weeks I don't really know how long maybe longer we'll see. I am just really excited because it's you know a place that's always been kind of a destination I would never consider going when I was growing up because you know the war and the perceptions and you know I created this channel to change perceptions of the world and I have a friend Yad, who I'm meeting out there and my buddy Uptin, as well but Yad, it's actually, his family-- His dad's from Kurdistan. So, cool part is I'm gonna know--
He knows Kurdish so we're gonna go and explore together which is gonna be great and so I'm not really too scared about it like yeah obviously going to a new country one of those, uh, misconceptions from the past they sit in the back of my mind but I'm more excited than anything right now. If anything, I'm just they gave him the visa on arrival and It was quick and easy so… I'm hoping it's gonna be easy as easy for me but that's like 24 hours from now so until then I'm gonna enjoy a nice Asiago and cheese sausage egg and cheese specifically, bagel it's like my go-to. Whenever, I'm at the Milwaukee airport or pretty much any airport in the morning is to get these because it's so good the go-to breakfast food so definitely stick around for this series it's probably gonna be like 20 or 30 videos depending on how long I stay so, it's going to be really good content it's gonna be content you've never seen before because not that many people have traveled to this destination so I'm ready to meet the locals I'm ready to try the food go to the markets check out all the places that may be used to be way too dangerous to visit and now they are an absolute tourist attraction, a cool place, a lot of history, a lot of things going on there. So, looking forward to showing you, uh, all around the country and, uh, will see you later on, once we get over.
So, guys fast forward about six hours later I have just made around to my second flight which is from Philly to Doha, Qatar, so that's gonna be probably like a 13-hour flight and then after that I got like a 1-hour layover and then we'll be heading over to Erbil so still got quite a ways away but the good news is- is I can usually sleep on planes so hopefully I can get some, uh, shut eye and get some videos edited and that'll get us through the flight here quickly but, uh, we're on a pretty big plane here Qatar Plane not a-- not a double decker but as you can see look at that wingspan it is a big boy! It's gotta be able to fit like I don't know maybe three, four hundred passengers so it's gonna be a full flight today I can tell for sure so we'll see once we get over there. Alright, we've got another flight done about 13 hours later and it wasn't too bad actually a little tired but it's got about a one-hour layover and then Erbil is gonna be the next flight so smooth ride. Now, we're in Qatar. Let's do it. This was probably the easiest gate transfer I’ve ever had I got off this gate right back there just gotta take like 20 steps over here and we've got the gate for Erbil right here looks like we're arriving a little early then (Gate agent speaking) Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you. Have a pleasant flight. Alright, here we go heading to Erbil
now I think this last flight's just maybe an hour or two so not too bad. Alright boarded the last and final flight after a very, very long journey so finally, gonna be making it over to Erbil ready to finally be there we’re gonna arrive somewhere around like 9 p.m. so we'll see you on the other side. Just made it into the jet bridge of the Erbil airport you can already tell it's gonna be a hot place to be exploring because you can feel the humidity here in the jet bridge. So, we'll cruise through and, uh, show you
once we get there. Possibly how much is it to go to Ankawa my friend just took one like 20 minutes ago, and it was $17. Small car? Yeah, small car is fine, yeah. Just one person. (speaking foreign language) Alright guys we have just made it outside of the airport here in Kurdistan we're heading with, uh, what's your name? Alo. Alo? Nice to meet you, Alo! (Speaking Foreign language) Alright! So, it was a pretty easy process to get into, um, or to enter through the Erbil airport and get through customs.
Basically, as soon as you get off the Plane, you go to the customs area and there's a separate counter for the visas you go up to the visa. They ask you what you do for work, I told them I'm a youtuber they-- I paid 70 US dollars stamped it and then basically walked through I don't have any checked baggage so then I just had to put my carry-on bags through a scanner they looked at it they said good to go walked outside grabbed a taxi, agreed on the price and uh, yeah it was honestly like a 10-minute process, super simple and, uh, now we're heading over to the Hotel. Yad is unfortunately not here because he ran into some troubles which will, uh, we'll share with you later but he had to- he had to head out a little bit quicker than planned so yeah, now we're, uh, we're heading over to the hotel I think it's maybe like 15 minutes away or so I think Yad told me that so we're cruising there now. Oh, we got the, uh, the belt. Well, funny enough I thought yeah I thought- I thought the radio just beeped for me to like put my seatbelt on that's what I thought it was and then I looked down and the- the seat belts are completely covered so I guess I don't have the option to, uh, wear my seatbelt right now. Alright!
Well, that's good to know. So, yeah, we gotta get some Kurdish music on and you'll dance? Alo knows- Alo does Kurdish dances, yeah (Speaking Foreign Language) Bro! So, guys as they say welcome to Erbil, we are here it is nice and lit up the last middle eastern place I was at was in Lebanon and there was not this much electricity. So, it is a different experience from that perspective. I know we're pretty close to the hotel because I remember seeing on the map the first thing that popped up was KFC when uh, when Yad was telling me where to go and yeah, it seems like there's a lot of stuff going on down here. Erbil sports center on this side. Yeah, looks like everything's lit up must be, uh, a place for night owls out here. Ghazali street, oh I think someone recommended that to me.
Oh, yeah, we're gonna- we're gonna be busy checking this place out. I have a feeling I'm gonna enjoy it. So, we've got- we've got my man up here Alo. He's, uh, he's hooking it up with, taught me some Kurdish dance moves already and, taking- taking me for a little cruise to the city and the traffic here I will say is like it's so much more chill and calm compared to Lebanon where people are a bit all over the road which I enjoy both types. Don't get me
wrong. But it's definitely different. Well, that answers that question they definitely sell a lot of alcohol here they have a huge Absolut sign over there. What else do we recognize out here? Oh, there's an Ikea sign. You guys are pretty familiar with Ikea I'm sure around the world.
Uh, Lavazza. If that's how you even say it. Well, I thought that was Malak al Tawouk for a second, I was about to say, No, way! Oh, it's so cool to be here. I love the exhilaration of arriving to a new place especially a place that's so far outside of my usual comfort zone. Oh, they like their booze here another- another massive Absolut sign. This place is happening. Oh, they've got shawarma there, oh ho, yeah.
Kebab there. Oh, yeah this is the place to be. That looks like some delicious food. (Speaking foreign language) (Speaking foreign language) (Speaking foreign language) (Speaking foreign language) (Speaking foreign language) Uh, you lost me there I only know (Speaking foreign language) (Speaking foreign language) uh, I don't know No, I don't know. No understand. A little Kurdish but a little Arabic. (Speaking foreign language) (Speaking foreign language) (Speaking foreign language) (Speaking foreign language) Uh, Lebanon. Lebanon
(Speaking foreign language) (Speaking foreign language) (Speaking foreign language) Oh, you lost me there you lost me there my Arabic’s gotten a little bit rusty since I was in Lebanon. Although, I could only get by with a little bit but of course the dialect is gonna be different here so it's gonna be more challenging for me to communicate. Alright, we've arrived to the hotel yeah. Yeah, money's in the bag money-- my money. Alright Alright, let me grab it out of here get some cash out of there. Alright,
US dollars good? Yeah? Alright I gotta- I gotta practice my Kurdish here. I'm gonna say, (Speaking foreign language) (Speaking foreign language) Thank you, yeah, thank you, yeah, thank you very much! (Speaking foreign language) (Speaking foreign language) Take care! Hello, Salaam Alaikum (Peace be upon you) . Salaam Alaikum (Peace be upon you). Thank you. Alright, we have arrived to the hotel. We're at the, uh, we're at the Ankawa Hotel. What's your name? We've got, uh, Arifo, Yes, Perfect! Arifo, Nice to meet you.
So, this is the place, yeah, it smells good in here. Yeah Hello! How are you? I'm staying with Yad Sharef. Yes, uh, Yeah, hello. Alright, we had a nice easy check in here. Here's the, uh, the space, the layout. We've got our man taking us up getting us, uh, getting us up to the room Alright, sweet. Here we go! I must say the difference here is, uh, in Lebanon there wasn't much power so you sometimes had to take the stairs as soon as you walk into the elevator. So, it's a nice break. You speak, uh, English, Arifo? Yes. Yes? Uh, perfect, perfect. So, how long
have you worked here? I'm here in six years. A year and six years- six months? Six years. Oh, six years. Yeah, alright Sweet, sweet. It's my first time here in Kurdistan. Welcome. Yeah, thank you- thank you. I'm learning some words here one of them is uh, (Speaking foreign language) Yeah, its like uh. Hello, how are you? Alright, so we've got- we've got Yad in one of these
rooms right now. Mr. Yad Ventures. This is the one. Is this, uh, Mr. Yad Venture's room? Yo! What's up brother? How are you doing? I wanted to get -- Yeah, I know. I got one though, bro! Yeah, how are you doing? We've made it. This is- this is the casa Sweet bro, sweet, sweet. Hell yeah. Oh, nice got the double rooms.
Hey, bro! I only got one single on me right now bro, but, uh, that's all I got right now for small change. Is there anything else? Oh, right now, I think I'm all right. Thank you very much! So, after the excitement guys, I wanna introduce, Yad, who you have probably seen in my videos if you- if you've been around since the Dubai days and, uh, Yad and I chilled together for a solid month together we explored all over Dubai probably like what 20, 30 different activities in the town. We, you know, smoked shisha one of the best places CZN Burak. He became local basically
Yeah. He's no longer the American lad. Yeah, exactly so. And now he's in my country. Yup, yup, yeah, it's originally from you haven’t been back in like 17 years. Yeah, so it's been a while. So, it's like almost as much of a tour as it is for me as it is for him you know. Sure. He just speaks a little more Kurdish than I Do. Yeah, but you guys heard me earlier trying out a couple alright, I'm forgetting it now (Speaking foreign language) How do you say hello? (Speaking foreign language) (Speaking foreign language) Yeah, yeah. So, I'm gonna practice that
by the end of these-- This vlog series and I'm gonna be speaking at least 30 or 40 words. Easy, Easy, yeah. so I'm gonna give you guys the room tour where we're staying. So, we have a two bedroom here it's got what is it probably like a king-sized bed almost. Yeah, a huge bedroom, got the TV. In here we've got the other bedroom and, uh, we've got the bathroom over here, nice shower yeah, modern place, you know, with the, uh, Kurdish feel to it we've got a couch desk to, uh, work at if we need to.
We got a balcony looking out to a couple bars so this must be a party place out here. Seems like there's like a little secret balcony down there too got a chair sitting over there. So, pretty sweet spot. We might do a cruise around the town
tonight, too. So, give you guys the initial first reactions of being here in Erbil Kurdistani Iraq. So, excited to be here this is gonna be such a fun next 10- 12 days who knows how long we'll end up staying. But the current plan is probably till like the 13th of October maybe the 15th So, stay tuned because we're gonna have so much content coming. Alright, guys! Well, forget the jet lag because we're not gonna let any night go to waste Yad and I are gonna head out and go walk around outside here. Maybe get something to eat and just kinda get an idea of
first impressions of this place. We're gonna do more of a full first impressions video in probably the next video after this but this will just kind of go with the, uh, hotel cruise - initial arrival here and see what's in our neighborhood for the next couple days. 10:23 so we're walking down here and it's still pretty lively on a Sunday night here. So, it is nice to see power everywhere
definitely something I did not see as often in Lebanon. Oh, is that a money exchange should I go there to swap some money out? Yeah, see how much you get. Yeah, sweet Yeah, I need to swap some of these US dollars for some Dinar, Dinar? Dinar. Hello! Uh, can I do 50, bro? Yeah, what's the, uh, the rate? (Speaking foreign language) Uh, perfect. Thank you very much. Alright, so these are my, uh, first Dinars. So, just changed out fifty for I don't even-- I honestly don't even know how much- how much is that supposed to be. like hundred-- A couple hundred thousand
something like that so we're going to see if we can find a sim card now. Alright, it didn't take long to find a, uh, cell shop and the nice part yeah, it's a Sunday and things are still open at 10 p.m. so that makes it easy for us. Hello. Hello. Hi. (Speaking foreign language) Okay, you can speak English.
Yeah, perfect I need to get a sim card. Yes, I'll be here for the next like 10 days or so. Okay. And maybe—you’ll use it it for internet or for calls? Uh, mainly internet, yeah. So, like 20, 30 gigs. Okay. What's the best one? Fastlink.
4g yeah. 4g oh. You can use it Oh. For internet Perfect, perfect. And you have three gigabyte inside free. Three- three. Then you can charge it when the three gigabyte finishes. How do I-- How do I just because-- How do I put like 30 gigs on because I go through like 10 gigs a day? Okay, now you have three giga for free. When you finish it you can recharge it again. You can recharge 18,000 the Iraqi Dinar. Yeah. And get one month unlimited Internet. Oh, perfect. Okay? Sweet. And then do I come back here to recharge it?
Okay, anytime. Yeah, all right. I don't have recharge but I will tell you where to go. Okay, perfect- perfect. You have the phone with you? Yep. How much is the, uh, card? Eight thousand. Eight thousand alright. So, are you from Erbil? No, I'm from Syria actually. From Syria? Nice, Damascus? Aleppo, you know. Aleppo, yeah that's the
northern part. Yeah, yeah, yeah nice. I wanna visit there actually. Yeah, I was just in Lebanon so I met a lot of people from there. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Really nice people. Thanks. So, guys I was able to get a sim card here right away, uh, luckily our man-- What's your name? Adnan. Adnan hooked us up. It's you know it's 10 30 p.m. and he's, uh, still- still
hooking us up with sim card. So, 8,000 Iraqi dinar which is about $5.48. That gets us three gigs and then I use so much data though that I'm gonna need to get more so he's telling me an unlimited bundle for one month will cost about eighteen thousand Iraqi dinar which is Like twelve dollars. Twelve dollars, yeah. Twelve dollars for unlimited data which is great, so like when I use my international plan I can easily spend like way more than that in a month and it throttles me after 22 gigs. So, it's always better if you can go ahead and get a local sim card because in most places you're going to be able to save a lot of money doing that. Adnan is actually gonna take us over to the spot we need to go in order to get a refill so. See, that supermarket there go to that outside There, there. Yeah, yeah. Go there!
Okay. Yeah, sweet, sweet. We'll be right back. I'll leave that with you now. I heard the hospitality is nice and our- our man Adnan was gonna walk us over. He already get us set up on the unlimited package so. We need that, we need the juice. We do. We need the juice. Badly, we're running those hot spots all the time and a bunch of videos I gotta upload for you guys. So, I think this is our guy.
Hello. Internet here with a 15,000. FastLink. Yes. One? Two? Two. Please. I'm sorry I have just one. Just one? Can you take one for now? Okay, one for now. Alright, there we go. Thank you. Thank you. Do you know any other shop in this area?
Shop for Fastlink? Yes. Yeah. Sweet that's Fastlink right there. So, spent about $17 total and we have unlimited data and hopefully that includes hotspot because that's like the main reason I got it because I have so much video like I was just telling you guys and it's easy. Once you have the Fastlink downloaded you can buy one of these cards to refill it pretty much anywhere and then you just like type the code in after you scratch it off and then you're able to refill it so now I have a month's data. So, what happened there, we got invited for a tea already? No, I just said to him you know where I'm from actually, Kurdish. He was like what are you doing, sit down have tea. Yeah. His uncle also lives in the UK. He is like where in the UK? Oh, yeah, yeah. It's just a Kurdish thing someone offers you to sit
down you have to sit down. I love it, love it. Have a cup of tea- a cup of Kurdish tea. Kurdish tea is a big thing. Oh, yeah, it's good stuff. Is it the caffeinated stuff? No, it's caffeinated yeah. Oh, so it's gonna be getting us going then. Yeah, yeah. The night's young, yeah, yeah exactly. I gotta get out my dictionary one more time here. What is it, uh? (Speaking foreign language) Alright, so we got-- we got some tea here I can sit (Speaking foreign language) What's your name? Omar. Omar, the man. Oh, so we've got some
waters here too. Ah, thank you so much. It's very kind of you. (Speaking foreign language) Uhh, Alright, let's try a little, uh, I like-- I like how they, uh, serve the water in here it's like- it's almost like a juice box here. And, uh, I'm gonna set you guys down here. It's almost like a, uh, it's almost like a pudding cup. Popping it open. Oh, that is good. Got some tea here maybe I’ll cool it down just a little bit.
Oh, that's good. (Speaking Foreign Language) Bye, brother. Take care. See you later. Alright, did a little phone shopping sim card shopping, and, yeah. So, we're walking past our hotel again guys. I didn't say it when we were walking it's the Ankawa Royal Hotel as you can see there's some live music going on there so it's a bit of a party. Now, we're walking past it this way
because we're gonna check out the area see if it's a little more popping over here we took care of some of the necessities got the sim card and I got some money exchanged so some of the basics- basic things to keep us going. Hopefully, you can see me right now because it is a little dark. Alright so we're walking on the next street here looks like they've got a bunch of barbers you best believe this week one of the videos that'll be coming out we'll be getting a, uh, Kurdistani haircut. I wanna see how they do ‘em here and see how much they are. So, we just did a little cruise down this way looks like, uh, this is a street with markets. We've got a couple butcher shops over here with some fresh meat looks pretty good and then a lot of fresh fruit over here lots and lots oh yeah gonna have to stop by there, later and get some but other than that it is a little bit late on Sunday like 10:45 maybe 11-ish now maybe a little past 11 and so now it's gonna be time to we'll probably head back to the hotel check out the vibe over there get some food and get ourselves refreshed because tomorrow is gonna be a big day of exploring Erbil so we're gonna have a lot of content coming out for you guys.
We're getting back to the hotel and yeah it is popping off right now guys Oh My God! Going there? Alright, guys I'm probably gonna put the camera away for tonight. We'll have so many more videos coming out so make sure, you guys hit that subscribe button if you haven't already because this is probably gonna be like a 10, 20 maybe even 25. I don't wanna say 30 but a pretty large series of videos. So, I can't wait to share more of this side of the world with you guys so hit that like button if you've enjoyed this one and we will see you guys tomorrow in the next video.
2021-10-13 19:46
