FINALLY IN BAGHDAD IRAQ | S05 EP.26 | PAKISTAN TO SAUDI ARABIA MOTORCYCLE
Patience, guys. I'm just parking the motorcycle. Assalam Alekum Everyone and Welcome Back to the Channel from Karbala. I have been here for 3 nights. I also made a vlog about Karbala which I hope you must have liked. Today we are gonna say farewell to Karbala and move on to Baghdad. The Capital of Iraq.
Almost 130 km from here. The ETA is 2.5 hours. The roads are good so we can go fast. But we might have to stop at check posts.
Going through ... And the check posts can get us delayed. But we have plenty of time. So we can hope to reach there before evening. I have already found a hotel. Pray that it actually turns out to be a smooth day. The motorcycle is ready.
Time to leave. By the way, the name of this hotel is Hotel Al-Qasar. And if I can just show it that over here it's the shrine area. So lets take the name of Allah and leave. I hope our GoPro is actually recording something now. I have already gone a few kilometers before noticing that the GoPro was stuck. And I thought I was recording all this time.
The road is clear. Bismillah ... In the name of Allah. * Prayer for the journey * I pray that all of us have a good day ahead. Farewell Karbala. But before that I like to pay homage to Imam Hussein (AS) ... mine and yours.
I hope I have come up to your expectations. 101 km to go ...! Google showed me it's gonna be 120. I think that's because Google is trying to take us from the other way.
We have almost crossed the city center. That's where I thought I was recording but my GoPro disagreed. Sometimes it does happen that after a full day's recording, I come home, only to discover that there's no audio. It makes my job as editor really tough in terms of shot selection. But it's a part of this moto vlogging game. Sometimes the camera just shuts off and you are not aware of that.
There's not much that you can do about that. It was really cold last night .... About 4 degrees Celsius. I mean I don't get it ... It used to be quite warm here in this part of the year.
I broke a sweat while packing my stuff on the motorcycle. Now that I'm riding the motorcycle ... I'm feeling cold. Lets see ... I'll wear my jacket if it keeps getting cold.
What place is this ... Beautiful. Looks like a university. Indeed it is. A Women University. Assalam Alekum Baghdad. Baghdad.
Iraqi people are super friendly. I'm having a delightful experience here. I hope we are on the right track.
Out of the city now. You can see that we have just gone on for a few kilometers .. There are almost half a dozen bigger Army check posts; with snipers and everything. And what was the name of that giant gun they were holding .. AK47 ...? It's a very sensitive locality, hence the high security.
The size of security units show that there must be someone really important in the car. Then there are more cars. You can see the presence of Police here. We've been on the road for quite some time .. Rangeeli doesn't have much fuel. So, we need to find a petrol station real soon. We can still reach Baghdad .. but it's better to keep an eye on your fuel level.
By the way, the motorcycle is performing superbly. Evil eye off. With your love and care, I pray for it to keep going. I think, like myself, Rangeeli is also charged after a spiritual experience in the holy city of Karbala. Go Rangeeli! You can see that there's too much traffic on the check post on the other side. Because that's the road to Karbala.
O ... Good God ... Apparently there's some special Army protocol going on. It's really jammed. Just look at that ... I hope everything's alright. The vehicles on the other side standing in a rather long queue. So many people are coming to Karbala. Even the shrines were so full of people ..
But today it is much more crowded. That's such a long queue. It's gonna take at least a couple of hours. These are two check posts in a row.
Army is on duty today. Just keep watching the enormous traffic jam on the other side. It must be about a 1.5 km section. I wonder if it stayed like this into the evening. Incoming vehicle. I am actually terrified by the way Iraqi people drive.
That's why I'm trying to be extra careful. I ensure nobody in coming behind while overtaking. Iraqi drivers don't give way. You have to be your own guard. I've located a petrol pump.
Time to refuel. We need petrol. Assalam Alekum Full Pakistan Let me get ready before handing me over the pump. It must be 8 or 9 liters of petrol. 60 Pakistani rupees.
It's quite cheap. Thanks He has returned 5000. In the name of Allah ... Let this one go first. Go Rangeeli .... Take us to Baghdad.
We are going to Baghdad ... How great is that. I had only heard these names ... Tehran ... Baghdad ... Damascus. Must visit Damascus some day.
You can see that Euphrates is flowing along. I think it's Euphrates. Just confirm it from navigation before getting yourself embarrassed.
Let me show you the river before I stop and confirm. This water seems really pristine. O man ... you almost crushed me man ... I'm quite certain it's Euphrates.
Our first check post of the day. I wish they don't stop me. Yeah .... we are through.
Something to be happy about. I saw a tea stall there ... Could have stopped for a cup of tea. We are in Al-Iskandria right now. Baghdad is almost 60 km from here. I have seen this teapot thing in many cities. Is it some sort of a symbol? I mean it's used to make tea so that's that.
But there must be a story behind this giant teapot monument. We are passing through city area. And I thought we have already crossed the city. That's the main bazaar.
Let's stop here for a while. Not in the mood for tea ... I'm just feeling a bit too cold. Assalam Alekum Tea? Take a look. That's a really special tea. They have a separate section of kitchen. Wait. Just a second, please.
It's too sweet. Please reduce it. I don't want to get diabetes. Please don't look this way. That's such a dirty trashcan. Yes Thanks Almost got run over by a bicycle. So ...
Thanks. I need to give him 500. Here is a 500 note.
No. Please, no. Thank you. He was asking if he could get the pictures. The pictures have to go to the computer first.
Thanks guys. I think I'll have to learn some Arabic. At least enough to be able to have a chit chat with the locals. A friend from Baghdad has told me that it's gonna be a curfew for motorcycle in Baghdad at 6 pm. I don't know the reason though. So, I have to get there before 6 pm.
But we have enough time to do that. It's good that I have this information. Otherwise I would have gone at my own pace. Since it was not too far so I had planned to enjoy and immerse in the ride. This looks like a bigger check post and I'm always stopped at ones like this.
Let's see what they have to say. Let me open the visor of my helmet so that they can see my face. O ... nobody stopped me. That went rather smoothly. I feel that the authorities are much more strict and careful for people traveling to Najaf and Karbala. But over here, they are not that strict.
Pakistan Did he signal me? Let's see what he has to say. I'm not certain if he asked me to stop. Let me park it properly. Patience, guys. I'm just parking the motorcycle. Well they took a lot of my time.
They almost made me have them search my whole luggage. They only just checked the bag on the rear. After a thorough checking, they brought some water for me. So I stopped there to drink it and he was like ... 'you are still here'. And I was like .. I'll be gone.
Assalam Alekum Pakistan Thanks Baghdad Thanks Oh ... the motorcycle just got turned off. I think we are in Baghdad. Baghdad City ... Cmon man ... why doesn't anyone give way on road. I'm already being so careful but still ... So I was saying that we have reached Baghdad.
I just saw a signboard directing towards Baghdad Airport. Baghdad Best Rutba. It's getting more and more crowded. We have now reached the main check post of Baghdad. You can see the armed guards at the posts.
So they are sending most of the people over there. We'll be checked for sure. Assalam Alekum Pakistan Assalam Alekum Pakistani German. Have a look please. They seem to be very friendly. Thank you ... No No.
There was only one person in that check post who could read my passport. There was a rather hot headed Police officer at the previous check post. He actually took a lot of time. He was speaking non stop Arabic and I was like I don't understand it man. Then there was a guy who finally helped him examine my passport. Too many check posts put a serious bottle neck on how many kilometers you can travel a day.
Where you can cover 30 km in 20 minutes ... you must also include a stopping time of 25 minutes at check posts. Still 26 km to go. They had a canine unit to check my luggage. I'm glad that they didn't ask me to open my luggage.
We need to go straight so we can sneak through here. I can get very strong Baghdad vibes now. Feeling very excited. We can see city lights now. Things getting better as we continue to go into the city. O what happened there ... Looks like some road accident.
Go ahead please. What are they in the middle of the road. What's happening here. Welcome to Baghdad. I'm here for the first time and many of you must be watching it for the first time too. Especially my viewers will be watching Baghdad for the first time in my videos.
Actually visiting a place about which you have read, listened and seen a lot ... an internal bliss. Finally getting a chance to explore it ... Awesome. We need to go this way. Best of luck with all the checking. Lets just hope that there's room in the hotel where I'm going. I just got a recommendation about a hotel that was good and economical.
Don't know anything else. I think this is the older part of the city ... with old city center. I'm getting those vibes. We could have a much better view if this Nissan guy in front of us were not here.
Let him cross. Otherwise it will keep blocking our way. See ... It feels like old town.
It's good that the hotel is not too far. Well the navigation is still showing another 3.5 km. But it's on this same road. It looks like a cloth market ...
I can see clothes everywhere. Can't see anything else. This intra city ride is tiring. It's quite hectic.
And I'm quite happy that the traffic is flowing freely in this part of the city. Here's a round about. A beautiful round about with fountains. It's the next street.
Right here. Oscar Hotel Now where should I park the motorcycle ... The pathway in front of the hotel is all occupied. I can't just leave my motorcycle here and there. I better park it over here. Assalam Alekum ... One room.
One room? Yeah. No problem. Okay. You can see that it's a double bed room. It's nice and spacious. There's our washroom.
It's neat and clean. I can't see the towels here. I might have to call the room service to ask for towels. The rent of this room is 55000 Iraqi dinars. That's almost 30 dollars. About 5500 Pakistani rupees.
I'm too exhausted to go out and explore the city right now. So I'll lay down for a while, then take a shower, get fresh and go out.
2022-04-21 18:14
