This is how they treat foreigners in Iran
I'm just one of the few Americans that get to visit Iran every year and this is my journey through the Islamic Republic of Iran. A country that has gone through devastating wars with its neighboring countries strained by heavy sanctions, hyperinflation and a massive list of other attributes giving it the international reputation it has today. All is not well in the Islamic Republic. it's the most intense and deadliest crackdown against
protesters in Iran in four decades. Iran is growing more defiant more confrontational as sanctions bite harder. Iran trouble nothing but trouble. Just 40 years ago Iran underwent a major transformation shifting from a monarchy under the Shah to an Islamic Republic fundamentally redefining the nation's identity. It was Iran. In Iran. By Iran. Iran.. But Iran.. But Iran.. Iran. A country that makes it on few people's bucket list largely because the side of the country I'm about to show you is often overlooked by the news in mass media. Why is there a side of
the country you don't see media is a business media covers top stories they share with you all the breaking news and unfortunately in the Middle East and a lot of these regions around the world that have these reputations what you see in the news are usually the negative things that are happening the sad part is is a lot of the world never imagines that Iran is like this that you have so much history you have one of the oldest civilizations in the world here, there's the kindness of the people, there's the history, there's the food, there are the vast amount of things to do, places to hike, places to go into nature and so many things. So welcome to Iran. If you saw my first video about visiting Iran you'll remember the mix of uncertainty and concern I felt before landing in Iran for my first time ever. Those feelings came full circle on my last day when I woke up to the sound of missiles exploding, an experience that gave me a chilling glimpse of life in a city under fire. But that's not what we want to get into today. Contrary to the opinions in today's modern world there's a completely different side of Iran one connected to thousands of years of culture and traditions throughout the Persian Empire this video is for someone who wants to know so much about the Iranian culture that they could fly there tomorrow and feel like they understand the daily life. During our trip we will search for local Iranians that can show us what the true meaning of Iranian culture is, from Isfahan to Yazd, Abyaneh to Shiraz and of course Persepolis. You will not believe what we encounter along this journey. Haters will call this paid
content propaganda or whatever they might imagine but all of that is far from reality. This is just me an American YouTuber fully financed by my own money with my tour got I hired Eshaan or now known as Kako Barodar Ka Dadash and we together are diving deep into the Iranian culture to find a deeper meaning of a multi-year old country that is existed a lot longer than recent geopolitical tensions. This is the Iran we will dig deep into today. And welcome to Isfahan, "Salam Brother" [__] start the day. All right guys so we're starting out we're here in the city of Isfahan and we're walking towards what's known as the square but first on the way we got to get ourselves some more cash here so we're going to be exchanging $300 to the Iranian Rial and this is the area where they buy and sell dollars exactly all of the people you can see outside they are just waiting for this purpose them they already here just to buy and sell dollars oh okay yeah so to understand the rate at first to exchange first [__] so now we are here to exchange $300- $300 bucks for what's the rate a lot of millions we're going to be millionaires you're going to be a millionaire just after 5 minutes all I needed to do was come to uh Iran and then I could become a millionaire multi-millionaire but Jokes Aside it is an extremely hard place for locals to live live with average salaries ranging between just $ 100 to $200 per month if you didn't see my first video on Iran you may not be familiar with Iran's currency issue which has suffocated the country over the last decade with constant fluctuations International debit and credit cards do not work anywhere in the country so I had to plan in advance for this trip and bring a lot of USD with me and then I could only exchange a couple hundred bucks at a time since the exchange rate can be different from day to day in the current situation. [__] it's worth so this is $300 right there we've got a big stack. Now at the time of filming this video $300 was able to be exchanged for 200 million Rials but
now fast forward to the time of around posting it $300 equals 276 million Rials going from 600,000 Iranian Rials to $1 to now just a couple months later 920,000 Rials to $1, showing how fast the inflation is happening. Now if you're like this guy and you simply Google the exchange rate in Iran you may end up quite confused as many others have well the rate he found here is the official government rate which is typically what you will find VIA an online converter however due to strict currency controls sanctions and economic pressures the real world exchange rate is sign significantly different trading closer to 920,000 Iranian Rials per US dollar. Essentially the official rate is used for specific government or controlled transactions while the black market or real exchange rate reflects the actual supply and demand in everyday exchanges the last thing to mention about the currency is understanding that everyday people don't say Iranian rial typically they will use the term "Toman"and this is due to decades of devaluation people often find it more convenient to use the "Toman" as an informal unit essentially "1 Toman" is equivalent to 10 rials, this means that while your bank account and official transactions are handled in Rials, everyday conversation and pricing like in shops restaurants or wage discussions tend to be quoted in "Tomans" because the numbers are much smaller and easier to manage. For example instead of saying something
cost 1 million Rials, people would typically say it cost 100,000 tomans and all you have to do is slash one of the zeros at the end or 1 million rials is 100,000 tomans and they'll just call it 100 tomans that way they're not dealing with such large numbers we are done with the exchange here so we got ourselves some cash yes let's go to the sare just to explore all right let's do [Music] this we have made it down to the most beautiful Square in all Iran we got to take this in for a second it stretches all the way from this side to this side actually last night guys I'm going to Overlay a couple clips we walked around here and just to walk from one side to the other is literally like a 10-minute walk and everything is symmetry symmetrical in this Square yeah let's zoom in this is 5X zoomed and this is one side of it this isquare is dated back to the 400 years ago when they transferred the capital from Tabriz to Qazvin and then lay there to the Isfahan so who are these guys up on the building right here I think they are the martys of Iran Iraq wars in the bards everywhere in the city you can see the martyrs of the Iran-Iraq war the Naqsh-E Jahan Square was built in the early 17th century during the safavid dynasty under Shah Abas-I. So this is where the King used to rule I mean not a bad place you wake up every day with this nice Isfahan weather and you get to look out to the whole city. Your Kingdom right here how epic is that this is Isfahan, Iran and the square was designed as a grand Political-economic and Cultural Center showcasing the Empire's power through its mosques, palace and the bazaar. Now in present day Naqsh-E Jahan Square is still one of the most impressive squares in the world with tons of life and excitement and we are going to explore all around it and try and meet a ton of locals. Hello, how are you? Hello [__] You're from? America! Welcome to Isfahan city oh thank you very much good sweets here Salam Salam all right we might have to check out is famous for Yazd yeah yeah it's a kind of sweet we got a little test sample maybe we can try out and see how delicious it is we've got nuts here we've got all these traditional Isfahhan styles okay that looks very mixure oh that looks nice pistachios in there right try this thing out!! Marshmallow it's got like texture and how much for one of these packets this is also they have big bag we'll take one of these please oh good English Okay secretly speaking [Laughter] English I'll I'll go with that one then yeah thank you very much yeah this is also a good one she says you want this perfect she says he's practicing English oh so we got to test this one out see how good this one is but this one is different with this one no this one is this look that's nice it's got like a harder outside to it chewy on the inside all right so we're going to get the one two and Y yes Chand is oh that's a good deal then means it's okay no one ah oh thank you thank you let's go the Iranian culture right there they always offer to give it to you for free but I figured I'd rather pay this time thank you that right there my friends was an example of how we come to a place connect with the locals when you're able to just know a couple words I'm very funny very nice city very nice city after chatting with a few locals it was time to check out some of Iran's most beautiful mosques whenever you enter to a mosque in Iran you should be in direction of the Qiblah but everything should be symmetry in this Square they did a trick before you enter to the hall they make a corridor like this and when you enter to the prayer Hall you will be in direction of there Qiblah love and also the door is open symmetrically to the Pavilion over there so now they have the both factors Symmetry and being in direction of the Ki wow now we're going to be heading in to the bigger mosque that has minates let's head over there now we going to enter to the a great mod Shah Abasi MOS because it was built by the order of the sh abos the great the greatest King of the Saab [Music] area wow this is so big that's the one thing I've seen with a lot of these masks here in Iran or how vast they are so stand here say something Salam whoa Mac wow so it's a very interesting or singing This is why the people come here and start the acoustic as you can hear it sounds like we are in an auditorium right now Salam m m we're going to pause the video for just one second because if you're thinking about visiting Iran well great news is I'm actually creating an ebook that will cover everything you need to know before and during your trip plus all the tips that would have made my experience so much smoother before I went I had a lot of concerns and honestly if I had known what I know now the whole process of going to IR would have been much easier this ebook is going to include everything from essential tips a packing list must try Foods top places to visit things to know about the culture understanding the currency how to make purchases in a place where you cannot use credit or debit cards whether by region and different itinerary options these are just a few of many different items that will include inside of the ebook and I'll be heading back to Iran very soon hint hint and I'll have even more recommendations for you guys on places all over the country so make sure to grab it now at a 30% discount for pre-order so as soon as it releases which will be very soon you'll get it at a much lower price than everyone else it truly blows my mind to see the level of design and architecture that was able to be created hundreds of years before the modern technology era that we're currently living in today and now it was time to head into the sus that have been operating daily for over 400 years all right so we're in this massive Bazaar right here and we're going to take you guys through as you can see we've got that typical Iranian system where we've got the ventilators coming through the top and that's so cool because you don't have those like wind tunnels that I've got I've seen in like many other soups and you can see like this sun coming down Salam D surprising know Persian oh yeah he's my teacher yeah he asked me that very from USA and surprise wow [__] can see the US people here speaker as you can see we're getting pretty good speaking fars here that was almost a full conversation there yes exactly now you are a master of Persian language and you come back to your country then you can just change your job and just teaching person language so every very you can see the handicrafts because this one is the capital of handicrafts in the whole country yeah it is impressive you can see so many different types of things to purchase around here and everything from these shiny different objects to clothing and so much more as we were walking around the souk it was only a matter of time until we were scoped out as the perfect Target and I can tell you this sales pitch was straight out of a movie for the carpet buying process these guys hooked me outside of a popular spot look I don't recommend you to go that way you know why no we got got to go that way look we don't have any more carpet sh on that way oh we got lots of good carpets they waiting for you I schedule 11 days that means I have to be rushed to sell you a nice carpet it's tempting it's tempting you know what what types of carpets you got some of the best uh I actually all Persian yeah Iran is U the best country for carpets yeah yeah Persian carpet is the best in the world I think oh you guys are working together then aren't you okay how much should I take if I deceive this tourist to go to your shop 80% me 20% you very good very good [Music] deal YouTube yeah that's right I saw you oh you did oh nice to meet you nice to meet you yeah that's awesome my name is Jackie Jones Jackie Jones my man from where from where you know what is his name uh the boss King of the square oh jeez I got lucky then we're meting the king of the square you met the king of the square before your first time no have time 5 minutes have we got 5 minutes all right we got 5 minutes I knew exactly what they were doing but since they were pretty funny guys I decided I would go through the whole process and how much are the prices for these carpets $30,000 us holy moly normally carpet doesn't fly but our price make tourist oh guys we're going to be flying here let's head in oh what are we going to find family Persian carpet the price of the carpets can be very different according to the material that they use and the most important thing is the notot and you know all of the carpets you can see in the shops they are from each side of the country they just vve by the tri oh yeah keep in mind brother we got to we got to keep under $100 budget so we sat down and the shopkeeper whne and dined us with a little tea session and I watched him pull out rugs from half of the store before I shared with isan that this rug is not actually going to be coming home with me so isan told me on the third day he said his mom has been working so hard her whole life and he really appreciates it and he always tells her so we want to go ahead and get her a surprise gift here and it's non-negotiable so meaning meaning we are doing this thank you I appreciate your kindness so I need your help figuring out what is going to be a good option for her thank you very much so I think these two are your favorite yes maybe one of them the red is just pops all right we got a winner we got a winner there we go B yeah really appreciate yeah tell tell your mom she raised a fine young man so you got to thank her for that and this is for you thank you thank you very [Music] much means You Can Be Our Guest but it's to he's offering to give it to me for free well oh thank you I'll take it so we just left the uh Suk right now and we're heading over to the next place in this massive Square trust me you can spend hours or even the full day yeah they're great marketers though you know that that always deserves a sale I can tell you that holy moly what is going on right there don't know let's try that out oh no all right he doesn't like those so some of these marketers speak some three four languages they speak German Russian English he was speaking such good English and I was like oh where didd you learn your English and he didn't say he was a carpet salesman yet oh there he is the man is it my gift for you oh we got a gift for me yeah when you want to write him then you remember K good Mom noon thank you so much I appreciate that we appreciate it that you coming to ir and Vis and culture and history and everything you know you're amazing and hope see you again inshallah I look forward to it brother that right there my friends Iranian Hospitality they came here to give me a free gift after an amazing sale rate there I got myself a new pen hello gentlemen how we doing how we doing where are you guys from Africa which country which country Nigeria ah they are from Nigeria Nigeria Loos oh and check this out we got a little Rolls-Royce coming through here Salam a lot of traffic over here it's busy so right after we saw all this traffic of the Rolls-Royce and the horses going by all of a sudden this kid comes up to me and says hey can I use your sunglasses for our photo shoot and we're like all right sure why not which I didn't have the camera rolling but then I started it right away America yeah welcome thank you brother thank you brother nice to meet you munash oh you're from tan Froman yeah even though there was a huge language barrier and we only knew a few words from each other's language we still managed to feel like we became friends Almost instantaneously love uh you American oh thank you thank you I love Iranian people yeah yeah too he is a court he is a Lish and this is one of those moments that I tell people all the time just learning a couple words in the local language goes so far back in 2021 I went to Kurdistan in Northern Iraq and I learned some very basic Kurdish words and I still remember them today and just mentioning those to him lit him up like a Christmas tree with [Laughter] excitement say you are very look like Cristiano ronal thank you thank [Laughter] you want toak chak thank you you look good in these glasses we got to get you a pair next time my bro my bro my bro thank you see you Gentlemen let's tell him let's go toan Southwest good very good place goodbye my friends after just a few hours walking around naksh Jan it was clear to me that esfahan was becoming my favorite city in [Music] Iran putting aside some of the current challenges the country's people are struggling with I couldn't help but think about how beautiful of a culture this thousands of year old place is and how indepth the Persian culture actually is look at this place we're about to walk into oh my gosh so at one point in history this place was about to be knocked down and you guys remember how much money we exchanged now a few hours ago which was $300 for 2011 million R so there was a guy that did purchase this place yes you know they are going to destroy this Palace like many other palaces in this area even they just passen a rope to the pillars and to a Bulls some Bulls just to destroy this place but a man arrived here and bought this area uh with 70,000 R so you're telling me that we could buy hundreds of these P yes the point is that at that time the real was one of the most powerful currencies in the world for 100 years ago the economy was very good at that time as not like something we did today oh okay all right so maybe we can buy just a souvenir from the gift shop now not a full Palace exactly it's 70,000 real no we can do anything maybe just a bottle of mineral her we spent the afternoon experiencing a bit more of the historical side but I was still left wondering what life in this city is actually like and what do people do for fun so we went down to the chahar bog Street to see so we're doing a little evening stroll here in chahar Street which was once a whole Road all along this area on either sides and then they closed this down and turned it into a huge walking area you can see how everyone lives it's a great place for like people watching and seeing the younger generation the new generation of people you know how they dress how they act how they walk you know what they're up to it's super cool and it's surrounded by shops too so you can get some food you can get some snacks fast food clothes all different types of things it is a Thursday night so tomorrow is like the holiday the the Friday where nobody works uh during the six day work week as you've probably seen as a consistent theme in all of the videos so far here and around like they have such a big emphasis on places to walk around nature really incredibly like carved out Gardens look at all this fast food they love the fast food out here there was only one more place in esphahan that I wanted to understand what it was really like in person a place where it is said that the soul of esphahan could apparently be felt we're heading over now after leaving that area to Cle the hard part is getting across these streets and oh they do not stop that is one thing to know and around there is no right of way but this bridge right here it's a hot spot inside of the city we're going to try and survive this one are they going to let us through all right and we survived this one yeah check this out so normally there's water flowing through here and right now it's just a huge walkway what is the whole deal with the water so there's like a dam that stops IT from coming parts of the year or what yes the problem is a dam over there and also the climate change is another reason and maybe too much agriculture so yeah the other things are the priority for them right compar with having a balance in the ecosystem for example this water should always go to a swamp at the end but they don't care unfortunately so now they have to just close it down it's a really active country overall from everywhere I've seen people walk around get a lot of exercise you see those locals practicing their English the lighting here is amazing you have all this mood lighting right here people come sit down have a nice view I wish the water was here though cuz it'll look obviously even more beautiful and so what percentage of the year like 3 months out of the Year 5 months out of the year is there water at some Seasons like the spring sometimes they open the dam and two three times a year they open the dam and there is water the place is very different with now it's much more pleas and the people even they are more happy when sometimes they open the dam and the water goes to the river people are celebrating right celebrating they get so happy they come here just sometimes even they go to the river and follow the river follow the water that just flowing inside the dry River that's awesome the last point is that they build this uh this bridge in the vastest part of the river because it's not only a river sometimes they block the water they make a small Lake in this area they have some ceremonies they have some matches for example uh the boat matches I don't know how you call it oh that's a VI no problem Salam Salam D Salam from tan from Tran from Tran yeah oh from Alaska we got Alaska Alaska that's great that's great can you speaky uh 10 words just 10 words can you speak English can you speak a little bit little bit yeah yeah little bit all right we just teleported in the taxi all all the way down here to the other famous bridge haju bridge so it's got a very similar Vibe architecture in a way and it has that orange lighting that mood lighting right when you're walking through oh and we got like a stone walkway over here Bridge more known for music and the other one's chilling or what's the this one this one under this bridge there are a lot of BS that usually the people go there to see and sometimes sinking oh nice under us right now yeah we will go to check that if there is someone there to sing and we can also you feel like you're in an ancient Kingdom if these were torches this is what I imagine like I don't know 2,000 years ago the empires would be like at night when you're walking through just the same color light as fire as the obviously previous Source back in the day of lighting at night so the water comes all the way up here or no yeah the water just passed on there this area oh through these little Bridges right there yeah everywhere you can see the water bridge is famous that the people come here and they sing oh [Music] [Applause] wow this is amazing we've got guitar live right here under the river this is just such a cool culture to experience all this right now [Music] that is called making the most of your space in the city there's a restaurant right under there that I guess people are like having shisha and then there's all these different live performances under there just a special place to experience this is a must if you're coming it's esfahan esphahan esphahan the city of esphahan left me feeling so energized a place with its own unique culture different from anywhere else I have ever been until next time esfahan it was time to head to the small village of [Music] Aban and after a long drive we made it over to the Village of Aban it is f120 you have lots of year to reach out most advanced in the world you are 2,000 years behind us so we just made it over here to aan after about an hour and a half 2H hour drive from the beautiful city of esphahan and we're going to be exploring this Village for the next maybe hour and a half or so which is one of the oldest villages in Iran and it is located at the foot of the carcass Mountains in Central Iran and it's known to have existed for at least, 1500 to 2500 years depending on varying sources many people refer to this Old Village as a Living Museum Museum of Iran because of the preservation of its cultural heritage traditions and the distinct coloring of its red mud brick houses the canels and the Springs from all around the Village from the mountains enter to the Village okay so everywhere in the village they have fresh water they have beautiful gardens everywhere they use the mud and it's a kind of red mud because the mountains of this Village they are red the soil is red this is why everything seems red in this Village which is located 2,200 m above sea level due to the remote location of the village its inhabitants have kept some characteristics of the middle Persian language spoken during that era back in the 7th Century they have also preserved all their tradition and local ceremonies and sometimes you can see some villagers that they have a very colorful clothes this is the traditional clothes of the people of abana women cover their heads with a white floral cief and a head skirt on top of their trousers all of them in very Vivid colors on the other hand men wear loose black trousers a cabba which is a long garment on top of a shirt a giva which is light cotton shoes and a hat you won't find this type of clothing anywhere else in Iran here is something like very separated area from all other Villages you can see in this area miraculously it has outlasted centuries of changing rules dynasties and Kingdoms in Persia but due to its dwindling population most of the 300 or so inhabitants are quite old as the Young Young have mostly left to big cities in search of better opportunities but the old generation has this city become a touristic City they just sell their fruits their handicrafts their clothes this kind of things and this is what village life is like here still living in the Gathering stages of picking your uh fruit on a daily basis we've got the little apple picker right there pulls them right down from the tree and that gets them way up there fresh fresh fresh apples Ali I see very nice guys they just gave me a freee apple here should we pay them a tip no I don't think so no no all right it cannot be very respectful because we they got regard as a guest so they offer us it's so good that is tasty nothing better than a village Apple I grew up with apple trees so eating fresh apples is a special thing for me we're getting a little morning workout in we're coming up to some of these old houses in here we can go inside these yes we can go all right let's see what the uh old School living was like he got these little passageways down in there too wooden roofs bit of the mud in there as well all of the villagers they have a storage inside the mountains even if you go outside I can show you another one I think all of the villagers have some storage in the mountain look at this one here yeah this one's literally built into the mountain right there all right we got to get ourselves a little little workout in to get up to the top but I think the views are going to be worth it if they're looking like this already we're making it up to the top right now nice little hike and this is the castle right here so let's go check this place out so the Citadel over here is a few hundred years old but even before this construction there was always a citadel here for a long long time and you can see this m and stone construction is really cool looking it just matches the mountains so there's not too much remaining of this place over here as you can see it's pretty much kind of just the ruins of it but this gives you an idea of where people would build a castle out here you know you have the mountainous protection on this side and then you have the full views of the village so you really get that like strategic point also most beautiful point in the city when you're looking at them over here so guys we're actually heading now into the village we got an amazing Viewpoint from here and we're going to be doing like kind of a Long Lap to get around and then heading straight into to see what else this Village has to offer so brother what is the difference of this area compared to the other places there's a huge difference and there's one I'm going to say that is the most biggest difference in the other areas they say coaco here they say d you know this is a much more traditional style feel to it I would say parts of Iran are like very built up they almost feel like a mix of Middle Eastern and European culture when you're in the cities of esphahan and parts of shiras but then out here like you're taking a deep dive back into Village Life you can see how people Farm just to give you an example of what more Village traditional lifestyle is like this is the biggest feeling I feel but it's a really special place [Music] see in the local culture like that in these Villages are what really makes it such a special experience you kind of get lost in what people are singing and just being like fully in the moment it's really really beautiful to experience this culture so making some fresh tea right there [Music] so this is some freshh Village Water tea so this came directly from the mountains yeah the water come from the mountain the V that they are burning there they come from The Gardens and it's just changed to a fresh tea so let's thinking enjoy brother enjoy thanks ah a nice tea right here warming you up in this weather here quite nice oh that is hot how tastes oh Ali Ali yeah it's nice to see even in these small villages how clean it is you know you can't find any Trash anywhere yes very clean this is true so yeah also the villagers just take care about their touristic Village and that was a trip to the Village [Music] here by the way guys this video does not have any sponsor so your support to my clothing brand perception is greatly appreciated perception Tells a Story one of breaking boundaries seeing Beyond borders and finding purpose in every step you take this isn't just clothing it's a movement to continuously remind ourselves and the world around us to venture out into this beautiful world and change your perception and there we go the most smoke I've seen in Iran yeah that remains off there we fil the road to Y initially felt like a very long drive yet the constant changing Landscapes through the mountains and Villages made time go by so [Music] fast yasd is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and it is actually an oasis City surrounded by vast deserts hence creating this striking landscape located between esphahan and the historic city of Kerman Yas is an ancient city in the heart of Iran known as the city of wind catchers and the City of zoroastrians with a history of over 5,000 years Yas has been a center for trade culture and religion and about 700,000 people live in the city of yasd making it the 203d largest city in the country with about 10% of its population practicing Zoroastrianism which is which is one of the world's oldest religions that is still practiced today dating back to the 5th Century BC all right and we are officially arriving into the city of Yas we're going to be doing some exploring of this place so welcome to Yas all right we have arrived home to the whan hotel where we're going to be staying the next two nights so let's check out the accommodations look at this place right at night you have all this mood lighting this is the whole Courtyard right here we've got those traditional ponds right there in the middle palm trees Garden yeah this is awesome traditional Iranian style guest house this is my room right here so we got some fresh coffee or tea everything right there when we walk in nice big bed and we got ourselves a bathroom so there it is shower and everything super cool hotel and yeah I just get to walk right out here onto the Terrace and you have all the space right there finally after 6 hours driving mag has this opportunity to have a little bit rest with a cup of tea nice little tea time and we've got this huge area to hang out in have a nice little evening mood lighting here great hotel and accommodation we're going to be chilling tonight and good morning good morning good morning we just woke up here in Iran and as you can see this is where the beautiful hotel is that we stayed the courtyard you walk out you can see it much better today we got a Pooler hangout spot over there and it was time for us to experience our first breakfast here in Yas and the hotel had a nice big Buffet the food options were great and there were tons of different traditional Iranian breakfast items to get us ready to begin our adventure through Yas welcome to the city of Y we're going to be exploring all over this place from the old town to a ton of different really interesting places if now you open your Google Map you can see yourself exactly in the middle of Iran this is square the name is carare regard as the center of the V country the people are maybe a little bit more religious more conservative but the famous to have a very good people the Y people they are very good people yeah in the recent years the city become very touristic so a lot of Iranians and also the tourists come here to see the beautiful yast we passed the supermarket as we were talking about y so we made a quick stop over at this Supermarket as they call it I would call this more of a mini market but I guess any around there was probably a loss in Translation so this small little grocery store is known as a supermarket and it was quite funny because you can see brand names that are clearly taken from America and now theyve been slapped on other products that aren't even the same type of products and so I was curious if isan actually knew what the real Cheetos were do you know what actual Cheetos are they're like uh they're like these cheesy uh chips those but this one is another because in Iran they have a various p so this brand used for different materials yeah chips I don't know something you say this is something else and to give you guys an idea I know we're just buying Windex here we're actually cleaning out the windshield so we have a nice Clear View for you guys but this will be interesting we've got these four different towels right there and the shine and just to give you an idea what the price is 800,000 R each 420,000 R so it will be about 124 s okay 120 is enough because our friend is from USA have small discounts oh fantastic we're always getting the discounts M we're going to get this thing nice and clean it's going to be shiny let's get this thing going son and this is our new job in the Y we want to be a millionaire in the Y exactly we're we're going making a little cash here here we go let's do this no helmets required here in y oh that is a Iranian crosswalk right there so guys as we've been drive into the city you'll see photos of Hassan nah and then the leader of Hamas as well they have put their faces all over the city so is it normally like this that you would see them all over the city or just right no no no just because he just recently assassinated so the Government tried just to as a respect show his and for some people mostly the Muslims he was a lovely person so you can see the picture of sasan la everywhere in the city some cities yes oh there's no nobody here the is for and welcome guys to the Tower of Silence we're going to be climbing up probably at least maybe 50 to 100 stairs right now if you're still watching the video that is because you're probably just as mind- blown as I am being here in person that this is the side of Iran that the media will not show you which is a place that the zerian people put their dead bodies at the top of the towers over there but what is the structures here you can see a lot of structures in this area you know this place is out of the city and now because the city expanded you can see it very close to the gas in the past it was far from The Villages and the cities so the very rich families which they could afford they build a house for themselves because the Traditions the the bual Traditions they have maybe it was some days so they could come here and they could accommodate in these structures now it looks like the fun is beginning the workout commences now all right we're going to find out how many steps it is one 2 3 you should go like me you know very smoothly like a Shiri as a layback p we made it up roughly 50 if I were to estimate what a beautiful landscape kind of like what I imagine Mars to look like one day what do you think kako pretty hard eh yes because we do it a little bit fast yeah it get hard for us but usually it's not that hard well we got to work off that good Iranian food right yes got to get ready for that next meal so we're entering the Temple of Silence right now there was a tower all around this area let's go go inside oh this makes me feel [Music] tall oh wow whoa there's a hole in the middle yes oh we got fighter jets right there there is a hole in the middle what is the function of this hole in the Persian we call it ostan or ostan which means a place for bone ostan the towers of silence is a name used to describe zoroastrian structures that were until the 1970s used for excarnation which is an important part of the ferary process for zoroastrian people excarnation is the process of leaving a dead body inside open pits and allowing the elements and Wildlife typically like scavenger Birds such as vultures to pick all of the flesh off of the bones in the zoroastrian faith dead bodies are considered unclean and a potential source of contamination for anyone and anything that said dead bodies come into contact with as part of the Zoro as belief system fire and Earth are sacred and as a result cremation and a typical burial process are considered ultimate no no as these would cause sacred elements to become contaminated they just gather the bones and they throw them inside thiso and then they add some lime and other materials do you know the function no when they add the lime to the body lime yes make it tasty for the birds no to make the process faster you know the bones they could destroy faster with the Li and the other theory is that because they were living in the mountainous area in the past it's very difficult to just digging the ground in a place that there are everywhere there are Stones rocks to make a grave so this is another theory that they just leave the bodies in some places like this so then because the population just grew up fast and it was close to the city so the governments that do not allow them to do that anymore so now they have a new graveyard over there and they have to bury the bodies like that so isan is this other one on top of the hill just the second tower of Silence yes there is another one but I think they are from different periods the easy Cruise was down the mountain it's time to tell you guys zor which is zor means noon noon okay so it means good noon exactly after a quick 20-minute drive we are getting to our next spot to the fire Temple of yes the ancient religion of Iranian people before Islam was zerian ISM they are believe on some holy elements water fire soil and and the most important principles of this religion was good thoughts good words Good Deeds it's older than Islam but the principles are very similar so do she think that a lot of principles from Islam came from this religion as well yes so uh at the age of 8 to 15 sometimes 18 there is a ceremony that the uh children can decide to be Zoran or non zerian okay so they themselves choose when they found it they are understand enough to choose a religion then they have a ceremony just to choose their religion and here is one of the fire temples of the city the fire transfer 1,500 years ago from that fire temple to this area and still it's burning inside it is actually hard to imagine how how long 1,500 years of consistent fire actually is that means literally 50 to 60 maybe even 70 generations of people have kept up with never missing a single day to let this flame go out that is truly [Music] mindblowing so we just arrived to the next place here and let's see we got America in here oh yeah look at this guys who would have thought can find the American flag here in Iran at a lot of restaurants too that's really nice it makes you feel welcomed but look at this place you have the light coming in with these different colors you just have this stained glass surrounding you light coming up through the top such beautiful architecture you have the fountain that starts inside and right out here is the Garden area mer see C all right so we have a full array of the salad bars and their soups down there and a bunch of very unique types of dishes we've got a set of vegetables I'm not going to explain everything in detail we're going to do a quick one we've got garlic here this this is what blew my mind that people will eat all this garlic so I bet the breath smells delish and then right over there we've got a cucumber sauce cucumber with yogurt oh with yogurt too all right and then a full array right here of all these salads y traditional soup right there yeah which is something that the max love it too much yasi Shuli actually I haven't had it but we're about to find out right now I add some vinegar for you oh yes please this is great vinegar mun abas what do you know my name cuz you look like an Dubai Dubai yeah but I I was in India Europe yeah Fisher I love the king Fishers I'm a cocktail you can call me a bloody mary you see my mother was from Australia father was from Iran and I was born in India so I call myself a bloody mary yeah Bloody Mary you like how about your drinks Coke beer h two beers two beers beer oh yeah two big ones thank you aboss you want to make you beer on the rocks oh yeah you know can't say no to that so you can get yourself a beer in around but they are 0.0% so we've got this classic L right there M cheers my
friends it is pretty interesting for me that in a dry country where you can't have alcoholic beer that beer still found its way into a normal ordered drink item in the restaurants especially here in yes all the restaurants I've been to they offer beers here and people are just sipping them like any other country they're just 0.0 this is barbecue shrimp here in ye and I'm really excited to taste this because it's got more of like a yellow coating to it this is turmeric or saffron oh that is super good yeah yeah I imagine like barbecue like traditional barbecue like Texas barbecue so when this came out this is actually better than what I was anticipating it to be how are those fried shrimp the fried one is also very good yeah some shrimps from the Persian G awesome just awesome very delicious my man say for you guys thank you very much thank you take care boss thank you thank you Mom thank you my man aboss thank you so much we'll be back we'll be back see you brother again all right see you all right well that was a fantastic experience nice lunch here in the beautiful gardens inside the restaurant oh my God and we have visitors hello there poly want a cracker oh so all the shops are closed down is that a thing where they close down at lunchtime for 3 hours yes exactly and because this is a a warm City so usually in the warm C is like this they start in the morning to noon then at the hottest time of the day they close and again they return so what time do they usually start like 4:00 p.m. then yeah something like that okay wow yeah it's such a ghost town out here there's not too many people out and the city feels quite empty at this hour we got sweets here we're going to be trying out some traditional Bak lava here so I'm ready for this it looks fantastic t Salam momon let's try this one out I said Salam thinking I was saying thank you wow it's very sweet yeah Kos the name of this one is cotop yeah and the name of this one is uh y bav oo look at that so we take this as a bite size uh yes you should just completely put it on your mouse which is made by almond m [Music] M wow yes such a wow amazing can I get three boxes of those and one of those yes dat so M three boxes three boxes like this size of these and one box of those do you want the last one no no that's for you this I I got to I got to watch the belly here otherwise I'm going to be leaving with a different souvenir called the belly yes but um I have the souvenir as well 4 million3 oh that is a fantastic deal best 4 million I've ever spent and they will give us some B maybe no problem keep the rest as a tip sure set set okay we are proud new owners of a lot of treats [Music] ha we're walking through the old court right now we've got this huge mosque right behind me we're going to be checking it out later at night now we got to get over to the spot just in time for sunset so we're going to go through this cool little Alleyway so you can just see the contrast of afternoon versus once this place really gets going I think ass son's got something lined up for us that we're going to be impressed Salam what did he say it says what does that mean if I want to translate it it means I I sacrifice myself for you for but it's a respond you know yeah he say something again you say something and the respon was F okay for example say Ma you are wonderful and usually in the desert cities in the hot desert like yes you can see that even the alleys they have ceiling why because in the summer the sun is so strong so even the alleys in the Desert Cities they have to make sh so we just arrived to one of the most interesting places I have seen inside of Iran so we got which means art house so it has a nice view to the old quarter let's head right in so we've got these nice big doors hello hello we've arrived no Wi-fi talk to each other pretend it's 1985 and then under it it has Instagram that's funny which is on top of this coffee shop in Yas we are at probably the most popular place in the city to see this beautiful sunset so there's a 360° view of the city here you've got the Silhouettes of the mountains out there the sun setting and when you look around you might think at first that it's some sort of like greek temple is at least what came to mind for me at first thought this is a uh world heritage site the whole city right the whole city registered as a world heritage because of this old Beautiful quarter which is mostly made by mod and the city is famous to be the city of the wind catchers also known as Badgers which are traditional Persian architectural structures designed to naturally cool buildings by capturing air and directing wind into interior spaces while expelling the warm air these tall towers often seen at top homes and mosques utilize a clever ventilation system that has been essential for surviving y's extremely hot Aid climate for centuries call it the tapati tabati Kos thank you thank you you can see pretty far out into the distance on this side this is the cafe we're going to be having a little something something just a huge area down here places to eat relax all these little spots such a cool place this might be like favorite restaurant I've been at any around so far in terms of views and the vibe yes it's famous [Music] [Music] we're doing a little nighttime Cruise here we just made it over to this mosque right here which actually is one of the highest in the world right highest a1's in the world and even the minat the name of this structure you can see as a entrance the name is Avon and also the minates are 53 M which is among the highest Min rates in the world we can get closer hello hello Salam this mosque is the mixture of three different mosques and at first before Islam there was a fire temple in this area so the MOs has been built at the top of a fire temple wow and then it changed to the mosque so the root is very old but then during the time when this destroy they construct they add new parts and finally at the time of the rajar dynasty they mix the three different mosques together and change it to this big mosque that was a visit to the incredibly beautiful mosque and uh now explain to me so this place is a night market how late does it go until uh this place is uh like this till I don't know maybe 11: 11 okay this is one of the um livest I can see right now a part of the Gast okay this is one of the most touristic so usually when they want to have a walk to buy something they come here yeah this quarter there's so much going on we've got all these shops restaurants you can smell something fresh being cooked right now and yeah it's a such a Vibe does it get busier than this yes of course lat much busier than this not today because C is in the middle of the week and um it's not a very touristic time but if you come here even at the end of the week in um Thursday and Friday it is much busier than now oh okay and at the touristic time of course it's still much busier but now we are in the middle of the week so yeah our journey continues down here in the southern city of shiras known as the cultural capital of the country with a population of over 2 million people shiras is commonly referred to as the Paris of Iran which I did not really understand what that meant but soon I would so the interesting part about the layout as you might have seen in the videos flying into shz is how it's sitting essentially surrounded completely by mountains which makes it a really unique and protected City in many different ways but we are obviously in the desert so you can see it's a pretty dry place during this time of the year not as dry as Arab countries you know the average rain here is about 350 mm have this 350 mm only in 5 6 Ms gotcha okay so 6 s Ms are completely dry while I'm quite familiar with middle e Eastern food this was my first time in Iran and I really didn't know what to expect but one thing I knew for sure is that schwarma and kababs in the whole region of the Middle East are very popular which is exactly why you're seeing this as such a consistent meal we're having throughout the trip thinking it's going to be best if you order whatever you think is going to be the tastiest you know the this one the first one this is the international dish of Iran Kabab kuid Kebab Kebab KU Kabab kuid everywhere if you go in Iran most of the restaurants they have only meats and kebabs at the end of the tree maybe you just look like a kebab because exactly yeah we'll be able to see it in the face yeah so when someone first arrives to Iran what are like simple things you would say that that they should know when they arrive here sometimes the people want to pay for you which is respect it says I pay your your friend says no I pay sometimes you think that they are fighting together but this fight is for paying you know it's not the real fighting the another point of just talking to the foreigners oh nice sometimes just you just walk in this hello how are you where are you from this is the iron neclear weapon when you just hear about iron neclear weapon in the social media this is this it's been intense oh mer see brother look at that o fantastic me some rice right there tomatoes onions the way the it is just you can just have a piece of Kebab a little bit rice mix them and Iranian eat with pork and Spoon and not oh okay n like maybe Europeans so a little bit rice and even some tomato that is freaking amazing super cool restaurant here from the design to it to the taste of the food to the setting out here this is awesome this is awesome brother this is [Music] perfect all right so we've just hopped out of the car we're over here at Iram Street and we're actually going to be heading over to the gardens Iram botanical gardens which was quite consistent with the incredible Gardens we've seen throughout the country Salam you from uh from America nice to meet you come come thank you a Place full of peace and relaxation in nature yet in the city at the same time this is a Persian Garden whenever you enter to a Persian Garden you can see one perspective view yeah a flowing water but not now because they are just fixing this area flowing water the trees both Sid a pavilion at the end uh V shira's University which is close to the Garden become the superviser of this area they start to gather the different plants from all over the world and they plant it in this garden and change it to a Botanical Garden we got this beautiful pool surrounded by all these flowers this Garden right here palm trees I mean this is inviting right here getting close to the golden hour time [Music] frame so we've been walking through here all over the park and one thing I've noticed is there's a lot of uh kind of couples hanging out it seems like not sure if they're married boyfriend and girlfriend what's that whole scene like here when it comes to dating now the relationships become very modern compared to the previous years in Iran so maybe it's like the Europe and the US so the girls and the boys they see each other in the university in the public places and then invite him for coffee uh here is not like that to say okay can you can we go together for a coffee they a little bit they just learn something about each other yeah they trust each other more mostly the girl and then after that they start to go out to just uh know each other more oh okay for example if I'm uh belong to a religious family if I want if I want to enter into a relationship with a girl maybe at the beginning I don't let my family know then if I want to get married with that girl if both of us understand that we want each other then we can tell our families okay because family is very important in Iran because you know the families they have too much relationship with each other at the weekends during the week when you go to the I don't know a holiday uh the families also go with each other the family of the girl and the family of the boy okay so they become really close very close so when you want to just uh choose a GE for as a wife yeah you have to pay attention to the personality religions culture of the girl and also her family wow so it's both should be matched together not only you and the girl so it's make it I think a little bit more difficult some people even they are in relationship without any purpose for the maybe marriage okay yeah just more of just enjoying their time together yeah exactly after we walked a little bit further we came across one of the most unique instruments I have ever seen and it sounded amazing [Music] so if you want to tip someone here you go up to their card machine and you just type in what you want I want to pay him $500,000 oh it's real it's very different mer see mer see so like for example on a Sunday this is like a pretty common thing people will do they come here they just enjoy the atmosphere they find new partners find find new partners here too yeah how do I say what's your name Mac nice to meet
2025-03-15 21:54
