Walking Around Baghdad at Night (Baghdad, Iraq Travel Vlog)
hello everybody this is Doug and I am back in Iraq once again I went to Indonesia you can watch the previous video uh for just a little while and now I'm back in Iraq for a group tour that I'm going to be leading this week I'm very excited and hopefully I'll be sharing more on that later if not here on YouTube then over on Instagram so you can go check that out for highlights from the trip but right now I am here with my friends Dede from Switzerland hello hi guys and Osama from Iraq how are you doing Osama is one of the leaders of Iraqi Travelers Cafe which is the best resource for information for travelers to Iraq so I'll link to Iraqi Travelers Cafe in the description below go check it out he's the best so where are we man which is considered like one of the oldest streets in Baghdad which is closer to the Old Town of Baghdad which H bag H back to abbased era to 800 800 yeah 800 yeah that's crazy we're just here walking along enjoying the evening in Baghdad yeah because because actually in a lot of families of Iraq you know that's coming to this area to for hanging out chill and you know with their families and everybody because it's so peaceful just only for walking night you know and we can just like grab some like you know chai tea but unfortunately right now today because um because of the protests that happened recently yeah you know people that you know think actually it's close but it is not but it is not so peaceful here you know the environment so it's not a big crowd there was some political protest a couple days ago here in Baghdad in this region so I guess some people might think this area is closed but it's not so I have no plan for this video but I'm gonna show you guys what we get up to tonight we're gonna just explore have a nice evening in Baghdad and show you a little bit of what mutanabi street is like at night hello hello [Music] oh thank you thank you are you uh mine is this your work yes ah your friend there okay okay very nice so you're just walking okay enjoying okay picture time Doug Barnard wow look at this place oh my gosh look at all these photos wow look at that old Baghdad 1972 yeah yeah okay 1972 Baghdad wow that is amazing oh my gosh okay so what are we gonna eat here we decide which is we call it um okay cool I had this once before on my rock videos from last year it's delicious he said to me it's time for some food but I gotta go show you guys how they prepare it wow so here is the Cuba the soup on top so it's meat inside of some dough hot out of the pot I saw a kid eating this one time he put it inside the Iraqi bread oh here it is now we opened it up and ate it like an ice cream cone like you put the whole Cuba inside oh wow so good we've got the pickles here everything so good does he know actually he says that he is H5 to 200 but actually for me it doesn't make sense I don't think so it is back to 200 maybe like you know 100 years okay okay because at the same the same time okay okay so this little Kuba shop is very old we're not sure exactly how old but it's basically right across diagonally from shabanda Cafe and I think we're gonna go over there after this to have some tea and check that out because it's a very beautiful old Cafe Sonic you're on YouTube say hello yeah oh cool okay I'm good how are you where are you from from Baghdad yeah oh nice yeah there he is Imam Hussein oh thank you that's so nice what's your name zainab nice to meet you you speak English very well nice to meet you [Laughter] I bet your English still better than my Arabic chipmunk abun nice to meet you boom okay guys so here it is this is shabandar Cafe very historical place and we're going in with our new friends this lovely family so here we go the whole Cafe is lined with photos very very historical place I'll show you guys some close-ups and a lot of people just like to come here all day in the morning afternoon and night for coffee tea shisha a little bit of everything and it's a big big place very famous here on matanabi Street this is a must see if you come to Baghdad yes please so we've got some tea here without sugar which is not the standard way because Osama here told them these foreigners don't want sugar how is it man it's good they're pretty good yeah yeah okay let's give it a try oh very hot yeah me too sometimes I have it with sugar here in places like this because that's the way it comes but it's a lot of sugar if you just ask for tea you'll get about a centimeter of sugar at the bottom of the glass so you have to be specific you could sit here for hours just enjoying the environment here it's very relaxed and normally it's very very crowded but at night and uh for some reason tonight it's it's pretty empty okay go for it uh this is Hassan Hassan this is do you work in coffee shop Yep this is Mustafa this is your coffee shop yeah and smoking oh he's the he's the shisha man yeah okay and lemon tea and cover and this coffee okay and do you work here yeah I am working what's your job oh tea also okay you speak English very well yeah nice man nice to meet you thank you thank you very much this is Muhammad kashali the boss yeah this is the owner yeah this is urban the coffee shop under wow well what did his father open it I uh yeah go with me okay let's go this is your son with an episode yes I heard about it this is five date five songs of his his sons yeah it's very sad this is date an explosion in canopy Street yeah I've heard about that it's terrible five Sons they all died in the same explosion yeah wow how many do you like to drink tea I have I have okay no I have already again I haven't finished it and what's your job oh you don't work here right yeah I forgot he doesn't he's you're the fisherman yes okay that's good that's good okay okay guys we're gonna try some sugar cane juice we're just outside of shabanda now so there's chapandar Cafe I mean we're coming here to try what's your name Yusuf yusuf's famous sugarcane here on multanavi street okay so the sugar cane goes in there and the juice is going to come out right here wow there it is oh wow look at that with a little lemon in there okay this is a cool like cool machine I've never seen one like this has the nice case around it shokran okay here we go sugar cane juice oh very good thank you it tastes like sugar unsurprisingly and there's some Citrus in there too very very nice very good we're doing some advertising for yousef's booth now okay we're in here and here's the professional camera okay oh that's very nice photo wow okay [Music] huh it's on YouTube you want to give a shout out shout out say something to you no okay okay okay guys we are continuing along so many nice people out here so many friendly people and families it's a very very nice Vibe out here tonight on a Tuesday evening we're heading to the water now because we might take a little evening boat ride which I'm very excited for all right we are right here on the edge of the Tigris River right behind me here and they've got what looks to me like a Christmas tree maybe it's a New Year's tree it has 2022 on it is this our boat are we gonna try to get on this all right man work your magic Osama has negotiated an excellent rate for the boat yeah my man on the Tigris River by night this is so cool you're too kind man all right here we go man it looks so nice the bridge is all lit up what a lovely evening all right and we are off this is amazing it's finally cooled off it was about 105 degrees here during the day still very hot even though it's October but now there's a nice Cool Breeze especially on the water on the Tigris here in the evening it's perfect perfect weather all right guys we're just off the boat you can see the big group boat here coming back to the dock Osama was just telling us they like to play really loud music on the group boats as you can hear [Music] all right guys so it's about 9 p.m now and you can see it's getting more and more crowded so hot during the day and people come out at night once things have cooled off of it thank you this street is so pretty and lit up it looks really new I think they must have renovated it recently it feels like Dubai or something with all these nice buildings and like the woodwork with the little lattice on the balconies and all the lights it's it's really really pretty so this man here is uh Iraq wow look at that man I don't know if I can even get the camera to focus he's writing words on grains of rice it says Iraq it's so small the camera can't even focus on it that's amazing so he's taking these grains of rice here and writing okay thank you and then he puts it in this necklace with some water and some other stuff and it kind of magnifies it oh that's that's so cool and he'll do it customized with your name in English or Arabic very cool okay now uh he's writing my name in English and Arabic I believe on this pen wow foreign [Music] [Music] okay guys so this man made this pen for me it has my name Douglas in Arabic and then it says Doug with some hearts and then it says Iraq with today's date can't get it to focus but he absolutely refused to take any money they refused too kind too kind thank you so much [Music] I think he wants to give you now I'm telling you guys this happens too often and I I don't like to except free stuff because it's his work he's working hard and there's no reason he should be giving out free stuff just because we're a foreign tourist but I'm telling you he absolutely refused I tried to insist many times and it's just extremely extremely generous I don't know what that means but yes [Laughter] he's saying like you know I have met a lot of YouTubers I have met a lot of you know popular people actually who came here like in Tennessee and they did their blood opinion with him and they met someone you're a famous guy yeah that's why he caught you you know well okay standing here I like that look at look at his name tag he's got his his Tick Tock and his Instagram here so you guys can follow him [Music] good job [Music] okay guys so we have just left uh motanabi Street we are walking along now this is uh what night is like in uh old Baghdad you can see there's this beautiful mosque uh behind me here I believe you guys can see that in the low light but uh yeah it's it's very calm there's honestly not that many people on the street outside of mutanabi street so you know this is what it's like how are you um [Music] [Laughter] yes and you father father nice to meet you thank you so these guys are just hanging out here having some shisha and tea on the street in here behind them there's like a little cafe there's some people I think playing checkers or something okay 18.99. this Cafe was built then yeah it was like yeah it used to belong okay right now it stands till now yeah it's amazing such a cool place you should keep it like that okay guys so we just came out of there and right next door to that nice cafe is haji's Bala Juice Shop established in 1900 I've also been here on a previous video you can see the name here zabala juice and they have some of the best grape juice in Baghdad this man right here in the center is the very famous owner of Hajj zabala Juice Shop I actually met him uh on the last time I was here he's not here right now and I'm guessing these are maybe his father and grandfather and I think they've been running this place as a family for years okay so we're inside the shop you can see it's very popular even at 10 30 at night and uh just like a couple of the other cafes that we've been in this entire place is lined with historical photos of Baghdad from throughout history as well as lots of political figures and lots of photos of the current owner of this place with various celebrities and like ambassadors and past presidents and things like that so this is a very very famous place and we're gonna grab some juice momentarily because their juice is fantastic here it is let's give it a try Brothers so good I actually call it raisin juice not grape juice and it does have kind of a raisin flavor but it's very sweet it's almost I would almost describe it as rich like it's a very strong uh flavor hello yes I'm a foreigner yeah okay so anyway it's very delicious this is a Baghdad institution absolutely a must visit when you are here okay guys we've moved along a little bit and we stopped off real quick at tahrir Square this is the site of a lot of political protests that will happen in Baghdad so it's usually like pretty heavily guarded by dozens sometimes dozens and dozens of police officers but uh it seems very relaxed right now even though there were pretty big protests here just a few days ago they're letting us hop out of our car here and and walk around it's pretty cool because last time I was here over a year ago you couldn't really get this close and you definitely couldn't be filming this openly okay guys so we have moved along so where are we now someone uh we are right now at Park yeah terrible side on the Riverside so you've got the Tigris right over there it's kind of late night lots of people hanging out there's a horse and ride a horse that's okay why don't you do it I'll get you uh and he says no shlonic hello what's up is this your dog Muhammad there are so many kids and families out here right now as with so many places that are very very hot during the day lots of people will come out and stay out late into the night and then sleep a little bit later during the day when it's so hot out lots and lots of kids even though it's like 11 30 at night alrighty guys I am back at my hotel so this is gonna be the end of the video totally impromptu video I was not planning on filming tonight but I decided to head out with Osama and Didi and just thought it would be cool to film to show you guys what a typical night in the middle of the week looks like here in Baghdad if you're from America or from the West like me hopefully this video shows you guys a different side of Baghdad than what you've seen or heard about in the news I don't want to be here telling you it's a perfect place but I think uh it is not quite as scary as many of us have been led to believe uh in fact I think it's quite the opposite most of the time I absolutely love this city I can't get enough of it and I'm just so happy to be back in Iraq hopefully I've got more coming for you guys from this trip I'm gonna be pretty busy leading my first ever group trip it will definitely not be the last group trip so if you like what you see in these videos of Iraq and you'd like to visit it stay tuned because I've got some more group trips coming up very very soon but other than that I hope you guys enjoyed the video thank you so much for watching and I'll see you in the next one [Music]
2022-11-09 21:51
