00:00
just over a year ago I spent two weeks
00:01
traveling all around Iran and even
00:03
though I wanted to make a video about my
00:05
experiences there right after the trip I
00:07
just didn’t know how to properly tell
00:09
the story because it’s a little
00:12
complicated but now I do now before we
00:15
get into the video I want to tell you
00:16
three very important facts about
00:17
travelling in Iran first everyone is
00:20
required to cover themselves at all
00:22
times / men that means wearing pants and
00:24
t-shirts that cover the shoulders for
00:27
women that means exactly the same thing
00:28
yet they also need to cover their hair
00:30
with with a hijab or a scarf second the
00:33
Iranian banking system is not connected
00:35
to any other banking system in the world
00:37
which means that no international cards
00:40
ever work there including the ATMs which
00:43
can obviously be a huge problem if you
00:45
don’t have cash and third most people
00:47
from around the world can can actually
00:49
obtain a visa to travel to Iran except
00:52
for the citizens of Israel not only that
00:54
the people coming from the US UK and
00:57
Canada are required to be escorted by a
00:59
government approved guide at all times
01:01
as apparently independent travel for
01:04
those people is bad I want you to
01:06
understand that everything literally
01:07
everything you see in this video are
01:09
only the experiences of a I’ll be 20
01:11
something-year-old backpacker traveling
01:13
around with a with a tiny pocket camera
01:15
so we do not make up your mind about
01:17
Iran or the things that are actually
01:18
happening in that country based on this
01:21
video alone and do your own research
01:23
that’ll being said welcome to one of the
01:26
most mysterious countries in the world
01:28
Iran Iran is home to one of the world’s
01:32
oldest continuous major civilizations
01:35
with historical and urban settlements
01:36
leading back to 7,000 years before
01:39
Christ but it was first unified as a
01:41
nation in 625 BC a hundred years after
01:45
the unification Cyrus the Great vastly
01:47
expanded the country’s borders and
01:49
created the first Persian Empire which
01:51
was the first true global superpower
01:53
state ever created by man it ruled from
01:57
the Balkans to North Africa and Central
01:58
Asia spanning three continents it was
02:01
the only civilization in all of a
02:02
history to connect over 40% of the
02:05
global population accounting for
02:07
approximately 49 million
02:09
the world’s 112 million people in the
02:12
fifth century before Christ
02:14
incorporating various peoples of
02:16
different origins and faiths it is
02:18
notable for its successful model of a
02:19
centralized bureaucratic administration
02:21
for building infrastructure such as road
02:23
systems and a postal system the use of
02:25
an official language across its
02:27
territories and the development of civil
02:29
services and a large professional army
02:31
Persia continued being a true global
02:34
superpower for hundreds of years while
02:36
constantly getting involved in various
02:38
wars with the Greeks Arabs Turks and the
02:40
Mongols the country suffered
02:42
particularly hard during the Middle Ages
02:44
and the early modern period as it was
02:46
invaded by many strong nomadic tribes
02:48
however Iran was once again reunified as
02:51
an independent state in 1501 by the
02:54
Safavid dynasty which said Shia Islam as
02:56
the Empire’s official religion
02:58
functioning again as a leading world
03:00
power this time amongst the neighbouring
03:02
Ottoman Empire Iran had been a moderate
03:05
of Roman Emperor almost without
03:06
interruption from 1501 until the 1979
03:10
Iranian Revolution when Iran officially
03:13
became an Islamic Republic on April 1st
03:16
1979
03:19
[Music]
03:27
it took me two hours to get my visa
03:29
started but it’s finally done and I’m
03:31
officially in Iran
03:33
I arrived in Iran really late at night
03:35
and honestly was quite surprised to see
03:37
how many tourists there were at the
03:39
airport quite a few more than I expected
03:41
when I finally left the airport I hopped
03:43
into a taxi that was driven by one of
03:45
the friendliest taxi drivers I had ever
03:47
met and we went all the way to the
03:49
downtown area passing a few large
03:51
mosques on the way this is my very first
03:55
morning in Iran and I’m super excited
03:58
I’ve been waiting for this moment for
03:59
many years right now and it’s finally
04:01
here the only thing though is that they
04:03
just told me that apparently wearing
04:05
shorts in public is illegal in Iran so
04:07
that’s why of course I’m wearing pants
04:10
the first day I decided to take it easy
04:13
so I roamed the streets of Tehran until
04:15
I found myself at the largest market in
04:17
the city that turned out to be
04:18
completely massive this market is so big
04:23
it just got lost I mean there’s hundreds
04:26
of different lanes selling hundreds of
04:28
different things and it’s so unclear I
04:30
don’t really know where to go but hey
04:31
it’s interesting then I proceeded to
04:34
check out the most popular restaurant in
04:35
all of Tehran where I literally had to
04:37
wait in line for over thirty minutes
04:39
just to get a seat what look at the
04:43
queue to this restaurant it starts right
04:45
here and it is over there inside up the
04:48
stairs it’s crazy
04:49
however the locals were really friendly
04:52
and the food was great so I definitely
04:54
wasn’t unhappy oh I’m so full now I
04:57
can’t even breathe done it to the Metro
05:00
which was a little overcrowded with
05:02
commuters and went to a popular bridge
05:03
in central Tehran from where I saw these
05:06
huge mountains literally in the citizen
05:09
I just came to some really cool bridge
05:11
here and check it on and look at the
05:12
view look at the view of the city Wow as
05:17
you probably know I’m definitely not a
05:19
person to say no
05:20
beautiful mountain so the next morning
05:22
and got in a cabin car and went free so
05:24
apparently the cabin car is a little bit
05:27
outdated but the views around me are
05:29
really nice I guess that’s what counts
05:31
right the city is there in the
05:34
background and I’m going up the mountain
05:36
which is just there somewhere behind
05:39
these hills and it should be really nice
05:43
it took me a while to get up the
05:44
mountain but when I saw the views from
05:46
the very top it was all worth it
05:50
apparently it’s a much bigger city than
05:52
I ever expected it to be it starts
05:57
somewhere near that side again at the
05:59
beginning and then it ends somewhere
06:01
there and I cannot see the end well
06:02
leaving the mountain I was a little
06:04
short on time but when I saw this thing
06:06
I definitely couldn’t say no
06:20
all right end of track I thought it’s
06:30
gonna be really slow but later that
06:35
evening I decided to check out the 6th
06:37
tallest telecommunication tower in the
06:39
world
06:40
that’s 435 meters tall and stands right
06:43
in the city centre of tech town from the
06:45
very top of the tower
06:46
I got a 360-degree view of the whole
06:49
city during the Suns in which apparently
06:51
didn’t disappoint
06:57
360-degree view of all of the hair on as
07:02
much as I enjoyed explore Integra the
07:04
most interesting thing I saw there was
07:07
the last place I visited before I left
07:08
the city the old US Embassy that was
07:10
seized by the Iranians and abandoned by
07:12
the Americans in 1979 right after the
07:15
Revolution before I show you the embassy
07:17
though let me tell you a bit of a
07:19
background in 1979 vrat after the
07:21
Iranian Revolution I returned to
07:23
conservative social values was enforced
07:25
by the government among other things
07:27
revolutionary bands known as committees
07:29
patrolled the streets and forcing
07:31
Islamic codes of dress and behavior and
07:33
dispatching impromptu justice the
07:35
militias and the clerics they supported
07:37
made efforts to suppress the
07:38
long-standing Western cultural influence
07:41
thus anti-western sentiment eventually
07:43
manifested itself in the November in
07:45
1979 seizure of the US Embassy by a
07:48
group of Iranian protesters who stormed
07:50
the embassy and took 52 American
07:52
diplomats and citizens hostage for 444
07:55
days this event is known in history as
07:59
the Iran hostage crisis and it was the
08:01
start of really tense diplomatic
08:03
relationships between Iran and the
08:04
United States the crisis reached the
08:07
climax after diplomatic negotiations
08:09
failed to win the release of the
08:10
hostages
08:11
America’s President Jimmy Carter ordered
08:13
the US military to attempt a rescue
08:15
mission Operation Eagle Claw the failed
08:18
attempt on April 24th 1980 resulted in
08:21
the death of one Iranian civilian and
08:23
the accidental deaths of eight American
08:25
servicemen after one of the helicopters
08:27
crashed the crisis is considered a
08:30
pivotal episode in the history of Iran
08:31
United States relations even though
08:34
eventually the hostages were released
08:35
into United States custody the crisis
08:38
also led to American economic sanctions
08:40
against Iran which further weakened ties
08:43
between the two countries
08:46
these days the former embassy has been
08:49
turned into a tourist attraction and a
08:50
museum that feature a number of
08:52
anti-american murals commissioned by the
08:54
government of Iran this museum is called
08:59
museum garden of anti arrogance and they
09:01
have a Liberty and unwelcome Liberty
09:04
statue right here my guide was obviously
09:07
very biased so take everything he said
09:10
with a pinch of salt but here’s what he
09:12
told him the embassy consisted of two
09:13
floors the first one was for issuing
09:15
passports visas and other usual stuff
09:17
and the second one was only accessed by
09:19
15 people and as he said was used for
09:22
high intelligence stuff he had this
09:24
equipment it was really really really
09:27
high-tech for those times yes they
09:29
really did seem to have a lot of
09:30
high-end computers and other equipment
09:32
that was incredibly modern for those
09:34
times including a secret meeting room
09:36
they said this room was used to put up
09:38
secret negotiations and apparently these
09:40
walls they protected anyone from the
09:41
outside hearing what what was being said
09:44
you couldn’t you could close the door
09:47
and then was completely silent and also
09:50
you could even close this door so that
09:51
no one would be able to see who’s in
09:53
sight as you know I’m very much not into
09:55
politics and I didn’t come to Ron to
09:57
judge the events of the past that I know
09:58
nothing about so I left the embassy VAT
10:01
after my brief tour hopped on a bus and
10:03
left the city with the hopes to see more
10:05
remote places and mingle with the local
10:07
people
10:09
[Music]
10:11
eventually I found myself in a city that
10:13
used to be one of the largest cities in
10:15
the world
10:15
Isfahan today the city is much smaller
10:18
than it used to be but it still retains
10:19
some of its past glory it is famous for
10:22
its pursue Islamic architecture grand
10:24
boulevards covered bridges palaces tiled
10:26
mosques and a massive square which is
10:28
one of the largest city squares in the
10:30
world as well as a unesco world heritage
10:32
site I spend one hour walking around
10:35
searching for food but absolutely
10:37
everything is closed so this is this is
10:41
my dinner the reason everything was
10:44
closed in Isfahan was because they came
10:46
at a very fortunate time the first month
10:49
of the Islamic calendar that’s when
10:50
Muslims around the world celebrate one
10:52
of the most important celebrations of
10:54
the year the morning of Muharram
11:10
[Music]
11:19
[Music]
11:26
the event marks the anniversary of the
11:29
Battle of Karbala when imam hussain IBN
11:31
ali a grandson of muhammad was killed by
11:34
rival caliphs in the year of 680 so
11:38
thousands of people go to the streets
11:40
all wearing black and join a procession
11:42
where drums and a few other instruments
11:44
are heard as people weak to the hymns
11:46
and men in black rhythmic and flagellate
11:49
their backs with two pairs of chains and
11:51
beat their chests with open palms
11:53
later people take turns to hold the flag
11:56
as the mourners move through the streets
11:58
there are literally thousands of people
12:00
in the spirit now and apparently it’s a
12:02
very very big thing for them because
12:04
most of them are really emotional to
12:06
come here with their families
12:08
I was sane was a really really important
12:10
person to the Iranian people and they
12:13
take it very very seriously the official
12:15
ceremonies lasts for 10 days and proud
12:17
those days the rich give to the poor in
12:19
an amazing display of generosity free
12:21
meals are in every corner restaurant and
12:23
hotel owners cook massive quantities of
12:25
food and hand around in the streets
12:27
there were hundreds of people waiting
12:29
for these lunch boxes but when some of
12:31
the people working there saw that I was
12:33
a partner they gave it to me without
12:35
having to wait in line because I’m a
12:36
guest and the guests have to be treated
12:39
the right way I guess before going to
12:42
Iran I honestly didn’t really know much
12:44
about the morning of Muharram but that’s
12:46
what travelled s2 he teaches you loads
12:48
of interesting things about the people
12:50
of the world as much as I wanted to stay
12:52
and learn even more I was apparently
12:54
running low on time so I hit the road
12:56
again and went to a very unique desert
12:58
city called Gaza because of its remote
13:00
desert location and the difficulty of
13:02
access Jost remained largely immune to
13:05
boughs and the destruction and ravages
13:06
of war plus it doesn’t feel like a city
13:09
more like a time machine that takes you
13:11
many years back in time with these
13:12
beautiful mosques temples handicraft
13:15
shops and restaurants didn’t make you
13:16
forget you’re living in the 21st century
13:18
this hometown is incredible it seems
13:21
like almost nothing has changed in the
13:23
last 1000 years or so of course of
13:25
course we have cars and shops and
13:27
coca-cola and chips and stuff like that
13:30
good but it’s wonderful I mean look at
13:33
this I’m currently in some really old
13:35
Iranian house that’s been turned into a
13:37
library
13:38
there’s many books everywhere look at
13:43
this view wow that’s a really big market
13:47
I just visited and that’s the old town
13:49
everywhere you look I felt completely at
13:53
ease and yazd and so I decided not to
13:55
rush anywhere and enjoy myself
13:57
big time we’re having lots of wonderful
13:59
food slowly walking around end of course
14:01
finding a beautiful rooftop cafe for
14:04
sensing the next morning things got even
14:08
more interesting as he found a local
14:09
guide called Hassan who took me out of
14:12
the city with this car our first stop
14:13
was an ancient city built 1600 years ago
14:17
that looked so beautiful I could hardly
14:18
believe it apparently hundreds of people
14:20
used to live here
14:21
but now it’s completely abandoned
14:22
because they moved to some other village
14:24
with electricity and running water and
14:26
stuff but living here yeah these days
14:31
the city’s completely abandoned which
14:33
makes it an absolutely incredible
14:34
tourist destination you can go to
14:36
literally any house lane or rooftop all
14:38
the while enjoying the gorgeous mountain
14:40
news surrounding the city eventually we
14:44
once again hit the road for hours during
14:46
which that will make good friends and
14:47
talked about a lot of really interesting
14:49
things it turned out that my guide
14:51
Hassan actually took part in the
14:53
iran-iraq war that started right after
14:56
the Iranian Revolution and lasted for
14:58
eight years you see in September 1980 a
15:01
long standing border dispute served as a
15:03
pretext for Iraqi president Saddam
15:05
Hussein to launch an invasion of Iran
15:07
southwestern province of Khuzestan one
15:09
of the country’s most important all
15:11
producing regions for the first few
15:13
years
15:13
Iraq occupied a large territory of the
15:15
Ron but then the Iranian army recaptured
15:17
the lost territories
15:18
then the war soon lapsed into stalemate
15:21
and attrition when Hassan was sent to
15:23
war he was only twenty something years
15:25
old he told me lots of crazy war stories
15:27
that still haunt him to this day
15:29
including what about him serving in the
15:31
desert at nights being afraid of enemy
15:33
snipers another one I could hardly
15:35
believe was of him stepping on a mine
15:37
that blew him a few meters above the
15:39
ground and even though it made him
15:40
permanently limp miraculously he
15:43
survived
15:43
we continued exploring various
15:46
interesting places until we came to a
15:47
gorgeous gorgeous desert for sunset I
15:50
have no idea how a place like this can
15:52
be real anywhere really but apparently
15:56
it is real in Iran I can touch it I can
16:00
feel it I can smell it it’s
16:03
so so so we kept walking around the sand
16:17
dunes playing dumb jokes on one another
16:19
while the Sun was beautifully setting in
16:21
the horizon this definitely definitely
16:24
doesn’t feel like real life at all at
16:27
all natural not real when the Sun
16:38
finally set we went to a tiny desert
16:40
village where we continued talking about
16:42
Hassan and his life he told me he’s been
16:44
working as a professional tour guide for
16:46
over 19 years now during which time he
16:48
visited 20 countries around the world
16:50
and learned fluent English simply by
16:52
conversing with the tourists he meets he
16:54
also talked a lot about Islam he told me
16:57
that to him Islam and to be given to
16:59
others and sacrificing your life for
17:01
others I also asked him whether he be
17:03
okay with his kids converting to other
17:05
religions or marrying people of
17:06
different faiths and he said he wouldn’t
17:08
have any problems with it because in his
17:10
mind everyone has the freedom to choose
17:12
what to do with their lives and what to
17:14
believe what a true legend Hassan is
17:16
what a legend the next morning we went
17:23
to check out a beautiful ancient fort
17:24
and since we were all his best friends
17:27
by then decided to film together what
17:29
would you tell two people who I want to
17:31
visit Iran but I don’t know they’re not
17:33
sure they’re still thinking about it oh
17:35
very good country people are very
17:38
hospitable and they are very friendly
17:41
and helpful to the tourists yes and it’s
17:46
a very wonderful country having said he
17:49
friendly goodbye to her son I had a
17:50
perfectly fine shape for one dollar and
17:52
proceeded to a city that used to be the
17:54
capital of one of the strongest empires
17:56
ever created by man Persepolis
18:00
the city Persepolis used to be the
18:02
richest city in the whole world 2500
18:05
years ago when the Persian Empire
18:07
controlled over 28 different techniques
18:09
as Grievous Persepolis was it
18:11
unfortunately was occupied and looted by
18:13
Alexander the Great Anna’s army in the
18:16
4th century before Christ
18:18
leaving ruins of all the palaces and
18:19
temples that adorned the city streets
18:21
back in the day walking through the
18:24
vastness of Persepolis I could only
18:25
imagine how the city looked in all its
18:28
might later I continued to my last
18:39
destination in Iran the beautiful city
18:41
of Shiraz otherwise known as the city of
18:43
poets literature and gardens not only
18:45
was the city beautiful but in the out
18:47
stores they had a few large pink lakes I
18:50
never knew these things existed back
18:52
then and was apparently quite overjoyed
18:54
what is this color it’s pink
18:58
the water is ping it’s crazy
19:07
[Music]
19:12
having spent two weeks traveling all
19:15
around Iran I was honestly surprised I
19:17
mean I grew up hearing all these crazy
19:19
stories about Iran and it’s people that
19:21
I was actually quite frightened of going
19:23
there however once it landed all my
19:26
fears disappeared as the local people
19:28
welcomed me as if I was one of their own
19:30
anywhere I went obviously I didn’t feel
19:32
most of those moments but there were
19:34
situations of people not allowing me to
19:36
pay for food at their restaurants or
19:37
shops as I was a guest in their country
19:40
there were people who would approach me
19:41
on the streets to offer help and make
19:43
sure I was okay most of all the road
19:46
people who were so open and honest with
19:48
me they felt like family I know that
19:50
politically the situation is a lot more
19:52
complicated than that and I don’t
19:54
pretend to fully understand
19:56
however this trip once again taught me
19:58
that we tend to make assumptions about
20:00
groups of people based on what we were
20:01
told when reality might actually be
20:04
quite different thank you to the people
20:07
of Iran for welcoming me into their
20:09
country and showing me more love than I
20:11
could ever have hoped for
20:13
I feel forever grateful
20:23
[Music]
20:41
you
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