Thanks for watching the whole video, you legend! The Syrian people definitely did not deserve what happened to them and thus I think we should do our best to help them in this dire situation. Donate to the International Rescue Committee who help thousands of Syrian refugees around the world: http://bit.ly/DonateSyrianRefugees or get your ‘People Are Kind’ shirt (all profits will be donated to IRC): http://bit.ly/PeopleAreKind thanks in advance!
Stay Curious! ❤️
00:00
today I want to tell you quite a bit
00:01
about the Syrian culture the things that
00:03
you know the people do and don’t do and
00:05
I obviously don’t expect you to travel
00:06
in Syria right now because obviously
00:07
it’s a it’s a you know it’s it’s a
00:09
dangerous thing watching this video will
00:11
definitely teach you quite a few
00:12
different things about you know how the
00:13
people hack them how they don’t what you
00:15
shouldn’t do there and what you
00:16
shouldn’t be doing and then how we
00:18
should behave and stuff these are the 11
00:20
things you should never ever be doing in
00:22
Syria
00:27
think not to be in Syria number one is
00:30
do not travel there alone before going
00:34
to Syria actually read quite a few
00:35
different blog posts about people who
00:36
said oh you could easily travel in Syria
00:39
alone now after doing more research I
00:41
realized it’s absolutely not true
00:43
because they would never let you inside
00:44
the country without having a proper
00:46
guide and everything but even if they
00:48
could or would please don’t do it
00:52
because traveling in Syria you will get
00:54
approached by many you know policemen
00:56
and army people and stuff and they will
00:58
always be asking you you know for your
01:00
documents and why you’re here and who’s
01:02
with you and so if you don’t speak
01:04
Arabic there’s no way you could explain
01:05
everything to them and there’s no way
01:07
you could really move anywhere outside
01:09
of Damascus think not to do in Syria
01:11
number two is do not forget to bring
01:13
cash with you as you know Syria is a
01:15
very much sanctioned country and and and
01:18
so that means that there’s not a lot of
01:19
international companies working there
01:21
obviously and you know their banking
01:23
system is not connected to other banking
01:25
systems in the world and there’s not a
01:27
lot of flights and you know all that
01:28
stuff and so for you and that means that
01:30
if you go there none of your debit cards
01:33
or credit cards are paid out or whatever
01:35
else nothing will obviously worth it you
01:37
basically need to have cash and so when
01:39
I was going to Syria for whatever reason
01:41
I miscalculated how much money I
01:43
actually had you know and so after
01:45
paying all of my visa fees and and
01:47
travel fees and for my guide and
01:49
everything I was only left with twelve
01:51
dollars for a week and you know that’s
01:54
not enough of course
01:55
so I’m defeating like you know we cheap
01:57
kebabs and whatever else and somehow
02:00
trying to survive those those seven days
02:02
and so it was ok it was it was a really
02:06
interesting experience definitely not
02:08
even close to what some of the local
02:11
people have to go through you know think
02:13
not to be in Syria number three is do
02:15
not wear masks when I was there it was
02:18
actually already kind of cold and so I
02:19
had this net warmer that I would
02:21
sometimes wear like this you know to
02:23
cover my my nose and my mouth to stay a
02:25
bit warmer but when I was walking around
02:27
the streets of Damascus for example
02:29
there were so many people that were
02:30
completely frightened of me for example
02:32
there’d be in a group of schoolgirls
02:34
walking around and then the mom
02:36
it’s even ago you know did we completely
02:39
frightened of me because obviously those
02:41
people have seen so much and they’ve
02:43
gone through so much and you know
02:46
unfortunately these needs to get to live
02:49
very different lives from what I guess
02:51
you and I do you know and so for them
02:54
seeing someone with a mask covering
02:56
almost all of their faces is is a very
03:00
frightening thing once again for obvious
03:02
reasons think not to be in serial number
03:04
four is do not take pictures or videos
03:07
of the government buildings and I guess
03:09
this goes without saying especially in
03:11
the Middle East you know but but but in
03:13
Syria the army and the police for
03:15
obvious reasons they’re incredibly
03:17
incredibly sensitive about those things
03:20
because you know the country is
03:21
basically still at war they say the
03:23
worst sort of ended but it hasn’t really
03:26
there’s there’s still a lot of stuff
03:27
happening all around the country right
03:29
now and you know it’s it’s a very
03:30
intense situation right so so you
03:33
definitely don’t want to get in trouble
03:34
with that you definitely know what I I
03:36
guess push those boundaries you know cuz
03:39
it’s a very tricky thing thing not to do
03:43
in Syria number five is do not get
03:44
annoyed when people check your documents
03:47
literally all the time once again when
03:49
you go to Syria
03:50
everywhere you go especially the more
03:52
the more affected areas like for example
03:55
Aleppo or homes or other places the army
03:58
and the police they will constantly be
04:00
checking your documents literally
04:02
everywhere you go like on this street
04:04
you could be checked on another sheet
04:05
you could be checked it could be every
04:07
three every five every seven minutes you
04:09
know someone just runs up to you and
04:10
says eh what are you doing here show me
04:12
your documents and stuff and so for you
04:15
as a tourist I guess this might be a bit
04:17
annoying because obvious you’re not
04:18
there to you know cause any harm right
04:21
but you need to be understanding of the
04:23
fact that you know once again the local
04:25
people are very sensitive there so you
04:28
know don’t get an argue with that
04:30
let them do their work think not to be
04:33
in Syria number six is do not expect to
04:35
get anywhere fast this is very important
04:38
because even though some of the
04:40
distances in Syria are not you know too
04:42
crazy for example you could drive your
04:44
car there in maybe an hour or an hour
04:46
and a half but they have so many
04:48
checkpoints everywhere it’s gonna take
04:51
you at least twice the time sometimes
04:53
even more you know because even though
04:55
you know most of the time the
04:56
checkpoints don’t take too long but
04:58
sometimes they do and also you need to
05:00
stop every once in a while answer
05:01
questions show them your documents and
05:03
everything you know and and and and
05:05
sometimes there’s the checkpoint every
05:06
five minutes every ten minutes you know
05:08
there’s we having literally hundreds you
05:10
know so yes if you’re planning on
05:13
driving somewhere in an hour probably is
05:15
gonna be more like two or three think
05:18
not to be in Syria number seven and this
05:21
is very much a cultural thing and that
05:24
is do not jump to conclusions about
05:27
people being angry so I guess for us
05:32
Europeans when it comes to you know some
05:35
Arabic men talking loudly for some
05:39
reason sometimes they seem a little bit
05:42
angry maybe that’s a good way of putting
05:44
it and so remember there was the
05:45
situation where I was walking around the
05:47
streets of Damascus with my dad and then
05:49
this one guy approached me he was
05:51
looking me straight in the eyes and you
05:53
know he was obviously speaking Arabic I
05:55
I had no idea what he was saying with
05:56
for some reason he he seemed very angry
05:58
you know he it was almost like he wanted
06:00
to fight me and who and I I almost got
06:02
Intimidator than what was happening and
06:04
stuff you know and then my guide replied
06:06
to his questions and then she walked
06:08
away and then I passed her so what was
06:10
he saying why was she so angry she said
06:11
no he wasn’t angry he was asking for
06:14
directions to the church you know which
06:19
was really cute I mean the guy simply
06:21
brush my cell like a guy’s do you know
06:23
where I can find the church and I
06:24
thought oh
06:25
he looks thank you you know so don’t
06:27
jump into those kind of conclusions and
06:29
people I guess are just you know very
06:32
outgoing and in a way extroverted as
06:37
well you know and and I guess that’s
06:39
really good thing thing not to do in
06:41
Syria number eight is do not get upset
06:43
about the water bottles at Rush fans
06:46
what are the things about serious that
06:48
every restroom you go to every hotel and
06:50
everywhere whatever you just sit down at
06:52
a table it will always put you know
06:54
water bottles on the table and so
06:57
apparently it’s like a bottle of per
06:58
person and they charge for them they’re
07:00
not free and it’s not like you can
07:02
actually say oh no I don’t want to get
07:04
it you actually have to be free it’s
07:06
sort of like like a seat feet and you
07:08
know I guess it makes you drink more
07:10
water so ever
07:11
so maybe it’s a good thing very
07:13
important thing not to do in Syria
07:14
number nine is do not let your guide
07:17
leave you for more than a minute there
07:21
was a situation in Homs said I want to
07:23
get too much into that I also made
07:24
another video about it you can once
07:27
again friend in the description box
07:28
below but there was a situation in this
07:31
you know very much destroyed city of
07:33
Homs where my guide actually left me for
07:35
I think five minutes or even four
07:37
minutes not not too long because she
07:39
wanted to buy some sweets for her family
07:40
and so obviously standing there at this
07:43
intersection and you know taking videos
07:45
everything and stuff and then a
07:46
policeman approached me and he started
07:48
talking to me in Arabic you know and it
07:50
was like where are your documents this
07:52
and that and I said oh sorry
07:54
how much do this my guide has best part
07:56
my god has document everything and he
07:58
had no idea what I was saying and so
08:00
then there were some other people that
08:02
surrounded me and he was like calling
08:04
his colleagues to come pick me up and
08:05
all that stuff it was crazy and so I was
08:08
just basically waiting to go to the
08:10
police station and at that moment my
08:12
guide ran a pitch I was like oh was the
08:14
problem was the problem and then she
08:15
obviously fixed everything um so yes
08:18
once and don’t travel there alone and if
08:20
you’re traveling there with a guy don’t
08:22
let them leave you for more than a
08:24
minute think not to the interior number
08:26
10 is do not get mad about all the
08:29
smoking and for whatever reason in Syria
08:31
smoking is in credit
08:33
the popular it’s sort of similar to the
08:35
neighboring country of Lebanon where it
08:36
seems like literally everyone smokes
08:39
every person you meet they will smoke I
08:41
guess it’s because the cigarettes are
08:42
very cheap and maybe it’s culturally
08:44
acceptable in a way and in most of the
08:46
Russians and our thousand stuff you can
08:47
also smoke and there it’s a completely
08:50
normal thing I mean people don’t do it
08:52
to annoy or whatever they just do it
08:53
because I guess they grew up with it so
08:56
please respect that it’s their country
08:58
their rules they can do whatever they
09:01
like
09:01
and yeah and don’t get annoyed with it
09:05
and finally thing not to do in Syria
09:07
number eleven is do not forget somehow
09:12
not draw too much attention when I was
09:15
in Syria was always wearing a neck
09:18
warmer not until here as I said but
09:20
until here and also a beanie you know to
09:22
like cover my hair because I really
09:24
didn’t want to stand out too much and I
09:26
guess it was standing out a bit but but
09:28
not from a distance you know because
09:30
obviously you know the last nine years
09:32
there’s hardly any tourists or any
09:35
foreigners that actually come to Syria
09:37
and so if you do you’re such a big thing
09:41
in a way for the local people it’s it’s
09:43
it’s it’s like huge you know because
09:45
they haven’t seen foreign people for
09:47
many many many years that’s pretty much
09:49
it those were all the things that were
09:51
very important to me going to Syrian
09:53
once again I don’t expect you to travel
09:55
to the country right now but maybe when
09:57
the situation improves you’ll go there
09:58
and hopefully this will be useful too
10:00
and if you don’t I really hope that you
10:02
learn there quite a bit about you know
10:04
the local people in the local culture
10:06
thank you stay kind stay curious stay
10:10
positive wherever you are in the world
10:12
and I’ll see you next time
10:17
you
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