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