Namaste & As-salamu alaykum friends.
In this video, I'm gonna show you how I blend in here in Pakistan and India.
How I turn from, you know, a typical 'gora' on the street in India to a Pathan here.
And there's a no. of benefits & reasons why I do this.
Basically, I don't wanna be that foreign guy who stands out, like, a sore thumb.
It just invites unwanted attention. So here, for example, in Pakistan..
..while I was here, there were protests against the French in Rawalpindi.
They actually blocked off the entire Islamabad with shipping crates so people couldn't enter.
And I was here in Islamabad. But because I blended in, you know?
No one can recognize me as a foreigner here; they actually think I'm a Pathan.
And they come up to me and start speaking Pashto to me.
It's hilarious! And when I'm dressed like, you know, a foreigner, in jeans and a t-shirt..
..people would literally point at me and go: 'Hey! Gora, gora! Dekho!'
Like, look, look at the white guy.
So, this avoids all THAT.
And the benefits when I'm in India, I just have way less scammers and touts approaching me.
When they see me from behind, they can't identify me as a foreigner.
If I'm wearing like a beautiful long kurta.
If they see me from the front, they'd be like: 'Hain!?'
'Maybe this guy has a lot of experience in India if he's wearing traditional Indian clothes.'
And, they just won't approach you because of that.
Because they think; they go after easy targets, right?
They don't wanna go after hard-targets. They choose their targets; they're criminals.
They target, you know, vulnerable people, who they see, as like, fresh off the plane.
Basically, that's how scammers & touts operate.
So you can avoid all that, if you just try, and blend in here a bit in India and Pakistan.
I'll show you how to that in this video.
I've transformed: So this is me in Pakistani 'kapde'.
Let me show you all this and explain it all to you, okay?
So, how am I looking guys?
I'm not looking like a nervous, or an easy target, right?
This is a salwar. These baggy pants.
And this is a kameez. This long, this long top, I'd guess you'd call it.
And this is a Pakol. This was from Chitral and it's made of lamb's wool. Think this is made of cotton.
And if you wanna like really get the look going...
..you have a huge shawl. This one's lamb wool again. And you can wrap it around yourself in winters.
Like this, right?
Then, no one's gonna know that you're a foreigner here in Pakistan, at least.
In India, they might, but here in Pakistan..
There's a lot of people that actually kinda look a little bit like me & have blue eyes & all those type of stuff
And if you really, really wanna go for it..
Hold this up. Put that over the back of your cap like that, & you can walk around like this.
Nobody on Earth is gonna know. Everyone's gonna think you're Pakistani.
And you're actually gonna get a lot of comments about this. You're not gonna get any hate.
You're not gonna get all these people saying: oh, culture appropriation (none of that non-sense) because
I love the clothes. I respect the country.
For me it's even more, it's not even a blending in as much.
It's more about, just loving the culture & embracing the culture.
But it has that added benefit of blending in & not looking like an easy target, as well.
In India, you will get similar salwar-kameez. They call kurta there.
And, for example, they don't have the rounded edges like you see on this. And they..
In India, they tend to wear kind of more slim fit rather than this very baggy look they have here in Pakistan.
And for women, you can just go to the markets and just buy so much beautiful stuff.
All this stuff right here in this massive pile..
..is what I'm taking back for my wife in India, because she loves Pakistani fashion so much.
Just look how colorful this stuff is! So, yeah, you'll find plenty & tons & tons of women's clothes in Pakistan & India as well.
You don't have to go for those elephant pants that every single foreigner wears. They kinda give you away actually. You can go for a traditional
salwar-kameez look as well in the female, female style.
And ladies, I probably wouldn't go for these super, super colorful designs.
I mean, you can, but the thing is: These bright colors, they'll make you stand out on the street.
If you wear more kinda plain colors, like this green, or like a baby blue, or white, or black..
You'd just blend in more on the street, right.
But if you wear something really colorful like these, then...
It's gonna stand out like crazy. But you can.
But I always just go with, the more kinda, the simple look.
And I don't go for the fancy stuff either. Like you can get some really fancy kurtas & salwar kameez, but..
But, I don't need it. I just wanna look plain & normal.
I don't wanna look fancy. You know what I mean? Like, I just love the plain style.
I wanna look like the common man on the street.
I don't wanna look special. I just wanna look like everybody else & blend in.
Yeah, don't wanna get treated any differently for wearing some, you know, fancy fancy clothes.
So if you wanna come & grab some clothes here in India or Pakistan.
India: There's a great shop called Fabindia. It's even at the airports.
Pakistan: For women, there's a great place called Rang Ja.
Where I bought most of those clothes, so far, for Manisha from.
And, you can go to the markets & bargain as well.
In each city, there's usually like a specific kapde bazaar..
Or clothing market, you can go to here, in Muzaffarabad where I am right now.
It is Madina Bazaar.
And I've got one more tip for India & Pakistan: do not write off the stores at hotels.
Because you can get some beautiful products in here.
And the thing is, you can trust its authenticity.
More than you can going to a market where people will tell you it's real Cashmere when...
..it's not. They'll sell you anything. They sell you viscose in the name of Cashmere. But if you come here,
what I found, in my experience, the shopkeepers at hotels are very genuine.
And the prices aren't as expensive as you would think it being in a hotel.
I've checked the prices here.
So, by wearing clothes which are more fashionable here in India & Pakistan, you can blend in, and avoid unwanted attention.