hey guys this is doug here, i'm in istanbul, turkey, and in this video i'm going to be fasting for
ramadan for 24 hours. so it's gonna be a bit of a challenge for me. i've never done this before, but
i've gotten it as a request from a bunch of you guys and i'm really excited to give it a shot, and
let you know my thoughts about the experience. so here we go. real quick before i start and get into
the video, just want to let you know i'm posting this video right now because it's currently
ramadan and i think it's more relevant to post it now, but i do have a lot more egypt content and
sudan content coming soon. so after i post this video, i'll go back to posting the rest of those
videos in order. so for those of you that don't know, ramadan is a month that occurs every year,
and during this month all muslims are required to fast from sunrise to sunset. so that is from fajr
to maghrib. those are the names of the two prayers on either end, the morning and the evening. during
this time, during the day, you're not allowed to eat anything, you're not allowed to drink anything,
not even water, you're not allowed to smoke, etc. so i'm going to be doing this tomorrow. it's currently
like 10:00 at night on friday, and when i wake up tomorrow on saturday, i'm going to fast
for that entire day and give you guys my thoughts and my feedback. so i'm here in my airbnb that i
have in istanbul. i just ordered a large pizza. istanbul is pretty shut down at the moment, so
a lot of people are subsisting on groceries and delivery or takeout only, so i have a large pizza.
the other reason i got the pizza is because i'm about to eat half of it for dinner right now, and
then i'm going to eat the other half of it at like four o'clock in the morning, right before sunrise,
so i can eat as much as i can up until sunrise, and then obviously i'll be fasting until sunset. so i'm
gonna have my alarm set for like 4:00. i'm gonna have my leftover pizza in the mini
fridge here, and yeah, i'm looking at the official government of turkey presidency of religious
affairs website, and they actually give you the specific time of fajr, or that morning sunrise
prayer, so you know exactly when you need to start fasting and when you need to, when you need to end.
by the way, when i say "when you need to start fasting," i don't mean that it's required by law
or anything. in turkey i've actually met a lot of people, specifically a lot of young people, who
don't even fast during ramadan, which is very different from egypt or saudi arabia, for
example, where it's much more common, and probably a little bit frowned upon to not do the fast. so
it looks like tomorrow the 1st of may the time is 4:17. so i'll get up at 4:00, scarf down a
bunch of cold pizza, and then go back to sleep for a few hours, hopefully. i think that covers it. i'm
going to eat half my pizza, go to bed, and i'll see you guys at 4:00 in the morning. bye-bye.
oh my goodness. it is 3:55 in the morning, guys.
we have until 4:18 i think. i'm gonna double check that. right now i'm going to get up
and cram as much pizza as i can into my mouth and then go back to sleep, and sleep as late as i can,
because that should ease this fast a little bit. i'm also going to chug a bunch of water. here we go.
it was kind of a silly move for me to choose pizza as my meal to eat right before the
day long fast. it's so salty. but hey, can't go back.
alrighty guys, i just ate as much pizza as i could, and i'm still chugging water. i've got
a few more minutes until fajr, or the beginning of the sunrise, when you're supposed to stop
eating and start fasting during ramadan. so i am going to go back to bed shortly.
i actually didn't get that much sleep until now because i had a birthday zoom call for my buddy
back in the states at 2:00 AM my time here. shout out chris hughes, happy birthday! that's a good thing,
because i'm going to hopefully just sleep in a little bit tomorrow. anyway, i'm gonna keep
chugging my last water for the next uh, what'll it be.... 15 hours or so, and then gonna head back
to sleep and i'll see you guys in the morning or whenever i wake up. wish me luck. all right, bye-bye.
good morning guys. well, it's actually the afternoon because i slept so late. my plan worked. i was just
out dropping off some laundry. i'm actually going to be escaping istanbul for a little
bit. i'm going to attempt to go to belgrade, serbia, because i hear that they're giving the
vaccine to foreigners and we're in like, a really intense lockdown here in istanbul right now, so
i'm going to go there. it's only like an hour and a half flight away. it's like a hundred dollars
to get there. trying to stay busy today. so far, my ramadan fast is going pretty well. so far, so good
for the most part, although it was definitely a dumb idea for me to eat almost an entire
large pizza last night, because as i predicted, i am super thirsty. my mouth is super dry right now. so
it's uh, it's 1:00 right now, and so far, the hardest part has definitely been the lack of water,
the lack of drinking. i could also go for a coffee. and breakfast. but the uh, the water so far has been
the hardest part. so i'll keep you posted. i'm gonna go back up to my apartment and do some editing, get
another video out to you guys, probably this one. and yeah, let's see how the rest of the day goes.
what's up guys, i'm giving you a quick midday update. it's about 5:15 in the afternoon. it's going
all right. i don't feel super hungry, like i can totally deal with the hunger. uh, the thing that's
really starting to drive me nuts is the thirst. like, i could really go for some water right now.
but i have a little less than three hours to go. i'm gonna push through. still regretting
eating that pizza. all right, almost there. i'll keep you updated. all right guys, so it's now
about 7:45 PM, and maghrib, or the sunset, is at 8:01 tonight. so it obviously changes every day.
so that is when the fast officially ends. so i am on my way now to a different part of the city,
i'm going to catch a tram, because the area where i'm staying in is pretty locked down. but there
are some restaurants open in the more touristy area, around the blue mosque and hagia sophia,
in an area called sultanahmet. so i'm going there right now. going to get there hopefully
just in time to break my fast, finally. i'm so excited for water. i'm not even that hungry
anymore right now. like, um, you know that feeling when you've been not eating so long that it kind
of, the hunger kind of goes away? but i'm really excited to drink water. i'm feeling a little tired,
a little just kind of lethargic, so yeah. it's going to be very good. i'm very excited.
all right guys, it's officially 8:01, actually it's 8:03, so i've just ordered some water and
some baba ganoush, which i like very much. i'm gonna ease into breaking this fast. i'm at a
place called constantine's. it was recommended to me by my friend brian here in istanbul. it's in
the touristy area, but they've got really good food and pretty fair prices, so i've been here
several times. it's a great spot. so now i'm just waiting for this water, mainly, and also
this food. very excited. okay, it's the moment we've all been waiting for. actually just me.
oh my god. there is nothing better than water when you really want it.
wow. that is delicious.
okay. all right, so the employees at the restaurant here are also
breaking their fast, and they gave me a date, a couple dates, which is like,
the traditional food that you would end the fast with, that you would break the fast.
so, got some dates and some turkish food that they're sharing with me. thank you guys. cheers! enjoy. thank you.
alrighty guys, i have made it back to my apartment. i am feeling very full and satisfied, my thirst
has been quenched. i definitely have a newfound respect for all of you that are doing this for
a whole month, because one day was hard enough for me. so props to you guys. very cool experience. i'm
super happy i did it, i'm super happy i don't have to do it tomorrow. so anyway guys, hope you enjoyed
the video. kept this one short and sweet, but i'll be back very soon with more vlogs from egypt, sudan,
and beyond. be sure to keep up with me on instagram, i'm always posting updates there. and yeah, if you
liked the video, please don't forget to subscribe to the channel, it means a ton to me. thank you guys
so much, as always, i really appreciate the support, and i will see you in the next one. bye-bye.