Good evening, guys from our next video here in Baghdad, Iraq. I’m here traveling
with my buddy Luke over here, catching some footy over there. In
today's video guys, we're gonna be taking a train from Baghdad, Iraq down
to Basra which is in the southern part right near Kuwait. I want to fill you
guys in on basically what just happened over the last couple hours, that we
weren't able to film now, and now we are. So, when we first arrived, we like rolled
up filming, and it kind of you know caused the military to question like, oh
what's going on? And then, after some communicating with them, even though they
didn't really speak any English, we became really good friends with them. In
like a couple hours, they invited us to have some delicious meals with all of
them. These are experiences you can't get on trip advisor, happen to find ourselves
at a train station here, and we're invited with a very nice people here in
the military. Oh
Food's coming up, and now we're trying out the little yellow curry sauce. We're
gonna dip right in there. That's falafel, that's naan, and we're gonna
give her a nice big bite. Here we go.
That one is more like of yellow sauce. Very tasty.
[Speaking foreign language]
Falafel there.
A little bit of the-- the good stuff
You try the falafel bro. It's banging. It's good. Very good. Very good falafel.
We got little chai.
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah, we are doing a little mixer getting her going.
Ay Wallah.
Oh, burnt the tongue. Hot. Very hot.
Vey good. Shukran, shukran [Thank you]
Shukran [Thank you]
Enjoy
[Foreign language]
Oh so, we got a bunch of different options, you can go to Baghdad, you can go
international transport, Syria. No more
Okay so, previously people used to go here.
So no more Baghdad or Syria. So these are all the routes or old routes?
The future of the trains. Wow, this looks nice. Francis. Ah okay Francis, French train
there. So, yeah guys filling you in basically a really good friend here,
and he invited us to have some amazing
food with us. Yeah, and it was very good, [Foreign word] food, and we hung out with them
for a couple hours, and then they were so nice. They basically gave us a military
escort which you know, it's a safe place because you have to get to the
military to get them but they gave us an escort, got us the sleeper train tickets.
And now, we're hanging out here for a couple more hours, waiting for the train
right over here, and we ended up meeting some nice friends over here
who are actually watching over our luggage. It's been such a cool experience
day two in Baghdad. This is the station over here/ I believe we'll be taking this
train right there. It's about 5:30 right now, and the train leaves at seven. So,
we're gonna be hanging out here as the sun sets, until then just to show you
though, there's a bunch of different types of trains. You have your modern,
then you have your Russian. You have your German, and then you have an old train
from Saddam Hussein, I believe is what I understood. Oh no more.
Oh okay. Alright so, we got to put the cameras down for now. Yeah guys so, I’ve
only been able to film like or basically like retell the story because you know
as people with machine guns are surrounding you-- you don't necessarily
want to pull out your-- your camera like this. But basically, we
were like hanging out here, and our guys from earlier who invited us for lunch
were kind of showing us around. They brought over a few more guys in the
military. One being a guy that I don't know if he was already gonna be on the
train. But basically, like they connected him to us, so if we needed anything, he
was like talk to this guys whether it's filming whether it's whatever. It seems
like, we're pretty much in the clear, and then all of a sudden, one of the other
guys was like you know, we have like three or four military guys with us
walking over to the convenience store at the train station here. We just start
like grabbing a bunch of stuff. Luke's-- Luke's loaded up, grabs everything in the
store. And I had a feeling when we walked in like with their kindness, like how
nice they've been to us, like getting us food, making sure we get the sleeper
train tickets. Basically just watching over us from the second we arrived here
a couple hours ago, I had a feeling they might try, and pay for it but like we're
gonna of course not let them, and we get up to the counter, they put it all in bag,
and they will not accept a single dollar or single Iraqi dinar. So, it
was just like super, super nice of them. But we tried honestly, but as Luke was
just saying that. I tried a lot because I grabbed half the scoop off the stool.
Yeah exactly. Exactly. It was non-stop, and so
now, we're waiting here for a little bit longer till we actually get on the train
but it has been a- just a day to remember, this is such a cool travel
experience. And I don't know if I-- I got cut off when I
was saying this earlier but like I don't know, I feel like I’ve seen some other
vloggers who basically just show it as like it's very intimidating here but
like here, you approach people with smiles, maybe make some jokes when it's
in the right setting with them, and you know they're very appreciative to have
us foreigners here from my experience so far both in Kurdistan, and now here
down in Iraq proper. Obviously I’m only about two or three days in-- Oh
captain. Oh now, we have the captain over here.
Who knows what's coming up next. We're being taken care of so much here. So,
we'll be showing you guys the train once we head over there in about an hour or an hour
and 15. So, we're-- we're meeting the captain here, and they're taking care
of. Salaam Alaikum [Peace be upon you]. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you brother, taking such good care, I appreciate it. Yeah, they've been
watching over us, and we're-- we're meeting the whole army here today, so
it's pretty sweet. So, we've got the other captain of the train.
Salaam Alaikum [Peace be upon you].
Captain, eh? Nice to meet you.
Thank you so much. Hello, Salam Alaikum [Peace be upon you].
We’re here with the captain el Capitan, and el Capitan, we're gonna be
cruising down to Basra, and we're excited for the trip.
Adnan and Saif. Nice to meet you.
Alright, Yallah bina [Lets go] bro.
Got your ticket? Yep, got my ticket. We paid 25,000 Iraqi dinar for
each ticket which is I could never get my conversions right maybe 15 dollars.
And we go? This way? Shukran [Thank you]
Oh okay. So we're doing a dog sniffer, yeah. It's
almost boarding time guys, thought it was boarding time a second
ago when we got up but it's just the next step here which is a quick dog
sniffing on the bags, and then we're gonna be getting on the train. So
Yallah. We'll see you on there just a general rule of thumb guys, don't wear
shorts to the train station because you're not allowed to. I can't
really tell if we still need to put any on at the moment but we went to our
bags to get them and the-- the other military, that's watching over us said, no
it's fine. So maybe, we got to put them on once we get to the train but just a rule
of thumb, don't show these bare pasty-- pasty legs, cover them up. Our bags have
been freed. Let's grab them, and yallah to the train here. They are-- oh it gets
heavier every time I lift it. Ah, ticket
We’re yallah into the train. Thanks to these guys for helping us.
Shukran habibi. So, this is the secret tight passage through here. So, that is
the train, we were waiting for it this whole time, it was here. We'll drop you in Samawah.
Yeah, we'll drop you in Samawah, and then we'll keep going to Basra. Yeah which
cabin do we go to? All the way back?
Oh, number seven. Ah, we're going to number
seven. Oh so, we go on the side near seven. Oh,
we go on this one.
Next one. Alright, we got our escort going,
and we're going this way. That’s our guy right there, taking us
safely to the right car. Thank you brother.
This is us. Ah okay. See you guys.
And this one looks like us, and here's the dorms.
Alright, sleeper train, this is it.
Oh,
hopefully that gun doesn't shoot me in the leg.
I agree, yes. That AK-47, the barrel of the AK-47 just
rubbed against me. Oh this right, we're going this way.
He’s in reverse.
Oh, we are crossing trains. Alright, we are in number--
We’re turning around again.
Yallah to the next one? Alright, shukran [Thank you]
Looks like some of these windows have been shot out.
Oh wow, and we're lost.
Alright,
Maybe the first guy was right.
Yeah I think so. Ah number seven, here we go,
and got the suitcase in. Alright, and there's-- that looks like
the bathroom right over there. Going through here
for take two, and this must be ours.
Ticket. Okay these two. Shukran [Thank you] Okay? Perfect.
Looks comfy.
Oh, they slide out. Thank you. Shukran [Thank you]
Guys, we've made it. Here’s more of an official tour of this
place, got two beds up here, two beds below. We even have power outlets down
here. So, that is great news. I’m trying to figure out if we have lights. Oh there we
go. Oh nice little light there. Does it stay on? Maybe a little bit. TV, looks like
we got a call button, an SOS button. So in case, we need our military friend, we can
click that. I don't know what this power button does, maybe it turns-- Oh that's how
you turn the TV on. So, we've got a call button, and volume. So,
pretty sweet little cab, and we shall see if we have this place to ourselves or
not. So, InshaAllah, we don't have any neighbors. I’m gonna take one of these
beds up here, and turn down here to a nice little work station to enjoy it.
Here’s our buddy. Salam habibi [Peace be upon you, my dear] The door closes too, so turns into a nice
little private cabin which will get us down to Basra, around 7 a.m. at least
that's what the schedule says. So, maybe we'll get there at
9 a.m. because someone was telling us, it's 14 hours in the train versus 7 hours in
the car. So, that probably includes quite a few stops because of our buddies we
met earlier today, they're one of the stops. So, I’m sure we'll probably stop in
many of the big cities but the good news is-- is back here in the sleeper cab. Well
I guess, the train's not going yet but you really can't hear the loud engine
from here when we were walking past, it's super noisy. So InshaAllah [God willing], it'll be quiet,
and enjoyable the whole way down but if not still awesome to be on here. Our
buddy from the military right there, he just pointed out a thing of tea, and
said come with us, so Yalabena bro. Alright, we're going this way with our
buddy. We're going to the specialty cabin right.
Maybe we're going to the captain's lounger. I think there's a cafeteria
somewhere in here. Oh, it's a big train. Oh there's a kitchen,
and we're coming up. Oh, there's a cafeteria.
Alright, oh we got some snacks and tea. This is where the magic
happens. Wow, strawberry mini cakes. Oh yeah, a little bit of
everything, the good stuff. Cheers.
Oh, he's taking over the vlog. Alright,
Hey guys.
Salam Alaikum [Peace be upon you] With my friends from Iraq.
Alright guys, the train is now moving. We are getting- we are getting wobble around.
Good chai. Perfect.
Enjoying a nice tea here.
We’re in the general's cabin here,
and having a good time. How do I look, good?
He’s doing a thorough inspection through my photos or just looking at him for fun.
Yeah, you look at him,
He's offering me whiskey in front of a police officer.
I told him only in America, I’m having whiskey, not here. Yeah whiskey, he wants
whiskey. I know you want the whiskey, don't you? Yeah he wants the wis-- whiskey,
he's trying to convince me. Shukran for the mai [Water]
How much? How much? Coffee? 13.
13 dinars.
I’ll open up my handy-dandy police wallet.
And so, 13. I only got a 25 spot.
Is it 25 ski gonna work? Alright, that'll-- that'll work. Yeah okay.
Alright, sweet. We just bought our tickets again.
Shukran [Thank you]
Nice, he showed us how to lock it, so we're safer.
Good luck. Okay bye.
Oh geez, what a day. This is one of those travel members that will go down in
history. I’m just realizing like thank God, the army told us to get all these
snacks because I don't know if there's actually food you said you saw in a
video, there's food. Well, that was the cafeteria area.
I did have like chicken and stuff though in the fridge. Ah so you have something then.
It’s about 10 p.m. now. So, we've been on the train for a couple hours, and you
know the military's been treating us really well. And so, Luke and I were just
sitting here, I was on the phone with the airline to change my flight, and like
this thing locks but it can still open to about that much. And so the-- the
guy from the army had opened it this much. He's like open
open I was like hold on, hold on I was trying to signal him, I’m on the phone,
and I don't think he understood. So like as a joke,
like he puts his pistol through the door. I’m like, whoa.
Luke and I are both tweaking, so we can pull the door open, and as he walks in,
he's holding the gun up to my leg, and he like you know obviously he's doing it as
a joke but like you never hold a pistol up to someone. So, like that tweaked me
out so much, and then he was like telling me to put pants on, and like that I need
to come out there. I was like alright whatever, I thought maybe he was inviting
me for another tea, and so like we walked past the cabin. We
were having a tea, and then like there's all these people sitting in the car,
and he's like American, American like you know, it seemed nice at first
because like he was telling me to say hello to like
you know like the women, and the children, and which I did, and then like they
started asking me for something I don't know, and then he like pulled me along, we
went to like another car, and then another car, and we would like stop to
someone because maybe, he thought I needed something.
Maybe it was just a massive miscommunication because like it was all
in like good fun, and but like we were walking through these
cars, that had like 30, 40, 50, maybe 60 people, and super, super full. And you--
--camera. Yeah. Oh yeah, and he told me not to bring
the camera with. Yeah like we're walking through there, and he's like I guess he
was looking for English speakers, and then he would find someone that maybe
spoke a few words, and then they'd be like what do you need? And I was like
well, I’d write on their phone, like I don't need anything. I don't know what
I’m doing here, and then we went through like another couple cars, and I was like
trying to pull away, and he was like grabbing my hand, and like pulling me
like further and further away. So, I probably went through,
I don't know maybe six cars, and I’m like come on like I really wanna go back,
and you could probably tell in my face that I was like starting to get really
thrown off. They were getting to the end of the train because I mean I have no
idea what anyone's saying, and like people are yelling at much stuff in
Arabic. It was intense, then he brought us back here, and I translated on my phone,
and showed him like I don't want to walk around the train. He's like, oh okay.
Then I said, I want to sleep, he's like, oh okay, and then he left right away. So, I
don't think, they meant anything negative about it. It just really
threw me off right now. I mean, I probably would’ve been as a sweet guy if the gun
wasn't, didn't just come in because like that had my anxiety levels
I don't know if I’ve ever had a gun held up to me like that. Actually no, I
definitely not, I’m not a gun like that, and that thing was loaded. I didn't
mention that. He literally dropped the clip,
and showed that there was a bullet, and then he took the empty one, and he like
pretended like he pulled the trigger multiple times at the window.
And like obviously it was empty but like you never know if a bullet gets jammed
in there. So, just a little sketch. Alright, it's about time to get some rest.
No lights so, we're doing Covid masks to sleep.
So, you gotta work with what we can sometimes.
See when we probably get woken up by a 5 a.m. pounding on the door. So,
good night until then.
Alright guys, so we just made it here, it's about 4:30 a.m. So, I guess people
saying it takes 14 hours to get here, isn't so accurate because we got here
quicker than expected. We got a knock about 15 minutes
ago, and we didn't have any other disruptions outside of that. So
I guess, now we're in Basra. What do we do at 4:30 a.m. in Basra?
I have no idea, maybe find a hotel.
I’d be very curious to know if the train always arrives in the middle of the
night like this. It’s such a random time
or if we just had a speedy captain.
Busy day down here in Basra.
We are lively.
Making extra money. 5000? Yallah.
Alright, this is Basra. Oh, we're going to the local side. We made
it in the cab. Alright, we're cruising to Basra.
How far did it seem away on the map? That I didn't actually figure out. I guess,
the price is most important. We're gonna first sell it five thousand. It's
seven k's away. Seven k's okay. So, we're not too far. Apparently, Basra is a
pretty decent sized city. We've got an international airport here. Yeah, I was
able to get a direct flight to Beirut. That’s pretty much the train crews not
much else to tell you guys other than that, and it was a pretty nice experience
overall. Like I said before, I thought it was
going to be like 14 hours but maybe total time for when we actually got to
the train station at like 2 p.m. yesterday. Until arriving here at four was 14 hours
but actual train time was like 7 00 p.m. to 4 a.m. 4:30 a.m. So if you're taking
the train, just know there's a bit of a variance
on when you'll actually arrive. So, it was a good time, and
yeah I met some really nice military people outside of having a
gun pointed at me. You know, I’d say it was a pretty great
experience, the military loved us. I just don't think the guy even realized
like the joke he was doing. A great train ride, and good experience. And so, in
the next video guys, we'll be showing you more of Basra or showing you the first
impression of the Basra. So, can't wait to see you guys then. And as always,
thanks so much for watching. If you want to see more videos both here in Iraq, and
all around the world, make sure that subscribe button below. And, if you
enjoyed this video guys, smash that like button, and I’ll see you guys in the next one.
[Music]