So by now...
I guess most of you know how this works.
I show you some news clips about the country in question.
Breaking news out of Pakistan!
There's a crisis in US / Pakistan relations...
Mixed messaging coming from Pakistan...
Pakistan settle your own problems...
World leaders are urging Pakistan and India to take some deep breaths...
And then I go there...
And see what it's like behind the headlines.
But wait a second,
I think this guy has some things to say...
There's one place once described as the world's most dangerous country
that's offering up a pleasant surprise...
Pakistan!
So should we see if we can find that pleasant surprise this man is talking about?
I'm confident we're going to find something.
♪♪♪
More of the Pakistan that I was expecting to see...
Everyone should come in Pakistan...
There's nothing wrong with it!
Wonderfully peaceful now...
So I just touched down in Karachi, biggest city in Pakistan.
20 or so million people...
Just in this one city!
200 million in the country.
I'm about to order an Uber scooter
to get from the airport into the city.
And then we'll talk more but I've never had an Uber scooter
and it should be fun going through the streets
at 6:00 a.m. on some random guy's scooter.
So let's go find him.
Thank you!
- Goodbye! - Goodbye!
So as...
Ok! Ok!
As soon as I start recording...
Broken?
So I got a new room because the AC didn't work in the previous room.
But it's better because this one's got a double bed
and the other one you can open the window but...
Here I’ve got a really nice view!
Beautiful!
Anyway! There's not much happening out on the streets right now
and considering it's 4:00 a.m. where I came from...
I'm gonna hit the bed for a second and then we'll wake up,
and we'll go exploring, go for a walk.
And then I'm gonna try and find that scooter Uber
Because I couldn't get it from the airport
because they didn't want to drive out to the airport, anyway...
Time to sleep, I'll see you soon!
- // Driver's name // - Nick?
Yeah!
Where are you going?
An exchange office.
Okay!
- A PKR exchange - Okay.
All right! So I finally made it!
Pakistan!
I've actually been trying to come here for like two years.
But I had troubles with the visa.
But they made the visa system a lot easier now, so...
Woao! It's amazing here!
So busy!
So hectic!
One of the most densely populated cities in the world.
It's very interesting for me to be here because
I've been to India, Bangladesh, multiple times
and recently Afghanistan...
So, it's kind of like the final piece of the puzzle to this region.
I mean, I've been in Iran earlier last year, so...
I'm putting together the puzzle slowly.
Very interesting!
So far really kind people...
Welcoming!
Nice atmosphere!
Yeah! It's all happening.
So, I was trying to go to an exchange office
but it's prayer time so it's closed, so...
I have to wait an hour or so.
So I'll just go for a walk,
see what we can come across,
and then we're meeting a local guy later.
So, we all know Pakistan's bad reputation, sadly...
From the past with links to certain terrorist activity
but the country has really turned around in recent years.
And I believe it to be a very safe place to travel,
and I hope to bring that to light over my trip here...
I'm going to be traveling all over the country.
It's always a little bit daunting coming into a new country that has a bad reputation,
no matter how many times you do it but...
I believe that Pakistan is very misunderstood
and I really hope to bring that to light.
whereas I was in Afghanistan recently
and sadly I can't call that a safe country.
I really hope that one day it will become one.
On the other hand, the neighboring Pakistan...
I really believe it to be safe...
I've only been here a little bit but it feels really natural and calm.
Calm is relative.
If you've traveled in these regions before
the hard times of terrorism and the people...
Hey! How are you?
- American? - Ah?
- No, I'm from New Zealand. - New Zealand, yeah...
- You're working? - Yeah! Videos...
- Yeah. - Your shop?
- It’s my shop. - Oh, nice!
- Watches? - Watches!
Woao!
- What's your name? - Feaden…
F- E- A-D-E-N
- Your name? - I'm Nick.
- Nick? - Yeah!
- New Zealand? - New Zealand...
Brothers!
- Brothers? - Brothers...
- It's very far from my country now... - Very far, yeah!
Goodbye!
That's what I’m talking about,
kind people, so... Yeah!
Whereas the country did have a hard time, you know?
2009 I think was the peak.
I think over 30.000 people have died
from a result of terrorism here and billions of dollars cost, but...
You know, certain changes in the political climate
have really forced this country into a positive direction and...
I hope to showcase that and I hope to see it for myself.
So, English is widely spoken here like...
Everybody I've come across at least speaks like...
Enough English to communicate quite easily, so...
That's super handy, you know, are being formerly a part of India
and so that being a British colony.
Yeah! Makes it so actually fun to travel... To be honest!
I'm gonna be down on the streets a little while, as you can see, but...
Good vibes so far!
♪♪♪
Have a look of this electrical wires up here...
It's mayhem!
I can very easily reach and touch these if I wanted to...
- How are you? - I'm fine.
- Good! - Yes please!
- Are you selling shoes? - Yes, yes!
Oh nice!
- How is business? Is good? - Yes, the business is good.
All right! All right!
- Lovely... - What's your country?
- New Zealand - New Zealand?
- Oh, my brother! - Yeah! Yeah!
- What's your name? - My name is Wajaideli.
- Widel? - Wajaideli.
- Wajaideli... - Yes.
- What's yours? - Nick
- Nick? - Yeah! Yeah!
Oh, well... Good name is Nick.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
Man! It is so nice to be...
I'm just crossing the road.
It is so nice to be back in...
It's a t-shirt weather!
Been in Europe over winter it's like 25 to 30 degrees,
which is exactly what you want...
So, as you can see, the streets are starting to come alive...
After prayer time now so everybody's coming out
and setting up their souls and things.
I can imagine it's going to get even more intense soon.
I'm going to go meet up with my new friend who's called Shabazz
and then we'll learn more about the culture from a local's perspective.
Maybe later my friend!
Okay. So we've just come down to the beach,
- I'm here with my friend Shabazz. - Hey guys! I'm Shabazz.
It's really nice to see him. I'm really excited to see Nick in Pakistan.
I'm also really happy that they'll get to see Pakistan through your lens.
- It'll be really interesting. - Yeah, yeah!
So, Shabazz is gonna be my main man,
showing me his homeland starting in Karachi
and then heading north to see some nature points in some other cities, right?
It's gonna be a good adventure together.
- Yeah! - Cool! So...
Yeah! The beach is pretty action-packed.
I'll show you some shots in a second
but you can see thousands of people, heaps of camels, horses,
buggies, snake charmers...
Like anything you can think of it's here.
It's pretty spectacular, so...
Have a look at this place!
♪♪♪
What do you think of this place?
- I'm a huge fan of beaches, so... - Right.
It's amazing!
Shabazz, do you think that it's safe here in Pakistan?
I think the situation is much better now.
People can roaming around,
you see tourists coming here like:
"Pakistan got featured in Forbes list of the 20 countries that you should visit".
So, it's kind of safer, relatively safer here,
and people are enjoying their lives like...
They're here at the beach, you can see families roaming around,
you're seeing small children taking rides in rickshaws...
So, it's kind of fun!
So, things have changed rapidly since like, let's say, 10 years ago...
- Yeah!
10 years ago it was like...
The security conditions were really tight, you know?
There were some terrorist attacks and all...
But we have recovered from that
and things have gotten really better in terms of like security, like...
People really want to visit now, it's like...
I've seen the traveler coming in,
then they get to see their experiences on landed,
they feel like really safe and kind of...
I've always felt safe since it's my home
but for the foreign traveler I think it's really safe now
and they can explore the country and every part of the country, you know?
In 2009 when terrorism was at its peak...
Did you even feel safe then?
Those were difficult times.
Definitely!
There were bomb blast happening
and we used to get off in school, and... You know?
So those were difficult times...
We were like kind of... You know...
Somewhere between... If visiting was the right thing to do...
But we were kind of double-minded when we used to go to public places...
Like if it's going to be safe or not...
So, you always have to give it a double thought about it.
If you should be going there or not.
But yeah! Now it's not... Yeah!
Let's go!
Hope you enjoyed that first day in Karachi.
I just ordered a huge amount of room service with some local Pakistani food...
It should be here in a second, I'll show it to you.
You can see this hotel room here,
this hotel room is costing me, I think, like $ 30 USD a night,
which is pretty good.
That motorbike ride that I got to the exchange office this morning...
I think it was... I don't know, maybe...
5 or 10 minutes motorbike ride...
That cost me, I think, $ 0.20 USD on Uber.
So it's just outrageous how affordable it is for...
If you're coming from a western country, you know? So...
First impressions, again,
I expected people to be very friendly and welcoming,
come up to you on the street and sit you down,
and offer you tea and everything.
I'll show you more of that in the coming videos but,
as I said, today I was just getting a grasp of the of the place
but we're gonna go super deep,
gonna show you the food and everything.
We did stop today at a shopping mall and had a snack...
And there was a cricket game playing in the background... Cricket is huge here!
But we'll show you more of the culture as time goes.
Just before I go check this food out.
So we got some naan,
some rice and vegetables...
And this Daal Mash...
I'm gonna enjoy this and I’ll see you in the next video.
In case I don't see you...
Good afternoon, good evening and good night.
♪♪♪