- I'm just gonna kinda hang,
gonna kind of hang down below the window.
- Oh, oh, oh, oh.
(men speak foreign language)
- Shh shh shh.
- No English, no English.
- [Man] He told me you can't smoke there.
- Shh, don't talk English.
- No English, bro.
- I'm really stressed, man.
It is taking forever.
What, are they calling the boss?
And then the boss' boss,
and then the boss' boss'?
Is that's happening?
We didn't even eat anything today.
(dramatic music)
(calm music)
What is up everyone?
We are here in Central Iraq.
I'm with my buddy, Alvaro.
- Hey, guys.
- We've been having an awesome time
traveling around the country,
and making really great stories.
And I hope you guys have enjoyed them,
but this story is a little bit different.
We are now driving five hours
to the Southeastern part of the country to the marshlands.
And whenever you road trip in Iraq,
it can be a little bit uneasy.
And so that's really the story that we're telling today.
- We're really pressed on time.
It's a four hour, five hour drive,
so we have a breakfast we're taking on the road,
dates, kumquats.
And basically the roads, they're full of checkpoints,
so it's a lot of hassle getting through them.
Sometimes they ask for passports,
they bring us in through the back door.
We need to talk to all the security guards,
thank them, thank them, and when let us by.
So it's just a lot of hassle.
- Absolutely, and that's really the story
I wanna tell today,
because Alvaro have been to every country in the world.
I have three countries left.
We've been to so many places,
Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia,
Yemen, and Iraq.
And so, there's a lot of times situations
that go undocumented.
So I'm gonna try my best to show these checkpoints,
and show some of the struggles that we have,
because safety is obviously a primary concern.
So that's it, we're hitting the road now.
I will update you from the next check point.
(upbeat music)
Before I jump into the story,
I wanna say that both Alvaro and I
are very experienced travelers,
and we do not recommend visiting Iraq without a plan.
The security situation in this country
is as intense as anywhere on earth,
and kidnapping remains our biggest threat.
So we must be on high alert at all times.
We are on this adventure with a local friend,
and a licensed driver,
and we are taking every precaution that we can.
I wanted to make this video to give you
a behind the scenes glimpse of real life situations
that we encounter as we drive across Iraq.
So buckle up and get ready for the journey.
- Oh, smell that?
Yeah, like burning trash.
- [Drew] This is where I'm hiding my camera, right here.
So I've got this strap hanging up over it.
So he won't see it on the window.
(speaks foreign language)
- We passed that first checkpoint pretty easily,
because he gave him the (speaks foreign language)
Hand over over the heart.
That's tip number one.
- The driver said we were from Baghdad,
so I don't know how they could believe
Drew is from Baghdad.
Don't ask me, but...
- [Drew] Yeah he looks so Iraqi, look at his face.
(suspenseful music)
The views out the window, it's pretty deserty,
and kind of, like, wastelands.
Which means nothing, basically.
- Here in Iraq, the good thing is that
they don't know we're coming.
So, like the one in the checkpoint before,
the driver said we were from Baghdad
and that's sometimes enough.
- [Drew] Right. - Sometimes they will stop us,
see our passports, and then a few questions follow.
But if they want to sell us,
it's always going to be after we leave the checkpoint.
- And when he says they want to sell us,
it may sound funny, like,
when the words come out of his mouth,
but that's really our biggest concern
is getting kidnapped.
Cause you just...
Whoa, look at that, look at that.
- [Alvaro] That has to be your biggest fear,
a hundred percent.
- A hundred percent biggest fear is being kidnapped.
If we get like pick-pocketed, or someone steals my bag,
at the end of the day I'm fine.
But if someone kidnaps me.
- And I'm traveling with an American so,
if we get kidnapped, they'll probably do all
of the bad things to me.
- Yeah, I'm American, so by association,
we're both American.
- Yeah.
- And to them that means (cash register sound)
Something like that.
- Seen a lot of pilgrims going all the way to the Najaf.
We're still very close to the Najaf on Kabullah.
A lot of pilgrimage routes to go there and pray.
- These are some holy lands, my friend.
Upon checking the map, we realized that we're going
to pass by an ancient Mesopotamian city called Ur.
But in order to get there,
we must take a small detour and that means more checkpoints.
A lot of them.
If he sees this camera man in my hand,
we are so screwed.
(speaks foreign language)
We got pulled over?
This happens about one in every five,
one in every four or five checkpoints.
They tell us to pull aside and we're pulling aside,
and waiting for next action.
There's a good chance we'll have to walk
in that little room and sit with some official.
Haidar, you're an Iraqi here.
He can hide out because he's Iraqi.
- It's a risk, you're gonna leave us here?
- [Haidar] Yes.
- What if they see us later?
- If they see a ginger hair then,
I'm obviously not Iraqi.
I'm just gonna kind of hang,
just going to kind of hang down below the window.
- Ooh ooh ooh oh.
(men speak foreign language)
- No English, no English.
- [Haidar] He told me you can't smoke there.
- Shh, don't talk English.
- No English, bro.
Stop shouting especially.
I think we're good.
- What did he say to you?
- What's your name?
- They left us in the car,
that's why we got off so easily.
Because they went themselves,
they both have their Iraqi passports,
and there was no problem.
- Yeah, they really never saw us the whole time.
It's all about keeping a low profile,
not speaking English during the checkpoints,
because that obviously is a giveaway.
And being very respectful.
If they look at you in the eyes,
you look at them dead in the eyes,
and you say (speaks foreign language)
and you put your hand over your heart.
That's really the only thing that we can do.
Alas, we made it to Ur,
an ancient Sumerian city state in Mesopotamia.
Believe it or not, there are written records found here
that date back to the 26th Century BC.
The main temple is called a Ziggurat,
or a rectangular step tower only found
in this part of the world.
And it blows my mind that all of this beauty
is left alone in the dust.
Reality check, we are absolutely in the middle of nowhere.
Do you think anybody you know has ever been to Ur, Iraq?
- I don't think I know anybody.
Maybe one...
- Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa,
barbed wire, dude.
- [Alvaro] We're good.
- This is Mesopotamia.
This is literally where humans started.
- And everything is open, there's no, barely no...
- Yeah, no no.
There's no protection, no conservation of anything.
There's one gatekeeper here who's just kind of chilling.
And this place is wide open,
and in the middle of wasteland,
so there's nothing around here
except for a beautiful pyramid.
It looks and feels like the pyramids of Giza,
but it's really an ancient temple
in a city called Ur, South Eastern Iraq.
Right over there is where Abraham was born.
The Prophet Abraham, where Christianity,
Judaism, Islam started from here.
Pretty cool to see.
Most of the city is underground,
part of it has been excavated,
and the part that I'm walking on,
with the massive pyramid,
is really the only structure remaining.
Iraq.
(calm eastern music)
This looks like a checkpoint.
(calm eastern music)
A little update here, as we pull over at a gas station
to fill up the car.
So there's a massive sandstorm that came in.
So our original plan was to go to the marshlands
and have some beautiful drone shots,
and hang out, and sleep in a mud house.
But the problem is the shots are going to be terrible,
and the sun is going down really quickly.
So instead we are going to head to the city of Basra,
which is one of the biggest cities in Iraq.
And we're gonna to have some adventures down there.
It's almost on the border of Kuwait and Iran,
so super excited to check it out.
And we still got to drive three more hours,
so we're hitting the road now.
(upbeat music)
It always surprises me how many fresh fruits are everywhere.
In all these countries, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq,
amazingly fresh fruit.
- This was breakfast, now it's litter.
- [Drew] The clock is starting to work against us.
We still need to drive two hours,
and driving at night is way too dangerous.
We aren't exactly sure how many checkpoints are ahead of us,
but if there's one thing we do know,
it's that our stress levels are rising.
(men speak foreign language)
- Guess what, you're not gonna believe this.
- Another checkpoint.
(Alvaro sings dramatically)
- It's starting to get dark,
which means it could potentially be
a little more dangerous out here.
- There's about seven guys checking the car right now.
- They pulled us over, they'll check our passports.
They don't look very friendly to be honest, no.
- [Drew] And how many times have we given over?
- He hasn't smiled, I tried to smile.
- [Drew] No smile. - [Alvaro] No smile.
- We're giving our passports up once again.
(dramatic music)
Just pulled over here to take a pee break,
and really in the middle of nowhere.
This is a shop.
What are you getting bro?
- Some chocolate, maybe.
- Chocolate?
- How much is the Jody bar?
(speaks foreign language)
- [Drew] I think it's like a biscuit.
Yeah, it's a wafer.
I'll have one too.
(speaking foreign language)
The shop is literally like a garage.
Not even a garage, some holes in it there.
And we move.
Move, move, move.
- He told me he stayed there, for five days or four days.
- Does he have food and water?
- Yeah.
- Wow, crazy.
Just when we thought we were running out of checkpoints,
the worst was yet to come.
I realized that watching this might seem repetitive,
but imagine the intensity of living through it.
We're going through a really serious checkpoint right now.
These guys aren't messing around.
(speaking foreign language)
What happened is the police officer,
first of all, saw his passport and was like,
oh Real Madrid, Barcelona, ha ha.
And then he grabbed our passports and walked
in the back room.
So we are now waiting to see what's next.
- [Alvaro] Hi there, is there a problem or no?
- No problem, it's just they want checking.
- [Alvaro] Checking? - Passports and the ID, yes.
- I've been here for about 30 minutes now.
Alvaro finished scrolling all the new Instagram stuff,
which means we've been here a while.
It's not a good feeling to not have your passport on you.
Your passport is your identity.
It's, like, you need it with you always in my hand,
in my backpack.
Alright, so here's a problem.
I got to find a toilet.
- This is literally the worst place to take a (beep)
Like this a wasteland of plastic
dumped on garbage and a checkpoint.
- If I went around this wall thing,
and I just went to the bathroom,
do you think it'll be fine?
- Do you mind spending a year in jail?
- As we're having this conversation more and more,
it's becoming more and more urgent.
- You could go here.
We're bros, it's fine.
- No, I know you don't care.
- Maybe the driver does.
(Alvaro laughs)
- You just went to go check in with what's happening,
and what did they say?
- The guy, the guard, the checkpoint
is saying that, holding our passports,
that things are slow.
And that normally foreigners all
had to head back to Baghdad
whenever they come to this checkpoint.
This region, so that you guys know,
is the most dangerous in the country,
it's quite unstable.
As the city where we are in right now,
Nasiriyah, has the biggest prison in Iraq.
It's called 'The Whale',
because once you're in it, you're never leaving it.
- [Drew] And a huge military base.
- [Alvaro] Huge military base.
- [Drew] Which we accidentally went through.
- A lot of people demonstrating, shooting guns in the air.
So, it's a very unstable city and region, government.
- What would you put the percentage right now
that we get through this checkpoint?
Right now?
- Ah, I would give it like a 60,
'cause the guy says he's working on it.
- I'm really stressed, man.
It's taking forever.
What are they calling the boss?
And then the boss' boss.
And then the boss' boss', is that what's happening?
We didn't even eat anything today.
What happened? - Go back to Baghdad.
- [Drew] Why?
- He rejected us.
- [Drew] Seriously? - Yeah.
- [Drew] Are you joking or no?
- No, I'm not joking.
- [Drew] What did they say?
- Go, to the Hell.
(Haidar laughs)
- [Drew] Go to hell?
- They say you can go
and visit all around the marshes,
and go Basrah and back to your home.
- We got the permission.
(Drew laughs)
(beep) Yeah.
Dude, show me excitement.
- I knew we were going to go, like.
- Fury, that deeply hidden underneath that smile.
Dude, we got it, we got it, we got it!
Moving onwards.
So Alvaro and the driver have become best friends.
So, he just likes to recline his seat,
just to kinda, like, make him...
- I'm short, I don't really need that much space.
But I need a little bit.
- I'm a reasonable guy, but he has,
he's really done everything that a driver shouldn't do.
- Swerving with a wheel, driving one hand always.
Eating sunflower seeds as he drives,
texting, calling, checking Instagram, taking selfies.
Anything with a phone, basically.
- Lots of selfies.
- Selfie master.
- I was running around just like taking them
in the middle of the building,
and we're like middle of shooting,
and he'll just like, throw his phone in the face.
- [Alvaro] He doesn't wear the seatbelt, ever.
- He's late every morning,
so we're trying to go, call time is at eight.
So then it's 8:30, where is he, where is he?
Running around.
- He just sits there during dinner time,
and laughs and calls his family,
and just puts it on the call.
Like look, I'm with two...
- We don't wanna be in his selfies.
We're trying to keep a low profile here.
So, he's probably a really a nice guy.
- This is sounding very mean.
This is sounding very mean, I know this.
- That's what I'm just saying.
- We will show you the proof.
- But he's keeping us safe
and that's the most important thing.
We've just entered Basra,
and what's crazy to think about is we're so close
to Kuwait and Iran.
We're in the middle of both countries,
but Kuwait is very clean, very first-world,
very modern, huge skyscrapers.
And then you're here in Basra,
which is just over the border and it's a bit more rundown.
It's crazy to think about all the oil they have in Iraq
that has been wasted.
First order of business is finding dinner,
because we literally haven't eaten today
aside from peanuts and old bread.
And then we're going to find a hotel.
- On the outskirts it'll look very wealthy
with all the oil rigs and all the refineries.
First initial suburbs seem a little bit dirty.
- Rundown.
(upbeat piano music)
Wow.
This is crazy, man.
(upbeat piano music)
We made it, success, dude.
Long travel day.
- Very long.
A lot of changes, we had to be flexible,
but we made it.
- It wasn't that easy,
like, a lot of patience required,
a lot of checkpoints, a lot of stress.
But we did visit Ur, which was a really cool town.
- That's pretty much it.
We covered a lot of ground.
- We're going to do the marshlands tomorrow.
Tonight, we're going to explore Basra.
We're going to get some dinner, now.
This is a feast.
It's like Korean food in the middle-east.
We're in Basra, Iraq, getting our first dinner,
which was that first meal of the day.
Looks phenomenal.
- Alright, so (indistinct)
I think this is good, pretty sure it's good.
And then I'm going to drink this,
maybe this for a appetizer.
- You've got to understand that that language
would get us by in so many countries.
(upbeat music)
Today was quite possibly one of the craziest
and most stressful days of my entire life,
but it was a blast, and I hope you enjoyed
coming along for the adventure.
Traveling to every country has its ups and downs,
but in the end it's always worth the ride.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart
for watching this video, and stay tuned
for next week's episode,
as I take you deep in the hidden marshlands
of south-eastern Iraq.
I'll see you then.
(upbeat music)
- What would you say are the sketchiest trips
you've ever been on?
- Yemen, for sure.
- [Drew] Yemen, number one hands down.
- I wasn't, I was definitely not eating
sunflower seeds in Yemen.
- No, I was, like, scared.
- Eating my nails.
- The thing about Yemen is there's
so many more checkpoints every 5k,
and also they're like makeshift checkpoints.
So they have like a little rope, like,
like a kid, like a 10-year-old kid
can make this checkpoint.
And then there's like a little hut that they sit in.
Huge guns, and you're just like,
are these fake policemen?
Are they just here to kidnap me?
- That's important.
And you also remember,
need to remember that in Yemen
they know you're crossing that checkpoint
at that certain time.
So they get like a letter saying that there will be
two Americans and one Spanish passing that checkpoint
at 12:00 PM.
So they know when you're passing,
and that information that's already given beforehand,
before you're crossing,
it makes everything much more nerve wracking,
because anyone can sell you out.
- Our phones don't work because SIM cards
just don't really work in Yemen.
So we can't contact anybody if there's a problem.
One of the checkpoints in Yemen,
this was my scariest moment.
They pulled us over, random checkpoint.
It was like a 30 minute stop,
which 30 minutes doesn't sound like a long time,
but when you're in a checkpoint,
it's a really, really long time.
And they saw one of my cameras,
so I'm smart I have two SD cards -
one of my SD cards has just dummy photos
and the other one's all my videos -
so I, they wanted me to delete my photos,
so I deleted them, no problem.
And then they were suspicious because of my passport
and because I had a camera,
so I had to get out of the car.
They searched everything in my pockets,
and I had to actually take off my shirt
in the middle of like a freeway.
And I'm just standing there like,
dude, what else does this dude want from me?
So we found a hotel finally,
and everyone's being super sketch about everything.
They keep asking about foreigners.
They're telling us not to speak English very loudly.
I don't know, but we made it safely
and we're done for the night.
- Wow, it smells.
- [Drew] What's wrong?
It smells like what?
Like, bomb powder?
- No, like cleaning product.
- [Drew] Why did you, like, trip up
when you just opened the door?
(Alvaro shouts and laughs)
- Smells weird.
It just smells weird.
- Notice how I didn't flinch?
The day is complete.
I'm Drew Binsky, and if you like my travel videos,
please click subscribe, and ring that little bell
so you can get notified on all my upcoming videos,
as I take you to every single country in the world.