all right hello guys this is Doug and
I'm here in Iraq again today I'm here
with my new friend Muhammad what's up
guys from Bhagavad and my brother
Brendan who you guys know
and uh today we're gonna go on a
load right now
famous city uh it's been in the news a
lot over the past 20 years
so uh we'll talk about it more when we
get there but uh we are currently in
anbar Province we just crossed in from
Baghdad and uh yeah I think it's going
to be very interesting so stay tuned and
here we go yellow
all right guys so now we're entering the
actual city of Fallujah today is the
first day of Ramadan and uh normally
here in Iraq the sunnis and the Shia
people will start Ramadan on different
days however this year both are starting
it today here in Fallujah this is a very
majority Sunni City Ramadan is in full
swing here the first day and we're going
to be having a nice iftar meal here
Muhammad is fasting today what's up yeah
and uh so he's gonna take us to a really
nice restaurant we'll have a great iftar
see how they do it in Fallujah
[Music]
this is basically the city of paluto
we're in the city of Philadelphia right
now we were earlier at the Oscar
okay now we're inside the city
here we got La Casa Burger there so
they're building a lot they're building
a lot right now
[Music]
the roads are like surprisingly amazing
here yeah even the highway to get here
from Baghdad I was like really surprised
it's better than most of the highways in
America very smooth very new
so yeah you can see they're investing a
lot to rebuild this city uh like there's
not much
like area to build new stuff as you can
tell so they're kind of working on the
Oscars too okay
[Music]
it's just crazy because it's like
it's such it's so like Infamous in like
the
minds of Americans because they've just
heard it on the news from like the
battle Yeah
all right guys so we parked the car and
we're out and about now here in Fallujah
we're very close to a market so we're
gonna go in there and check it out a lot
of people are out and about right now
picking up various things for their
iftar meals that is the meal that people
break their Ramadan fast with every
night so it is very very busy out here a
lot of people and uh let's go say hi all
right so here we are let's head into the
main Market
oh that smells good it smells like
spices
you got the pickles
roof over here fruit
wow
so over rocks very modest tourism
industry
uh Fallujah is definitely off the beaten
path uh even for Iraq so they're
probably not many tourists coming here
although you say you've taken a couple
here right okay very cool the market is
cool with filled with people because
it's the first day of Ramadan in the
market shopping for stuff if stars in a
few hours
so
yeah sweet people are living here
we got all the meat
how are you Sonic
is this like the the fat from the butt
of the sheep like that big flap
yeah okay I knew it very good thank you
okay so this is a apparently a really
popular Pickle Place
and they're slinging all sorts of
pickles
another pickle cart or stall very very
crowded
so guys if you're from a Western Country
or America like me then when you hear
the word Fallujah it probably brings up
pretty bad images in your head this was
the sight of two very major battles
during the U.S invasion of Iraq which
coincidentally we just marked the 20th
anniversary of the U.S invasion of this
country a few days ago so during the
Iraq War and by that I mean the U.S
invasion of Iraq this city was part of a
region in the country referred to as the
Sunni triangle it's here in anbar
Province it's a lot of Sunni cities and
there was a lot of resistance to the U.S
occupation in places like this so as a
result of that two very major battles
happened here there were a lot of
casualties on both sides so this place
really has a pretty terrible reputation
in the West for violence and for war so
unfortunately the troubles here in
Fallujah didn't end after the U.S war
here in Iraq the city was actually
captured by ISIS in around January 2014
and it was held for over two years into
mid-26 team when it was finally
liberated by the Iraqi National forces
and as a result the city's been heavily
damaged you'll see from some of the
clips as we were driving in here there
are a lot of buildings that still show
the scars of the battle to retake the
city you can see bullet holes and some
buildings that have been hit by
airstrikes and as a result of that
conflict they're actually now investing
a lot in the city here in Fallujah so
they have really nice New Roads coming
into the city and a lot of nice new
buildings now things are looking better
it's safe here I feel totally safe I
mean to be honest I've never felt unsafe
for a single moment in Iraq anywhere but
this feels just like any other Iraqi
City to me it feels safe it feels secure
there are people out and about on the
streets life is returning to normal here
which is just amazing to see and
hopefully you're going to see that more
in this video
all right guys so you just saw the Old
Market the old style Market you know the
traditional market now we're going
pretty much just across the street to
the Fallujah mall so see kind of the
modern side of shopping here and I don't
know how old or new this mall is but it
looks pretty big so we'll go inside and
take a look real quick
all right guys here we are we're inside
first thing I saw is Santa Claus and
some snowmen
and now here we are very nice do you
think this is for Ramadan the the giant
Crescent okay so it's all decorated for
Ramadan and also Christmas for some
reason yeah
perfect everyone's included discriminate
yeah oh this is nice this is really nice
it's very bright
High ceilings and
nice clean stores
it smells very clean in here
all right let's see here we've got a
nice grocery store there's LC Waikiki
Turkish brand and we're going up
[Music]
nice uh Lebanese coffee shop
down there all right and now we're up on
the third level which is kind of the
food court level they've got a bunch of
different restaurants cafes dessert
spots most of them are not really open
yet and that's also kind of why the mall
is probably pretty empty right now
because again it's Ramadan and it is not
yet time to break the fast really good a
lot of options up here and there's even
like a little fun Park area for the kids
with bumper cars and and some arcade
games and that sort of thing it looks
like there's a pretty good view over
here too let's go check it out it looks
like a pretty big city from up here guys
so I was just looking and apparently the
population is on the internet it says
350 000 but uh we're thinking it is
probably a little bit more than that
just because you know a lot of people
fled the city about five six years ago
during Isis occupation and now more and
more people are coming back so the
population's growing but it's like the
15th largest city in Iraq all right guys
we've left the mall now we're heading
back to kind of the market area and
you've got a good restaurant for us in
mind right restaurant albadia yeah we've
got about an hour or so
friendly people we've got about an hour
or so until iftar until the maghreb
prayer until we hear the Azan from the
mosque which means we can break the fast
hello
um
nice to meet you thank you thank you
I think he's making some kind of a dirty
joke is it a mushroom no it's like a
weird thing that grows in the middle of
the desert really yeah
it looks like a mix between a potato and
a mushroom it's a weird thing that grows
in the middle of the desert
I've never seen it anymore
foreign
thank you so much
very nice of you
he said
like have a star at our horse at our
house yeah
random dude on the street just invited
us to dinner here amazing amazing
unbelievable Brandon what do you think
so far of Fallujah
um well our tour guide Muhammad was
saying it's a very normal city which for
me my first time in Iraq I've been here
five days now it's hard to know what a
normal Iraqi city is but I think it hits
you when you're here it just feels like
a a very
calm normal Place everybody how have the
people been very friendly everybody's
coming up like you just saw shaking our
hands yeah wanting to know where we're
from wanting to test out some English on
us yeah exactly super friendly kind
inviting us to meals it's amazing
amazing I've been saying the biggest
conflict you'll see in Iraq today is
people fighting over who can pay the
bill at dinner yep
that is very true okay guys check this
out we've got more chime these are even
bigger this is like bigger than a
baseball these uh gents here are being
very friendly okay you'll be on YouTube
ah these ones too okay
very nice big ones so guys those uh guys
selling that uh whatever it is I think
it's some kind of fungi but I'm not sure
they were so friendly and again uh one
of those gentlemen said hey come to our
house for uh for iftar we're saying No
thank you thank you so much thank you
and he says I would be honored it's just
amazing people you meet on the street
here in Iraq invite you at a moment's
notice I I truly can't get over it by
the way keep in mind most of these older
gentlemen or really anyone of adult age
was here
during the U.S Invasion and during the
occupation of this city and they know
we're American
and still the level of hospitality and
kindness they offer us it's like you
almost can't believe it after everything
they've been through to show us that
level of warmth is just like amazing
like I can promise you you would not
find that that level of hospitality in
America I think Americans are nice I
think they're generally kind to people
and I think they're they're welcoming to
people but it's not to that level like
this is just very very special
[Music]
so guys right now we're headed back to
the car right now uh you may hear some
Quran verses playing from the from the
mosques it's not quite the call to
prayer yet
but there are
some prayers uh from the loudspeakers
and it's coming up very soon it's
starting to get darker you can tell
everyone's going home to prepare for
iftar because it's so empty in here just
like an hour ago it was very very
crowded
all right guys the sun is almost down
now we just got to the restaurant it's
called Kebab Hussein you can see it
here behind me the guys went in to make
sure we got a spot and uh thankfully we
did it's pretty cool you can see
everyone here they've already got all
the starters on their table everything
ready to go but no one's eating yet
because it's not officially time yet
so everything is ready to go people are
waiting patiently
oh my gosh look at that
all right guys
not long now you ready
are you ready I'm ready
do you usually break here fast food a
date or no I usually like break my pack
either with a date I would uh date our
water and then whatever then whatever I
want perfect so we've got the dates
right here guys it's pretty traditional
to break the fast with the date
or water and then we've got all sorts of
kind of little messes we got pickles we
got hummus we got a little salad here
some uh eggplant thing and some do you
call this jajik or something yeah like a
yogurty uh cucumber thing and some soup
this looks amazing and we didn't even
fast today not fully but I'm pretty
hungry we decided breakfast we had a
small breakfast too guys it is happening
[Music]
and now everyone is Off to the Races
time to eat up
so our kebabs just got here and um
they are very large
enormous actually
can you do it it's gonna be this is our
last meal in Iraq oh it's true this is
we're going to the airport tonight so
gotta Make It Count inshallah
looks amazing though
it's good it's really good
onion it's amazing yeah
America America
is beautiful hello
oh God
hey
first time in Fallujah first time
you guys will be on YouTube inshallah
goodbye bye guys nice to meet you
yeah
all right guys so we finished up dinner
that was delicious or super stuffed but
we came here to this Cafe uh on the
Euphrates River really nice place people
just hanging out with some tea some
shisha some dominoes some backgammon
what's what do you guys call it the the
game it's not backgammon but it's uh
it's very similar I learned it in Egypt
recently four days but anyway we're just
here on the on the water it's very nice
very chill Vibe out here lots of
friendly people kind of wondering why
the heck there are two American tourists
hanging out in Fallujah but people are
happy to see Taurus here a bit surprised
but uh they're very friendly and happy
oddly enough we're actually sitting here
at this Cafe
next to kind of an Infamous bridge if
you're an American like in 2004 there
were these uh four I believe Blackwater
contractors who were killed in Fallujah
and they were hung from that bridge it's
pretty grisly but yeah that's the bridge
where that happened we just walked by it
earlier
um and yeah all I can say is that it's
it's just incredible to see how much
things have changed since then obviously
uh because look where we are now sitting
on the banks of the river not far from
there
enjoying an evening on the Euphrates
very nice here in Fallujah and I've
really enjoyed the visit a lot Muhammad
thank you so much for taking us here man
you're very welcome I appreciate it
great to meet you Brendan how did you
enjoy it it was great it's a beautiful
city we've had a really nice meal really
nice visit and uh overall great time
awesome so guys this is going to be the
end of this uh few videos from Iraq
unfortunately tonight I'm leaving headed
back to Istanbul but of course I'll be
back to Iraq again soon one last thing
if you guys do want to visit Iraq if you
like what you've seen in these videos
and you'd like to join me on a trip to
Iraq click the link down in the
description I've got two more group
trips coming up in the fall in October
and November of 2023 of this year so
other than that thank you so much for
watching and I'll see you in the next
one I can endorse this trip he uh sold
me on it I had my hesitations about
visiting Iraq and it has totally blown
me away uh in every way so I've been
amazed to visit I think everybody who's
watching this video should the same and
go travel with them I really appreciated
this trip oh that was really nice well
you heard it there guys and I did not
tell him to say that anyway thank you
guys so much for watching I'll see you
in the next one bye-bye