when you google iraq the first thing you
see
is this
you see war terrorism guns danger it's
kind of the last place you think of as a
tourist destination but today i came to
iraq to show you the iraq beyond the war
the new iraq that people haven't heard
about and you probably won't see in the
news it was in the iraq is danger
country but you see that the iraq is
say that yeah safe
we think iraq has no tourism because
tourists were banned for 40 years but
now for the first time in a long time
they have visa on arrival
we think as women we have to cover up
because it's a muslim country
but we only had to at some mosques or
very religious cities all right my
friends we are wearing a what is this
called
a very intense abayan i had to wear um
gloves because my nails are not allowed
to be painted in the
tomb shrine otherwise you can dress how
you want
i thought they might not like me because
i'm american but the first thing the
border patrol said to me was welcome to
iraq thank you i thought it would be
full of military and checkpoints and it
was but they were very friendly this is
a gift from you
thank you shukran it's very nice thank
you so much
people think women are probably at home
but i saw them out running their own
businesses wow she made this
wow
i thought people would not want to be on
camera and while some women were shy a
lot of people loved the camera and asked
for photos and selfies say hi
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i thought there would be no parties but
we had the time of our lives singing and
dancing at rap concerts
and now we are at a kite festival
yes indeed a kite festival
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as a vegetarian i was worried there
would be no vegetarian food and to be
honest there wasn't a lot but i had one
of the best falafel sandwiches of my
life with a delicious local mango sauce
called amba this is delicious this is
the best food i've had in iraq so far
and it was 35 cents i thought people
might be suspicious of foreigners but i
was invited for lunch over and over
helena you invited my house please
wow that was great thank you
people i met once came all the way to my
hotel just to give me gifts they gave me
these presents they're very cute all
these rings thank you for the gifts very
nice and women i didn't know at all
fixed my hijab for me when they saw me
struggling with it they don't want to be
on camera but they're helping me with my
hijab people said i wouldn't be safe but
when our car broke down i actually
hitchhiked and so many people stopped to
help immediately car broke down and so i
pulled over another car and now we are
hitchhiking to the world one of the most
ancient cities and we have a nice new
friend
named muhammad i thought i would just
see ruins because of the war but instead
i saw the most unbelievably beautiful
mosques and amazing places like the
marshlands filled with water
ancient babylon guys this is a giant
labyrinth can we do it we're amazed you
wanna yeah actually i love faces see you
in five hours and the biggest active
cemetery in the world
but like in many countries the best part
of a rock was its generous open and
friendly people
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so yes you should be careful of a rock
but not because it's dangerous but
because once you get there you might
want to stay forever adi asmagusta and
i'll see you in iraq