English, Spanish & French subtitles available in the CC options
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...
Welcome back to Abbottabad,
here up in the mountains, in northern Pakistan.
Today we are leaving the north.
We've spent a bit of time here,
met a lot of cool people, saw the nature...
And we are going back down to the south,
we're taking a domestic flight.
And then we're going to explore some different regions along the coast of Karachi, so...
Leaving this alpine climate up here,
it's bittersweet because the mountains are beautiful
and the local settlement up in the snow-capped hills and things,
like in the last video we went and visited a local family...
It's going to be cool to go back down to some warm weather and see the coastal life.
We're flying into Karachi, which is the city of 20 million people or more.
Definitely check out this hotel if you're in the area,
super clean big hotel,
they've been really kind to us.
Ittehad Hotel, if you're in Abbottabad...
Good hub for the mountains.
Nice staff speaking english.
Clean...
Everything you need.
// Native language //
We just had our last coffee here in Abbottabad before we hit the road.
But interesting fact...
Abbottabad is actually the place where, you know...
Allegedly, Osama Bin Laden was killed.
A few of the locals have varying opinions,
if that's the case...
But there is a strong military presence here.
And you can see now I'm walking the streets.
As I've mentioned in previous videos,
Pakistan has one of the biggest militaries in the world
and they overcame the terrible situation with terrorism
a decade or so ago.
And now it's safe because of that military presence, but...
Yeah, Bin Laden, this is the place, apparently...
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Ok, so we've been driving for an hour or so,
now we're almost in Islamabad but we pulled over
because we're gonna ask our driver, for the last few days, a few questions
because he's come from a remote village,
the remote village that we went to in the last video.
Now he's living in the city
and created kind of a career for himself as a driver.
Karman, how did you come about leaving the village?
And what made you want to leave the village?
// Native language //
He shifted to Lahore a very young age
because of his father's medical condition...
So they weren't like enough medical facilities in the village or in Abbottabad
so he had to shift to Lahore...
- And Lahore is the second biggest... - Is the second biggest city in Pakistan, yeah.
So they had to move for getting his operation done
and all the medical facilities that he had to go through.
- Is he grateful for the opportunities that's given him?
Because we've met his cousin in the last video
and he says that he's struggling a little bit living in the villages...
So, is he happy now that he's gotten out of the villages?
He's got these opportunities, for example, now he's driving for us...
// Native language //
He's like, of course, it was better for us to move to Lahore
but it was also very difficult for me and for my family
to like leave our actual home and go to like a foreign place,
like the place that you were born...
So it was like really difficult for us to move to Lahore.
But yeah, it was, of course...
Like it's better for us in terms of like we got more opportunities and facilities by living in the city.
- His cousins and his nephews, and things that we met yesterday...
They're planning to leave their village.
Does he think it's sad that there isn't enough income out in the villages
and people have to move to cities?
// Native language //
So, he's like... Yeah, it's a little unfortunate that there is not like any stable source of income
when you're living in a village...
So like people, also in my family,
like if they have like their parents
and their like siblings who can like look after the land and the cattle
so they decided to one or two family members decide to go to the city
to earn extra earnings so that they can support their family more better.
But yeah, if you don't have anyone else left in the village
so it's kind of like sad, like there's no one left there.
- So, ultimately...
He would like to live in the village but he's simply not able because of the economics?
// Native language //
He thinks yes, ultimately want to live in the village
but I wouldn’t no be able to earn...
// Native language //
So it's kind of not happy with the economic situation in Pakistan,
he thinks like for the near future is planning to move abroad to another country
to probably like do the same driving in another country like to earn better
living in that country.
- What about the village is preferable to him than living in a city?
Why does he like to live in the village?
Is it because of family or is there something else as well?
// Native language //
The main reasons why I'd like to live in my own village is like everything's pure,
everything's like from water to air, to things that we eat...
So it's all pure and that's one of the main reasons why I'd like to live in village
because these are not available in the city.
- What does he think can change the situation here
so he doesn't have to go to somewhere else that he can stay in his own country to work?
// Native language //
Well, so he thinks that government isn't supporting the locals here
so he'd like government to support people here like in terms of income and...
You know, his job stability and providing jobs
so he doesn't think like government is really supporting them
so that's why I'd like to...
If they start supporting him then like he'd like to stay here.
- Those are the negatives of the current situation here.
What are the positives?
// Native language //
People are kind of nice, they're cooperative
and they kind of like to live together in peace, you know?
The one thing that I like the most about Pakistan is that it's an Islamic Republic...
Its majority are Muslims, it's an Islamic State,
he likes the brotherhood among people
and how they live with peace with each other.
// Native language //
- Thank you. - Thank you, you're welcome.
♪♪♪
// Native language //
So touched down in Karachi...
Nice fly there with Pakistan International Airlines.
Now we're in the chaos of 20 million people again here in Karachi.
So gonna have a walk around.
I thought as we explore a little bit of this neighborhood,
I can tell you a bit about prices.
So $ 1 US dollar equals roughly 155 Pakistani rupees (1 USD = 160 PKR).
The taxi from the airport, which is an app called Careem...
Which is similar to Uber...
I recommend you use it if you're here.
Not sponsored but it's just what I found to be
one of the best apps here for ride sharing and things like that.
It cost 516 rupees from the airport for about a half an hour drive (526 PKR = 3.20 USD).
So ride sharing apps are very very affordable here
and a great way to get around.
You can also get motorbikes,
ride on the back of people's motorbikes...
For even cheaper than that.
And it's also quite fun as well.
So, yeah...
So that's transport.
We also got a bus in the north,
we paid around 300 rupees in the north (300 PKR = 1.86 USD)
to get between two cities,
from Islamabad to Abbottabad, where I came from this morning.
Check out this city...
Quite something...
One of the biggest cities in the world.
♪♪♪
Also if you want to you can hire a driver for reasonable prices.
Yesterday we hired a driver for the whole day,
for a normal car and then we got took a four-wheel-drive truck up into the village,
all day for 7,000 rupees (7000 PKR = 43 USD)
that's including fuel and everything.
The hotel I just checked into now...
Nice hotel, clean, new fittings and everything...
It cost I believe $40...
Prayer time...
A night, so...
You could go cheaper with the accommodation if you want to,
it just depends where you want to stay
and the quality of the stay,
I went for more the middle range kind of accommodation.
You can also get food delivery service...
I used "Food Panda" a few nights ago
to deliver food to Shahbaz and I,
my friend that you've been seeing helping me translate.
We got so much food, it was unbelievable...
The delivery was free
and it cost like less than $ 1 USD
for basically all you can eat.
We got like chickpeas, rice...
Shahbaz got some chicken...
For less than a dollar each.
Like it's pretty unbelievable.
So yeah... Today's obviously a bit more of a travel day
but I hope it gives you a glance of the country - domestic travel
In the next video we're going to be hiring a driver
and we're going to be driving to a remote area of the coast.
I hopefully stop at some settlements on the way and meet some locals
and see what life is like in the south, out of the city.
And we're going to this location that we might get shut down filming...
I've read up on it a little bit,
I'm not sure if they're going to allow us to film but if they are it'll be really cool.
All we can do is try and see what happens, so...
Yeah.
Just, again, a travel day vlog today, guys.
So I will see you in the next video.
And in case I don't see you...
Good afternoon, good evening and good night from Karachi here.
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