Exploring IRAN As An American Tourist

Iran is ranked as one of the most dangerous countries to visit as an

The US government issued this travel warning, citing terrorism and kidnapping as major risks.

Iran's government supports militant groups that are openly hostile to the United States.

And with no functioning US embassy,

Americans who visit Iran are on their own if something goes wrong.

So why am I going to Iran as an American?

because I want to spend time with the local people to see what they

really think about the States America

and find out what the security situation is like on the ground today.

This is going to be a wild 7-day road trip across the country.

But first, I need to tell my parents I'm going Hey, Booy. Hi, Mom. How are you? Good.

Guess where I'm going tomorrow. Where? Where? Iran. No, Drew.

Why you can't go there?

Contrary to what my dad says, you can go to Iran as an American.

You just need 3 months to prepare for the visa.

After a long flight from Prague to Shiraz,

a city in southern Iran,

we have a little issue with my cameraman's visa.

We wrote down Slovakia,

which is originally where he's from,

but now he has a check passport.

So Mat and I are basically just doing loops right now in the immigration area.

We've been waiting for 2 hours.

Still no visa for him.

All right, you got it.

Let me see it.

I'm not getting deported,

so that's a good thing.

Once we clear immigration,

my local friend Amin is waiting for us at Arrivals.

He's a tour guide dedicated to showing the real Iran, the vibrant culture and

hospitality beyond what makes the headlines. Very well, Drew. Welcome to Shiraz. Welcome to Iran.

As we hop into the taxi, the sights and smells flood my senses, and

the adrenaline rush starts kicking in.

We are in one of Iran's

biggest and most liberal cities, Shiraz.

And Amin has a very special destination in mind for our first stop.

We're here inside the pink mosque in Shiraz. It is stunning.

You can see pink all around us.

these beautiful tiles and mosaics on the windows.

They make this incredible reflection.

It's one of the most spiritual places I've ever been.

It's really really cool in here.

Women are dressed in these beautiful colors.

You can see like even the roofs are covered in pink flowers.

Having this special type of a stained glass windows is also very influenced by the European art.

Is it different than the other mosques in Iran or is it kind of

the same like this?

Most of the mosque in Iran,

they are in dark blue color.

What makes this mask more different is the special pink color

they use for the tiles of this mosque.

All original from 19th century.

And this is mostly

European scenaries painted on the tiles.

I was going to say even on some of the tiles

over there you can see some of the building like churches.

After the mosque, we're heading to Iran's most important historical site and a place

that every traveler who comes here has on their bucket list.

We are in Peripolis,

an ancient site built in around 518

BC on the order of BC. Yeah.

Before common era on the order of the king Darius the first, one of

the famous kings of Persian Empire.

This place was important

for the Persian Empire because

this is the place

used as a ceremonial capital.

Persian kings invited lots of delegations

from all around the empire.

They came here and they celebrated a big festival for new Iranian year. No roofs.

I'm amazed by how old this place is and it's still standing.

And as an Iranian,

what does this mean to you as your identity like for separation?

Yeah, we are all proud of this place.

It is like a

national ID for Iranian

and and this is the special part of coming to Iran because this is

one of the most ancient civilizations.

I mean the birthplace of what we know today of cities and and life happened.

I don't know in the US it's such a new country.

We have amazing nature and stuff but we don't have anything that we can say 500 BC.

Generally Iranians are really proud of the ancient history.

I I can feel it here when local people Iranians are here.

They are really proud of

visiting this amazing historical place.

The most important thing about Peripa Police is whoever

worked here was paid.

We have documents about that.

We have clay tablets

found during the excavation of police.

They weren't nobody was used as a slave.

So it's something makes peripolis

different from other historical

uh sites in the world. Yeah.

Maybe that's so deeply rooted in the Iranian culture like take care of people, hospitality. Salam. You speak English.

I'm so interested that you are here.

How many American tourists do you think are in Iran right now?

If you had a guess. Maybe just you.

That's a crazy feeling because Iran is a huge country. Yeah, exactly.

Tell me about Pepilolis.

In 2500 years ago, we had a rich culture.

Here you can see in the peripholis

you can see a mixture of all of the countries that they were

under the control of Iran.

In that part you can see

uh half of the world different people with different cultures with different

hairstyle, different shoes, different clothes. Yeah.

Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Take care. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Being here, you can really feel a presence

of how huge and incredible and royal this place was back in the day.

It's that feeling that you get when you visit like the Great Wall of

China or the pyramids of Giza or Taj Mahal.

It's like these really really old

and potent structures that have just been standing for so long and you wonder

all the people that have passed here over the over the centuries.

Gives me the goosebumps.

Seriously, you know, as as a tourist like this this is more enjoyable than

the Acropolis because there's just like barely any tourists here. Hello. Yes. How are you?

Nice to meet you. Nice.

Nice to meet you.

You came to Iran? Yeah. Why?

because I want to meet some people and share stories. Really? I'm from America. American? Yeah. Really? Thanks. Thanks, God.

What do you think about America? Far away.

And have you ever met an American person here? No. Never. Really? Really?

Nice to meet you, bro. Yeah. Take care. Thanks. Of course, man. Take care.

I can tell you most part of Iran is the same.

Iranian are really, really friendly, hospitable.

You can see wherever we go, people come to you, they talk to you,

they want to know your idea about Iran

and they are very friendly. I love you.

I love you too.

To see these amazing inscriptures

inside of the stone.

It was underground, which why it's so preserved.

I could spend all day at Pepilolis,

but I'm dying to meet local people in the countryside

and see who's living off the beaten path.

So far, I feel pretty safe in Iran, but I can't stop thinking about

the country's complicated history.

Back in the 70s,

Iran was a different place.

It was comparable to Paris.

Women dressed freely, bars were thriving, and the culture felt more open and westernized.

But after the 1979

revolution, when the Islamic Republic took over, everything changed.

New laws and restrictions reshaped daily life, especially for women.

Today, these changes are why many see Iran as a scarier place to visit.

But in my experience, the media overlooks the warmth of Persian people.

We are back in the car and heading 5 hours north from Pepilolis

to a city called Esvahan.

But an exciting detour is ahead.

We are somewhere in between Shiraz and Esvahan

and the beautiful nature here, the mountains.

Along the drive, we've been seeing little huts and people living out here.

And I asked me, "What's going on?"

And he said, "These are called Kashkai nomads.

We have about a million of them in Iran.

And within 20 years, they're expected to be all gone

because of new generations wanting to live in cities and stuff."

Basically, we parked our car.

There's some cool little settlements here.

and we're going to go knock on a few doors and see if anybody

will kindly accept us in because these are the kind of untold stories that

you can't find anywhere else in the world.

I mean, how many other countries

have literal nomads living in them?

I mean, nice ass. Oh, yes.

Do you think we can say hi to some of these people? Yeah.

Or are they too shy? Probably.

But we can go and say hi.

That's a lot of salams you say.

Yeah, I said salam to everybody.

The Kashka nomads are found in Iran's farce province.

They traditionally heard sheep, goats, and camels.

Each time they move, they pack their belongings,

travel with their animals, and set up camps all over again.

Known for their vibrant rugs and textiles,

the Koskai maintain strong ties to their community and have a deep appreciation for music and storytelling.

However, I am heartbroken

to find out that their way of life is at risk of dying out

due to modern pressures and changing land use.

Are Kashkai nomads looked down upon among Iranian society? No, they're not. No, they're not.

Because now there are lots of feminist

scholars from these families.

They have a very important role in

uh providing meat for the whole country.

Yeah, they are really respected

by the whole society.

They were I mean in terms of studying they were flourish.

There were lots of scientists,

lots of writers, filmmakers from the nomads. Incredible.

Many of them also for example in this family they're all educated.

They started from this nomadic

school and then they continue going to universities and etc.

Most of the younger generation

prefer to stop this kind of

so like their kids generation like the chemistry

she won't keep it up. Yeah, probably.

She moved soon the city.

What's the best and the worst part about being a nomad in this region?

The most difficult time for them it will be during winter when it's cold raining a lot.

But during a springtime

the nature is amazing.

So they enjoy it.

They love the the nature

which is really important for them.

But at the same time because of the

facilities there are in the cities they sometimes are tempted to go and leave. Sure.

You wanted to what's h what happened is they're Iranians are too polite that

they're trying to figure out who's going to deliver the tea.

Traditional way to drink

put it here a little bit a little bit then keep it in the mouth. Don't cheat.

Keep it in the

And even it's very hot.

We drink tea in Iran. We don't mind. Delicious. Cheers.

It's so bizarre that there's this little settlement here that's totally abandoned, but just

like on the side of the road, there awesome little brick buildings.

Like, if this was in the US, it'd be the most historical site.

This is probably like 700 years old.

But here in Iran, it's just there.

But I will say, I just realized something.

This is a a place for human poop. Yep. I smell it.

And when I look down,

this I guess now used as the toilet. And I'm leaving.

It all hit me at once.

The smell of it.

I'm really excited for this dinner that they're cooking up.

It's definitely going to be delicious.

The son of the family, as they said,

he's studying nuclear engineering,

but now the school is off.

So, he's here working here helping the family.

As we heard from the family, one of the girls,

she's graduated from university. She studied chemistry.

So, but mostly they stay at home doing, you know,

tell him he looks very handsome.

Welcome, he says, to Iran.

and he's asking what did you think about Iran before coming to Iran in

American media they there's all like negative things about Iran like all the headlines

it's only about war and terrorism

and crazy things so my mission in coming here is to try to share

real stories and share with the world that the people here are actually really

nice they say that the same story here

on medias always they try to show a bad portrait of USA

every night at this time of the day all of the Ham come from

the fields and they come back.

They just know where to go.

It's really a cool scene to witness like all the sheep just coming in at once. Sheep and goat.

And of course, Mr.

Caretaker here is ready to feed them, give them water. There you go. Fresh water.

And now after they drink water, they all go inside of the pen here. It's so cool.

All of them are like trained to know exactly where to go and at

the same time every single day.

He's trying to get in. Come on. Let him in. Let him in. Okay. Okay. Farhad and Parad.

They're just packing from

being shephering, you know. Nice.

How old are you?

Farhad is 13 years old. Touchi Paradot. No.

Farcad is 9 years old.

Today is Fashad's birthday.

Happy birthday to you, Fasha. Happy birthday.

We have all the ladies over here preparing dinner.

It's going to be amazing.

They're making some lamb and rice with vegetables. It's nice.

Everybody's warmed up to us and they're all just

hanging out waiting for the the dinner to happen.

And this is what it's all about, you know?

Just good vibes, happy people,

and incredible nomad life in Iran.

It's obviously way more slow paced than anywhere else you would find any community in the world.

It's a really, really humble lifestyle and I'm just grateful to be here and

share it with you.

After an hour of smelling the meat and fresh bread, dinner is about to

be served and I couldn't be more

Oh, that's the best part of the rice.

Wow, look at the color. Protect the carpet.

It's Farad's 10th birthday today, so we're going to make it very memorable with a beautiful meal. This is incredible. It's colorful.

There's many vegetables, rice, meat.

Thank you so much for cooking. Thank you.

Here we have a fresh plate of goat

with rice and saffron.

And food is a serious business here in Iran.

And we're experiencing it right now.

Sorry guys, I don't know how to

eat with This rice so good.

Let's try the goat. Very good.

You guys are lucky to have like

amazing food every day.

Have you ever had any American visitors here

or am I the first one?

No, for first one.

I'm the first one. Yeah.

So, how do you feel having an American here? They're very happy.

You know, many people in my country,

I would say most people in my country are very scared of Iran.

So, it's nice to to share the real Iran.

When you think about America,

what comes to mind?

When they were young and

started to go to a school, they were

just heard bad things about us like what you said about the other way.

But uh now when they are grown up and because of technology

and the information that they get and they understand that everything and all the

problems are between governments, you know that that's exactly right.

Yeah, this is honestly one of the coolest meal experiences I've had in a long time.

Everyone just hanging out, eating, sharing jokes.

Got birthday boy over here. He's tired.

You've been in the fields all day.

You have to make a wish on your birthday.

But don't tell me the wish.

You have to make it.

Daddy, your wish is to become a doctor.

Brother going to be a pilot

and he likes to be a doctor. That's awesome.

You may notice that only girls are doing

I mean they brought

everything for preparing the food

and the guys just chill.

Guys chill because they've been working the whole day.

I mean they've been

outside with the sheep then come back.

So they go early morning

come back at lunchtime

and again in the afternoon. Yeah. Yeah.

It's so peaceful out here.

You can see the stars. So quiet.

And we're going to get some rest now.

Going to have a beautiful sleep.

Wake up in the morning. Good Good morning.

It is really cold outside.

Temperature dropped drastically overnight.

Beautiful sunrise is about to happen in front of me and it's just an

incredible experience out here.

The guy just woke up this morning

and came out with a huge gun around his shoulder. Wow.

What do you use that gun for?

to protecting especially sheep

the family in any case but mostly for protecting the sheep

where did you get it from

don't let me so the government actually

uh give them permission

because you know that in Iran you need to have permission to

carry gun having a gun but the gashkai nomads they get the permission

do you ever use it or do you just carry it for just in

case for you know

in a case that there is for example

threads like a wolves or something like that.

They shoot in the sky to escare them.

And according to the traditions when there is a wedding ceremony,

they also do some shooting.

You know that welcome actually the bride.

But I mean shooting to the sky first out.

It's only 5:30 in the morning.

But his chore of the day is to let the goats and sheep out

and take them out into the

Now I understand why the sheep have such thick

fur because it's really freaking cold out here.

The sun right now is just peeking over the mountains

and it's already starting to get a lot warmer because let me tell you

it is cold out here and that's why the nomads move because it gets

too cold in this region.

We're at like 2500

m elevation right now.

Snows a lot here in the winter so that's why they migrate.

They go 400 km south.

Up until just recent years, they actually used to walk 400 km, which would

take weeks and weeks, even months.

But now, sadly, as those practices are dying out and as modernization

is creeping in, they throw all of their goats and sheep on the back

of trucks and they drive.

What do you think about this?

It's amazing, you know. Yeah.

I I just think of

the the differences between living here in nature with the sun.

They are ready to do everything and compare it with

city style of life.

You know that it's totally different.

Again, now I'm here in Iran because the only way to truly understand a

place is to see it unfiltered.

But as an American, I've realized that the news we get back home doesn't

always tell the full story.

This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.

That's why I've partnered with Ground News for this video.

It brings together perspectives

from around the world, including Iran and the Middle East, into one place so

you can check bias, factuality,

and who owns the source, so you know exactly

what might be missing.

They recently analyzed over a 100 sources covering Iranians

currency crisis, and it shows how drastically the coverage differs across countries.

Some say sanctions are about strategy and safety, but on the ground, they can

mean everyday people struggling to buy food.

Ground news helps show just how real that impact could be.

They even have a blind spot feature that highlights stories that one side of the media ignores.

It has really helped me step outside the media bubble and see the full picture.

Traveling has shown me the world, but Ground News helps me understand it.

It has changed how I read the news, and it's one of the best

tools I found for seeing every side of the story.

If you scan this QR code or go to groundnews.com/drubinsky,

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access Vantage subscription, which comes out to about $5 a month.

All right, now let's get back to the story.

You see in the the Kashka nomads, they have really specific gender roles.

So, the men wake up and they go out into the fields with their

goat and sheep, and the women are making the

amazing Iranian bread, which is really tasty.

It's like really thin and crispy, and it's almost like a cracker.

It's like 6:00 in the morning right now, and they're just up as soon

as they can to make it.

All right, so she's bringing us freshly baked bread. It's still hot. Oh, yes. Oh my god.

It's just nothing better than this cracker bread, bro. Listen to this. Oh yeah.

Leaving the nomads behind, we hop in the car for four more hours towards

Esvahan, one of the most popular cities in Iran.

On the way, I finally pick up phone signals so I can call my

wife, Deiana, to let her know I'm safe. Is it safe?

So far, it's so good. Yeah. Guess what?

The some of the women aren't covering their hair. Oh my god.

So, do you have any last wishes for us?

Just please be safe, guys.

You know, um you're Ginger and you're a golden retriever. Thank you. Love you. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

We've entered the lively city of Esvahan.

And after just 2 minutes of walking around, I meet my first local friend

who said hi to me on the street.

I just met Abed here.

I just want to learn a little bit more about life here because

first of all, Americans

and American media are scared of Iran.

You know this, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

The funny thing is it's super safe here. No.

For like Iran for visiting is absolutely safe.

People are so friendly, like so helpful.

But like if you want to invest here without economy is not safe, but

the living like to live here is absolutely safe.

Iran has like a lot of like opportunities for tourism.

The nature of Iran is is amazing.

Everywhere you have beaches, forest,

mountains, desert culture like over thousand of years in a desert.

So you go to a tiny tiny village, they living there for like over a thousand years.

So So basically the life here is great. Yeah. Yeah.

It's fine in terms of like overall

happiness, things to do.

So people are switching from like being religious and more like closed to be more open-minded.

Women used to cover their hair and now I'm seeing so many women not covering their hair. It's crazy.

So it's actually it's applied.

So they have to do it.

So that's a that's a law in Iran, but they're taking it off now.

So they're taking it off. It's their choice.

So they have to fight for it.

It's interesting because most people here are not religious.

They don't go to the mosque.

But obviously the government has its own ways of doing things.

And I just think it's a crazy contrast

between the pe local people and what the laws are.

People they got really fed up with religion,

which is really great because otherwise if Iran was a secular

country in 1979, people wouldn't wake up.

So now they like they don't really care about religion.

In Iran, like the next generation,

it won't be like that. Yeah.

After all that great insight from Abed,

we make our way over to the 17th century royal mosque, which has some

of the most beautiful tile work I've ever seen.

Look at the amazing

architecture we have here.

Look at the beautiful tile work.

Look at the spectacular

calligraphies we have all around this mosque, which makes it really, really fascinating.

Yes, it's original from 17th century.

Dude, the moment I I saw I walked through the arch, you know, you

just get the goosebumps.

If I stood here in 400 years ago, it would look the same. Exactly the same. Exactly the same.

I think the most impressive thing for me in here is

how that light always faces Mecca

and you only see it when you enter the mosque and it goes away.

The mosque is located just next to the main square of Esvahan,

the second largest city square in the world behind Beijing.

And I'm very excited to walk around and mingle with more locals.

Teach me the phrase again.

Ah, the famous phrase. Yes. Espahan. Esahan. Nesvahan. Nesvjahan means Esvahan. Half the world. Half the world.

I heard that Esvahan

is one of the most open-minded cities in Iran.

So, I came here to try to meet some younger people and see what

the culture is like underneath the surface.

So, we obviously can see amazing mosques and mausoleiums

that we went in, but what's actually happening behind the scenes?

How are people living their life?

I'm on a mission now to meet some people and see if we can find out. How are you? What's your name? Mohamad. Muhammad.

My name is Drew.

As you can see, people here are extremely friendly.

We're just hanging out in the main square.

The sun is going down.

Kids are playing in the water.

People are having picnics and riding horses. Ronaldo. No. No.

You can see they just come up to you and sit down and they

just want to make friends.

And that's one of the best things about visiting Iran.

And like when I say I'm American, it raises an eyebrow.

They're like, "Oh, American."

But they just want to be friends. Put off. Prophet America. America. Yeah. Inshallah.

Wow, that was cool.

I don't know what he was saying.

He kept saying America. America and smiling.

But I imagine it was pretty genuine.

Are you from Esvahan?

No, I'm from Estafan. What's Estan? Just kidding.

So, what do you like about Esahan? I like inflation.

I like uh the political situation, sanctions, it's great.

The river is dry. You know what?

At least people have a sense of humor. I respect that.

Really though, what's good about Iran?

What's good about Iran?

Um the nature is very varied. We got mountains. We got desert.

We got the sea.

The people are friendly.

We don't have that variety in food.

Is it a struggle to live here?

Uh yeah, it's uh economically

it is economically it's uh it's we have problems.

We have daily problems.

We had daily inflations

and those stressful you know every time when you're bombarded with the news

uh stress about the future

people are very educated but mostly they want to immigrate outside Iran but there's

a there's a misconception

that Iran's dangerous terrorism

it's a scary place but

you know I'm American and I I'm going everywhere and I'm telling them I'm

American and they like love to hear that course.

What do you think about America?

Uh people are people everywhere.

American people are very friendly.

I think they are very open-minded.

You know, the problem is between the governments, not about people.

I I I love American people.

I love their dollars, especially.

So, good to meet you, man.

Nice to meet you.

I'll let you go, but nice to meet you. Thank you. What's your name? Drew.

What is it like to live in Esvahan?

You're a Gen Z, 21 years old.

What's it like to live here?

It's a beautiful city. It's a history.

And Naja Square is it's a

very big and very Yes.

Yeah, it's amazing here.

Have you ever met like tourists

coming here or it's really unc uncommon? Uh, yes.

The last summer I met two Spanish tourist. Nice.

Have you ever met an American tourist? Never. So, I'm American.

How does it feel to Oh, really? Yeah. Why? Oh, really?

I've never seen an American really person. Yes.

You've never seen an American person?

No, I like go to the America. I like.

So, what do you think about America?

Regardless of uh policies,

I think American people are very kind.

How do you know if you if I'm the first one you've met?

I saw so many

Americans just in movies, not in real life.

Of course, I see

so many tristan here

from all around the world. Expect America.

Is it safe here?

It's not that dangerous.

What do you think about Iranian people?

I mean, uh, you may hear about Iranian

people that they are very kind and hospitable. They are.

That's just the message that I want to share in my videos.

Iran's incredible and super safe and people are friendly like these ladies.

I'm so happy to hear that.

American uh person, Iranian people,

it's a very uh kind and uh friendly together.

How does it make you feel that the entire world looks down on Iran?

They think it's a terrorism country.

There's just this horrible

dark picture of Iran

that the whole world sees.

How does that make you feel?

Because Iran always is in the media

in a bad way.

So just recently like in 7 October

what happened in Israel.

So in the news most of the country they say oh Iran got involved with the war.

So and they put pictures of the war.

So that's the media.

It's completely separated from the people. Exactly. That's the point. Yeah. That's the point.

Abed, if you could say one message to everybody in the world, I would

say as the sun goes down, I'm meeting up with a friend of a

friend who's going to help me sum up my thoughts when it comes to safety in Iran.

What is special about Espahan to you? It's so clean. So clean.

Comparing other cities in Iran,

also people are kind to each other.

It means you can find people who you can whom you can trust on them. Okay.

You know, before I came to Iran,

a lot of my friends and family, even my parents

think that I'm so crazy, that it's so dangerous.

How does that make you feel? Uh, I know.

I heard a lot about it in news.

That's not the truth.

Iran is very safe. Like, okay.

In every country, we have problems.

We have maybe inner war.

So, every country has it.

Well, it's right in the middle of the world. Exactly.

Many other wars happening around Iran.

And it's just Yeah.

It's it's it's a mess politically unfortunately. Yeah.

But the point is Iran is very safe, very kind people.

If you could say any message to people in the world watching this, mostly

American people watching this, what would you tell them?

I would tell you that Iran is safe

and don't let news to cheat you.

And if you travel to Iran, so because it's very economic,

very safe and people are very

welcoming and nice to you.

So you will have a nice trip and stay in Iran. I can promise.

As I head back to my hotel, I want to update my parents who

have been waiting eagerly to hear from me.

Hey, I really want to take you here.

Oh, I think I am okay right now. But thank you.

I don't know, man, but the world's falling apart in the Middle East if you're there.

I promise you it's safe. Yeah. All right. I believe you.

You look like you're in very good hands, so that makes us happy. Thank you.

Don't worry at all.

Don't worry at all.

My mom is right.

I am in good hands with Amin as my guide.

Everyone here has been super friendly.

But there's something else worth mentioning.

While the Iranian people seem happy on the surface,

life behind the scenes isn't so easy.

Thanks to international sanctions,

Iranians can't use foreign credit cards, which means they can't book flights,

travel, or shop online like we do.

Amin tells me he has to visit a physical travel agency and pay for flights in cash.

And when he has to travel abroad,

he needs to bring a lot of US dollars

since he can't withdraw money from an ATM.

It's a tough reality of being Iranian.

Our road trip is now going to take us north and west deep into

the Kurdish communities and villages, which is going to really show the diversity of Iran.

If you've never heard of Kurdistan,

it's the world's largest unrecognized

country spanning Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria.

It has more residents in all of Canada.

But sadly, regional politics prevent them from uniting as one nation.

My goal for the remainder of the trip is to visit the smallest villages

to meet the Kurds and see what their life is all about.

And that leads us to our first town called Harson.

In true Kurdish fashion, their amazing hospitality

shows as we're invited for a glass of tea with random locals. Mr.

Aviator, guys, show me how to crack open the walnuts.

Wow, that's so cool. Thank you.

That's about as fresh as a walnut.

You'll notice like when you shake their hands, they always put their hand over

their heart, which is like a sign of respect.

His name is Darush. Darush.

You know, Dario is the

Persian pronunciation for Darius. King Darius. It's super odd. Be careful.

After a lovely first stop, we hit the road for Kerman Sha, the largest

city in Iranian Kurdistan.

We're driving through this massive dust storm right now.

Holy dust coming from V. From Iraq. From Iraq.

Are you picking on Iraq? Oh my god.

In Arizona, we have these.

We call them haboo. H A boom.

As the road continues,

the modern side of the city begins to fade, replaced by an older feeling of life.

But before we go any further, Amin says we need to stop for gas.

Because Iran is such an oil rich country,

I cost about a $1.50

to fill up this entire car.

It's subsidized by the government.

So, it is literally

dirt Stopping on the side of the road here in the middle of nowhere

and there's a lot of goats.

They're surrounding our car.

I'm itching to get to Kerancha,

but Amin tells me there's a UNESCO World Heritage site that we have to stop and see.

Welcome to Biston, the world's largest ancient inscription that dates back to 520 BC.

While we're not allowed to climb to the top, we can see from below

how the inscription is still in perfect condition after more than 2500 years.

Here you can also find a 3rd century sculpture of Hercules.

It is pretty cool how detailed it is.

I mean, you can see like his beard.

You can see his fingernails.

Just casually looking at a description on this mountain.

It's something like you would see in Egypt.

And it's so incredibly detailed.

We're just arriving in Keran

Sha right before the sunset.

Pretty cool arrival into the city. Hello. How are you? How are you? Iran.

We made it somewhere in a random neighborhood

in Ker Sha and we're about to get dinner with Amin's friends.

You're a nice gentleman with your gifts. Salam. Salam. How are you?

Serve is my friend. Hi. How are you?

Nice to meet This is very nice. Yeah.

What does your shirt mean? Absolututely. I like this. It's very nice. Yeah.

The belt is called

When I went to Simmana

in Iraq, I saw that. Yeah.

So, what are we having for dinner tonight? The secrets English.

How old are you? Six.

Have you ever spoke English with a native English speaker? No.

Oh, he really understands English like really well.

Thank you so much. What is this?

It's a traditional drink.

This is really colorful.

It's like rose water tea.

What do you want to be when you grow up? Construction site.

You want to be a construction site? Yeah.

And I want to be a pilot.

I'm going to be a police officer. All of that.

Construction and pilot and police officer. Yep.

And a fire truck.

I want to be a fire truck. Are you hungry? Yep.

Where you're going to sit?

I'm going to sit next to you.

So, where are you going to sit? There. Okay.

So, I'm going to sit there. Okay. There. Is that okay? Yep. Rocky speaks English.

He's my best pet.

So, he's your best friend and your best pet. Yeah. Wow.

It's a nice room you have. Yep.

My favorite toy is a bouncy ball.

He took me in his room in the back and he's showing me his favorite toys. Is that fun? Yep.

Oh, you have a lot of books in here.

No, but I'm not reading it. Here's my bathroom.

We can use it to go bath.

Everybody watching this video from America and the world is going to love you. Yep.

What do you want to say to them?

I want to say

I'm 6 years old and cute. Yep.

This is a hat. Yes. Let's go.

The food is ready.

Come This is a secret food.

Which one is secret?

That's that's that's that everything secret.

I mean in Iran there's not many recognizable

brands, but Coca-Cola is one of them. Yeah.

This is You know McDonald's?

This is a fizzing drink. Yes.

Wow, look at here. Yes, man. It's very colorful. Thank you. Who cooked it?

Which one did you cook?

You cooked all of it. Thank you.

This is My favorite fruit is a strawberry. Strawberry.

So, this dish is a very, very typical dish from Kman.

We call it halal.

These are almonds and

red barberries that they are fried. Blackberries.

You got it wrong. It's a blackberry.

Okay, you start first. This is awesome.

With the current situation

in Iran and the Middle East, was it okay for you to travel to Iran?

I wasn't scared because I've been to many countries in the Middle East,

including Iran, and so

I know that the governments are different than the people, but to get the

visa, it was tricky.

It took many months actually to get the visa.

And my parents are

scared right now that I'm here.

So there's a lot of fear about Iran.

But for me, I just want to come and meet meet the people and

share this with everyone.

Our parents are also afraid that we are living in Iran.

It's just not your parents.

Everyone's scared of Iran.

What does it mean to you to be Kurdish?

So difficult she feels that it's they are kind of isolated

in a corner of the country.

The other people in the country don't understand the language.

For example, in America,

all people are speaking English, you know, but here in Iran,

it's have a lot of a lot of languages like Kurdish, Arabic, Persian.

How is the culture of

of Irani Kurdistan different from the rest of the country?

Our food or our traditional

for example handshaking or

lots of thing that you are different

and so in religion you are different in religion.

Thank you for explaining. Thank you.

This is the best

dish I've had in Iran.

This one rival for pess. Yeah. No, but better. I'm serious. I'm serious. Yeah. I'm a meater. Are you?

If it's a bad meat, I don't eat it.

If it's a real meat, I'll eat it.

Is this real or bad?

I need a real meat, not a bad. Is this real? It is good.

What was it like here many decades ago?

How is it different than today?

It was so well

since long time ago

it's been like this and it hasn't changed and it still is like that

is that they want to have some of their right.

One of them for example is

they would like their language which is Kurdish

the mother language at least it been

you know that they teach it at the schools as well because they don't

teach it at schools.

No because in Iran the official language is Farsy.

What are some of the other struggles that you have because there's a border

near here but the people are Kurdish?

Does that affect any family dynamics or how does that change the life because

of the nearby border?

So they they all have

relatives in Iraqi Kordan

you know that it's not like that they cannot going

go there but they have to have

visa they have to apply for visa

course of Iran and Iraq are very similar.

So they could easily

the same thing between the courts of Turkey and Syria.

They believe that in Kurdish

region in Iran the unemployment

rate is higher than other parts of the country.

It's totally high all around Iran, but they believe that here is higher than other parts.

They have less opportunities.

Do you know that the Kurdish people are the largest ethnic group in the

world without a a nation?

And it's so sad, you know,

you just grew up and you feel that

court, but you'd never have a country or you'd never have a a rule,

you know, a government who supports you.

These conversations really strike a nerve, and I have empathy for the beautiful Kurdish

people in their culture.

After dinner, they want to share some traditional songs played by these handmade instruments.

next year come to our home. I will.

Thank you so much. You're welcome.

I hope you have a good night.

He says that hopefully

we will have a good relation.

I mean Iran and USA.

We'll have a good relation and we will see you in USA soon. Oh, thank you. That was amazing. Bye bye.

That was one of the best experiences of my life. Wow.

After a wonderful sleep, I'm feeling refreshed for another day of exploring Irani Kurdistan.

We are going to be spending all day driving northbound and stop in random

towns and anything that catches our eye.

We've entered a beautiful village called Palangan.

And what is this place known for?

The village is famous for its architecture. It's a step.

It's interesting that the courtyard

of a house is the roof of the house. The next house. The next house. Exactly.

It's set alongside this mountain kind of at the bottom, but it's the exact

same color as the mountain.

So, when you're driving in, it's almost hard to notice it. It's camouflage. Camouflage. Like the chameleon.

We're just going to wander around and see if we can meet some people.

I already know they're going to be friendly.

Of course, like other part of the country,

they should be very friendly here.

Let's go and see. Let's go.

All right, we're shopping for scarf here because it's hot

and it's going to make my head cooler and the cooler.

So, how much is it?

Say that we are they are guests.

They're our guest travel.

He keeps pushing us away.

He's not letting us pay.

Oh, he took it. Yes. Okay.

Finally, we won the battle. So cool, man. They're so friendly.

Every time you make eye contact, they're like, "Come here. Come with me. Take this.

Come to my house."

As you can see behind me, they still use donkeys

to get around this village, just like ancient times.

And when you're here and you see these old mud brick buildings and the

way the society works, you really feel like you're in the 1700s.

This man we've just seen on the donkey.

I don't know what he's doing, but he's

preparing some stuff to go back to his village, I'm guessing. Salam. Salam. Salam. is going.

Just stepped on my leg.

There is no indicator on

the whole What happened? Bike's out. Let's go.

I'm not much help unfortunately at the moment cuz I

probably wouldn't be able to start it myself.

All right, this is a losing battle.

Our mission is to find

a young person and see what it's like to live here.

Hopefully, they would speak English, but we don't know for sure.

Some friendly old man up there just gave us the wave.

So, he uh invited us to go and visit them.

Let's go and seek ya. Okay.

So, now he's taking us somewhere.

The old man, what's he saying?

So, he's inviting us to his balcony,

his house here, and he asked us to go to the balcony.

Ya Allah following the leader.

Look at the balcony views. Holy smokes.

You see how friendly people are.

We don't know him.

We just came and he said that come with us.

He took us to his house.

You're really spoiled being from Iran because when you go to other countries like

Switzerland, people are private people.

They don't they're not going to let you come in their house.

You're used to like you're used to this.

So, I'm from America

and I came here to learn about Kurdish people.

Do you think that your grandparents and great-grandparents

and all your ancestors came from this village? Yes.

100% sure that for

four, five centuries ago, they've been living here.

What are some of the struggles that Kurdish people face living in this region?

Because obviously there's borders around here and

years ago there were some problems

at at least at this region.

But right now everything is good, safe and good. Uhhuh.

At the beginning of 1980s

there were some kind of

uh domestic wars here in this region but

uh fortunately it says that now everything is safe and nice.

In 1980, one year after the Iranian revolution,

one of the deadliest conflicts in the Middle East reached Palangan.

It was called the Iran Iraq War.

Saddam Hussein launched a surprise invasion of Iran, seeking to gain control of border

territories and oil reserves.

The war escalated into a brutal 8-year conflict marked by trench warfare,

chemical weapons, and a high number of deaths.

Kurdish fighters on both sides were now caught in the middle of two fighting nations.

For the people of Palangan,

like this man, it seemed as though danger was closing in from every side.

But their strength is something I truly admire. It's really peaceful.

He says here, "You cannot believe how peaceful it is this place."

He says, "What is one thing that you want the whole world to know

about Kurdish people and Kurdish culture?"

Palangan is a beautiful place.

He would like people from all around the world

come here to Cordan

of Iran and this village and he likes them to see this

Here people are really friendly

and here is totally safe.

He's inviting you to come to Iran and Kistan

of Iran and his village.

The irony in what you said is that the whole world, including my country,

thinks it's so dangerous here.

But in reality, it's really safe.

As I know, everything is quite safe here.

People are friendly and they shouldn't be worried at all. Alhamdulillah. Thank you.

The gentleman just invited us to stay with him for lunch.

He just, you know, that invited us to his house and now he's insisting

us, you know, that to wait and have lunch with them.

I could easily stay at this guy's house all day long, but it's time

to wander around the village and see who else I can meet.

After a few humble interactions,

I think I just hit the jackpot.

So, what happened is we met this really friendly old lady who was selling stuff.

You know, we were on our way to get some lunch and we asked

her if she wants to join us and she said, "Yes, I would love

to, but instead of you eating at the restaurant, I'm going to set up

a really nice carpet here so you can enjoy the meal here at my shop with me."

So, we have walked all the way to the other side of town to

get some fish, which is what they eat here, believe it or not, and

we're going to bring it back to her.

She's such a sweetheart

that I know this is going to be an incredible moment

and conversation, and you guys

are coming with me.

We found the only restaurant in town where this guy is cooking some freshwater

fish, grilling it, spicing it.

Looks It smells incredible. Welcome.

All right, we have a lot of fish.

And here she is. Salam. Hello. Salam. Salam. Yah.

She's She's like more active than my friends.

And she's like 85. That's co. How is it? Did you try? Yeah. Amazing. Oh my god. It's so soft.

Just melt in your mouth. So good.

This is pomegranate sauce.

You know they grow pomegranate here.

You're very very very kind.

Thank you so much.

What is it like living here in in Palanga village? Good. Good. Thanks God. Good.

How old are you? 80. 80. 80 years old. M mala. Mah.

What's the key to living

a happy healthy life? Food. Nice weather.

You know that here they have farming

so everything is good. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah.

Tell me about Kurdish

culture and Kurdish people.

How are they different from other people in Iran?

All people are good.

How are the courts? Everybody is good.

Can you remember any

crazy story that happened here? Good or bad?

Just something that that you want to share? Yeah.

She just says that before it was different lifestyle here.

They just use animals

such as mules and donkeys to go around.

Now everything is with car.

Which one do you prefer?

The old one or the new one?

She says that before it was much more difficult, but now it's much easier

to She has clients coming right now.

She has she has to grind. No, no, no. Bish. Bish. Bish.

Where is she going?

She She's going to bring glasses.

I wanted to go.

She didn't let me in.

And she's very fast.

I guess every 2 minutes she's getting up and going down.

This is why she's healthy.

80 years old and healthy.

Do you hope that someday

Kurdistan will have its own

It will be very good if they can live all together. Inshallah. Inshallah.

If you could say one message to everybody in the world,

what would you tell them?

She's she wishes them all the best. She's okay. Okay. Okay. Lovely experience. Truly truly. Isn't she amazing? Amazing. She's amazing.

She means literally you step on my island and you are most welcome to our place.

This village is spectacular.

Everyone's so friendly and you can really feel the Kurdish hospitality.

They're shaking your hands, bringing you inside their shops, inviting you into their homes,

and just genuine great people that just have good hearts.

What's amazing to me is that even though this settlement dates back to the

3rd century, there's still people living in these houses.

It's not made for tourists.

It's just made for the locals.

And you can see there's people everywhere.

You know, I travel so fast and I'm always bouncing around from place to

place, but it's nice to just kind of sit down and relax here.

It's really slow paced life.

Just kind of meet people as they walk by and just

admire the beauty of this ancient village.

Our journey to cover more of Irani Kurdistan continues.

And after another 5 hours of driving,

we stumble across a bustling town.

We just arrived in the Kurdish town called Sanandage,

which is a beautiful little town

somewhere in northwestern Iran.

There's something about being in a town that no one's heard of before.

And including myself before this trip, I never heard of Son and Dodge, but it's cool. It's hip.

You even have women not wearing scarves here.

It's like this cross between traditional,

but also some new things, which is pretty sweet.

What I've gathered from being in Iran is that it might be the most

affordable country in the world, at least as a traveler.

So, in this city, I want to do a budget challenge to see how

many things I can buy for 100 bucks.

50 million realals is $100.

So, this is what we get for 100 US.

There's two different currency systems in Iran.

There's real which is the official currency if you Google it real but there's tuman. What's the difference?

Tuman officially doesn't exist.

But since olden time people to make it easier to say that they always

remove one of zeros.

So for example this is 500,000

real which is equal to 50,000 2 months.

But in conversation do you say 50 or 50,000?

We just right now we just say 50 months. Okay. All right.

So, now what can we buy with all this? Let's go.

Let's go to the casino.

We have our bag full of cash here and we are in the bazaar.

Going to try to meet some people and see how far this $100 can take me.

Probably a lot of stuff.

I I'm guessing everywhere you see the freshest fruits and vegetables everywhere.

So, this is a butcher shop. We have testicles. Your favorite, right? Yeah, of course. After you.

If you ever wanted to try brain and testicles,

Sanandage is your place.

You know when the sun starts to go down everything becomes lively

always too hot in the afternoon. Exactly.

Siesta is everybody relax

even sometimes they go home

right and then they come back in the afternoon and

you know that you can see how alive the city is right now.

Where did you come from? America.

They are asking how you come from United States to Iran. Why?

I took a plane and

this is that how expensive

are the good in US?

I would say it's five to seven times more expensive in the US than here.

For for example, for example,

this would be like

five seven US for one.

For one, for one one for one $7

one kg you buy here for

uh 5 cents cents. 5 cents.

Yeah, it's like 1 1,000 is cheaper than the US. They're making joke.

They say that we can just export eggplant

to US, sell it

They want to know how people in US, you know, that like Trump.

A lot of people like him, a lot of people hate him.

What do you think?

What do you think? He likes him. Really?

Like if you ask someone in US

that they know for example

the name of the leader in Iran, do do you think that they know? Absolutely not.

I think nobody knows. Yeah.

But here everybody if you ask them probably they know the previous

uh presidents of United States. Okay. Thank you. Bye-bye. Thank you. Yes.

The name is kalan

bread which is a stuffed with some

vegetable grows in mountain as

the lady was in Afghanistan they call this bologani.

Bologani the same thing. Bologani. Yes.

This is really a cool scene.

You see all these men making this incredible

flatbread with some onions inside scallions.

We're going to give it a try.

Where are you from? America. America.

our our United States.

Every time we tell people we're American, we're going to say Trump.

He says that if Trump has come to the

our our money value

comes down much He says that the price of dollar is around 55,000 right now.

It will be 100,000 soon.

You know, at least that people here joke about it cuz that's really messed up for the economy.

But they have a sense of humor which is actually really nice.

Okay, there we go. Let's try it.

How much is it? 200. 200.

Can I give a tip? Take three. Take it.

All right, let's try it.

He says that you have to drink it with yogurt drink.

It's really creamy and buttery.

Almost like a quesadilla

with no cheese, but just the onions. Oh my god. For reals.

I in Iran, I've never tried something like this.

It says that it's considered to be one of the oldest fast foods in the world. Amazing, man. Really amazing.

They give you this really salty milk drink.

They drink it across the Middle East.

Really, really sour and salty, but it's good mixed with the with the food.

Tell me about Kurdish people. What?

Tell me about your culture. Friendly people, people.

They are among one of the most ancient

nations in this uh country

from the mid 8th century BC.

I could eat like four of these but I'm going to save myself.

So for more food later.

Do you want another bite? Yes. Cue the music. Okay.

The we still have

about three pounds worth of money to get rid of. onwards.

It seems that you are the superstar

of the town right now.

Everybody is looking at you, pointing at you, and they're talking about you.

You're also the superstar because we're together.

So, crossing the street in Iran is crazy.

The drivers do not pay attention,

and they won't stop for you unless you really do this. It's crazy.

You can literally find anything here from clothes to electronics

to Look at this one.

It's like antique shop.

Like if we were standing right here

50 years ago, the guy would look like this and this would look the same. Exactly. Right. Exactly the same. Okay.

So, we still have a lot of

We got to spend some money.

Man, what do you think we should get?

What are these old men doing here?

Uh I think that they are selling uh Yeah. prayer beads. Salam. Salam. Kubi. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. America. America. America. Very well. Yes.

What did he say?

They were teasing his

Okay, let's get one. How much?

Yeah, this is uh 15 million real.

Just give me a second while I count the real please. So 9 million.

Yeah, 90 of that. 90 counts 90. Here's 50. That's 50. One, two. I lost count.

We look stressed now when the money comes out. Here is safe.

Anywhere else in the world, you cannot do that. Very good point.

Anywhere else in the world, you can't just take out money.

Dude, this is a crazy scene, man. This is crazy.

I just pulled out 90 banknotes to pay him.

So, uh, 10 million. 9 million. 9 million.

And we got a discount.

We got the discount. 1 million.

I am a kid.

I just met these lovely old men here selling

prayer beads that are made out of amber

and I bought one for 9 million reals.

So 90 of these 100,000 banknotes spas. Here you go. That's yours.

No, no, it's yours. That's your ticket.

The bag is getting lighter and lighter.

We got a few few more things to get.

One of my favorite things about Iran are the old bazaars.

And you can feel

how old they are just by looking at the roof.

This was always a place where people buy stuff.

Always for 400 years.

Bazars were always like the economical

core of the cities. Yeah.

Uh different merchants from other cities,

even other countries came to these places doing business.

So it was just like the beating heart of the city.

I have about 75 US left in the bag and I'm thinking to get

a nice carpet because in Iran they make a lot of incredible carpets that

they export all over the world.

So we're going to look inside this carpet shop or that's cool too like

something to hang in my house

that is uh more than your budget.

This is from here because of that I think this is clean.

Yeah, this is it.

I mean matches your budget.

Any of this you can do the same price but just choose the color and pattern.

But the the first one I like it more.

Is it locally made?

They're all from here.

No The best the best part of this whole video.

So, this is for like decoration or what?

Uh, you can put it on the floor actually. Very strong material.

So, it's made out of wool

or hang it up to you.

In Iran, in olden times were mostly used as a like a curtain. Yeah.

They hang it at the entrances

of the doors, but you can put it on the floor.

We we we usually use it on the floor.

Yeah, we are surrounded by amazing

Persian carpets and rugs.

Why are carpets so famous in Iran?

Uh we are one of the

biggest producer of carpets and historically

Iranians are one of the first

carpet vaiverss in the world.

Persian carpets uh are all handwoven

different you know that actually pattern from different part of the country.

This is like regional

like this kind of style. Yes.

As I told you it's a clean

and it comes from this area.

We call it sen pattern.

S you remember is the the way that the Cordish pronounce sand. Yeah. S.

So this is called sim.

I'm going to take this all the way to I'm really slow. Sorry.

This is 5 million. There you go.

And we got a lot more to go. Five more million.

You can see he's way faster at counting the money than I am.

The inflation in Iran is so high that the money just keeps getting devalued.

So we have like tens of millions of real that we're paying, which is

just like 70 or 80 US. It's it's absurd.

Just another day in the life in Iran spending

millions of real to buy a carpet.

If I weigh it. She's right.

Just weigh it and just know how much each bill weighs. Smart.

We've been counting for about 10 minutes. Still going. See to count.

Is that a good everything? Yeah.

He gave it a discount. Oh, thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

10 minutes later, we got all the money counted and I got my carpet. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. There we are.

Even though we're here in Kurdistan,

there are reminders that this is indeed Iran with flags everywhere. Lots of flags.

You know what's interesting?

In Iraqi Kurdistan, they don't have Iraqi flags.

They only have Kurdish flags. Kurdish flag.

But here there's only Iranian flags.

Uh yeah, because I think there they have some kind of independency, right?

Uh but here they are

under control of Iranian government.

It's just an observation.

What am says is true.

In Iraq, Kurdistan is semi-independent

with its own government,

flag, laws, and military.

But here in Iran, the Kurds don't have that kind of power.

As I walk around the bazaar,

there are constant reminders that I'm still in Iran.

I love how this is just a random mosque, and it's just absolutely stunning

with the blue tiles.

That is Iran for you, my friends.

The guy's opening up the mosque just for us to go check it out inside. Let's go.

So the coolest thing about this mosque is all the carpets

and rugs on the floor.

They are all from Cordan

region and I'm sure they are donated to the mosque because

you know that is a nice gesture good amen.

They just donate this carpet to the mosque as a holy place.

In 1 hour I think it will be the sunset prayer time and people

come to say prayer here.

These are all holy books the Quran.

There's a bookshelf of them here. Wow.

The mosque is so peaceful and I appreciate this quiet moment to reflect on

my trip so far.

But now we're back on the road driving along the Iran Iraq border.

A place that was once scarred by war. What is this?

A police station that I shouldn't be filming.

These mountains used to hide Kurdish fighters.

But today I'm here to see what's changed.

Right now we're in a town called Marivan

on the border of Iraq and Iran.

This is like full-on Kurdish.

You have way more men wearing the traditional outfits. Women as well.

I have a huge fascination with border towns because

literally if you drive 10 minutes from here, everyone's going to be speaking Arabic

and just like this imaginary

line that just separates

cultures and people and especially when it comes to Kurdistan,

you know, the same culture

split between two countries.

It's just super interesting to me.

You've been a lot of places in Iran.

In fact, you might have the world record for the most

traveled Iranian who has seen the country,

but this place, it's your first time.

This is my first time to be here in Maran.

We're going to go explore the town and also we're going to check out the

lake in the main square area.

There's a chill hangout here with a bunch of old guys and they have

tea that they're just serving on the street and everybody just comes and drinks it. It's amazing.

How do you feel here?

Totally amazing for me.

I I love this place.

It's definitely different than the other place we were in. Yeah.

Behind me they're playing like this checkers game with rocks.

Literally, that's all I understand.

D is the name of the

board game that they are playing

just like chess 64

blocks and so because we're so close to the Iraqi border do you have

any influence from Simmana

because it's just there or how does that affect the the culture of the

So it's uh more or less the same even the the

way that they speak is the same language

with the you know the different accent

the same style of you know that actually

outfit they were here

as well in but as a second language they would speak Arabic instead of

far that's the biggest difference

exactly that's the only difference yeah

no no what happened

what happened the gentleman is going you already paid

is going to pay we don't have to pay for Yes,

I just came to pay, but

this nice gentle fan says that thank you.

You are our guest. Crazy.

I don't know what to say.

Really, I mean it. Yeah. Salam. How are you? Enjoy the wind.

Effort always pays off and hard work leads to success.

I agree with that.

Do you know what it

He He has no idea. I like it. That's good.

There's something special about being in a random border town.

You know what I mean? Yeah.

It just shows how diverse Iran is.

There's so many different little pockets of this country that are so different from the rest. Yeah.

From southeast to northwest, totally different.

As all these gentlemen were saying that it's very similar to the cordestan of Iraq. That's what's cool.

It's like you cross the border, but the culture is still the same. Yeah.

Something I love about the culture here is that the men just hold hands.

They just walk down the street holding hands like we saw them. was the Dutch. I'm from America. Good luck. Good luck. Thank you.

We've been sitting here for

about 3 minutes and he just invited us to his house. Everybody's super nice.

They just shake your hand, invite you to their house.

It's a good life out here.

What do you think about America? United States.

He's offering to give you fish for free.

He says that take it and make a barbecue there just by the lake. Yeah, good morning. We say goodbye.

He goes, "Hello, good morning." Good morning. Hello. How are you? I'm fine. How are you?

The sad thing is that

these big countries have separated the Kurdish people.

And so, if you live in Iran, you're forced to know Farsy as a second language.

You're forced to abide by the laws and the rules of Iran.

And if you're in Iraq, it's the opposite.

You're forced to learn Arabic in schools, and you're you have to abide by

the laws of Iraq.

But it's crazy that it's the same people.

When you think about other countries and cultures, you have Vietnamese people living in

Vietnam, Japanese people living in Japan,

Brazilians living in Brazil,

but the Kurds don't have that luxury.

We've made it to a beautiful lake called Zarivar,

right on the border

of Iran and Iraq.

Actually, just those mountains there is Iraq.

You see a bunch of fish in here.

Look, you can't come to this lake and not take the swan boat. Has to happen.

We get a more romantic

small I mean, thank you. Cue the music.

We're sailing to Iraq.

Have you heard of Bameyan, Afghanistan? Bameyan? Yeah.

So, in Bameyan, there's a beautiful lake and they have this exact thing.

So, the last time I was on a swan boat was in Bameyan.

I would love to go to Afghanistan. Yeah, dude. It's amazing.

Someday we're going to take them in to Afghanistan.

So why do you think tourists don't come to this region?

I think we need to do more advertisement.

We need to show the beauty of this region.

You've uh seen that it's culturally totally safe. Culture is different.

People are really really nice.

So it can be

amazing for other travelers to come and visit this part of Iran.

If you ever wonder what two grown men look like in a white swan

pedalling, this is what it looks like.

Over the last 7 days, I've gained a deeper understanding of Iran and developed

a real respect for its people who face challenges that most of the world will never grasp.

From the Kashka nomads living peacefully off the land to the proud Kurdish communities

in the West fighting for their identity, everyone I've met is living proof that

Iran is safe and the media only cares about the negative.

Listen, I'm not saying this country doesn't have its problems.

But I want people to look past their preconceptions

and see this ancient culture for what it really is.

Safe, beautiful, and full of history you won't find anywhere else.