パキスタンで7日間閉じ込められた

パキスタンで7日間閉じ込められた

Dude, holy crap. I just woke up to like dozens of text messages from my friends asking if I’m okay. Look at the front page of CNN. Oh my god, I’m literally here right now. Dude, I can’t tell you the feeling of waking up and reading this news and being right here. Oh man, it’s crazy. I’ve traveled to every country in the world, but I’ve never been trapped inside of one. All the airspace is closed now, so we don’t know how we’re gonna get out of here safely. I flew to Pakistan with my friend Lee to visit the most remote villages in South Central Asia and to see the beautiful mountain regions of the north. But I never could have predicted that India would launch a series of deadly attacks in the same region where I’m traveling. And the Pakistani military says 26 people were killed. Now I am desperate to find an exit as missiles fly left and right and every airport is closed. Our flight just got canceled. What are we gonna do? How are we gonna make it safely out of the country? Will we have to cross overland to Afghanistan and deal with the Taliban? And what happens when our next move could mean life or death? This military compound is the one that was bombed this morning from India. But first, let’s rewind 48 hours to the start of our trip on a food tour in Lahore where I’m going on a $10 budget challenge. It’s pretty insane to roll through the streets here. I feel like I’m gonna get my arm chopped off at any second, but it’s awesome. If you can’t already tell by the smile on my face, I am stoked to be back in Pakistan. This is one of my favorite countries in the world and there’s so much to unpack here. Dude, this is huge. Oh my God. That is a jacuzzi of chickpeas. Oh my God, that is insane. Look at all the steam that’s coming off of it. So there’s the hole right there and it goes down into the tub. This is authentic Pakistani Lahori breakfast right here. Hell yeah. Oh, this freshly made. Look at this bite. Welcome to Pakistan. That is really spicy and really delicious. As-salamu alaykum. Welcome to Pakistan. Thank you. There’s so much to see in Lahore. It’s an amazing place. Lots of colors, smiles. Lahore is a vibrant city and has loads of food options. And I’m excited to try out this next spot that is famous for its Aloo Paratha. It’s like a savory pancake with potatoes in it. Really oily and greasy and really flavorful. Wow. That was delicious, but a little spicy. So to cool down, I’m gonna try this freshly made sugarcane juice. Oh, that is so sweet and so good. Last but certainly not least is biryani, a staple in Pakistan. Out of everything I’ve had today, this is by far the best. And if you think biryani brings the heat, just wait until you see what I’m gonna do next. This is the fire haircut in Pakistan. Now I’m getting cold water on my hair. That’s what I need. Feeling relaxed? Yeah, now I am. Not before. We are doing a regular haircut now. What is that? Oh, it’s a massage. I’m down for that. Feels really good. Thank you. You’re welcome. Thank you very much. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Damn, I don’t even know what to think right now. That’s the fire haircut in Pakistan. A trip to Lahore wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the most important site in town. And it’s going to set the tone for the rest of my trip here in Pakistan. We’ve made it to Badshahi Mosque here in Lahore. And Lee has a pink dress on that he paid some lady 30 cents for. That’s true, I did. But this is Lee’s first time here. What do you think, bro? Pretty cool to be in a new place. It doesn’t happen too often. There’s like no tourists here. I mean, it’s just completely empty. Such a pleasure to be here and see this. After an epic day exploring Lahore, we hop on a flight to Skardu, a tiny town deep in Gilgit-Baltistan in the heart of Kashmir, which is the root of the conflict because it’s claimed by both India and Pakistan. It’s home to many of the highest mountains on Earth. And this is where the real quest begins to explore remote villages, meet locals, and get lost in one of the most untamed places in South Central Asia. I mean, the view out the airplane window is absolutely insane. Through the mountains, glaciers, and we have arrived in Skardu. How you doing? I’m Drew. Oh, welcome. Pleasure. As-salamu alaykum. Well, we’ve been driving for a total of 45 minutes and the car broke down already. So the driver is now getting water to pour in it. No idea what’s going on here, just pouring a bunch of water into the engine. What happened? The engine heated up, so we have now a little break to cool it down. At least I got my bag of popcorn here. It says Skardu Crispy Popcorn. We’ve made it here to Satpar Lake, which is this incredible green alpine lake right here in the middle of the mountains. Nobody around. This is just stunning. The nature up here in northern Pakistan and this whole region of the world, including Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, even India. It’s some of the best in the world. A pleasure to be here in the Himalayas again and witness it firsthand. Next up, we’re driving to Shigar, deep in the Karakoram Mountains. The world’s second tallest peak is here, called K2, and the surrounding areas are filled with ancient stories. Pretty nice people on the streets here. Everyone’s super friendly. Hey man, how you doing? How was the Shigar? Good? Zafar, tell me about this place. Here you see the village life. The people are walking, chatting. The kids are playing and the ladies are doing washing. The people are very friendly and very hospitable. How come there’s so many cows here? It feels like India with the cows. But you don’t see that in Lahore. Okay, the size of the cows you see is smaller, because they are the mountain cows. In Lahore, you see more buffalo, and buffalo here cannot survive. We’ve come across a polo ground. I’ve never actually seen polo being played in my life. Dude, look at that backdrop. Holy crap. Hanging with the bros, watching some polo. Marco. Polo. Dude, it’s so cool. It’s like they’re playing hockey on horses. What makes you happy in life? Start to get what I’m saying. Okay, the polo makes him happy. Polo, I like that. That’s a good answer. Hello, hello. How are you? Traveling through northern Pakistan feels like a dream. Warm smiles, unforgettable nature, and pleasant surprises on every corner. However, the next morning is when everything changed. Dude, holy crap. I just woke up to like dozens of text messages from my friends asking if I’m okay. And look at the front page of CNN. Oh my God. This is insane, dude. Oh man, it’s crazy. The scariest part is that I’m currently in Pakistani Kashmir, only two towns away from where the bombs were dropped. I’m worried that this will spiral into a larger war with all the chaos happening in the world, and I’m terrified that both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers. I realize that I will have no way to leave Pakistan, so I grab my phone to call my travel agent to see what my options are. Hey, bro. What’s up? Pretty crazy to be stuck in a country where the borders are closed. It’s crazy. I mean, they’re not completely closed, right? You could technically go to Afghanistan, but you’d need a visa, and then going to the border is tricky. I also made too much content on Taliban. They don’t want me there. What about the Chinese border? I can’t go to Xinjiang. It’s really restricted. I already made content there recently. Do you think Islamabad airport will open? It’s opening, reopening, reclosing, and so on. Did you register to the STEP program, the U.S. embassy program? Do you think the U.S. would charter a flight out? Yeah. Looking at the difficulty of the place, you should register. At least they know where you are, they can send you up-to-date information whenever, or they will tell you options that they have or something like this. Just keep me updated on the progress, all right? Thanks, man. A side note that I haven’t brought up yet is I have been super sick. I woke up with fever and chills and nausea, and then I had really bad diarrhea from something I ate. So all I can really stomach right now is bananas. But at least we have beautiful nature all around us. It could be worse. I mean, I could be stuck in like, I don’t know, Burundi. That wouldn’t be as fun. All right, so we are going to journey onwards. Got my toilet paper, just because the roadside is going to be calling for that. All right, and here we go. Better get comfortable. We decided not to move back, to move forward, quickly reach Hunza Valley because that is the most safe place for us. The Hunza Valley might just be the most breathtaking region in all of Pakistan and has been on my bucket list for a long time. Even though there’s tension in the air, we’re driving away from Kashmir in the conflict zone, which also means unsafe road conditions. This whole guardrail is blocked. Like, you can see all the landslides that have happened. Crazy. Okay, behind me is one of the highest mountains called Rakapushi, 7, 7, 8, 8 meters. So right here, you can actually see the old Silk Road, the mountain that goes all the way around and zigzags around the mountain. So cool. Okay, here we are at the junction point of three mighty mountain ranges. The Himalaya, in the middle is Karakoram, and left side is the Hindu Kush. Indeed, Himalaya, which starts from Nepal, it comes and ends here. And then here is also the confluence of two rivers, the Indus River and Gilgit River. This drive so far is absolutely breathtaking, but I’m still aware of the danger we face. We still have a long way to get to our next destination, the town of Gilgit, but we want to make the most out of the situation while we’re here. And that leads us to a wild suspension bridge that we just spot on the side of the road. You got people walking across, you got people ziplining across, just like everywhere else in this region. The backdrop is just insane. All right, so we are walking on the bridge, but I have to look down because if I look up, I’m going to step in the middle of it, and I will split the bridge and potentially fall. How’s it going, Lee? It’s actually really cool. My mom could not handle this. Diana could not handle this too. All right, so we are going to zipline back. Ciao. Ready? Yeah, boy! Three bucks a ride for about a thousand rupees. Thank you. Ready? Yeah. Here we go. Woo! Yeah, this is sick! Oh my god. Look at these views! Woo! So awesome! Pakistan! Holy s***! F***ing hell, dude. Did that happen to you too? Yeah. Jesus. There’s no easier way to do this. Oh my god. It’s been an epic day exploring the Hunza Valley, and we have made it to our little guest house where I’m going to check in with my wife, Diana, who’s worried about my safety. Hi, cutie pie. Hi. How are you? I’m good. I’m tired. Did you know that there was a war here? Yeah, I know that. Why are you there? I’m trying to get out, but all the airports are closed, so Lee and I are going to get on the next flight out. When? Ideally Saturday. How far are you from the thing? You know, when the news came out, I was like in the next town of what was bombed. I love you. Love you. Your hair looks funny. Because I got… Your hair looks so funny. I got the sides of it cut when they did the fire haircut. They cut the sides. Love you. Love you. I am in beautiful Gilgit. It’s a town in northern Pakistan in the Hunza Valley, near India, near China, near Afghanistan, near Tajikistan. It is just a wonderful place on planet Earth. Many people think of Pakistan as dirty and disgusting, but guess what? Here is mountain air and glacier water and really friendly people. It’s such a pleasure to be here right now and just take in the beautiful views. Peace be upon you. Everyone is super friendly. They come up to you on the streets. They want to say hi, ask where you’re from. And you also notice a lot of the faces here are white. They’re not all dark because Pakistan is very diverse. Peace be upon you. My name is Drew. Pakistan? No, no Muslim. Jewish? Yehudi? No, Muslim. May God protect you. You are Muslim? Muslim. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. How are you? Good? Thank God. Gilgit is a beautiful town filled with amazing people and I feel so lucky that we ended up here. But there are still constant reminders of why we’re scrambling to get out of the country, even here in this tiny town. There’s a protest going on. A Pakistan protest. Holy crap. It’s crazy. Everyone’s walking, holding Pakistani flags and chanting. I don’t know what they’re saying. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Okay, Zafar. People here seem to be unbothered by war. Everything is very normal. Shops are open. Kids are going to school. Why is that? If you turn on the news, everything’s crazy. These sort of little bit crazy things, it normally happens on the border. It’s not very much unusual. But the media, it exaggerates it. Here you see that life is quite normal. You won’t see the markets. Schools are open. Markets are open. Everything is very normal. I received like thousands of messages from my friends and family, because on the front page of CNN, it shows it. So at what point do you feel nervous or scared? I myself, not at all. Because we are used to it. You say there’s nothing to get scared of, but if you look at Muzaffarabad, like eight people died in bomb attacks. Okay, it was definitely not inside Muzaffarabad. It was in the outskirts of Muzaffarabad where it was being targeted. Okay, so they’re targeted attacks. Yeah. It’s not like the city here is going to be blown up. No, no, not at all. So you’re not worried at all? No, no. Good. If you’re not worried, then I’m not worried. Yeah, that’s definitely good. Thank you. All right, it has been a long day exploring Pakistan, still waiting on updates when the airport is going to open, if it’s going to open tomorrow. We’re supposed to fly from Gilgit to Islamabad, but now since the flight’s canceled, we need to drive about 15 hours. So we’re going to leave at 6 a .m. and get down to Islamabad, hopefully by midnight. It’s a weird feeling to be trapped in a country, but hope all goes well. All right, guys, I’m passing out. Good night. Just woke up. Check the news, daily routine here, and front page of CNN says, Pakistan has vowed to respond. When you scroll down, here’s where the attacks just were on Pakistan, and I am like right here in that blue area. So basically all around me right now have been attacks. Look at the destruction here. I mean, that is crazy. I don’t want to be anywhere near that. My travel agent wrote me and sent me a picture of all airspace over Pakistan. It’s got to be like a humanitarian flight because there are no planes right now over Pakistan. So the plan is to drive 19 hours down to Islamabad through mountain roads today and hopefully get there safely and then just wait around till the airport opens. All right, Lee, we got a 19-hour drive ahead of us. How you feeling? I wish we were flying, but what does the Blues Brothers say? We got 90 miles to Chicago, half a pack of cigarettes. Yeah, but this guy’s got more than a half a pack of cigarettes. This guy’s got about four packs. I’m going to get one last cig in there. All right, next stop, Islamabad. After a long day crossing pretty much all of the north of Pakistan. All right, last puff. One more. There it is. Yep. Okay. Salaam alaikum. How are you? We’re just driving through. We’re stuck in Pakistan, going to Islamabad, hoping to get out safe. When you’re on a road trip like this, lunch becomes crispy wafers and little candy things. And water. Look at all this dried fruit, man. Yeah, tons of dried fruit. How much? $3.20. $1. Thank you. You’re the chicken man. Chicken man. Chicken man. A lot of goat out the window here. What is the Pakistani flag? You like that? Goat with a flag, that’s interesting. Yeah, really. That’s the first. I’ve never seen that before. That’s the first time, yeah. That was really funny. There’s a very nationalistic goat right there. The signage culture out here is wonderful. Beep beep, don’t sleep. And we move onwards. Bye bye. Thank you. Lots of checkpoints around here. Down here we have an abandoned city. You can see all these little houses on the river that are completely empty now. Kids playing cricket, that’s cool. These are the ancient time Buddha carvings. Very nicely. The Buddha or the stupa has been carved over the rocks. How old is that? That’s probably from 3 or 4 hundred AD. That’s really cool, man. So we went to go look at the Buddha rocks and we come back and the driver’s gone. So maybe he just drove away with all of our stuff. Maybe he went to go buy cigarettes. I don’t know, but as of right now we’re stuck in this town. All right, after a few minutes he has arrived. He must have just done a big U -turn down there. Hey there, buddy. Now that our driver is back, the road to Islamabad continues, even if it means driving straight through a river to get there. Dude, this car can handle a lot. That’s cool. Full on waterfall right here. Out the window, I spot new bridges going up, a sign that this remote region is starting to connect with the rest of the country. But then we hit a major traffic jam. We’re about five hours into the drive and there’s a big lineup of trucks and we don’t know if we’re going to be stuck here. I really, really hope not. Yeah, this is not what we want to be seeing. Some dude standing outside on the road. It seems maybe there is some road blockade. Could be small landslides and such. That would not be good, bro. That guy’s bawling. Hello, how are you? You’re bawling? No, no, it’s open. Road is open. But the vehicle is outgoing. Hey bro, what happened? Hello. Just a little bit accident. But the road is okay? Road is okay. And how long it will take to move? Almost one hour. One hour to wait? Yeah. Why? I think. Oh man, it was going well until now. Hey bro, what actually happened? Just a little bit accident on the road. The truck? Yeah. Really? Yeah. Did it flip over? Yeah. So how can they remove it? The tow truck comes? Tourist police and other men clear the truck. Oh wow, this view is incredible though. Holy crap. Really beautiful nature. Pakistan, Zindabad. Zindabad. I think I see your vlogs on YouTube. Really? Yeah. Are you bawling? No, no, no. Are you bawling? You’re bawling. What bawl? How do you feel in this particular moment in time? Jesus Christ, I sense this kind of sh** too much. There’s the bus. That’s the accident. He went off the side of the road. Oh, half of the bus has crashed. See that? That wasn’t any good. No. Okay, well that would do it. We just got sprayed with dirt water. That’s how it is. Look at the window. The bus just came in and crashed. That’s how it is. Pakistani mud water. It’s hard to put into words how bizarre this drive is, man. It’s like straight out of a movie. What did he say? Okay, so there is a road blockage, so we can have a break here. A road blockage for how long? This is no idea now. Some protest was there. There was some protest at Dasu, but now we heard it’s open. A protest? Yeah. No idea what protest it was. We have pulled over in a random town called Dasu because it’s the first time we’ve seen in the last 50 miles, which is basically like six hours on mountain roads. Meet some lovely, lovely gentlemen here. Water bottle. Okay. This kid’s got red hair. My hair? Your hair? It’s the same color. Red, red. Okay, we both got red hair as you can see. Pretty amazing. Khuda hafiz. Khuda hafiz. Khuda hafiz. Khuda hafiz. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Khuda hafiz. Khuda hafiz. As you can see, Pakistani people are so nice. They gave me a free water because they saw me alone out here. It’s time to eat some food. We’re going to get some naan and chai because that’s the safest thing to eat around here. Fresh naan and fresh chai. This is making the bread freshly, which is nice. Ooh. Oh, yeah. Salaam alaikum. Chicken. Chicken tikka. Yo, this chicken looks really good. Did you see it? It’s just like on the grill. Can you order some? Yeah. How’s that naan? It looks really good. Well, of all places to eat, this is among the most epic. Right along the Indus River. Oh, this looks really fresh and really good. Oh, yeah. We got some grilled chicken here. My first protein in two days. Having a lovely meal out here with our driver. Tell him he’s a very good driver. Thank you. Keeping us alive. That’s all that matters. These roads are no joke, man. Are you tired? No, no. No? No, no. Good man. He’s tired, so he can drive. Finally, the roadblock clears and we’re busting it to Islamabad on these narrow mountain roads with 2,000-foot drop-offs. One slip and we are toast. Meanwhile, we are praying that a flight will take us literally anywhere out of the country. Update, we are nine hours into the drive and it looks like we’re not even halfway to Islamabad. So, buckle up, partner. We got a lot left. Nothing like a good old random Pakistani mountain road. As-salamu alaykum. What’s up, bro? Checkpoints, checkpoints, checkpoints. Thank you. Thank you. This drop-off is crazy. Goddamn. And Lee and I’s total existence, our life is dependent on this man right here. About to go over this beautiful bridge here. Oh, man. A lot of cows, a lot of cows. Lee and I have each been to every country in the world and this has got to be one of the most beautiful drives we’ve ever been on. It’s got to be the most beautiful drive. It’s insane. I’m trying to think of what else compares. Not really. I mean, this is one of the most famous in the world for a reason. It’s really, really, really nice, man. It does not disappoint, dude. Every view here is superb. Waterfalls, mountains, rivers, little communities. Everywhere you go in this country, people are playing cricket. It is life here and it’s cool to witness. Woo! Hey, good job, buddy. Just as we’re settling in for the home stretch of the drive, we get some bad news. Our flight just got canceled. Today’s Friday. We just got a note on Sunday our flight’s canceled. What does it say? Your flight from Islamabad to Istanbul on May 11 has been canceled due to force majeure -ly reasons. Force majeure. Force majeure, what does that mean? Terrorism? Oh, man, what are we going to do? It’s not good news to get when we’re 12 hours into a drive. So that means our options are to either wait in Islamabad for as long as we can until the airport opens and get on the next flight out or overland to Afghanistan and fly from Kabul. But that’s super risky because I’ve made videos about Taliban and I’ve talked bad about them in some videos, so I don’t want to get captured and be detained or worse. So this is a terrible situation and I’m not sure what we’re going to do. But the plan for now is to get to Islamabad before dark. It’s not a great feeling to know that we’re officially trapped in Pakistan. But for now, there’s only one place left to call, the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad. Hi, I’m an American citizen. I’m traveling with another American and we’re stuck here. Was wondering what are our options to leave the country? You don’t have any information on what’s happening? How we can get out of the country? Okay. It is now 8 p.m. We’ve been on the road for 13 hours and I’m exhausted. It’s been a beautiful drive in the mountain roads, but just dealing with the stress of our flight being canceled and figuring out how we’re going to go to Pakistan. It’s been pretty tough. Meanwhile, we’re still like three and a half hours away from Islamabad. So this is a quite the day of driving across the country. And man, this is one that I’ll never forget. Look at this dog just chilling, having a beautiful nap. Sorry for disturbing you, buddy. Two different moods in Pakistan right now, me and the dog. We’re on our way. Hopefully, we’re going to make it there. We’ll get to Islamabad. We’ll make a plan. The whole tank is 86,000? No, 8,700. So it’s like $30? Is that right? Yeah. 8,700, it’s like 30 bucks. Yeah, that’s cheap. Yeah, that’s cheap. 256 pound each one. Good price. Last 30% of the drive, or 20%. All right, update. It’s 10 p.m. We’re 15 and a half hours into the drive. We’re still not there yet. It’s been a long day. So we’re stopping at Mickey D’s. And I got to tell you, I’ve never been more excited in my life to eat McDonald’s. How about you? You’re always excited to eat McDonald’s. No, no, no. Not like this, though. Not like this. I’m pretty pumped. Are you excited? But I’ve been crushing 9 all day. I’ll eat 9 every meal. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah. Hey, there’s a Dunkin’ Donuts. Yeah, I saw it. Go to the metal detector here. How you doing? Welcome to McDonald’s. Thank you, thank you. I’ll have the spicy McChicken with large fried meal. Mexican is not spicy, spicy McCrispy. Spicy McCrispy with fries. I’m so freaking exhausted. Stop whining. Scared me. Stop whining? What do you mean stop whining? We got a very healthy dinner. We’re going to need a lot more ketchup. They didn’t know the American was in town. The thing about McDonald’s around the world, they give you like, they’re so stingy on the ketchup, like one or two ketchup. This actually looks pretty good, spicy McChicken. So good after eating just baguette for like days. I would never in my life say this tastes so good, except for right now. This is the all-star team taking us around. Thank you guys. You’re welcome. Especially this guy. Yeah, no problem. How many more hours can you go? Three hours. There’s a whole lot he can drive. There’s nothing like a taste of home when you’re stuck in a foreign country. And the good news is, we are finally approaching Islamabad. Thank you, bye bye. Good driving, driver. After 16 hours and 12 minutes, we have arrived at the Marriott in Islamabad. Actually, this hotel was bombed about 20 years ago and they rebuilt it. A massive truck bomb devastated this heavily guarded hotel. So, it’s time to get some sleep. All right, this is a super nice and fancy room. I have a very worried Jewish mother and I am going to call her right now so she knows that I’m okay. Hi. Oh my, look at you. How are you? How are you is the question. Why are you laughing? Your hair, it looks like it’s all braided or something. That’s what Deanna said. So, when are you going to be able to get out? Well, all the airspace is closed so there’s no flights coming or leaving. So, as soon as it opens, I’m going to get out. But that’s if you can get on a plane. We have a flight on Sunday, Lee and I. So, we’re going to take it if it goes. If not, we’re going to have to wait until there’s a flight. Can you drive to another country and get out there? The only other country we can drive to and get out would be Afghanistan. That ain’t true. It’s fine. People are really nice up here. Pakistan’s awesome. I’m not worried about that. It’s just that you’re saying. Yeah, bombs don’t care where you are. There’s like around 300 million people in Pakistan. The odds of me getting bombed are pretty slim. Okay, bad connection. All right, I lost you. Love you. See you later. All right, call failed. Well, I just got to talk to my parents and let them know I’m safe. The journey continues. Good morning, guys. This is my daily ritual to check the news, see what’s going on. Live updates, front page of CNN. Pakistan says India fired missiles at key military bases and that retaliation is underway. Don’t know what to do. Well, I’m going to explore Islamabad and figure it out. Take it hour by hour. I’m on the next find out if the airport reopens. Stay tuned. I’m about to call Noor, my good friend and guide from Afghanistan who I’ve spent every minute of five weeks there with, traveling with, and he’s really updated with news and situations. Hey, bro. Hey, bro. How are you? Good to see you. I’m sorry to hear that everything is kind of crazy in Pakistan, girl. Hi, Daniel. What’s up, cutie pie? Hey, bud. So, Noor, this is a crazy situation. I’m literally trapped in Pakistan. Forget about the Taliban for a second. If I even go to Kabul, get the visa on Monday, go to Kabul, hopefully get out on the flight Monday night. It still sounds like it’s going to be tough to get there. But with Taliban talk, let’s be real, like getting over the border of Peshawar is not going to be hard because so many people are doing it. There’s also checkpoints. How many checkpoints from the border to Kabul through Jalalabad? You’ll experience about five to six checkpoints till you get to Kabul. And the problem is I have to give them my passport and if they just know my name. The checkpoint doesn’t really look that problematic. I’m only worried about the airport. The airport is run by the Taliban, right? Yeah. So if they found out I’m there and if they catch me, even if I delete my videos, I mean, they probably just don’t want American media there. Probably. If they catch you, probably they will detain you for a while and then it’s going to be viral, like all the news and media, they will talk about you. And then probably at some point, maybe your government will interfere and hopefully solve the problem and stuff, just like other Americans, you know, detained. And then Zalmay Khalilzad came to Afghanistan a while ago and then freed them and took them back. Even if it’s a 5% chance that I get captured, it’s not worth the risk, I think, in my opinion. I’ll keep you posted. We’re going to go to the airport soon and try to get out. But if we can’t and I need to go through Kabul, I’ll keep you posted, of course. Okay, beautiful. All right, really good catching up and I’ll keep you posted. Thank you so much. All right. Stay safe. All right. Take care. Khuda hafiz. Bye-bye. God, Nour is the best. What a lovely guy. I feel a little bit better about it, but TBD, we’ll see. Good morning. Yeah. Hi. As-salamu alaykum. I have zero faith that my flight is going to take off because there are too many variables involved. We can’t seem to get reliable advice anywhere online or even by calling the airport. Is there somebody I can speak to about getting out of Pakistan? What about what? So we’re heading to the airline’s office to speak to someone in person. Hi. We have a flight today to Dubai. Is it going? Okay, let me check. Thank you so much. 1.25 p.m. your flight is on time. So it’s happening? Like the plane is here? Is the airport open? Right now the status is okay. We can’t say. We depend upon the situation. There’s been nothing that says it’s canceled, so we should go to the airport in an hour. So it’s closed until 12? Is that what you said? Yes. Okay, thank you very much. All right, Mr. Abimanti. So we’re in Islamabad. You can see the beautiful mosque right here, most iconic building in the city. What are our options? Really the only options are we sit here and wait. Like we have a flight out today, we think, but we don’t know if it’s going to go. So we’re kind of waiting, checking the updates and hoping it’ll go. If not, we could wait, but it’s an indeterminate amount of time. Could be a day, could be a week, we don’t know. And our only other real option is to go overland via the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan and get a flight out of Kabul, which is a pain in the ass for a lot of reasons, especially because Mr. Binsky here has a little history with the Taliban. So we’re not really sure what we’re going to do. It’s just a little risky. And even if there’s a 5% chance of me getting detained or us getting detained, it’s not worth the risk. So both of us have commitments. We need to be in Los Angeles for in like three days. So from now, so yeah, we’re waiting around to see if the Dubai flight goes. It’s really the only option, man. It’s really frustrating because everyone’s clueless. Nobody has any idea what’s happening. We’ve gone to the Airblue office. The hotel doesn’t know. But like I said to Drew at breakfast, I’m not going anywhere without him. So we’re here together until we get out of here. I mean, we’re probably the first people in our neighborhood to be stuck in Pakistan. Yeah, we’re going to stick together no matter what. Dude, that guy just farted. Is that a fart? Jesus Christ. I want to congratulate him. I heard that from, we’re like 100 feet away from this guy and we just heard his fart. Good job, man. That was the last. Holy, that’s the loudest fart I’ve ever heard in my life. That’s definitely a fart. This is the Faisal Mosque. It opened in 1986, but you can see the architecture is stunning. It kind of has that Bedouin style, like vintage feel, but the backdrop of the hills is just beautiful. I remember standing right here with my wife Deanna about six years ago. Okay, Faisal Mosque is the biggest mosque in Pakistan, definitely gifted by the King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. Inside the prayer hall, the capacity has about 10,000 prayer. It wants to go inside the prayer hall, while around 100,000 prayers can assemble here for the prayers. Cool. We’re up here at the lovely viewpoint overlooking Islamabad and you can just see this endless smog. It’s not a very populated city. It’s just a couple of tall buildings and that’s really it. With the threat of a potential attack looming at all times, I want to get Zafar’s opinion on what he thinks could really happen. How do you feel about the situation, Zafar? The situation, although it seems not good, but nobody knows the uncertainty which is going on and it’s not yet clear what about the countries they want to do. So you’re not worried? No, not that much. At what point would you become worried if what happened? Okay, if both the countries, they really escalate and they go toward the nuclear war, then that’s definitely the point to worry about. So until there’s nuclear activity, you’re chilling? No. Okay. Yeah. I’d like to stand by that thought. After another day of waiting, it’s time to check out of the hotel and head to the airport. I’m crossing my fingers that this flight to Dubai actually takes off, but there’s no guarantee. All right, Lee, the great escape starts now. Hopefully, we’ll see. Only one way to find out and that is by going to the airport. For security reasons, the staff leads us out of a complicated back exit through the kitchen and the janitor areas across the meeting rooms and then we make a run for the airport. God, in order to get out the back end here, it’s insane. I’ve never done anything like that before. Oh, man. The labyrinth, four doors. All right. The driver’s here. All right, and we’ve apparently made it. And onwards to the airport. I really hope we get out of here because I really don’t want to have to do this again. Lee doesn’t like not being in control and neither do I, but I just think it’s funny to laugh at Lee. It’s an uneasy feeling to be going to the airport and not knowing if we’re flying or not. And I would call it about 50-50. I would say slightly less than 50-50, but I am hopeful, but I am also pessimistic or stuff like this because I’ve seen everything in front of us. This military compound right here is apparently the one that was bombed this morning from India, but we can’t really see because it’s a big wall here. We’ve entered the airport grounds and we’ve so far gone through the first checkpoint. You’d think they would’ve stopped us and said the airport’s closed if it’s closed. We shall see, my friend. Khuda Hafiz. Wish you all the best and have a safe flight. Hopefully not to see you at the moment. We’ll see you soon. Thank you. That guy’s awesome, man. The airport’s clearly closed because everyone’s just camped out outside of it. All the workers coming here to work apparently. Cancelled, cancelled. Says cancelled on the screen. 1325. It says 1600. So we’re delayed until 4 o’clock. Alright, so everyone’s just kind of hanging out at the airport waiting for it to open. We don’t know if it’s going to open. Apparently our flight’s delayed till 4. We don’t know if it’s going to take off. There was a flight to Bahrain and Oman, by the way. They’ve said scheduled. It’s just so crazy. Everyone just camped out. Okay, we were just told that the flight is moved from 125 to 4 and then we were told it’s moved to 6 and so we don’t want to hang out at the airport all day. So we’re going to go drive around, try to make sense of the day and hopefully it doesn’t get cancelled. Before I felt 50-50. Now I feel like 80-20, not in our favor that we’re going to leave today. If the flight goes off, we have to be on that plane. Of course. The Airblue workers told that white guy that it’s going to be delayed more and probably won’t go. I mean we can go into Rawalpindi, have lunch there, just look around. I’ve never been there. So I don’t know what’s there, but we can look around, just take around. Lunch is a good idea. Why don’t we go get lunch at like a nice restaurant? We’ve made it to Lee’s favorite city in the world. It’s called Rawalpindi. Pakistan. Why is it significant here in history? Because it was instrumental in the search for Osama Bin Laden. Now that we finished lunch, we’re heading back to the airport and we find out that it’s still closed. However, our flight is scheduled for later today. So we’re holding out hope that maybe we will make it out tonight. We’re back at Islamabad airport and it is empty. There’s nobody here. It says our flight is leaving at 5 p.m., which is in two hours from now, but it’s looking unlikely because everybody left. Now we’re going to the Airblue office to see if they can change our flight to tomorrow. And now we got to spend more time in Islamabad. And if tomorrow is Sunday, the flights don’t go, then we’re going to have to make a decision to get the Afghan visa and go to Kabul. Holy moly. This is the line to talk to the airline. No, thanks. What did they say? Flight is officially canceled. We just got word from the Airblue desk. So now we’re heading back to the hotel. I’m going to figure it out. All right, my friend. We are now on basically on plan D or E or F. I don’t know if we’re going to go all the way down the alphabet or not. After all that stress, we’re still stuck in Islamabad. We’re heading back to the same Marriott hotel and I’m starting to lose all hope that we’re going home anytime soon. And we back, baby. We back. Wait for it. Wait for it. Get me out of Pakistan respectfully. I just woke up to some incredible news. A few hours ago, CNN. What we know about the surprise India-Pakistan ceasefire. Oh my God. Does that mean the airport is open? Morning. Evening. Morning. How are you? Good, how are you? So I just woke up and I checked the news. I kid you not. I don’t know if you’ve seen it yet on CNN. Are you coming home today? Well, I don’t know. But apparently there has been a ceasefire while I was sleeping. And if that holds, then the airport will open and I can fly home. Do you have a ticket? So yes, because yesterday on AirBlue, the flight was canceled and I got moved to today at 5 p.m. So right now it’s 7 40 a.m. The flight got moved to 5 p.m. today. So I’m on the plane today. If it takes off, I’m coming. It goes from Pakistan to Dubai and then I’m connecting Dubai to LA. If it doesn’t take off, we’re going to have a problem. I hope you come home safe. Love you. I love you. I’ll be okay. Don’t worry about me. So apparently good news, more good news. British Airways took off this morning. We’re checking it right now. So to London. Yeah, awesome. So the airspace is open. Good morning. It appears that there’s a ceasefire. Yes. That’s good. Very good. So we should be able to… Because neither Pakistan or India have all these sort of conflict integrations. It’s good for the people, good for the country. We still have a few hours until our flight departs, which is just enough time for a round of golf. We’ve just arrived at Islamabad Country Club, the most exclusive golf course in the country of Pakistan. And Lee’s so excited. I can’t keep up with him. Dude, it looks sweet. Like a real course. Hello. What’s your name? My name is Mohammed Fateh Khan. Mohammed. Mohammed Usman. You’re both Mohammed. Okay, you’re Mohammed Red. You’re Mohammed Blue. Club is way too long for me. Choking up like four inches. We’re going forward. Our caddy is so far ahead of us. So Lee and I tee off, and before we could even get in our car, Mohammed’s just sprinting up there. Excellent service. Where are you from? In Pakistan, Islamabad. Pakistan, Islamabad. Pakistan, Zindabad. Zindabad. Zindabad. You were in the army? Yeah, yeah. No sleeping? One week last month. Too much working hard. It’s such a treat to be playing out here. Nicest course in Pakistan. God, I love this sport. It takes me all over the world to cool places. Different cultures, different experiences. All right, Mohammed says I’m 300 out. I’m going five wood. And Mohammed’s going to be on the camera. Short of the day. Played this hole really well. Five wood down the middle, five wood down the middle, and then a 56 degree looks to be to about 10 feet. Best looking birdie yet. All right, I’ll take the par. In! Hey, somebody made a putt. After a great round of golf, I’m heading back to the hotel. And honestly, it feels like I live here now. All right, for God’s sake, I’m heading to the airport again to try to catch our flight to Dubai. Hopefully it’s not canceled. Please say all your prayers because if this flight gets canceled, the only other option is to overland to Afghanistan, which is going to be a whole other nightmare situation. So here we go to the airport. All right, we are arriving at the airport again on this Mother’s Day, actually. Okay. Thank you so much. We’ll keep you posted. Good flight. Thank you. We’ll keep you posted, all right? Just I’ll text you. Sure, yeah. Seems to be a lot more chill this time of day. God, this feels good, doesn’t it? Just like walking through the airport, stress-free at the moment. Everybody’s freaking out in this line. I have no idea what’s going on, but tempers are flaring. Yes, yes. Yeah, him and I together. The flight is on time, right? Thank the Lord. All right. Thank you so much. I got it. Starting to taste it, Lee. Starting to taste it. After all that hassle, we are just on the finish line here. Lee and I are boarding the plane. Thank God. It’s happening. Thank you very much. Thank you. Oh, let’s f***ing go. Ladies and gentlemen, we are boarding the plane. Let’s go. Six days stuck in Pakistan. Hi. How are you? I’m so happy to be on this plane. Same here. Are you happy? Okay. Until I come back to my home. Remember that one time we got stuck in Pakistan? Oh, man. I may have visited every country in the world, but nothing prepared me for the feeling of being stuck inside one. As intense as it was, getting stranded in Pakistan turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I connected with amazing people, and I saw landscapes that I’d never seen before. And that’s exactly the lesson here. Travel may not always go your way, but it pushes you outside of your comfort zone and opens up your eyes. And that is what makes me feel alive.

While traveling through Pakistani Kashmir, I was caught in a terrifying moment…India launched a surprise military strike just one town over, and tragically, many lives were lost. All airports in the country shut down, and I found myself completely stuck in Pakistan for nearly a week. This video captures that intense, unexpected journey, but if I’m being honest, there are worse places to be stranded! I freaking love Pakistan! The people, the culture, the food — this South Asian nation stole my heart yet again 🙂

#pakistan #travel #asia

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I’m Drew Binsky, and I have been to every country in the world (197/197), and now my goal is to meet every President. I make documentaries about interesting people/cultures and epic adventures in faraway places. My ultimate goal is to inspire you to travel, because travel is the best education you can get. And our planet is beautiful!

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