FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BAGHDAD!! (FEAT. LIPA SCHMELTZER) Episode 2

[Music] [Applause] [Music] exotic cars i feel like i'm gonna tip the boat [Applause] [Music] good morning it's a few minutes after 9am and i'm just leaving my room heading upstairs to lupa's room to wake him up and uh i'm gonna head outside and start doing what we need to do so i got lip up and he says that he feels like he only slept for 10 minutes so i'm gonna give him a little more time to sleep um i'm gonna come back in maybe 20 minutes or so [Music] okay so i'm in the lobby of the hotel i promised you i would show it to you guys it's really beautiful and there's all this delicious pastries here which is probably not kosher so i can't partake but i want to show you the lobby this is seating area nice fish tank and check this out there's all these modern cars and then exotic cars and another exotic car and another modern car and this is the outside of the hotel and there's more inside i'll show you okay so we are currently in baghdad driving the streets we left the hotel here we have another iranian monument it's called sculpture lipa how you feeling i feel great i mean i'm counting the hours to go home because of my kids you know when you have kids you think about your kids all the time and i know they think about me and my friends who think about me i think about them are we gonna be good i'm just looking for my camera i don't know i don't think i have it but the camera is in the brain this is the swords monument saddam hussein built it in the 80s during our drive through the city we also passed baghdad's famous celebration square many islamic buildings and mosques and of course soldiers tanks and security forces [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] okay so we are on the tigris river we're heading down to the river right now and we're gonna take a little boat ride before it gets too hot this is our first outing in baghdad hello what i knew i feel like i'm gonna tip the boat okay so we're here on the river on the tigris and lipa is uh recording sounds for a song that he's going to be doing it's a bit of a crazy idea because he's literally going to be taking sounds from the river sounds of the motor and he's going to be recording vocals on the actual boat on the actual river which is spoken about the sun but first a word from our sponsor it's a fun work environment and at the same time when it comes down to business we mean business every single person entering the company has a chance to succeed we give them training a team behind me helped me with everything to have that extra set of hands behind you that's the reason why we're able to provide such great service to the clients if you are looking to grow yourself and your financials join the mint [Music] okay so leap is going to record in the song now on the water i removed the audio from this clip because lipo wants to keep the song private until he's ready to release it we just got off the tigris river unbelievable we had such a such an interesting time over there lipa recorded vocals for a song now there's a call to prayer going off we're heading back to the car okay so we are on uh mutanabe street in baghdad and we're headed into the sarai bazaar that sells a lot of traditional stuff [Music] so far it's basically only art stuff but i hope we're gonna find some traditional things as well and um the heat is really starting to take effect it's about a hundred and eleven hundred and ten degrees today fahrenheit here in baghdad so [Music] not easy being out and about the afternoon which is why we're still gonna head back to the hotel and stay indoors for the hottest hours of the day because this is almost unbearable [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] and they showed up with a couple stuff which is quite fascinating actually so uh okay so we're here now with the carpet section very nice let's see the old stuff [Music] this is a prayer mat yes so we stopped here outside the market we're doing one of my favorite things to do on a hot day in the middle east getting fresh juice i'm just going to make a blessing on my juice thanking god for this on a hot day can i do the same thing okay so we're back on the river looks like we're getting on a boat again after we cross the river we're gonna go to the hotel and have lunch and then we're gonna head out for our next leg of the trip okay solip is collecting stones from the water just gonna use it in his uh mixed media art so we're here with uh one of the captains of the river police it's nice to meet you thank you shukran you're welcome thank you thank you everybody so friendly here on our way back to the hotel we passed many military vehicles and personnel as well as one of saddam hussein's old palaces in baghdad [Applause] do [Applause] [Music] [Applause] okay so we are currently in fallujah which i really am like pinching myself can't believe i'm here because this is a place that was involved in numerous wars and i remember hearing this name all the time as a child growing up it's funny you hear it looks it's peaceful and everything but once upon a time this place was quite a mess [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] here we are on the freddy's river in fallujah which i hear was uh i did not know this but it was once inhabited by isis and before that al-qaeda and wasn't this place also very active during the u.s invasion yeah it was like uh full of terrorist groups when u.s were and now it's a peaceful city now it's controlled see time heals things slowly slowly things get better thank god fallujah is free [Music] so lifa's recording some videos proposing songs we are currently in ramadi which is not far from fallujah and these are places that traditionally had academies of talmudic studies where the talmud was written well over a thousand years ago almost 2000 years ago so uh this is a big part of the trip of what we're doing composing a little song here we're inner dua and there's no excitement to show i'm a doer i'm going to show you i'm here i held something i bought something i'm going to pimpadiso there's nothing i'm going to see where there's nothing i can i can stand in brooklyn i tell you this is pempadesa but it's not really pimped here is the place where i came all the way to look at this at the air the yeshivas there was building fly through and this message occurs to me that it's not about finding it it's an instagram picture i'm here at this place tamaroon came here to this world they built up the kimura and the words of wisdom reaches lakewood monroe and ibrah it's not the building it's not the parishes it's not the picture it's the words of wisdom of the heart the perfectionism is i have to record it here and do music i mean sometimes it's about the feelings like this is just a regular street but a thousand years ago was a big school here and you could look at it as a sentimental meaning but for me standing here composing a song or take it back to america and write it is an unbelievable gift you know and what we learn from this and you you as an edible so you're both from the different culture than me but we're just human beings it's okay and what i learned from this the wisdom that our sages taught us here even now it's a different culture but people in america and israel australia europe asia they still study the wisdom that will practice here what we can learn from this is that when you leave wisdom in the world it's not about um that i have to have the place and be in the same place believe wisdom and it can continue forever okay so it's late at night um probably after 1am again and after lunch today we went out to a couple places an hour or two away from baghdad where we um visited sites that previously held talmudic academies you know close to 2000 years ago and lipa composed some songs there which was really really special he's a very talented guy meaning like i'm a friend of his i'm not trying to tout his horn but he even i who know how talented he is i was blown away by some things he did today he's really really really really really really gifted anyhow now i'm back in the hotel i'm gonna have some dinner made myself uh raymond ramen whatever you call that noodle soup and uh i'm gonna get ready to get some sleep we have a big day tomorrow you