I Visited The World's Most MISUNDERSTOOD City

Welcome to the world's most misunderstood city in the world's most misunderstood country. And that is what brings me here to the heartbeat of Iran, its largest and busiest city. Over the next 36 hours, I want to dive deep into what life is like inside of Tehran, Iran, which is the capital city of the country. We will experience the flavors, the lifestyle, and exotic places all around the city in order to grasp what the real Tehran is actually like. And while we're exploring the city, we're going to be spending some money. I have 100 US dollars that we're going to be spending in Iranian rials. We're going to take you all through Tehran and show you what you can get for $100. And before we jump right in, you might be quite surprised by these next few things. Home to over 15 million people, Tehran is Iran's largest city and one of the world's most misunderstood yet fascinating cities, loaded with history, some of the most hospitable people, and a rich culture that dates back thousands of years. Located at the foot of the Elborz Mountains, where it gets its name Tehran, is a city of contrasts and is home to the sixth tallest telecommunications tower in the world, the Milad Tower. And surprisingly, it also has the largest mall in the world, although don't expect to find the brands you are typically familiar with because sanctions have locked them all out. But you will be able to find a grand library in Mall Souk and a wild multi-layer modern facility upon many other things. But this might not be the place to make our $100 last, so I've got a better idea to explore. Our first mission is to grab some chow, so the adventure begins at one of the largest bazaars in Tehran, which has tens to hundreds of thousands of people who visit every single day. This is like the most famous restaurant around here, yeah? In the bazaar, yeah. The name is a Muslim restaurant. This is Ihsan, the greatest tour guide in Iran, and we're gonna explore together. This is pretty crazy. You can see it's the middle of the day. I mean, there's thousands of people everywhere, so it's cool to see this place in full live action. So many things to buy. You ready to buy stuff, Kako? Yes, I'm getting ready after the food to buy. Oh yeah, oh yeah. All right, Kako, you gotta do it the Shirazi way if you can get us through here. These two parts, they are Muslim restaurants. We can stay in the line here. Wow, this is the whole restaurant? This part and also they have another part like this on the other side. The Muslim restaurant was by far one of the most unique restaurants I've experienced in Iran, with hundreds of people coming in to eat at pretty much every moment. The method is like this, you will take a big plate like this, and the appetizers are here. You take any appetizer you want, and over there we can order the main food. All right, I'm gonna follow your recommendation on what to get, but someone with chicken will get the job done for me. Okay, we got a chicken barbecue, beef barbecue, and kebab, which is the lamb barbecue. Perfect. Yes. Our first purchase is going to be 12,250,000. Very good price. Before we start spending in the video, I just want to mention that the Iranian rial fluctuates constantly, so when this video was recorded, one USD was worth 670,000 rials, but now it's worth 920,000 rials, and depending on when you're watching, it might be different. So to keep things simple, just use the USD conversion that we show throughout this video as a reference, not the rial. Guys, look at how big this restaurant is. All these chandeliers here, tables that surround this whole area. So as you can see, they load you up with so much food. So let's go ahead and dig right in. And we're gonna do it spoon style. Oh, look at that. Analyzing data. I love how soft and chewy the meat is. That tastes so good. And what's this one? Beef kebab. Beef. Okay, so we have everything at this table. We've got chicken, lamb, and beef. Everywhere you go in this country, there are tons of kebabs. It just shows how much passion they have for making this type of food. Delish? Very delish. These flavors guys, these Persian flavors are something you just can't find anywhere else. After a delish meal and a big thank you to our hard-working server, we headed out to continue seeing what we could buy next. All right, we're heading through the marketplace, and as you can see, my goosebumps are kicking in. So we're gonna have to find something to warm me up. Ihsan planned accordingly, where he's got a nice big sweater. That looks nice But as we stepped into the main bazaar, contrary to what most would imagine, once again, surprised me. New Yorker buddy, how we doing? John. I like that, New York right there. Yeah, very nice. So you like America then? One of the many Iranians I would see wearing clothing with American cities on them. It may not mean much at first thought, yet it speaks volumes about the between geopolitical views versus your everyday local views. So the biggest indoor bazaar of the world is located in Tapriz, in the northwest of Iran, which is a World Heritage Site. Oh okay, so that'll be for trip number two then? Yes, exactly. Oh, they've got slippers all around here too. I mean, there's so many things inside this bazaar. We're gonna have to see. Oh, we got sweaters up there. My friend, how we doing? Oh, my brother. Good, good. You got something very good to purchase here, something that's gonna make my wife happy, how I smell. You'll have to translate that, something that's gonna keep the wife happy. Oh, the sexy one, all right. Spicy, sweet. Smell that one. That's pretty nice, yes. Do you like vanilla? Uh, yeah. We'll try it on this one, see the difference. No, this one's better. This one's better. I think your first choice was the best choice. I use it. Oh, you do, yeah. Ah, so it is your actual favorite. And what's your name? Sohail. Sohail, Mac. Nice to meet you. Sohail. Mac. Mac, yep. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too, brother. As we were checking out all of these amazing Iranian perfumes, one of the guys in the store seemed interested in American music. My friend said, what's your favorite rapper in every country? Uh, 50 Cent. You like 50 Cent? Yes, yes. And what was your favorite? Snoop Dogg. Snoop Dogg, oh yeah. Each gram is 250 riyal. Okay. 8,750. Not only did I get a great deal on perfume for me, but they also generously gifted Ihsan with one as well. Oh, we got a gift? Oh, for the man. We got a little free gift for you. We can't, we can't have you smelling bad. Let him choose for me. No, that's the one. That's good. That's going to get you two wives. Oh yeah, really? Yeah. Do you have anything to attract 85 wives like Nasruddin Shah? Very good English. How'd you learn? I was eight years old. Since you were eight. Wow. Very nice. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, brother. Oh, almost got it. Your hands are bigger than mine. Thank you, brother. Yeah, take care. Thank you very much. We spent the next hour or so frantically searching for a jacket because it was cold outside until finally we found the place. What do we got right there? Jackets and everything. Let's see. We need, we need something that's going to be looking really fresh. Usually the Turkish products regards as a good quality here in Iran and they are more expensive. And how much did these cost? 20 million, but maybe we can get some discount. This one is also seems good. Do you think this is a good option? How much is he selling this one for? 18 million. 18 million. We got a special discount for us today. Especial, especial. Especial? Just a little. Oh, just a little. We like a little special. A little special makes the deal better. Green. Yes. All right. So this is the Versace coat. We love Taqfeefs. We hate Taqfeefs. Yeah, I know. Check this out. United States of America, best team ever. They're saying that USA is the best. And we're in Iran right now. That's a surprise. Oh yeah, that's got a nice fit. I'm, I'm literally like 10 degrees warmer now. All right, this feels much better. Now we're ready. Final price on this thing? Taqfeef. Taqfeef, something good. Something good for your Dada. I'm going to give it to you 17. 17. Good price? 1 million discount. And in Iran, you're supposed to pass it with both hands, right? For courtesy? Yeah, it can be possible. Yes. Love you, bro. Love you too, bro. Thank you very much. So I'm a proud new owner of this fresh jacket. We are feeling good now. By the way, guys, this video does not have any sponsors. So your support to my clothing brand Perception is greatly appreciated. Perception tells a story, one of breaking boundaries, seeing beyond borders and finding purpose in every step you take. This isn't just clothing. It's a movement to continuously remind ourselves and the world around us to venture out into this beautiful world and change your perception. So now we're going to get ourselves some famous tea from down here. From Chicago, U.S. Oh, it's the world's smallest tea house. Oh, that's awesome. This is you. So he's on CNN for the world's smallest tea house. I like tea, cardamom tea, cinnamon tea, mint, lemon, saffron. Good one. Very nice. Ali. I'll do one of those, please. This is the lemon saffron mix. Lemon saffron mix. All right. Mint, saffron, lemon. That smells fantastic. Look at that. A nice yellow color right there. Oh, yeah. Gift for you. Really? Welcome to Iran. Oh, look at that. Thank you very much. A memorable coin. Look at that. This is Iranian hospitality right there. I got a free gift buying tea right now. My name is Mac. Kazim. Nice to meet you, Kazim. Maybe the world's smallest tea house, but the world's greatest tea. Now, Mac, you want to be selling tea here? What happened here was a true example of the incredible Iranian hospitality. At the world's tiniest tea shop, I met some great people and had one of the best teas in Iran. And as if that wasn't enough, these guys I met insisted on paying for my tea. You are my guest, he says. Oh, thank you so much. No, no, he is my guest. He want to make a fight. But is this one of those times people are offering and I'm still supposed to insist? Yes. Yeah, yeah. All right. No, no, no, no. They really say it this time. He really says that you are my guest. Oh, okay. Thank you so much. But the owner of the shop fought them off so he could be the one to offer the tea without making his guest pay. I really appreciate that. It's so sweet. I got a free gift, free tea for us. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Guys, as you can see, we can't even always spend the $100 if we want because they're offering it to us for free. This is Iranian hospitality for you. Some of the greatest in the world. And I can tell you that this is one of the most consistent things I have felt as I explored Iran. The immense generosity from people always looking to make sure I feel welcomed. As the day came to an end, I had one last stop to get myself a haircut. And you can see most of the are closing up at this hour. So we're at the last stop probably for tonight before we finish it tomorrow. What do you want to do? Just a fade right here. Nothing on the top. Nothing up here. Just kind of faded up here. I've never had my eyebrows done too. That's a full service. Sweet. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, fantastic, brother. Thank you. Thank you. He said you are my guest. Oh, no, no, no. Still. Three million. Three million. One, two, three, four, five, six. Tell him we're giving him seven million today. Oh, really? Because he made it extra fresh into the eyebrows. Nice to meet you. I'll be back for the next visit in Iran. You have become very stylish. Exactly. Looking good. If he approves, then we're good to go. The day is getting late and tons of shops are starting to close. So we're going to head over to the hotel, which I want to mention is not part of the $100 challenge. And we're going to be over here at the Tehran Royal Hotel. So let's do a tour. I guess we've just made it up and the lighting here is a vibe. Let's head in and check out where we're going to be staying. Oh, my God. This place is freaking huge. It's a full suite. Welcome to Tehran. Look at this place. All right. What do we got in here? Looks like all the bathroom essentials, toothbrush, toiletries, soaps, everything. Looks like, I'm guessing that's a hairdryer, a nice shower, towels, fresh and clean, Western toilet. That's a big plus for me. Oh, and I feel something. Oh, that's nice and warm. So you can hang your towels up and it warms them. It's such a vibe. Over here, we've got, what are these? Snacks? Oh, sugar. Nice little cookie. It looks like coffee. Oh, no way. We've got chocolates. Oh, my gosh. Look at that. Juices, smoothies. That is literally the suite life here in Iran. Just absolute luxury. But we still have a lot left to spend. So let's fast forward to tomorrow and see what else we're going to find. Good evening from Tehran, the capital city here in Iran. And today is our second full day exploring this place. We got to watch out for the motorcycles because it is known that sometimes they'll want to grab the phones or the cameras. And we're going to be exploring around this place and showing you guys a little bit more about the heartbeat of the country. I mean, this place is a really, really unique city overall. It's very busy. It's during the work week right now on a Sunday. So you're going to see more of the hustle and bustle. Driving in Iran right there, he is going against traffic. This guy's like, yalla, yalla, yalla, yalla, yalla, yalla. I'm going whichever way I want. As you can see, it's a one-way road. This guy too. You're going the wrong way, dadash. Dadash. Be careful out there. It's a jungle. Oh, this city's great, though. A lot of trees and nature built into the city, as you can see. So when you're driving through these roads, I mean, you kind of feel like you're going through these little tree tunnels, which is cool. Holy guys, literally a second ago, I was just showing you how motorcycles go against oncoming traffic literally a minute ago. And then all of a sudden we're sitting here in traffic. I turned the camera off literally in between those two clips. And I see this guy going against traffic and he just drives right into the taxi. And he was screaming because he like maybe broke his leg. It just goes to show you, like, so dangerous doing that type of stuff. Luckily, he had a helmet on. It could have been much worse, but he was screaming in pain. It was terrifying. And for those of you who are going to comment, by the time we got up to him, he had already had other people helping him there. So that's why we kept driving. So guys, to have a Porsche like this inside of the city, that car is probably worth maybe a hundred thousand dollars. I might be wrong. I don't know the year. I don't know anything. I'm just tossing that out there in America. That's probably what it costs. Here in Iran, how much would something like that cost? Like $200,000? It's two or three times more than usual. Wow. Two or three times more. Luxury cars like Porsche are two to three times more expensive in Iran due to high import tariffs, strict government restrictions, and a weak currency. Import duties alone can exceed 100 to 200 percent of the car's value, and additional luxury taxes and custom fees further drive up the price. Since international sanctions limit banking access and the Iranian rial has devalued, purchasing foreign cars in USD or Euro makes them even more costly. With limited supply, high demand, and middlemen charging hefty fees, only the wealthiest Iranians can afford these cars, making them a rare sight outside of elite areas like Northern Tehran and Qish Island. Too much custom fees. Customs fees. Okay, so most of those fees are going straight to the government. Yes, because they want to support the interior companies, but it was a bad decision because the interior companies didn't have any good competitors, so the quality is awful, and now they understand that they have to import some good cars because the companies inside, they will have some good competitors, and they have to increase the quality unless they can't sell their cars to the people, because now they don't have any choices. They have to buy the interior cars. We got Tehranian traffic. We've got an ambulance literally stuck right there with its lights on, and we're just trying to get through here. Let's see if Ihsan the king can get us through. And guys, I've been practicing reading my Persian, so take a look at this license plate. It says six five ta nine nine seven three three. This one says eight eight ta seven five five three three, so I'm able to read all these license plates. Good job. Very nice. High five. We've been talking Borat quotes this whole trip. That's his favorite movie. So we have just made it over here to Darband valley in the northern part of Tehran. It's about an hour, hour and a half with traffic to get from where we're staying. This is Darband valley, which was once a village and now a neighborhood inside of the greater Tehran metropolitan area. The Persian term Darband translates to the door of the mountain because it is the beginning of which we are going to make our way up as we explore. The start of the trail at Darband is about 250 meters long and is loaded with a number of small cafes and restaurants. This place is pretty cool. It's kind of like a mix of nature. We've got all these sweets right here, and this is impressive if we come up close to your jellies and all these snacks. Look at these sweets. Beautiful presentation. Oh, let's test this thing out. It's so sour for you. I think that's the most sour thing I've ever had in my life. Iranian people like this kind of thing. They are very sour because they just boil in the vinegar and the fruit itself is very sour, but Europeans usually do not have the good reaction to these sour things. I'm not European, I'm American. You help me figure out a kilogram to get. Okay, so do you want to transfer with yourself? Yeah. No, we're going to transfer that for your mom. Oh, for my mom? Yep. Oh, this is very kind of you. He says that, oh, if it's for your mother, let me give you this one. We can carry your shop all together for my mom. One kilogram is four million. They've got ice cream, brother. Oh yeah. That right there is a perfect ice cream. Is that good? That is delicious. Yes. Oh, tip for you, tip for you. One million, actually, it's half a million for an ice cream, so that comes out to about 80 cents, but I gave him a tip, so we paid double. Beautiful mixture is for my mom. Mac wants to buy this for me. I told him that no, no more, but he just tried to just add more. Well, he's a businessman. Okay, that's five million. One, two, three, four, five. Special deal. You say five million. Five million. So this place has all these like restaurants and shops all along here. He's got the world's strongest handshake right here. We'll take two then. One bowl is one million. So two million then. Your bones are safe right now? Oh, my microphone. Guys, so those last few minutes you heard me not able to talk to the microphone, so I didn't realize I dropped it, and this good man right here, he just found the microphone. I love you. I love you. It fell in that dish right there. I love you. I love you. You're the man. Okay, brother. A good man here. He speaks Arabic too. Wow, that is so lucky. That could have easily been picked up by someone, but the microphone fell in the ditch, and the guy was so nice that he came and helped us find it. This is ash, so this is different with soup. As you can see, this is not as watery as soup. It's time to have a little ash fun. It's got like noodles mixed into it. That tastes really nice, and it's warm. I have a duk ash. You know duk, something that is derived from yogurt. When the yogurt gets sour, they add some water to the yogurt, and they shake it. The butter divided, All right, that was a nice quick little food stop right now, and we're going to continue up, and I think at some point we're going to end up on those right up there, which if we zoom in, you can see we've got the cable car. Oh, this is such a cool place though. I bet the later it gets, it gets even cooler, because you can see all this like lights right up there, and everything is coming along. You've got the fire here. You get the shisha. How are we doing, Vardar? I'm just going up to explore more places. That's it. You could spend an entire day here. Look at this restaurant. We've got a castle over there. The higher we climbed, the better the view of the surrounding mountains, and it was a side of the city I did not expect to see in Tehran. Much different than I had ever imagined this city to be like. Oh my gosh. These are all like little private pens. You can have your own meals right up there. That's cool. Waterfalls from every direction. I'm still full of energy, because everything we eat in this country is nuclear. All right. We've got just a little ways to go. We're climbing up here, and that's going to be the cable car that we'll take down. Guys, we almost made it up to the top, and look at these views. Such beautiful mountains in the distance. You can see the mountains from up here even more beautifully. Wow, wow, wee, wow. Wow, wow, wee, wow. Altogether, for Iranians, it's 1,200,000 Riyal. For tourists, it is 3,500,000 Riyal. Totally, it will be about 4,700,000 Riyal. All right. So, 5 million, that's for a tourist and a local to go down. That is roughly like seven, eight, nine dollars, something like that in that range. So, it's not bad. I mean, it saves us a 40-minute walk back down, because that was a pretty long walk, and we almost got our 10,000 steps, and we got just a little cash left to spend here in the capital city of Tehran. All right. So, we're going to hop right on. So, these things are just going to run right into us right now. All right. Oh, ----. Get that thing on. And here we go. We're going down. Guys, we are cruising down the mountain right now. We could not have timed this out any better, because it is golden hour right down there. And you can see the whole village all along here. What do you think, brother? It's wonderful. You know, here is shade over. There is a little bit sun and a little bit breeze. It's a very good feeling. This is the whole area we just walked all up through here. We actually got some serious elevation, because now that I'm looking down, we're losing a lot of altitude at the moment. By the way, guys, this trip would not be possible without Ihsan. He has made this process so easy for me for getting the visa. By the time he got my visa grant notice, all I had to do was go to the Iran embassy, show up, pay the fee, and I flew straight to Iran, and we just did this insanely cool 11-day trip. So, you do customized tours all over the country? Anywhere you want to go, we can just organize a tour for you. I usually just suggest to go more than, I don't know, maybe two weeks, because you can have much more various attractions to see. Yeah, that's such a good point. I mean, there's so much to see in this country. So, yeah, guys, go ahead and get in contact with Ihsan. Head down to the link in the description below, and you can reach out to Ihsan, and he'll share those secrets with you. Anyways, guys, back to the video. And we're coming down for a landing. All right, guys, we have just made it down to the bottom of the cable car here, and we have just a little bit of cash left to spend. So, we're going to be getting ourselves a couple of Coronas. You know, this is among the most expensive beverages, I think, in the country, because it is about 1.8 million. 1.8 million? Well, I mean, hey, that's a fresh beer. If we can get a beer in Iran, we can say cheers to that. After this hiking, we need something like this. But it's much more expensive compared with other drinks you can see here. I'd say we should get it. So, about 3,600,000. Oh, this is the best 3,000,000 I've spent in my entire life. An ice-cold, nice cold brew snack here in the capital of Iran. Didn't think I was going to be having a beer here in Iran, but sometimes you got to, right? Cheers. Oh, I like this. It actually tastes like a Corona. That tastes real. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like the taste. This is Corona, the Mexican brand. But I was surprised that you can actually find Mexican beer imported all the way to Iran. Now, as you probably saw, you can't get, from at least a local vendor, beer. This is 0.0%, no alcohol, because here it is considered haram, which means it's against the religion to drink. You can actually find alcohol here, but you got to know, guys. Personally, I wouldn't necessarily recommend doing that, because I've also heard that some of the alcohol here, since it's like homemade, it can be really strong, or in some cases, it can actually be mixed in with like the alcohol used to clean wounds. So, that can be really dangerous. So, you never know what you're going to get. Obviously, like there are some safe stuff, but it's probably better to not do it. I mean, just save it for another country that you're going to be in. But it's all usually behind closed doors. It's parties, things like that. That's what I've heard. Personally, I didn't do any drinking in Iran, because I didn't come here to drink. But I will tell you that I talked to a ton of people while I was traveling all around here, and they're like, yeah, yeah. Especially up in the north, you know, people will make their own wine out of grapes. So, we got a little party going on, and I'm going to finish off this brew over and out. We are coming down with just a few moments left of light, and we've got nine of these 50s, which is 4.5 million, which is like seven dollars. We got a nice big elevator ride down. All right, we have made it down to the bottom, and this was a tour through the village. That was absolutely awesome. Until next time, village. By the way, guys, this is just part of my Tehran exploration. In case you didn't watch my first video on Iran all the way through, you may have missed our first day in Tehran, where I visited the once-U.S. embassy, now turned into what they refer to it as the Den of Espionage, as well as a trip over to one of the craziest palaces I have ever seen in my life. So, after we finish spending in this video, make sure to check that one out. Anyways, let's go and make this last purchase. So, we have just a little bit of cash left, and our man came up to us because he's got a donation organization here. Yes, they have an association, something like that. Yeah, they just gather some money, and then they give some cards to the bakeries. The bakeries in the poor part of the city. So, with these cards, the poor people can just, they can go and they can take the free breads. They just give to the children that they have, not father and mother, you know. This is the 4.5 remaining. Okay. So, we got nearly 100 U.S. dollars. By the way, again, I just want to say for everyone that's been purchasing reception gear, I always say that part of your purchase always goes back to the families in need. Thank you guys so much. So, tell him that I appreciate the thank you to me, but the thank you is bigger to him because he's standing here in the cold, and he's spending all this time to feed families, and that's very respectful. He says that it was very cold for me, but it's so cold from morning till now. But now, I just got energy. Now, I'm full of energy. That's amazing. Because of this my pleasure. Nice to meet you. So, guys, that was a $100 challenge, but in this case, we ended up putting another $100 down because it's always good to give back, and the fact that that man's standing out there right now to take probably smaller donations because the currency here, you know, not a lot of people can probably give large amounts and, you know, a small little amount like that can go a long way. So, I always encourage people to donate, and it's thanks to you guys because you guys watching my videos just simply make this possible, make my career able to happen. And so, like, this money comes from you guys supporting, obviously, my Perception clothing brand as well as watching my YouTube videos. So, more of a thanks to all you guys for your generosity and keeping up with all my videos. And this is Tehran, the world's most misunderstood city. The sad reality is that despite how much fun it has been as a tourist visiting Iran, it is a challenging place for most locals to live with average salaries ranging between $100 to $200 per month, making it very difficult to survive on that. And even with that, I found so much beauty in the hearts of locals. Overall, from the hospitality of your everyday Iranians to the depth in the cultures and traditions, today was about so much more than just what money can buy. It was about the connection, the daily life of Iranians in Tehran, and finding beauty amongst everyday moments with people who were seemingly strangers at first sight and left as friends. If you enjoyed this video, you're going to love this one. And don't forget to head down to the link in the description below to grab yourself some fresh Perception gear.