Traveling to the Strangest Country on Earth

this is one of the hardest countries in the world to get permission to enter there are only a handful of countries like it almost fully closed off to the outside world we've got our usual suspects but then there's a nation landlocked in Central Asia just north of Iran and Afghanistan that few and I bet most of you have ever even heard of Turk Minister B natural gas reserves remains one of the world's most closed and oppressively governed countries by many experienced Travelers it's been named the strangest country on Earth with a capital city unlike any other city in the world ranked as one of the top 10 producers of natural gas and a powerful oil Nation as well the fully state-owned Industries have been used to erect a vast and New Capital City made up of almost all white marble and gold with gigantic structures in all corners of the city with their previous leader who made decisions like changing the names of the months of the year and days of the week to use names of his family like his mom people he admired and just random words he chose on a whim instead this isn't a country like any other needless to say this place has caught my attention for some time now but the country's secrecy and surveillance makes it complicated to travel to and capture characterized by International observers as an authoritarian regime with a strong concentration of power in the hands of its leadership there aren't too many positive things said about this country online which for me always makes wonder who are the people who live there it is one of the top 10 hardest visas in the world to get granted and thus countries to enter which requires getting an official letter of invitation from the state and so after weeks of uncertainty around this trip waiting for the letters they finally arrived and so although we almost given up hope we decided to not miss this rare opportunity to enter this unusual and fascinating place in the hopes to discover a corner of our planet isolated from the rest of us on Matt's episode back I take him to literally the weirdest one of the strangest places in the planet yeah I mean it's it's considered the strangest capital in the world Thomas's Vibe is just going to the craziest places talking about how he feels you're in my dojo now son bow down we stop stumble boy how we doing I think Thomas because he's gone to places like Syria is way less nervous than we are I'm like kind of freak out Stu one's kind of freaking out you know I turned off find my friends for my mom and dad to not see that I'm here I don't know if you can see in my face if I'm nervous or not he did call me last week basically asking if we should maybe cancel this trip true but I don't want fear to stop me doing things in life but yeah i' be feeling feir going to a country like this so had like some bad nightmares last night and stuff obious you know the head is just spinning Tristan here we [Music] go [Music] Turan it took us over an hour to clear all the security and final Visa steps at the airport we got through at 4:30 in the morning and at this point really started to wonder what we had just gotten ourselves into hi nice to meet you than hi you have golden teeth gracious first official steps in turkistan that took like an hour and a half to get out there's like 19 different steps crazy I've never been checked them many times are you driving no hi what's your [Music] name there's a lot of color that was what we were talking about when we were flying in there was like all these colorful buildings wow it's massive oh my God are you kid look at that beauty hotel stay the red one what I staying in that red I don't believe you no way what is this symbol of the squares where they symbolize the eight main Tripes or the eight ways to Paradise oh wow I ICT what this looks like inside well we've just arrived at our hotel and this is what it looks like everything looks really luxurious but the lamp is falling apart dude there's no that one doesn't have a light bu either Noe there's no light bulb here either we're for 4 days boys a lot to take in that's a very good summarize it's a lot to take [Music] in there no nobody else here no no one else is we walked up and we're like where's breakfast and they're like oh right there but it was completely empty oh gosh oh my [Laughter] God after our first confusing start of the day we set out to explore the city with the hopes of answering some of our many questions about this unusual place I haven't seen anyone walk on the sidewalk yet it's literally midday too this is this is midday traffic are all the cars white yes white and silver people not allowed to drive a black car oh really yes but every building is white yeah every interesting cuz at night there's so much color during the day it's all [Music] white [Music] I I just continue feeling like I have never seen anything even remotely close to every structure places in Italy or France where you have impressive structures and monuments they're crowded with tourists but here it's just it's just only us this whole area and Monument is a memorial for the earthquake that happened in 1948 where according to the UN over 110,000 people lost their lives the mother and the brother of the first president passed away it's the boy in gold with a mother lifting him up saving him from the earthquake like everything is perfect like every tree is perfect every flower is perfectly maintained even the trash cans and benches It's The Most Beautiful Trash Can I ever seen in my life yeah yeah it's hard to process because you don't see a leaf laying on the floor or somewhere it's just very pristine everywhere the only people we see walking around are clearly workers keeping the place clean you see some women walking around with brooms some men mowing the lawn chopping the trees keeping them clean a couple of soldiers are standing and guarding every monument after just a few hours on the ground our hopes for meeting actual locals hit rock bottom would this be the first country we ever visit where would just float through it completely detached from its people or would we actually get a chance to speak to anybody at this point we weren't sure what to do it's like so overwhelming yeah like the buildings are so huge and everything is so spaced out and also what city are you ever in where you intensely notice the fountain and the bird tripping the one Bird that's tripping it's the only sound around us we drive to the biggest indoor Ferris wheel which is entered the Guinness recet book the biggest indoor ferris wheel in the world let's go that is such a specific record to [Music] hold are they turning it on for us it's not on really needed all of this this is really interesting we're the only ones doing this turning it on so weird what we're doing right now just four grown men as a bunch of adults watch us go up this right don't describe it like that bye Max bye Max I mean inside that huge structure that we saw outside the golden white thing we're we're inside of it [Music] now and the streets are full empty like literally look down there please thank you so much thank you oh wow the foundation base is 27 m in diameter and the tower itself 91 M High that's symbolizing the dates of Independence 27th October 1991 from independence from the from the Soviet in 1917 the Bolshevik Revolution led to the establishment of Soviet power and what would become turkistan during the Soviet times the nomadic and tribal lifestyle that had defined the country for centuries was forbidden and the way of life was mostly lost with all the nomads being forced to join Collective Farms with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 however and a country now looking very different than what it used to Turkmenistan declared its independence since that day its tribal past has started to be celebrated once again and actually still plays a role within the cultural and political life of the country today interestingly Russian citizens have to pay the highest visa fee out of any other Nation to come visit the country have you seen anything like this in your life never before yeah there's only us here yeah 15th century leader of the tribe which is called gag Lee which means a tribe with black sheep that's why there is a black uh ship with HS on the flag okay Thomas is coming running with a message here well there's nobody else here but there's like four cars that rolled up yeah they doing playing music and I think it's like a wedding party or some or pictures or your prayers were answered yesterday this is what we asked this is what we were hoping would happen oh my but you think we can like go and say hi yes this is the opposite of what I just thought was going to happen we're walking around there does this is [Music] incredible congratulations to them beautiful music we heard the music we were down there visiting can I that's that's Can We Dance yes yes cance two weddings are happening at the same time two weddings one here one here you can take a photo with them also if you we can take a photo them yes oh you yourself we can Sho it yes so memory hi what's your name toyan toyan yes St wow bro I love this I love this this is exactly why you travel look at how beautiful the traditional outfits are they are so beautiful outfits everyone everyone is very welcoming too Mission should maybe be how do we get invited to the actual wedding they have a wedding party tonight tonight do you think it's possible to get invited no no not possible we can always ask right yes we can ask they want us to dance all right here we go [Music] thas nice to meet you beautiful wedding there is a big wedding in the restaurant in the center city city center you can come yeah yeah yeah no problem no way are you serious would love to you give me a piece of paper I'll write other yes please okay so we got invited to our wedding yes didn't even have to ask they invited us happening right now dude we are 2 hours into visiting Manan and we already been invited to a wedding 7:00 p.m. 700 p.m. yeah everything ready amazing please all come even your girlfriends can come okay so great amazing thank you so much so we'll see you tonight thank you beautiful you nice to me nice to meet you nice to meet you yeah see you tonight Max p. I know the place know the place know theid that guy was so friendly yeah he didn't he brought it up we didn't even ask him it's very hard to enter Turk manisan wedding you said would be impossible yes we can Replay that moment now think it's possible to get invited no what is impossible mean it means I'm possible Max just like I need a raise who are these guys what for eating thank you so much that's so sweet gave us question is what are we going to wear to the wedding oh does that mean we have to go shopping what are we doing we're getting uh shirts for the wedding tonight so we're just getting prepared no way that's real what's the name of the brand wait can I look how do you think we pronounce this are we all trying to look the same yes we got to look exactly the same y ma said yes to look the same as us really wow yes what a handsome guy Max is going to quit after this look that look at our driver he's actually been the one filming this whole episode Cory's had nothing to do with it we have a new videographer on the team this is true love right [Laughter] here [Music] St making [Music] sure this is an incredible venue what have we gotten ourselves 2 hours of sleep say that again this is very unusual I come to a wedding and I don't know anyone yeah I don't think it's normal to go to a strangers waiting in any country max is a little uncomfortable I can it's F oh this we're waiting for you and then somehow as our guide Max who's guided hundreds if not thousands of Travelers in the country said he's never seen or heard of this ever happening before we may well be the first ever visitors to ever attend and capture a turkman wedding anything you need we are there so thank you so much we're right next to the [Music] [Music] wedding if you don't keep on eating you will get drunk yeah how many get here 24 [Music] hour [Music] beol we may be live far apart but also this evening we will always be close our thank you thank you so much and thank you to everybody here theed the world is a magical place thank you very much respect your guest more than your Rel said please promise me there will be no after party after this and he said after party yeah yeah okay no [Music] problem if a triman person would have come to France with cameras I don't think they would have been invited to a wedding like this I think there's a sense of beauty of the hospitality of just humans and human but ultimately we're all one and I think we forget that more than we remember my best friends oh right now you are my best friend I love you man the night's continuing I think this is the best night of my life okay so we are going to the after party now um I love you control of the situation uh we are passengers now we are no longer drivers is going [Music] [Applause] [Music] on after a total roller coaster of a first day we shifted gears the following 3 days left on our trip we first head to a major historical landmark and would then later go up close to one of the strangest human mistakes from the Soviet times still existing to this day this Castle was apparently from the 3rd Century BC as the Persians were the main enemies of the Roman Empire this place served as a local Kingdom of the Persian Empire back when it stretched all the way across most of central [Music] Asia well as we're exploring this ancient Persian Castle I'd like to tell you about what I think think is the most exciting travel tool I've come across in recent years that happens to be sponsoring today's video magic and I have to say that travel is really the ultimate gate for empathy around the world and helps you show that the image often depicted in the news is never the full picture planning trips however can take forever and it's very easy to get overwhelmed with the unlimited options magic however uses artificial intelligence in a way never done before to help you find exact what you're looking for as you begin the planning of your trip by looking for a hotel magic uses its AI technology to scan through all the descriptions and all of the reviews to give you an unbiased view of all of the good things and all the bad things about every Hotel option you're considering helping you ultimately find what you're looking for in each Place much faster than you do on your own once you found the perfect place to stay you can chat with magic like your expert travel friend helping you come up with original activities customized to your travel style your bud budget or even your dietary restrictions to ultimately help you find activities restaurants Tim taes Transportation everything customized to your needs and if there's anything that doesn't suit you you can just tell that to the AI and it will automatically adjust and help you find a better option not only is Magic free to use but we've also teamed up with them to do a huge giveaway of $21,000 for some of you to go on your dream trip all you have to do to enter is leave a comment Down Below on this video with your dream destination subscribe to yes Theory on YouTube and click the Link in our description below with a comment you get one entry by booking a trip or experience with magic you get 10 we're giving away three epic dream trips valued at $7,000 each I'd be betting that your chances to win are quite high on this one so I would not miss the opportunity Magic's AI tool has never made travel easier so I highly look forward to hearing about all the trips that many of you will be taking using it check the link in the description below and maybe end up in unusual places like this one and now back to exploring the rest of this incredible country What's Happening Here 11th graduating it's our we are 18 graduation graduation Cory is taking photo after photo I love it congratulations to everyone for finishing 18year old school 18year old school okay guys thank youby bye-bye so where does the hospitality come from from here Max Hospitality comes from the nomadic past when turkman were living in the desert they were creating these expressions like a guest is as important as your father I also don't think that's a part of turkistan that many people know about hospitality is such so deeply ingrained in the culture yeah and it's made our travel experience 10 times better wow so many congratulations before we were heading to one of this country's most mysterious places out in the desert Matt had a surprise for stafon you're doing an abandoned in I'm just kidding yeah dude your support throughout this time with the book and just this whole journey for me and us getting closer through it has been the world to me and I don't have many copies as you know but I brought one for you here you go dude this is for you I love you so much bro I I I I swear like I don't think it's any book in the world that I'm looking forward more to read than this and uh I know day and night how much you worked with this and also the help and support so um thank you for putting your story out to the world and can't wait to bro and as I said many times no mats no yeser no staan so can't wait to read this one yeah baby yes let's go boys well done anyone want the boot saan he just gave it to you our next destination is hidden deep in the desert of rural turkistan where we'll visit one of the most unique human mistakes on the planet oh my God wa is this health it's called A Door to Hell really how did this happen [Music] the derasa gas crater nicknamed the door to hell is a natural gas field crater that has been burning continuously for 52 years in 1971 while drilling for oil a Soviet drilling rig collapsed into the cavern releasing natural gas into the atmosphere to prevent the emission of the poisonous gas the crater was lit on fire to burn off the excess Us in the hopes of stopping This Disaster the engineers expected this solution would put an end to the leak within a few days however the crater has now been burning for over 50 years with no sign of [Music] stopping this is insanity it is so warm right here this doesn't exist anywhere else so just another strange attraction in this country I guess wow yeah it smells like when to uh turn on the barbecue at first and the gas is just poured out so welcome to the door to hell man thanks dude 10 years ago there was a research here about the temperature only 40 to 400 C inside it's like going to the core of the Earth yeah man did you just take a British accent there for no reason we were so mesmerized by this extraordinarily unique phenomenon that we stood there staring into its depth for hours as the sun set this massive fire crater lit up the night sky and it truly felt like we were standing at the door to another world all the viewers are wondering right now are you a big Lord of the Rings fan yes I am are you ready [Music] action [Music] action destroy it some destroy the ring never going to action destroy the ring destroy the ring Mr Bruto destroy it hry [Music] s get it's [Applause] [Music] mine it's m my [Music] [Applause] wishes and [Applause] [Music] cut we're now out in a little remote Village in the outskirts 2 hours outside of the the capital we're going to see how they make some of the local bread we've been eating look at that [Music] we just arrived in this little village and we wanted to learn how to make bread but this is like a whole this is more ambitious than I thought she's making like 50 breads right now it's just a village across like all the way we just pulled over and he asked her if she could make some bread shout out our guy [Music] Max [Music] [Music] wow oh my God it's so warm wow wow thank you nice one freshly made bread bro wow very delicious very delicious hello hi hey hi how are you how are you hi ni sh my name is am ah oh you speak English wow very good how did you learn English school English school this vocabulary a b c d wow wow nice man nice man very good do pullups yeah Thomas for pull-ups Thomas yesterday you told me actually that you're really great at doing pull-ups so he's challenged me to do 20 yeah oh huh he's good ready one two 17 oh my God 18 19 let's hello [Music] hello wow this is what travel is the best education that everybody needs ultimately coming to a place like this the few people go to is when you're most present and you really feel it because it's also people that are so unused to seeing visitors that there's the raw humanity and the interactions that you have and the curiosity is so vivid that you get to uh truly connect on just a human level not speaking the same language somehow still finding each other and still having a desire to bond and befriend each other and I think that's what we all want right everyone wants to be friends everyone wants to connect with people from different places and anytime we stray away from that is when we've lost touch with who we really are they became our friends here yeah these are our local tour [Music] operators after a strange and confusing start of our trip the Curiosity and Hospitality of all the locals we met completely changed our view and experience in the country I can't possibly pretend that in 4 days here that I'd understand what it's like to live in turkistan but I did feel everywhere we went that there was an eagerness from people here to reach out and to connect it would have been so easy for me to judge the people of this country based on its politics but once again I'm very happy that I gave it a shot we live in a time in the world right now where fear has been slowly dripping like poison into the veins of society pulling us further and further apart the rhetoric of Us Versus Them is rampant the dehumanization of entire regions of the world feels common place and in the meantime it feels like the everyday person is left as the loser neighbors and cousins are pinned against each other forgetting we all once knew how to live peacefully on trips like this I do Wonder deep within myself what are we really doing to each other a few days before we were meant to leave although we just brushed through it at the start staan legitimately wanted to cancel this trip after a terror attack targeting sweds had just occurred to fear travel at a time like this is totally understandable but in reality what would we have missed an opportunity to see what the world out there is really like I'm not blind to the violence currently existing in the world but I believe that the best medicine we can have in response to that is to care more deeply to reach across the aisle to breathe in within ourselves and to look for Action we can take that builds Bridges between us rather than Islands I do not have the answers to exactly how or what that entails all I can say is that my own medicine to the torment that I felt looking at the state of the world recently has been to go find it out there this story is the first out of a series of five travel stories we've decided to donate a percentage of the aenue will generate as well as a portion of the sales of our upcoming seat discomfort holiday drop to Charities helping children victim of active War zones like currently happening in Gaza Sudan and Myanmar because despite all the darkness on trips like this it makes me believe once again to the core of my being that light will ultimately prevail [Music] h

Channel: Yes Theory

Views: 4,216,010

Keywords: yestheory, seek discomfort, yes theory strangers, yes theory travel, yes theory subscribers, getting out of your comfort zone, Amazon FBA

Id: nxdh69enoSw

Length: 31min 42sec (1902 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 12 2023