Shadowing Practice: Inside Pakistan’s Most Dangerous City (surreal) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Well, what's the worst that could happen?
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We have a full -on military escort.
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At least six people have been killed in a suicide bombing in Pakistan.
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Tensions flared between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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I told my mom it was safe, Peshawar.
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Yeah.
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Here we go again, but this time to a place we haven't yet set foot in.
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Pakistan.
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But not any city in the country.
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The nation's oldest city, Peshawar.
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Arguably one of South Asia's most fascinating places, yet also due to its proximity to the Afghan border, one of its riskiest.
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We are not here for a stunt.
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We are here to explore a city at the crossroads of history.
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Largely isolated from the world's eyes for the last few decades as traveling here has been close to impossible.
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Having explored many of Pakistan's neighbors before,
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we have a feeling that whatever is said on the news is not reflective of the vast majority of the population here.
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At least that is our assumption.
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And so we have decided to travel here with two ambitious goals.
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First, exploring the open streets, looking to meet as many locals as possible,
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but then not booking a place to sleep and instead staying with a stranger.
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This is definitely the most uncertain place we will ever have attempted this before.
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And whether it's possible or not, we're about to find out.
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Well, we are at the gate ready to board just based on the other passengers on this flight.
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I can tell that there's not a whole lot of other tourists going in this direction.
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Yeah, it's gonna be an interesting trip
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and the plan is to not book a place to stay and just see if we can stay with someone local.
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So this might be the worst idea we've ever had.
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The best idea we've ever had.
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I guess we'll find out.
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Well, Pakistan, here we go.
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We are heading right to the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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It was five years ago that I went to Afghanistan
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and now this is the closest I'll get to going back in a long time.
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Our families are a little bit worried for us given our destination.
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Let's hope we prove some people wrong with maybe people's idea what's actually gonna happen.
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Welcome to Pakistan where almost everyone told us not to go.
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So let's find out who is right.
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What do you guys do here?
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We make YouTube videos.
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You want a picture?
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Yes, let's go.
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Thank you.
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Assalamu alaikum.
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Okay, so many smiles already.
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The guy is checking my passport.
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He asked if he could offer us a cup of tea.
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Oh, nice.
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Welcome to Pakistan.
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This is wild.
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There's a lot going on here.
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Hello.
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How are you? From where? From Sweden.
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Thank you for having us in Pakistan.
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There is a New Zealand friend who looks like you.
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Yeah, that's true actually.
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You do look like him.
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I'm known as a cricket player here.
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Where are you going here?
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We're going to a hotel.
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Car, car.
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Yeah, taxi.
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No, my car.
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Your car?
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Yeah, yes.
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We said yes to a taxi.
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Thank you.
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Nice to meet you.
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My house is three hours.
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Three hours?
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Wow.
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But you're going with me.
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Enjoy like that.
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No tension, anything.
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Oh, going with you to the mountains?
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Yeah, mountains.
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Thank you so much.
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I'll see you again.
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I hope so.
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Anytime you solve problem, no problem.
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Wow, everyone wants to help.
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It's overwhelming.
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We have not spent five minutes on Pakistani soil and we've been invited to a man's home three hours away.
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These guys said they would drive us.
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And something very funny that's starting to happen is that people are starting to think that Quentin is Pakistani.
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After one minute in the country, someone came to me and spoke to me in Uqdubu.
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Yeah, I was like
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The thing is Quentin his whole life has been told he looks like a Pakistani even though he's from Switzerland
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I'm on a mission.
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Let's meet my family.
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You're finally home.
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It's a prophecy
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He looks like Pakistan.
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The brothers
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We'd only planned to book one hotel room to have somewhere we could leave our luggage
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while we explore the city looking for a stranger to stay with.
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But as we went to head out onto the Peshawar streets for the first time alone, we were stopped by the hotel manager.
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Apparently we need local security if you want to go out.
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If you want to leave the hotel.
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But I'm telling him I think we'll be fine.
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I think it's just extreme precautions.
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I think.
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I hope.
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I informed them and then they said I'm sending the escort.
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Oh, they're sending an escort.
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Okay.
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Should we be worried?
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Like...
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Uh...
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No. No?
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Okay, okay.
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Okay, sure.
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We just...
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The police escort is mandatory.
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Okay.
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At first, we were quickly regretting not just having gone with our bags
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and gear with some of the people we met at the airport and avoided this altogether.
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But after speaking to another curator who had been here recently, when the police spotted him on the street,
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they stopped him as well meaning that if we wanted to be in the city, there was no way around this.
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We took a moment to have a serious discussion about the
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risk factor of trying to go into the streets without a police escort.
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What did you tell them?
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Well, I said no first, and then I signed a paper saying like, I like revoke my police escort.
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And then there was a guy sitting in the reception who apparently is like secret, like undercover police, who was like,
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yeah, no, we're not letting them go without it.
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Quentin, honestly, like if you don't feel that this is safe, we're not going to force you.
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you know, so it's, we have to decide individually what we feel comfortable with.
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I told my mom it was safe, Beshalar.
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Yeah.
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Well.
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We were worried that this would completely prevent us from having natural interactions with the locals.
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But it quickly became clear that the current government's regulations did not give the option for any foreigners to go anywhere unsupervised.
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And if we refused, we would not be allowed to enter the streets.
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And so for the sake of being compliant and not being unnecessarily risky, we decided to go along with our designated police escort.
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Oh wow, okay.
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Hello, hello.
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Now you can do whatever you want, no problems.
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We will be here to assist you in any way, anywhere you want to go.
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They will be here with you and there is nothing like not allowed.
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It's It's all allowed for whatever you want to do.
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But just, they will be here with you.
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That's great.
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The other issue we were now learning was that if we wanted to stay with a local, they would need to be vetted by the government.
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So for the time being, we told them a bit of a white lie that we were going out to meet a friend of ours.
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You guys will stay with your friend?
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Yeah, tonight.
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Yeah, your friend is going to meet you in the market or you're going to visit him?
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Yeah, we can tell you more about it in a bit, yeah.
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Okay.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Okay.
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Okay, don't worry about it at all.
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We just need to find the person first and then, it's a long story.
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Do you speak English, any one of you?
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No English.
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No English, okay great.
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No worries.
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Okay, all right, I have never had this happen.
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We are gonna be walking around the streets here.
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We're gonna try to get a little bit of distance from our lovely escort here.
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Not fully sure why this is the case, and it's not ideal for the way that we like to tell stories and make videos,
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but you know.
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Did you tell them that we have a friend?
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That we're gonna meet a friend?
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Yeah.
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I didn't tell them we don't know that friend yet.
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I was like, who's that guy?
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And as we were about to walk onto these unpredictable streets, we really understood that Deda was our most important asset right now.
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Without it, we would not be able to navigate this country we've never been to
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or be able to communicate with the locals.
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And that is exactly where this video sponsor Aerolo comes in to save us
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and may help you out quite a lot for travels in the future.
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Plus, we keep our original phone numbers for messages and calls so that our families can still reach us.
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And right now, if you use code YESTHERI at checkout, you get $3 off your first eSIM.
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When we planned this trip to Pakistan with its travel restrictions and reputation as being dangerous, we knew we'd need data the second we landed.
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Without Erilo, filming episodes like this in risky places would not be possible.
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It helps us minimize risk, navigate the country, and connect closer to the kind locals and uncover what the real Pakistan is like.
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So if you're planning an upcoming trip,
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Okay, now let's get back to exploring.
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this very fascinating city.
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This feels like arriving in a completely new world right now.
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To be honest, this reminds me a lot of Afghanistan.
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And the reason for that is this region is, I don't know if it's majority,
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but at least a very large portion of the people living here are ethnically Afghan.
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They actually speak a different language here than the rest of Pakistan.
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They speak Pashto and actually like a local dialect and in the rest of Pakistan they speak Urdu.
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How are you?
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Good?
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Many beautiful smiles here.
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Yeah, makes my nerves come down a bit.
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I think I'm more nervous with the police walking wheel.
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than working with the people.
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Nice to meet you.
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What's your name?
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Take you with me to shop.
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We're walking to the bazaar now.
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Maybe later.
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So nice to meet you.
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You can say hi to my friend Thomas.
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What is your name?
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Thomas Do you want to tell Thomas what you told me?
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The world is spamming these people.
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They are terrorists and they are...
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How did you find them?
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Everyone is so nice.
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And they are very peaceful and they respect the foreign people.
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And they don't disturb the matter of other people.
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What help may I can do with you?
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You want to help us?
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Oh, thank you so much.
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Thank you.
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Every single person is just so curious
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and there's like a very genuine playful curiosity
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and every person is very thankful
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that we're just here visiting
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it's a bit overwhelming actually hello how are you nice to meet you nice to meet you
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thank you thank you Pakistan is very good.
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Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah.
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Pakistan is very good.
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Very good.
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After wandering the streets for a while, we stopped to check out one of the food stands
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and finally gave in to one of our many offers to have some tea.
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Wow.
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That's delicious.
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This is our first authentic
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Pakistani tea on the side of the street.
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The energy here is incredible.
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I feel so safe.
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I feel so, like, welcome every single person is smiling.
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You use even one local word, people are like, they can't even believe it.
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Tamam, so good. So good.
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No, no, no. No?
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Are you sure?
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Yeah.
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Thank you so much, thank you.
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I have a feeling we're gonna drink a lot of tea.
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I have a feeling.
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And I have a feeling no one's gonna let us like pay for something.
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Then out of the blue, we crossed paths with the last thing we expected to find in Peshawar.
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hello guys hi yeah what's up what's your theory yeah from the start whoa what the hell
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you guys did the 30 days shall we yeah I'm watching from
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that time oh my god that's like 10 years ago yes exactly I'm in shock
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that you spawn here
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and used to arrive here yeah I just cannot believe
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I just met you man it would not think
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we had any yes there is subscribers in fish I want
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I'm starting from the I'm watching from the start man what's your name my name is Jawad, Jawad Anwar.
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Jawad, nice to meet you.
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If you send me a message, we're gonna go explore and then maybe we can find each other later.
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Do you think we're safe walking around here, right?
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Yeah, yeah, 100 % safe.
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You can, in case you go to any shop, you tell them that you're hungry, you haven't eaten, they'll give you anything,
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whatever they have to eat.
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Wow.
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Thanks, okay man.
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Much love, brother.
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Nice to meet you, brother.
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Also meeting a Yesteri subscriber here, I've gotta be like zero.
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Yeah, yeah, that's, stedamashayah, stedamashayah.
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You good?
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As we made our way deeper and deeper into the center, the city's fascinating history was felt all around us.
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Khashogar is the oldest city in Pakistan
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and was in fact the reason why we wanted to come here in the first place.
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Its name comes from a Persian phrase meaning frontier city as it stands at the end of the Khyber Pass, which connects Afghanistan to Pakistan.
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For centuries this pass was the main gateway from Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent, making this the reason why Peshawar became so rich,
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but also so commonly contested.
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Over the past 2 ,600 years, it has been ruled by 30 different kingdoms, dynasties, and empires, including the Greeks,
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Persians, Mughals, Afghans, and the British.
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Peshawar's location in the middle of the continent has made it a target of political attacks for its entire existence,
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a reality that our police friends were a constant reminder of.
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Every corner here is a movie.
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No, it's okay.
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It's okay.
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Thank you.
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Thank you so much.
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He wanted to get us something to eat.
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The main thing that you miss in this video is how incredible the smell is here.
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It's like toasted nuts right now, this street.
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It's like, it's actually incredible.
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There's a sensory overload happening here.
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Yeah, for sure.
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What's up, man?
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How you doing?
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Faramaykum.
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Huh?
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Sweden.
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Sweden?
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Sweden, Western Europe?
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Yes.
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Nice to meet you.
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Hi, man.
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Nice to meet you.
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Nice to meet you, man.
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Salam, how are you?
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Salam, how are you?
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Salam, you're from Sweden?
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Salam, nice to meet you.
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We used to have it.
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Yeah, it was so good.
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Thank you so much.
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Everyone is so kind here.
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Wherever we go, people are offering and giving us stuff.
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It's part of our culture.
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We Pashtuns are very peaceful people.
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We hope that people will leave us within peace.
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You are very famous in Facebook though Oh, you know yesterday I'm not funny
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Okay, okay, but you've seen before
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Nice to meet you
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And you work here or just?
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I just study nursing Nursing?
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Okay Now still doing my internship in LRH hospital
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Then Shalai will travel to Sweden also
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Oh, that would be great
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My favorite country, Sweden He just love you
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Nice man I giving some message for everyone
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You come visit Pakistan and especially coming KPK First of all, it's a very lovely people living here
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Everybody we like cast.
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Thank you.
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You're coming anytime.
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Thank you so much.
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Thank you beautiful message I feel like very comfortable right now, you know This is the thing that everyone misunderstands about this region
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Everyone told us like be careful.
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That is literally what everyone said.
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They said be safe be careful
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And it's the same anytime I went to Iraq anytime I went to Syria and Afghanistan people have no issues with foreigners
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In fact, they're just so excited that you're here visiting.
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And I think it's the fear that some of our own news install in us.
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That like, oh, if you go there, they don't like foreigners.
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And it's my experience has been the exact opposite.
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He has something to say.
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Nice to meet you.
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He looks like
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Pakistani, not you.
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Oh, yeah.
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He looks like Pakistani?
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I was talking to him and he just said, yeah, you look like Pakistanis.
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Don't hear.
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Speak English.
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Has anyone spoken to you in Pashtun?
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Yeah, before.
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Really?
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Yeah, once.
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I promise.
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You're finally home.
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Finally.
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I think we've walked like three blocks.
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And I don't even know where we're going.
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I'm just walking.
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I would like to get a local outfit.
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Our mission is to find a local outfit.
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But it will probably take like seven days before we reach the bazaar in the speed we're going in now.
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That was very close to your foot.
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I wonder what your police officer are thinking now by the way.
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We're just running around drinking tea, chatting with people.
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And well, after shaking off our nerves, we were starting to get very comfortable walking the streets.
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What is this?
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This is the meat.
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You're eating this.
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I've never tried this before.
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Check this.
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But this is your food.
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Yeah, no problem.
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And then I just do this?
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Yeah, yeah.
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And then I just eat it again.
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Wow.
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Oh my God, that's so good.
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Wow.
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That's one of the best things I've ever had.
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Hi guys, I'm good, thank you.
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Wow, this looks incredible.
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We're going full street food here.
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Oh wow, that's cute.
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So nice to meet you.
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Thank you so much.
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Quentin went missing for a while and then we found them here.
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What's happening here?
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Just chilling bro!
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Your brothers?
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Yes brothers!
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Yes yes yes!
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I thought you were here like working, making videos and things.
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I was working and filming and these guys told me just sit down and relax!
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Drop your bag and relax!
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We are walking on tight corners here.
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It is not really a sidewalk going on here.
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We are trying to still make it to the bazaar.
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This bazaar is 15 minutes away from our hotel and it's been about 3 hours and we still haven't made it.
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Yeah, the day is flying by here.
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It is already 2 p .m.
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We have not achieved any of our goals so far of getting a local outfit or locking in somewhere to stay tonight.
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Okay, I think we have officially reached the bazaar.
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Peshawar has always been a melting pot of culture for the ancient world and a hub for learning and exchange.
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It was once a major stop on the ancient
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Silk Road, the road connecting
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China to Europe, It was a trading hub where silk and jade from China met ivory, spices and textiles from India.
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One of the epicenters for this exchange was this bazaar,
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where tired merchants and curious locals could pay a professional storyteller to listen to recited tales of distant travels and local folklore,
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some of which could stretch over several days.
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We want to get the local clothing.
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Hello, Nico!
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Hi, you good?
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Well, the police is a real homer here.
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He found a place where we can buy the local traditional outfits.
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Inam, you're the best.
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Nice to meet you.
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You the money.
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Take it from free.
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No, no, no, no. We got these, we're happy to pay for these outfits.
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It's hard to pay for anything here.
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You actually look like a local.
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Salaam Alaikum.
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I feel like Elvis Presley right now.
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I don't know.
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I thought I would blend in in these clothes, and I don't.
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He said that we have not allowed to use the friend.
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He's there.
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Okay, why not?
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No. Security, security reason, security.
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So we're not allowed to stay with a local?
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No, we're not allowed to stay with a local.
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We're not allowed to stay with a local.
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We're not allowed to stay with a local.
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We're not allowed to stay with a local.
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We're not allowed to stay with a local.
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Our lovely friend who recognized us on YouTube, he is here now.
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And hopefully he can bail us out
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so we don't want to be with the police all the time
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but we're also very grateful that they have been around and supported.
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A group of locals we ate lunch with had invited us to their home, and so had Jawad.
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However, it seemed that the police were adamant on not letting us go even with Jawad, that we were clearly comfortable with.
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And so our mission seemed more and more hopeless, as the end of the day seemed to be rapidly approaching.
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Okay, so after a first little round meeting people, being fed, getting tea hundred times, we have now transformed into true locals.
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We have our local yesteri representative who joined us.
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We feel fully integrated.
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Oh wow, so many amazing things going on on these streets.
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Every corner there's something going on.
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Bro people are laughing so much like
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when you people are looking at us
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now we're like hello hello hi hi welcome to Pakistan everyone you're welcoming the Pakistanis
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or what was your what's the logic here yeah I just felt
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that you know people think I'm from Pakistan now
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so I can as much be an official ambassador you know
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he just the police officer told me I look like Pakistanis now you're from the police center I've never had
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It's a bigger contrast with how safe I feel on the street with how intense it feels to have a police escort.
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There's many other places where I felt less safe where having a police escort would have been nice.
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While we continued walking down the street,
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suddenly one of our police officers invited us into this unknown building for a little break from the busy streets.
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This is, I don't even see anything.
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Old hotel.
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Oh, nice.
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Okay, this is our little spot here.
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Do I still blend in?
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After the tea, we stumbled upon a small opening that led us straight into this beautiful mosque music
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People are very friendly.
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They are extremely pregnant.
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They have been through some.. tough times so it's a good sight to see you guys there.
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I mean like Peshawar is not always like this.
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Like if you go back a decade, ten years ago, the security, it was the worst man.
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Like there was suicide bombs every other week.
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It was extremely hard time for the people of Peshawar.
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Since 2001, Peshawar has been one of Pakistan's hardest hit cities by terrorism.
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Its location near the Afghan border, the presence of militant networks,
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and decades of conflict tied to the Taliban and ISIS have placed it on the front line of regional instability.
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But it was 2009 that marked a turning point.
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That year, violence escalated dramatically.
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Coordinated attacks became frequent, targeting markets, mosques, hotels, police stations, and everyday civilians.
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Peshawar was no longer experiencing isolated incidents.
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It had become a city under sustained attack.
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My mother and my sister were in the market and there was a blast.
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We were at home but it was so loud that we heard it.
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We didn't know where it was or what happened but we knew that there had been a blast.
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And it was extremely close to them, like a few streets passed them.
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Our elders used to go out in the morning
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and we wouldn't know that if they would come back here in the evening.
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That was what was happening at that time.
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One of the goals of the attacks was to replace Pakistan's legal system with their own interpretation of Sharia law, enforced through fear and violence.
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In response, Pakistan launched sweeping military operations and counter -terror reforms.
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And by 2015, the security landscape began to change.
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Checkpoints multiplied, militant strongholds were dismantled, and intelligence operations intensified.
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For several years, the strategy worked.
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Attacks dropped sharply, and Peshawar experienced a cautious but noticeable calm.
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But it was short -lived.
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In 2021, the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan.
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Militant groups operating across the border regrouped and reemerged.
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But by 2022, attacks begin rising again, signalling a renewed phase of violence.
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Today, the threat has not returned to the levels of the early 2010s.
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But it is serious enough that Peshawar is once again considered a high -risk destination.
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It's the reason travel here now requires heightened security
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and why we were forced to move through the city with a police escort.
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How did people recover and find strength despite all of those hardships?
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To be honest, we haven't recovered.
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To be honest, we have lost people close to us.
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Everybody has lost someone in Peshawar due to terrorism.
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I'm just happy to say that we haven't lost our core values to the terrorists.
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We are still strong.
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We push through that.
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So I would say that we are stronger than them.
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I'm grateful and I know I speak behalf of all of the yesterday community
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that you are like a representative of the Pakistani people in like, you know, your village and your city that had like,
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yeah, these dark spots of history
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But like all this light and love that we can that we can feel here
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As our first day of exploring was coming to an end we felt conflicted
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On one hand after spending the day meeting some of the kindest locals of any place
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we travel to We felt so much more assured of our safety
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Yet, at the same time, learning more about the recent history of terrorism
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and our police escorts being adamant that it wasn't safe to stay with a stranger, we had no choice but to regroup,
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book some last -minute hotel rooms and try again tomorrow.
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We were lost puppies a while ago but now we're following you.
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So you take us where you wish to take us and we follow.
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That's the kind of responsibusia I was not expecting.
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Is there something you feel that people misunderstand around the world about Pakistan?
518
They generalize, you know what I mean?
519
Like when they hear the words
520
Muslim, they generalize all of us.
521
Like Taliban does not represent the Muslims.
522
I think they shouldn't even be called Muslims, man.
523
They are extremists and extremists have no place in this community, in this culture.
524
It is mad to think about being in 2026 with all the knowledge we have about history and, you know, You know, genocide.
525
Humans still find a reason to attack each other and spread hate.
526
And it just feels absolutely regressing every time it happens again around the world.
527
But that's why we do what we do, man.
528
We try to build bridges.
529
We try to show people that don't trust what the news tell you 24 -7.
530
You know, don't be afraid of other people.
531
The more afraid we are from each other, the more distant we get from each other.
532
And then there's less conversation, less connection.
533
And that's when conflicts happen.
534
As you've probably begun to notice while watching this episode, we haven't run into many women while exploring the city,
535
or had the chance to talk to any of them.
536
What we were beginning to learn was not a coincidence.
537
Take you up on that.
538
Yes.
539
Yes, yes.
540
It's actually the female part of the park.
541
Ah, yes, yes.
542
So one part is a female part?
543
Yes, it's segregated.
544
Yes.
545
Where I come from, it's not like that.
546
So curious to hear why is it like that?
547
Just to give them the privacy.
548
It's small, you cannot see inside what's happening inside.
549
It's for their privacy.
550
If they want to eat something or drink something or just want to have a breather.
551
So they can have that peacefully.
552
We had a quite hard time to film women and speak to women.
553
What's your thoughts on that?
554
It's a cultural thing.
555
It does not mean that we have to keep them in our home.
556
Yeah, it's just so different from where I'm from.
557
I miss speaking to women here because I'm curious and I want to talk, but I also want to respect culture and these things.
558
What did you ask?
559
I just want to get a shot of him.
560
He was just sitting here combing his beard.
561
Cheers.
562
Cheers.
563
Cheers.
564
Cheers.
565
Cheers.
566
Cheers.
567
Thank you.
568
Thank you.
569
Thank you.
570
Thank you so much.
571
What's your name?
572
My name is Zafar Hussain.
573
Zafar Hussain.
574
Wow, beautiful name, beautiful name.
575
He wants to invite us for a cup of tea.
576
He's too iconic looking to say no. We don't understand each other, but we're friends.
577
We're friends.
578
Yeah, yeah.
579
Okay.
580
What's your name?
581
I've never heard these names before in my life.
582
Like, every person here tells me their name.
583
I was like, that is an amazing name.
584
Why do you like to drink tea with your friends?
585
Because it's just not drinking the tea, it's the sharing, it's the talking, it's the hangout that the guys enjoy right here.
586
Wow, they love it.
587
People shower very peaceful.
588
Yeah, yeah.
589
Stuff is a bad thing.
590
We have a place for you in our hearts.
591
He represents all of Pashawar.
592
Why is a guest so important for people of Pashawar?
593
It's a tradition.
594
Our forefathers gave us this tradition.
595
We will give it to our children.
596
They are very happy in the land.
597
There are such people who are happy when they come to the church.
598
They give them a pardon.
599
It's a lie.
600
Our ancestors.
601
Okay, I'm really gonna be seeing that.
602
Can I ask what was awakening you or what are you feeling right now?
603
No, I actually had an ankle who got into some stuff with some people.
604
Okay, okay.
605
To just put it mildly, a lot of people died and a lot of suffering happened during that time.
606
So, it's a sore spot.
607
Yeah.
608
Very sorry to hear about that.
609
Yeah.
610
It's fine man, it's fine, it's fine.
611
It's fine.
612
We see you brother.
613
You're a strong light here in Peshawar and in Pakistan and for the world.
614
So, I don't think it was a coincidence that we run into each other here on the street.
615
I still can't believe I met you.
616
This other said that he's from Pakistan.
617
He looks Pakistani.
618
My new fathers
619
They're arguing about who's gonna pay here
620
Look at this
621
In this very moment, as we sat in this peaceful park drinking tea with these elderly gentlemen.
622
The purpose of our trip felt like it all made sense.
623
What was just 48 hours ago unfamiliar and daunting had become comfortable.
624
Peshawar had rocked our expectations in all sorts of directions, taken our senses on a journey to places they had never been to before,
625
and then caught us gently and dropped us here.
626
Most people had warned us to be afraid to travel here.
627
But instead of encountering hostility and violence, we were treated like royalty as everyone was so happy to see foreign visitors.
628
You said you're happy to see us?
629
Exactly.
630
Because you are guests and we always offer good things for guests.
631
The second thing is that you explore our culture throughout the world.
632
Yes, yes, yes.
633
We also want such thing like visiting to foreign countries.
634
But we have been in progress in our studies.
635
Yes, yes.
636
Because of that we can't go there.
637
The next morning we said goodbye to our new friend Jawad.
638
My brother, so nice to meet you.
639
You're Stefan.
640
You're a beautiful man.
641
I still can't believe I met you, man.
642
I still can't believe.
643
I'm going to miss you, man.
644
Yes.
645
Thank you so much for showing us your city.
646
Good luck.
647
While we had had such an amazing time exploring Peshawar, the failure of our main mission of staying with a stranger stung,
648
especially with the numerous offers we had actually received.
649
So we decided that we weren't quite done yet and that we would continue that mission on our next location.
650
However, to get there, we were once again made to travel under intense conditions.
651
This is the current situation.
652
We're gonna be escorted by police.
653
At some point, they're gonna pass us over to another security group and then we're gonna get to Islamabad somehow.
654
We are fully improvising at this point.
655
We have a full -on military escort in front of us and behind us.
656
Yeah, let's see where our Pakistani adventure takes us.
657
Another one.
658
Oh, okay, they're leaving.
659
Okay.
660
Go to Islamabad.
661
Islamabad, yeah.
662
And then the different escort?
663
Yeah, after Islam.
664
Different one again.
665
Different, after different.
666
So from the moment we said we want to grab a taxi, which was like an hour ago,
667
they've produced an entire chain of escorts all along the way this one there like a relay
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Inside Pakistan’s Most Dangerous City”. This video has 667 sentences and 5540 words to shadow. The speech runs for 37:25. The speaker talks at a steady 148 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| escort noun | /ˈɛs.kɔɹt/ | A group of people or vehicles, generally armed, who go with a person or people of importance to safeguard them on a journey or mission. |
| explore verb | /ɪkˈsploɹ/ | To examine or investigate something systematically. |
| cheers | /t͡ʃɪəz/ | A common toast used when drinking in company. |
| outfit noun | /ˈaʊtfɪt/ | A set of clothing (with accessories). |
| curious adjective | /ˈkjʊɹ.i.əs/ | Tending to ask questions, or to want to explore or investigate; inquisitive; (with a negative connotation) nosy, prying. |
| anytime adverb | At any time. | |
| connect verb | /kəˈnɛkt/ | To join (to another object): to attach, or to be intended to attach or capable of attaching, to another object. |
| destination noun | /dɛstɪˈneɪʃən/ | The place set for the end of a journey or to which something is sent; place or point aimed at. |
| terrorism noun | /ˈtɛɹəɹɪzəm/ | The use of unlawful violence against people or property to achieve political objectives. |
| taxi noun | /ˈtæksi/ | A vehicle that may be hired for single journeys by members of the public, particularly one with an automated meter to calculate the fare. |
| militant adjective | /ˈmɪlɪtənt/ | Fighting or disposed to fight; belligerent, warlike. |
| nurse noun | /nɝs/ | Anyone performing this role, regardless of training or profession. |
| intense adjective | /ɪnˈtɛns/ | Of a characteristic: extreme or very high or strong in degree; severe; also, excessive, towering. |
| arrive verb | /əˈɹaɪv/ | To reach; to get to a certain place. |
| privacy noun | /ˈpɹaɪ.və.si/ | The state of being secluded from the presence, sight, or knowledge of others. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
| run around verb | To be very busy doing many different things. |
| walk around verb | To walk with no planned destination; to meander. |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). |
| come back verb | To return to a place. |
| come down verb | To descend, fall down, collapse. |
| get back to verb | Return to (an activity) |
| get off verb | To move from being on top of (something) to not being on top of it. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- What do you guys do here?
- That we're gonna meet a friend?
- I was like, who's that guy?
- What's your thoughts on that?
- You said you're happy to see us?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| “Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true | used to arrive · used to have · used to go |
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if we refused, we would not |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have been killed · has been · have decided |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | have been killed · is said · we've been invited |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 138 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, I'm, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: clothing /ˈkloʊðɪŋ/, altogether /ɔl.tuˈɡɛð.ɚ/, authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/, thankful /ˈθæŋkfəl/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: destination /dɛstɪˈneɪʃən/, reputation /ˌɹɛpjʊˈteɪʃən/, contrast /kənˈt(ʃ)ɹæst/, shock /ʃɔk/, delicious /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/
- Long words — get the stress right: destination /dɛstɪˈneɪʃən/, terrorism /ˈtɛɹəɹɪzəm/, coincidence /kəʊˈɪnsɪdəns/, reputation /ˌɹɛpjʊˈteɪʃən/, ambassador /æmˈbæs.ə.dɚ/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like escort, explore, cheers.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.