Exploring the WALLED CITY of LAHORE!! Pakistani Street Food + Attractions | Pakistan

Dip into there. Get some of that chutney. Oh, nice and spicy. Phenomenal. As-salamu alaykum everyone. This is David Hoffman from David's Bin here coming at you from the old city, the walled city of Lahore, Pakistan in partnership with my friends at Manaki. As you can see behind me, we have the Delhi Gate. This faces the city of Delhi right over there. So what we're going to do today is we're going to explore the entire thing. We're going to see a mosque that's over 375 years old. We're going to see the royal baths. And we're going to eat lots of delicious food. There's so many food vendors. Are you guys excited? Follow me. Walled city. Nice. Can't believe it. My fourth day here and I'm finally entering the city. That's how big this entire city is. Walled city. Oldest part of the entire Lahore. Excited. Look at this. Gorgeous. For me, it reminds me of Morocco. When you go to Medina, the old cities. Very similar. Lots of walls. You have lots of vendors. Small, two, three-story buildings. Incredible. Can't wait, man. This is great. So we are actually heading to the royal bath. And that royal bath was built by Shah Jahan. And Shah Jahan is the same Mughal emperor who built the Taj Mahal. So this is actually one of the oldest baths in the subcontinent. And it has been destroyed like five years before. And now it's a heritage site declared by UNESCO. So how it works, let's go inside. But before that, I want to show you the overview of the spice bazaar in Lahore. This spice bazaar was built by the Akbar, the third Mughal emperor. So he started the spice trade from Lahore and goes to Delhi and then Kolkata. And this is actually the second head office of the East India Company in Lahore. And right here we have some red chili and black pepper. Also referred to as black gold during the spice trade. I love this. What else we got? We have some rice too, right? Yeah. We have more than 70 kinds of rice in Pakistan. 70? 70 kinds of more than 70 kinds. There are a few of them only. And the smell is so amazing. It's like a basmati. Amazing smell right here. We're entering the royal baths now. And it costs 400 rupees for a foreigner and 50 for a local, 20 for students. Tour guide is free of cost. This is the red sandstone. It came from Jaipur. And Jaipur was a pink city. This is 350 years old stone. And this is like the new stone here. And if I touch this stone, it's quite cold. But this is not a cold. That's the difference between the solid stone. Can I touch it? Yes. Oh, it's freezing. Yeah, and you can touch this here. Difference. Throw that away. This is incredible. So, red sandstone comes from Jaipur, Rajasthan. Actually, this is best for the insulation as well. If you go to the Jaipur, you can find out this sort of red sandstone here. It keeps away from the cold. It keeps away from the water as well. I've been. All the forts are the same color. Exactly. Alright, should we go inside? Yeah. It definitely reminds me of like a Roman bath. Same entryway, right? Actually, this was not for the common people. It was for the elite people on that time. Like, it looks like a gymkhana club. Five days in a week is for the men. And once in a week for female. And they had a very good arrangement for manicure and pedicure on that time. Wow. It was a luxury bath. Look at this. The colors. It's a fresco. Oh, fresco. So, you said it was restored in 2015? Yeah. All of it? Yeah. And how many rooms are in here? Nine right now. But before that, it was 21 rooms. But they restored nine rooms. The rest of the room has been destroyed or maybe demolished. So, as you can see, beautiful frescoes all on the top. That was all restored in 2015. And over here in this room, you'll see, basically, the British plastered all over this because they were trying to convert it into a church. But the people in the area said, no way. There's a mosque in there. You can't do that. This is British stuff. But here in the waiting room, you'll see, basically, the destruction they did. They just literally ruined it. They covered all the frescoes. And they're all gone. Gone in the history books. Beautiful place. Definitely visit the Hammam Royal Baths when you come in the Old City. Hey, incredible. Look at that. Gorgeous. And right there, they have the seven stairs to heaven, right? So, these are the cisterns, actually, because the people, they want to be the fillings of the waterfall. So, they built, actually, this waterfall here. It works as a shower. You can see the port. It looks like an infinity pool. You know, like the infinity bath coming down. This is a small jacuzzi. Small jacuzzi. And the next room is the sauna, right? So, steam room. So, it was really nine rooms, but now it's three. Yes. Okay. So, they restored part of it. So, you see marble here. And the bottom layer, that's where the slaves would go through and put coal. Exactly. And then they have the hot layer water. And once it's the smoke and the hot layer water, it's a mix-up. It's become a steam. And the steam came from here. Wow. Steam came from here. Incredible. I mean, very similar to what we have today. We're basically doing what they used to do, right? We're copying them. Exactly. And when you pass the Royal Baths, you enter the main street. And this is a bazaar. Yes. Fabric shops everywhere. You have shoes. You have some more spices to the left, to the right. What else we got here? Actually, this is Harek Judah Wazir Khan Mosque. Okay. But before the mosque, we will cover some streets as well. Nice. It's recently restored. This is the Gali Surjan Singh, and it has been recently restored. But now it's a famous street. Nowadays in Lahore. And there's a lot of flags because today is... 23rd March. You are also wearing this. I know. I'm wearing the flag. The white and black. Oh, my God. So, bikes can still pass through here, but minimal. Okay. So, this is it. Beautiful buildings. Love it. Yeah, exactly. It's the same color. Love the colors. Oh, careful, kids. Wow. So, it keeps going, right? Very nice. So, hey, do people live here? The top side here, there's all the residential family here. We are the famous sitting style of Lahore. And this is called the Thada. And Thada is actually used for the security purpose. Like, if an unknown person crossing this way, and the old people sitting here. And they observe to each other why are crossing twice time. But these are very rare. And this is one of them. As-salamu alaykum. Oh, my God. Yes. As-salamu alaykum. His father, he was also a wrestler. What is saying you in Lahore? Lahore, Lahore. His very famous personality in the whole city of Lahore. So, we're back on the main street. And lots of fabric shops. I'm actually shopping for my kids. Trying to see if I can find some beautiful dresses for a three and a five-year-old. So, do you have anything for girls, little girls? Only big ones? Okay. He's also a famous wrestler. My father saw some of the big wrestling in India. Everybody's too nice. All the wrestlers, man. Yeah. All big guys. Yes. Oh, man. It's packed now, huh? 1.30. It's crowded. Bikes. People. Shopping. Eating. The life, huh? This is actually the keema with the fried naan. And they use only onion, the cow meat, like the keema, and the black pepper, and some bit of the yogurt chutney. Basically, it's a beef patty, right? And they put an egg on top. And they mix it. They mash it together. So, we have naan with ghee. We have the beef patty with egg. You know, so it's a scramble. Nice and mashed together. And over here, we have a chutney. It's like a mint chutney, right? Yeah. Okay. So, grab a piece of the naan. Oh. How's the ghee? It's still very hot. We're eating it right here on the street. Oh, my God. The plate's on fire, too. So, you go in here. You grab this. Oh, everything's so hot. So hot. Eat it. Super spicy beef patty. Oh, I love it. Get a little more. She's beautiful. Amazing. You have to come here. I can still see the gate. So, it's not that far from the gate. Yeah, exactly. It's only like 500 feet away. 500 feet? Yeah. Oh, man. Super spicy, huh? Spicy and hot. I love that we're eating it right here on the street. Very tasty. You can't find this kind of food outside the street of Lahore. Nice drumstick. Very tasty. Dip into there. Get some of that chutney. Oh, nice and spicy. Phenomenal. Beef patty with chilies, egg, naan, ghee. Wow. The food here is too good. The chilies are hitting me though. It's hard to stand here. Shukriya. This guy's the man. He's awesome. But stay out of here because it's too much peppers. The peppers, they're hitting me in the face. Typical Pathan dress. You like it? Really. Nobody even recognizes you. You're a Pathan or a Punjabi or a Briton or something like that. I really like it. Shukriya. This bazaar does not end. I've only seen one food vendor which is that one. The rest of it is just shops and shops and shops of fabrics and also shoes. Lots of shoes here. Incredible stuff. I'm looking for something for my kids. No real souvenirs. This is more like local stuff, right? Look at that chili. Still really hot. This is the entrance of the Wazir Khan Mosque. This was the part of the gate but not the wall city gate. This gate was inside the wall city and this is one of them. Right here we have traditional slippers, right? For kids. For girls. It's beautiful. I love this. This looks very small though. A little too small. So, found it. This is what I'm getting for my daughters and for my niece. Beautiful. Love it. Incredible. Traditional, right? Punjabi. Very nice. So, it's $2.50 each. So, for $7.50 that is $5. $5 for the three pairs. What a bargain. For sure. Shukriya. So, this is your local kulfi vendor. So, basically this is a freezer on the bottom and it's still frozen. He pulls it out of this cylinder. He puts it in water so it melts a little bit. He pulls it out and then he disses it into soy milk. Exactly. And that's it. Right? I had it a bunch of times in Peshawar. I had it like twice. Amazing. I'm good right now. I don't want any more ice cream. I'm good. Shukriya. So, right in front of the mosque we have this vendor selling orange juice. Pure orange juice. I cannot wait. I need some good refreshing juice. It's the best thing about this country. Anywhere you go, you can either get sugarcane juice or different juices. It depends on what's in season. Right now, we got oranges other times of the year. You have mango. It just really depends. Right? I need to wake up. Shukriya. Cheers, bro. Cheers, guy. Mmm. Nice and cold. Oh. I love the pulp. Love it. It's very organic. You know, I don't drink juices unless they're pure. Yeah, I can't drink anything that's like, you know, industrial. It's very tasty. Yeah, yeah. It's organic. Organic. Mmm. Also digestion. That's good for you, right? Very good, good digestion. And right there we have the mosque, right? Huge. We're going inside right now. Incredible. I love it. The colors, it reminds me of the ones I've seen in Pakistan. Very similar. Actually, the Mughal Emperor Jahangir, his wife from Central Asia. Jahangir. Jahangir, right? So, usually the mosaic art, like the Central Asia artists here at that time. So, once you go inside, you can get the influence of the Baku, Uzbekistan, and other places as well. I love the whole city. Everybody's so friendly. And everybody thinks I'm Batoon. Batoon. Batoon, Batoon. Into the mosque? Yeah, it's a mosque here. It's 370 years old mosque. And this mosque was built by Shah Jahan. So, the calligraphy is Persian? It's outside of the Persian language. Okay. First, inside, this is the Shah Jahan name that the guy actually built this mosque. His name is also mentioned over there. It's a Persian name. The official language was Lahore in the Mughal time was Persian, it was not Urdu. No, it wasn't Urdu, okay. It was not Urdu, actually. I love the colors. Blue, yellow, green, orange, all flowers, right? Yeah. Very similar in all the mosques that were built in that time, right? In the area. Actually, only the Shah Jahan gave this concept. Oh, okay. Before that, his father's name was Jahangir. His wife was Nur Jahan, who started this concept of the Flora Petra with different colors because she was a Persian lady. So, she adopted the concept from the Persian side and it used to be in Lahore and Delhi as well. Before that, Akbar didn't use it. And the last Mughal emperor, powerful, was Aurangzeb, who built the Badshahi Mosque. He didn't use any of this sort of work. He just used red sandstone and white marble. But this is entirely mosaic. It's not painted. All mosaic. It's small tile pieces and then they fix it. First, they design all structure and then they fix it, all small tile pieces. I mean, I'll tell you, it's gorgeous compared to the other mosques. I mean, obviously, the Royal Mosque is impressive, but this, the colors. Exactly. It's just so unique. Exactly. And it's all original. Yes, all original. No any changes. Inside the mosque, it's Arabic. Outside the mosque, it's Persian. It's just like a praise of the king and praise of the Lord. But inside, once you go, it's different verses of Quran. So, we just entered the courtyard. As you can see, it's really big. You have four minarets, but you have five domes and five arches. What does that mean? Five domes represent the five pillars of Islam and five arches represent the five times prayed a day. So, this is the second mosque in Lahore that they have the five arches and five domes. Look and see here. As I told you, this is not painted, right? This is fresco. This is one piece of stone. This is second piece of stone. This is the third piece. This is the fourth piece and the fifth. Throughout, they had the small tile pieces and then they write the verses of Quran and the Prophet's sayings here. This mosque was built in 1634 and it took seven years to complete this mosque. Can you imagine the artist here all day for seven years putting each piece in? They were, you know, cutting it out, putting it in, cutting it, putting it in. Basically, just measuring the whole thing. Look how massive it is. And it's every single piece of the mosque, the minarets. All the minarets are super colorful. All mosaics. I love this. I can't even believe they did all this calligraphy with mosaics. Man, what an incredible mosque, man. Incredible. As soon as you pass through one of the arches, you'll see these are all frescoes. All colorful frescoes over 375 years old. Look at this. Faces. I mean, this is all gorgeous. So, it's mosaics and frescoes. The whole thing. This is the best mosque in the country. I mean, color-wise, like the detail that goes into this. Seven years to build. It has been restored like 40 years before only. It was never restored before that. Look at the top side. Can you see the curves of this style? This works as acoustics. If I speak from here, maybe my voice is going to somewhere else here. And let me show you one more thing, that is the calligraphy. Look at the top side. This is the small verses of Quran. You can read from here. Or maybe you can change your direction like this way. And you can read from here. It's the same. This is a mirror image. Incredible mosque. Have to visit this place. Obviously, if you come to another city, you're going to visit no matter what. Okay, guys. Let's keep exploring more of the old town. This market never ends. It just keeps going and going. Just started. Believe me. We haven't even entered. Yeah. So, you can go inside. And inside, it won't finish. Because this is the biggest wholesale market of whole Punjab. Whole Punjab. So, everybody comes here to buy garments. Biggest wholesale market of Punjab. Garments, shoes, jewelry. You can find anything here. It's an wholesale. Wow, and it is packed right now. It's 3.30. How are you? Very good, you? Where are you from? America. Nice to meet you. Let me see. This is our shop. Assalamualaikum. Waalaikumassalam. We are at the women market inside the wall city of Lahore. And this is one of the oldest women market inside the wall city. That's like 150 years old businesses here. Before that, before partition, the Hindus were the main prominent businessmen in this city. But after the partition, Muslims took over all this business here. Look at this stuff. It's making the hand-knotted women bed. And this is good for your physique, by the way. So, we have easy like 50 to 100 vendors all around here. Selling the same thing, right? And they have the different stuff here. Different stuff. Yeah. Some have the metal, some have the wood stuff, some have the wooden woven chair, some have without back chair. Okay. They have different stuff here. Yeah, I love this one. You lay down, you feel great. Yeah. Your back. Yeah. Wow, so many colors. So, you have red, yellow, blue. And it takes them how long to take them to do this? I took like one day for one bed. It's okay. Okay. But unfortunately, there are a few people left in Pakistan. They are doing these things here, especially in Lahore. Before that, it was very common to different villages and the cities. But now, it's only left in Lahore. And this gentleman right here, he has hand-woven baskets for bread, right? That's what it is. Like baskets for bread. Very nice. So, this is a small one right here. Really cute. But personally, I like this one. And he said, what, like 5, 10 dollars for this? Yeah, 3 dollars. 3 dollars? Yeah. For this? It's super light. I mean, I think I should take it. For that price? Okay, my friends. I got a woven plate where you put the bread and it stays warm. And then I got, these are like, I'd say like placemats, right? Yeah. So, you put the plate on top, okay? So, I got 6 because obviously, we have a table for 6. And it costs 1,800 total, which is roughly, I'd say like 11 or 12 US dollars. Great deal. Definitely support the locals everywhere you go. My man, thank you so much. I'll pay you later. No, I'm joking. 1,800, okay. On the next trip. I'll see you on the next trip, my man. It's for you. Just slid out. No? Yes. I want to have one of these. Delicious beef kebab. Look at that. Smells so good. The aroma, spices. Look guys, everything good? We're both starving. Let's start. Right there? Yeah. Oh, nice mix. Oh, hot, hot. Right in the chutney, right? Yeah. Good. It's sweet and spicy. The best. It's the apricot. Apricot? No way. Wow. Whoa. The spices here are phenomenal. I love the way it's charred. Nice and mini burnt on the sides. Oh, so soft. Incredible mincing. I'm so happy. I'm also happy. You can just say the same. So here in the Wazii, you can eat really good street food. Like really good. Yeah, of course. Oh, it's so good. So juicy. Nice. Vegetables. You have some onions in here. You go into this. Delicious chutney. Apricot chutney. Changed the game. My friend's incredible. Thank you. Delicious. Apricot chutney. So sweet. It's harder and harder to walk through here, man. It's crazy right now. Yeah, we've got to a point where there's actually cars going through. What's up, guys? Cars, motorcycles, tuk-tuks, vans. Intense. David, check it out. This tuk-tuk. We have a very fancy rickshaw designed by the Wall Street of Lahore. Incredible. Look at this tuk-tuk. It's like a limousine open-air convertible. Awesome. Right now, we are outside the British Pedestrian Church inside the Wall Street of Lahore. There were three churches, but this is the one of them that's still left here. And it was built by the British when the Lord Curzon was inside the Wall Street of Lahore. He ordered to build this church here. But nobody knows about the exact location of the whole church. There's only one place or maybe two or three places here. And that's it, guys. We are exiting the Walled City of Lahore. What an incredible experience. This is a must, must visit when you come to this incredible city. We saw the gate, the baths. What else? Tons of markets, fabrics. We tried kebabs. What else did we try? We tried kebabs. We tried kebabs with bourbons. We tried kebabs with beef. We bought all the stuff here. We visit the Bazihan mosque. We drink the juice, and a lot of stuff we got here. So, guys, next time you visit Lahore, Pakistan, you must visit this part of the city. If you love the video, thumbs up. Comment below. Subscribe to my channel for more awesome travel content. We'll see you in the next travel food adventure in Lahore, Pakistan. Let's go.