"Iraq" to the Turks and "Kuristan" to the Kurdish Iraqis ...

Iraq, Kurdistan or Kurdish occupied Iraq - whatever you call it, it is a fascinating place where the pace of growth, development and change is so quick that it feels like its happening right before your eyes. After a massive overnight trip from Trabzon, we were accostered at the bus terminal by about a dozen Kurdish taxi drivers waiting to take us over the border into Iraq - they basically do all the work for you, including the paper work and all the formalities .. all for a lazy $20 u.s. We got into a clapped out taxi with 3 young Kurdish/Turkish/Iraqi men all headed over the border - one our driver, one his 'mate' and another was a dual citizen of Iraq and Englad who had sold his kebab shop in London and was headed home (reeeeked of dodgy) ... we locked our backpacks and watched them safely into the boot of the car (heard many stories of stuff being smuggled into tourists bags to cross the border). Our driver Michael Schumacker got us to the first border check relatively safely (only doing around 130ks overtaking on the wrong side of the road at about 8am, where we waited in the already 34 degree heat, I kid you not ... 34 degrees at 8.30am. We waited with a close eye on the boot where our bags were stored 'safely' until the Turkish/Iraqi border opened. We passed through 3 check points relatively quickly, took about 2.5 hours, where our bags were searched, our passports put through UV lights and our exact travel plans discussed. We got to Zakho where we left our 3 dodgy companions behind and got into a local taxi to head straight to Dohuk, where we planned to stay for a couple nights. The heat was already outrageously hot, thankfully our very tradiotionally dressed turban clad taxi driver cranked the A.C sporadically so that I didnt actually roast. We arrived at Hotel Parlaman, as recommended in the increasingly unreliable Lonely Planet Guide and checked in to a small room with 2 hard single beds and a small bathroom ... yep, I could definitly base myself here for a few days. The room had A.C but the hotel manager kept control of it from his desk, so it was only on sporadically which nearlly killed me!

We went on a day trip to a place called Amadiya, and planned to stay in its sister city Sulav. En route, our taxi driver who was friends with our hotel manager and who we'd hired for the 2 hour trip to Sulav, told us that the hotel in Amadiya was 'shit' and that we would want to come back to Dohuk ... we took the risk and headed out that way. On the way, our taxi driver, Rasid stopped at a human-made waterfall area ... what an interestingly kitch, gaudy and tacky little place this was! A waterfall made into these little pools where Iraqi families came for some respite from the sweltering heat (it was about 3pm and reaching about 47 degrees this day) ... was very cute to see children splashing about, grandmothers sitting on plastic chairs in full Hijab, women splashing their feet whilst fully clothed and young boys jumping into the concreted pool area. We of course stood out from the crowd as we walked in, all eyes (literally) were on us .. even more so than in India or Turkey. One man, in his 40's sitting with his wife and about 5 children motioned us over and said hello in English. He had his 8 year old daughter get some chairs for us and we sat down with his family. After a bit of idle chit chat about where we were from etc, he told us he worked for Iraqi/Syrian immigration in Mosul (now classed as the most dangerous city in Iraq, even more so than Baghdad and was only 60 ks away from where we were, there is a huge amount of resistance to the U.S presence, with a massive number of bombings and people being killed in the streets still happening). He told us that if he were seen or heard of talking to or helping Americans that he would have his throat cut. I felt out the converstation for a bit and he alluded delicately to his anti-american feelings. I reminded him we were Australians and he could feel safe to tell us what he actually wanted to say - he said that he felt that Americans hated Iraq because Saddam Hussain stood up to George W Bush and that he didnt like it. He said that Americans have big boots to trample all over their country, he said he had seen Americans slicing the throats of people in the streets. We were careful not to agree or disagree with his feelings about America but rather listen and nod, just in case. We did have an intersting conversation about the fact that even though Israel is absolutely out of control and commiting many 'international offences', that America supports them 100% - he prompted the question, why do America support Israel who are killing so many people in their own country, nearlly the whole world is against Israel except for the U.S.A, but they do not support Iraq? Because Iraq has something that Israel does not .. oil .. and because their leader, Saddam Hussain stood up to America and said, no. I dont necessarily agree with his opinions about Saddam Hussain, thats for sure, but it felt really important to me to have a local person's opinion and feelings about what the American government are doing in Arab Iraq. It made me so fucking angry to hear first hand something that I have beleived for so long .. that America does not belong in Iraq in the way and context in which they are. On a lighter note, one of his gorgeous daughters, about 5 years old who spoke no English, whispered something to her dad and he whispered something back - she'd asked him how to say in English "i love you ... I love you very much" .. brought a tear to my eye. Was so gorgeous. So .. after some political converstations, cooling down around the waterfall and taking some shots of this lovely family, we got back in the taxi to head towards Sulav and Amadiya.

Now, the hotel that we had planned to stay in in Sulav said that one of the rooms had a brook running through it, which I ofcourse thought sounded very cool! Upon arrival we saw that this revoltingly clapped out hotel was definitly not somewhere to spend a couple nights - it was grotty even by very budget Indian standards with a HUGE amount of flies buzzing about! I couldnt resist taking a sneeky shot of the room with the brook in it, see above! Our taxi driver, who knew all along that we would want to return to Dohuk and not stay in Sulav, agreed to take us up the hill to the amazing town in the clouds, Amadyia, just to see it before returning back to where we started. Amadyia, only 15 minutes drive from the small town of Sulav, is a tiny little town sitting on top of a hill that has only one road wrapping around the outside of it - one winding road to go up and down, with small drive ways coming off it for access to houses. Took some shots from up the top of the road over looking the valley and the town of Sulav down below. Was really gorgeous, so remote .. it felt like you really were in a town in the clouds.

From there, we headed back towards Dohuk. Our driver, who spoke about 5 words of English managed to explain that he wanted to show us a 'touristy cave' .. we agreed to make the most our of having a driver for the day, even though it was getting late in the day. We drove along this 8ft high cement wall for a few minutes and I asked him what it was (in sign language of course, my Arabic isnt great/non-existant!), he said "Saddam Hussain" and then typed 1988-1996 into his mobile phone. When we got up to the 'touristy cave' we could see the area that Saddam Hussain had taken for himself more clearly. It was a huuuge area which he had built a high concrete wall around and then had built a look out on the top of hill in the middle of the compound, it looked like an ancient building but we were told that it was not an old building at all (it looked like a buidling from Epheses or something) but when Saddam left Kurdish Iraq, the people went and tore it down, hence why it looks like it does now. ANYWAY, aside from the view of one of Saddam Hussain's compounds, there was the very interesting and again very citch cave, which actualy had a sign out front called "The Touristy Cave" .. love it. For the record, I didnt see a single other tourist the whole time I was there, unless you call a couple American soldiers tourists????? Inside, they had made the touristy cave into a restaurant, which sported eveyrthing from icecreams and tea, to taxidermis mountain goats which you could have your photo taken with.. see above! Very cute.

Anyway, it turned out to be a very hot, long day and as we drove home watching the sun set over Iraq, I was deep in thought - full to the brim with thoughts on social justice, poverty, war, what we refer to as 'terror' or 'terrorists' and how the entire East, and particularlly the Middle East, is perceived. I just dont know how to find the words .. perhaps not having them is statement enough.

What really did strike me about Iraq was the huge variation in how we were treated, received and perceived. Some people, a very few, gave us filthy looks and one could assume that their anti-western sentiments came from the American invasion, many welcomed us and thanked us for visiting and were concerned for our safety, giving us tips on where to visit, where to avoid and where to eat etc .. others were simply not interested in us whatsoever, and others were so over the top thankful to us that we felt embarrassed by their gratidude ... and what for??

Now .. the funniest part of my Iraqi journey is how we left Iraq! We got a taxi to the Iraq taxi terminal, whereby you need to get into a Turkish taxi to cross over. Now, we'd heard heaps of stories of rookie travellers who had smokes and booze smuggled into their bags by dodgy taxi drivers trying to avoid tax on their smokes, so we were hyper vigilent. Of course, when we arrived at the taxi park, we were again accostered by a group of men all desperate for our business. The first guy that came over and agreed to our price got the gig ... a very unfortunate choice as it would later turn out to be! We had long waits while he fucked around with our passports and paper work, we could tell all the other taxi drivers hated this guy - he was loud, rude, raced around giving orders (not his place to be doing so) and was all round dick head. I took a dislike to him about 2 mins after he'd walked off with our passports, so it was too late to sack the wanker. We finally got in the car and started towards the first check point, where the car, our bags and our driver were searched. The taxi had no door trims, no roof lining, no steering colomn and little of the dash board remained, all to make it easier for the car to be searched for drugs, weapons, bombs and illegal goods. Our bags were put through an x-ray machine, still on the Iraqi side of the border, and were deemed 'suspicious' becuase of the lack of clothign in them!!! What a travellers compliment! My backpack weighs well under 10kgs and I'm travelling SUPER light becuase of the heat, with only 1 pair of Havs that I wear and only a couple changes of clothes .. so my bag was opened and properlly searched because it was too sussly packed with such little amount of stuff! Our driver then made a huge mistake of clicking and me and pointing to a spot near his side where he wanted me to stand, I glared at him and said "listen here mate, women dont appreciate being CLICKED at where Im from and Id well advise you to not click at me again" .. a stander by who spoke better English than our driver laughed and translated to all the other men congregating around, who thought it was very amusing that Id put him back in his place like that, our driver was clearly well known throughout the border crossing check points and wasnt very popular - words such as 'crazy' and 'mad' were used regularlly about him over the couple hours we were in his company. I told him to slow down several times, told him to pull his head in even more times, and confirmed with his associates that yes, he was fucking dick head. Anyway ... after the last Iraqi check point, we headed to the Turkish side to go through their checking processes and searches. Only 20 seconds after leaving the last Iraqi search stop, the dick head of a driver pulls out about 8 dozen cartons of cigarettes from a white bag and stuffs them under the dashboard! I couldnt beleive my eyes, 'youre a fuckin idiot mate' i tell him, 'and if u think i wont lag u in if we get questioned, ur fucking wrong' .. he laughs at me and says something to his mate who has just joined us that sounds eversomuch like 'stupid woman' ... grrrr bastard .. he starts speeding off down the road, with us chroming in the back seat from all the petrol fumes - I ask him 'are you a fucking heart surgeon or someting?? slow down' .. he was doing like 130ks on a non-bitcumen dirt road with trucks and cars going everywhere ... he points to some homeless women begging and says 'crazy' and I say 'no, just poor mate' .. and he swerves the car towards them as a joke .. very funny you asshole .. I would have sacked his ass right there and then (and several times before that) if he didnt have our bloody passports still on him! Turned out to be quite funny in retrospect, that we totally aided a complete asshole to smuggle ciggies across the border - no wonder all the other taxi drivers were charging $50U.S for the same trip that he charged only $20 for - because he made a HEAP of money on the smokes! Total and asbolute jerk .... truly right up there with every other idiot bloke Ive met.

Aside from jerk boy, I really did love Iraq - the people, the mountains and desert areas that look simply endless and the feeling of change and hope in the air - I will be very intersted to see what Kurdish Iraq looks like in 10 years time, it woudnt surprise me if it was a bit of a tourist hot spot. It is beautiful .. it is hot .. it makes u a bit nervous, it makes you a lot grateful .. it makes you think, reflect and appreciate .. and it makes you wonder, what in the hell are we doing wrong that so many people could suffer at the hands over other humans? I feel thankful ... I feel lucky .. and I feel angry.

So .. we made it safely back to Turkey in the 46 degree sun and got on a bus from Silopi (just on the side of the border) to Sanliurfa .. where we'd planned to spend a couple nights before heading to Syria. Got on to a bus for 6 hours in the rediculous heat with a bus driver who smoke the entire fucking way ... wow .. testing my patience in the heat people!!!!

Quick run down of all my photos - the top shot is at the border crossing into Iraq, the guys in the purple and blue shirts were with us heading in, the carry on in the photo is because our driver (in the purple) said that the guy in the stripey shirt who is pointing at him should have his photo taken with the bin, was very funny (had to be there hahah), the next shot is of the Kurdish Iraq flag, next shot is of our welcome to Iraq in the taxi rank a couple of tankers .. good. Next couple shots are taken from the streets of Dohuk, the next one is of a turkish cay (chai) just to show you how much sugar is added to each glass!!!, Next shot is of the blend of the east and the west with the chevy car with arabic plates, love it .. the next series of photos is of my little (very little) arabic mate i made in the money exchange who took a shining to me, you can almost hear me cant you "watch the hand mate, come on now" .. hahahaa i love these photos, gross but very amusing .. started off so innocently with him and his mate, next thing I know, Uncle Pervy is in town and reaching his little hand around my shoulder .. right out of line. The next 4 shots are taken from the waterfall, the shots of the little girl is the one who said she loved us. The next shot is as we were driving up towards Sulav, that is the town of Amadiya up on the hill. The next shot is of the room with the brook running through it, too funny .. next one is of the little cafe's they'd made in the person-made water ways, cute idea to stay cool. The next 7 shots are taken from the top of the hill of Amadiya looking out of Sulav and the valley - I love some of these shots a lot. The next 2 shots are of Saddam Hussains compound - you can see if u look closely the wall he built. The next 2 shots are of the sunset and one of a street sign that I never thought Id drive under! The last 4 shots are of our taxi driver expedition out of Iraq - note the lifted up dash board and note the white parcel in the roof of the 4th to last photo! dodgy fucker.