Blogs from North, Iraq, Middle East

10,000 dinars we paid for the 2 hour trip,from Erbil to Koya, 3 checkpoints again and very thorough, we waited a long time on the 2nd one and the 3rd one we have to come to the office, but all is well, scenery is same, dry barren landscapes with a trickle of trees, dramatic colors though and we ascend some mountains and come down a few valleys. in Koya the taxi driver dropped us off some intersection and told us to walk the rest of the way to the taxi stand for Sulaimaniyah and we suspect because we refuse to take him om his offer to drive us all the way for an inflated price. We asked for directions from many people, shop owner, street cleaning guy and finally some soldiers on the street, who pointed ... read more

Ever since my friend Audrey told me of her trip to northern Iraq in the spring, it stuck to my mind that it's one of the possibilities when I get to the Middle East, armed with an old copy of the LP from my friend Juan de Argentino I set out on a dreary late morning from Batumi, Georgia, where I took a share minivan to cross into Turkey in Sarpi, one guy tried to boot me out of my seat in the van, claiming the seats are numbered and where I was sat is seat #9, I pretend not to understand him until he got on my nerves when he called the driver to butt in, I told them show me where the numbers are posted which is nowhere to be found, when I started ... read more

The morning after our return from Amediyya, despite all falling asleep midway through another BJ fuelled debate, we managed to get up relatively early, and made our way out to negotiate a taxi to take us to Lalish, the monastery and pilgrimage site of the Yezidis. The Kurds were originally Yazidi, though many converted to Islam, and those who are left are often accused of being Satanists amd have been persecuted for their beliefs. They worship a peacock God named Malek Taus, who refused to bow to Adam on God’s command, because when he was created he was told never to bow to anything. The Yazidis see this not as a sign of sinful pride, which prompted Satan not to bow to Adam in the Islamic and Christian traditions, but rather as a sign of his ... read more

For more of my photos, or to buy my book, please visit www.nickkembel.com Before you read ahead, forget everything you know about Iraq. The ancient Mesopotamian ruins of Ur and Nineveh, where civilization began and writing and law codes were invented, the site of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the purported location of the Garden of Eden, and capital city Baghdad are all scratched off my Iraq travel itinerary. I am going to the ‘New Iraq’, a relatively safe and stable, visually stunning, and quickly developing semi-autonomous state in northern Iraq, occupied by some of the friendliest and most hospitable people in the world. My exposure to Iraqi people and culture actually began before I even entered the country. On a recent bus ride from Turkey to Syria, I shared a seat with Jabbar Hassan, ... read more

Iraq Report: 3-14 November 2007 I went to northern Iraq to help out at a mental health clinic in Duhok. I was specifically brought along to do lectures on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for the counselors in the clinic and possibly to see some patients. If I had only been able to accomplish these two things during my 10 days in the country, I would have been happy, but it ended up being much, much more. The following is a report on some of the highlights of the trip and an attempt to get out on “paper” what I learned. Preceding the Turkish Invasion? There had been some serious escalation to the conflict between Turkey and the PKK on the Iraqi border in the weeks leading up to my trip. The PKK is a Kurdish group ... read more