Blogs from Iraq, Middle East
Iraq, exploring the ancient city of Babylon !
Published: May 19th 2012Middle East » Iraq » East » BabylonAfter nearly one year and half in Iraq, mostly in Baghdad, this Saturday morning felt special. On the road for a 10 days trip across South Iraq visiting our different structures, this is the one day where I am actually about to go out, not to visit one of the projects, got a few of them already lined up during week days but to go and visit the one and only Babylon. Never thought that this opportunity would come true and here I am pulling my hair up in a chignon style, fixing tightly a light color scarf over it & wrapping it up around the chignon. Outside, temperatures are approaching the forty degrees and wearing the full on abaya, it can quickly become hell for any women to stand under the heat, so short sleeves ... read more
Iraq - Life in a Coalition Secure Compound
Published: December 1st 2011Middle East » Iraq » East » BaghdadI'm still somewhat chastened by the HUGE response to my posts about Manila- 80,000-plus hits and more than a thousand comments, 99% agreeing with me, the rest mildly offensive (I publish those with real names attached - most don't have them) and a tiny minority of four girls, Filipina rich kids, resident abroad who were so egregiously abusive I was lost in despair at what they represent. What also amazed me is the number of folk who had the time to comment on what was essentially a trivial moan after a bad trip... but then again, you could ask the same question of me. Why bother to write this stuff? Actually I only do it for fun when hanging around in a Costa Coffee shop at some airport like I did the other day in Dubai ... read more
SEARCHING FOR THE REAL IRAQ, BUT FAILED..
Published: December 4th 2010Middle East » Iraq » North » As Sulaymaniyah10,000 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
Woke up early to leave for the next city, Erbil, about 180 kms away is the capital of Kurdish Iraq. I have to wake up reception, still sleeping at 9am, paid my bills and he wrote me a place I can stay in Erbil. Walked to the share taxi stand next to the bazaar, I paid 15,000 dinar and waited half an hour to get more people before we set off. 3 hours more or less we drove into dry desolate landscape, brown and arid at this time though there is already a chill in the air as it is now autumn, I noticed a number of checkpoints and we got checked 3 times, most soldiers can't read Roman letters and they thumb through my passport meticulously and asks where I am from as if my ... 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
Despite all that you hear about Iraq these days, especially something about some sort of war going on over there, you would think I was crazy for going there. But no, instead I am simply one of a flock of tourists heading to Iraqi Kurdistan, the hottest new destination in the Middle East. The north of Iraq is home to a majority Kurdish population, and is indeed completely safe to visit. Yes, Iraq safe! Iraqi Kurdistan has been relatively autonomous for almost two decades now, and so has managed to separate itself from the instability seen in Arab Iraq pre and post Saddam. But only this part of Iraq is safe. But a safe part of Iraq is Iraq nevertheless, and Iraq is an otherwise forbidden country. And to prove how accessible it is, Kurdistan is ... read more
INTRODUCTION: A little after-the-fact... I didn't even realize that I still had this blog unpublished. I've thrown in the last of my pictures to highlight my time in Iraq (/Bahrain/Kuwait/Qatar). I plan to make my other deployment blogs public (as opposed to the private status they're in now) as soon as I comb them over and make sure there's nothing compromising in them. I also hope to blog the upcoming adventures I'll be having (as well as the couple I've just had!). MY FIRST DEPLOYMENT (cont'd) I write this as we fly over Europe - the first leg of our long journey home. I had intended to blog my way through deployment. There’s no question that there was ample time to blog, but my laziness kicked in (or is it just inertia?) and here I am, ... read more
Took a detour..sorry. JK JK. We are in Bari, in the Puglia region right now. Our bus came late so we are spending the day here and taking a slightly later than desired train to Rome (don't worry, we already have reservations on it). SOO to save money and make sure we don't hit late trains tomorrow morning, we are going straight to the airport tonight. We should get there about 9 or 10 hours before the plane leaves so we shouldn't have ANY problems with the newly heightened security. :) We're attempting to find one last hot meal for today but due to the holiday everything seems to be closed. We're excited to go home and will see you all tomorrow!!... read more
Brothels, Devil Worship and Dancing Debbke
Published: January 8th 2010Middle East » Iraq » North » ArbilThe 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
Adventures in Iraq - The World's Most Dangerous Booze Cruise
Published: December 14th 2009Middle East » Iraq » North » Unnamed PeakThe Kurdistani region of Northern Iraq has much to recommend it as a travel destination, not least the fact that currently very few international travellers seem to have realised this, and in the far too short time we spent there we did not meet a single other tourist. As the crow flies the distance from Syria to Northern Iraq is relatively short, had we been able to take advantage of the huge expanse of border between the two countries, but somewhat distressingly it is almost impossible to get an Iraqi visa in Syria, so we were forced to undertake the rather longer journey up the length of Syria and into Turkey, then travel along the Turkish Iraqi border to the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing, where tourists are issued with a 10 day Iraqi visa free, as ... read more





































