Blogs from Iraq, Middle East

I'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

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

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

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

The 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