Garden of Eden

If you have fed up with the touristic places along your journey and start whining and mourning how mass-tourism turned some once Garden of Eden on earth to purgatory on earth, Iraq should definitely be on your list.

I’m not saying Iraq is the Garden of Eden. In fact, it never is neither does it was.

The whole environment was totally different after I stepped in to this country, especially when I traveled from the money-oriented Turkey. It was a sleepy afternoon and yet I wasn’t dreaming. Nor do I overstate the general feeling of stepping in this little visited country, or shall I call it region?

Without asking my permission, the Kurdish drove me all the way to Zakho, Iraq’s first town after the Ibrahim Khalil border post as well as its most northerly town. He unloaded me in front of a car workshop. I thanked him and the first thing I had been thinking about was to get in a grocery shop and get myself a packet of cigarette. I have been told by a Turkish truck driver in Kahta, who always made a trip here, that it’s cheaper here. And he was right. It’s more than 100% cheaper! In fact, I can’t wait to go to the Duty Free in the border free zone area but…you know why. Apparently it’s discrimination to the poor as it’s only for drivers, not walkers. Without wheels is impossible to get there. How ridiculous it’s. As soon as I lit up my cigarette, a local approached me and greeted me. Well-suited, he spoke excellent English. While chatting, he told me he was going to Baghdad tomorrow and I was too ignorant to have asked him wasn’t there too dangerous to go, forgetting the fact that he is an Iraqi. This is his homeland.

Kurdistan is everywhere

Since I’m in a backpacking trip, so with my backpack on my back, I wandered around the little town of Zakho, passing by numerous hotels and motels, not getting the idea why there were such amounts of building for travelers. My instinct told me I could easily get a cheap place to stay, definitely cheaper than those recommended by others. But I didn’t feel like spending a night here though I liked the whole feeling of it.

Many people were surprised(if not curious) to see me and I knew they were talking about me. As soon as I arrived in the town centre, the situation get ‘worse’ as I have become a celebrity(if not an unpaid model) where everybody came to take photos with me and never turned away their prying eyes. I can’t help walking further when I came across the elders sitting and sipping tea in the souk, with their traditional costume clothed, as if on display.

Moneychanger! Look at the money! They just put the whole bunch of cash like that!

Chatting for nothing

Traditional costume on display

By snapping photos and chatting for nothing, I contented as much as the locals did, before walking to the garage where I hopped on a shared taxi on my way, to Dohuk where I planned to spend a night.

Or may be two.