The Organizational Part……..
A few years ago, I was in Lebanon reading my Lonely Planet guidebook for the Middle East and Iraqi Kurdistan popped onto my radar. Since I was a little girl, the US has either had tense relations or been at war with Iraq so I never considered going there. Then I realized that there is a semi-autonomous zone that actually is safe and has been safe for the past 30 years. Also that you don’t need a visa to go there as an America. As I began to do more and more research on Iraqi Kurdistan, the more I wanted to go.
Finally, after two years of debating on it, I decided to go. Nearly all of the flights that fly to Erbil, the capital of IK, fly via Istanbul or Dubai and I was able to tack the trip on to a trip that I had to do from India (where I currently live) to Prague (where I needed to go to defend my master’s thesis). Since I already had Cappadocia on my wish list and because flights from Europe to Turkey are pretty cheap, I decided to combine a few days in Turkey with IK.
Great – I had the general countries that I wanted to go to but no real destinations besides Cappadocia and Erbil. I did a lot of research on doing a complete overland route from Istanbul to Erbil but it would have taken a lot of time that I didn’t really have and ironically, the area that is the most unstable in the region is actually inside the eastern border of Turkey. Not wanting to be trapped on a bus for hours and hours because of border skirmishes, I decided to fly.
There is no way around it, flying to IK is expensive. There is unsurprisingly very little competition amongst carriers so airlines can basically charge whatever they want. The cheapest route that I could find ended up being Istanbul – Erbil and then Sulaymaniyah – Dubai – Delhi. By flying into Erbil and out of Sulamaniyah, it meant that I could travel around the country without having to backtrack.
Ok, my flights in and out were sorted so next thing to worry about was travel within the territory. I had read a lot about how unsafe Kirkuk is. Kirkuk is basically on the border and everything that I could find showed that shared buses between the cities went on the outskirts of Kirkuk. Not wanting to risk getting caught in Iraq itself without a proper visa or face the threat of terrorism, I thought my only option was to get a private cab.
The Fun Part……
So then I found myself in Turkey, hiking through the awe-inspiring chimney mountains of Cappadocia and starting to get very, very worried about my upcoming trip into “enemy-territory”. I frantically sent one of my best friends my passport details, emergency contacts, etc as I was about to board my flight and crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.
I didn’t actually need to worry. Upon arriving at the airport in the middle of the night, I saw that most women weren’t wearing headscarves and were dressed in western clothing (good sign). I then saw that the duty-free shops were stocked full of alcohol (even better sign!) and I knew that I wasn’t in extremist territory.
I shared a taxi into the city with a lovely American woman that I met at the airport (I had been told that there would be NO other tourists) and crashed hard as soon as I hit the hotel bed. The next morning, I set out to explore Erbil and I was shocked by how normal everything seemed. People walked down the street with their kids, ate in restaurants and hurried off to work. Erbil doesn’t have any major tourist attractions but the city center is gorgeous with a hilltop fort overlooking the city that you can explore and a beautiful square full of dancing fountains. Alongside the woman I had met the night before, I meandered my way through the downtown area eating my weight in delicious baklava and freshly-made falafel. We even managed to stumble upon a Kurdish wedding and became the star attractions.
While walking around, I noticed a very, very strong military presence but they didn’t seem to be on high-alert (either that or new exactly what they were looking for) and most found It endlessly amusing to watch us meader around. People were very friendly. I had a tailor fix a pair of my pants (there was a hole in the crotch the size of an apple and I was getting a little sick of having air conditioning) and my bag where the strap was hanging on by a thread (literally).
After a day and a half exploring Erbil, I was ready to head off to the next destination – Sulaminiyah. At my hotel, I asked the front desk worker over and over again if it was safe to go to Sulamaniyah and he repeated yes over and over again. He finally asked me why I was so scared of Sulamaniyah. I told him that I was scared of the city, I was scared of the route there. It was then that I learned that Kirkuk had gotten so unsafe that none of the buses or taxis went via Kirkuk.
Perfect! Rather than having to spend $75 to get between the two cities, it meant that I could take public transport. I grabbed my bags and got a taxi to the nearest bus station. I had been told that I need to get one bus from a mid-point called Sanjaq and then get a shared taxi from there. I found the shared bus fairly easily and was even graciously given the back seat which could accommodate all 6 feet of me + my bag. We waited for the mini-bus to fill up and off we went.
The scenery was pretty but I really enjoyed spending time with the locals. There were a lot of military checkpoints but upon seeing my ridiculously white skin and knowing that I was not a threat, just a dumb tourist, I was let through easily. Along the way, the old man that gave me his spacious seat and had been sitting on a jump seat right in front of me got off the bus. When he stood up, I could see the handgun tucked into the back of his pants. That was certainly a reminder of the circumstances that people had been living in.
We got to the mid-point and the bus driver (who looked like he was around 100 years old) took me to the shared taxi stand and told them where I wanted to go. Along the way, he flashed his gun that he had stashed in his jacket. I asked him why he had a gun and he told me ISIS. Yikes……
I waited for the shared cab to fill up and away we went. In the backseat, there was a man in traditional Kurdish dress who looked like a young Ray Liotta with beautiful, piercing blue eyes. Let’s just say that the scenery was beautiful inside the car and outside! I asked Ray Liotta look-alike why ISIS had never been able to penetrate into IK and his answer was simple. The Kurds wouldn’t let them. They couldn’t develop a base and had no support network. It was a simple statement in passing but it really got me thinking about the world around me.
We arrived in Sulaymaniyah and again, my first thought was how boring it all was. The main street was full of families shopping, people spilling out of restaurants and a surprisingly large amount of beer shops. I quickly made it my goal to try and Iraqi beer. Sulaymaniyah doesn’t have a huge amount of sites to see but they do have a gorgeous park in the middle of the city and a very interesting museum on Kurdish independence. There are also markets to explore and impressive street art.
They also have one beer shop that sells a beer that is still brewed in Baghdad. I happily drank it while still sitting in the beer shop and bought another one to take home as a souvenir. There is also one of the few bars in the territory located inside one of the 5 star hotels. Of course, it was an Irish bar (they seriously are everywhere!) so I just had to go. I chatted with the Filipina bartender who told me a bit about what it is like to live there (spoiler alert: it is boring.)
Final Thoughts……
After two days in Sulaymaniyah, I sadly had to catch my flight back to Dubai and then onto Delhi. It was a really great experience. Iraqi Kurds are easy-going, liberal, and warm. While people seemed a bit surprised to see me, I felt no hostility and there was usually someone around who could help me communicate. I highly, highly recommend visiting the territory if you are in the area. It is impossible to know how long areas will remain stable due to the geopolitical issues surrounding the region and it would be a shame to miss seeing a land full of proud people.
