Trip to Iraq: Badlands and Bordertowns

Happy Turkish Daylight Savings Time! 

Yes, apparently we do it too! Didn't think so after the change in the U.S. came and went, but since I woke up at "11:30 a.m." the other morning, I guess we're just a bit behind schedule or something. 

If you want to know what happened so far on the trip to Iraq: post #1, scroll on down to read it. 

Tim and I are now on the luxury coach to Silopi, the border town on the Turkish side of Iraq. On our 5 hour journey to Silopi we got to see a lot of the scenery of southeastern Turkey, as well as some of the shadier elements of border towns combined with truck stops. Interesting combination. We changed busses in the town of Cizre (Chiz-rey) from Diyarbakir. It was really close to the Syrian border and definitely the most shady place we visited during our entire 48 hour journey. As soon as we got off the bus to change to the other bus, 10 local taxi drivers practically assaulted us (that was a common theme on this trip by the way). Little boys trying to carry our bags, other boys and girls putting on their 'sad' faces and begging for money, lots of taxi drivers arguing over who would get to drive us, even though we weren't taking a taxi... Then, after we had somehow communicated that we wouldn't be using their services, we were loading our bags onto the bus and it started pulling away - while all the doors are still open! Tim and I tossed our bags inside, almost got hit by the bus, and scooted inside the door as some other people started yelling at the bus driver for being an idiot. We took the front seat to stay abreast of all incidents and conflicts. I guess the bus driver was really in a hurry - leaving without everyone on the bus sure got things moving faster though. Nice tactic buddy. It worked as he wanted, albeit with a bit more yelling than was perhaps ideal. 

The same thing happened in Silopi, except there were fewer taxi drivers and they were more aggressive. Two definitely almost seriously fought over our fare. We sided with the third guy who wasn't fighting at all. $50 total for our taxi to the border - 8pm and dark. Three checkpoints along the way. No pictures for sure. It felt like we were about to enter a war-zone. 

We crossed the border with one taxi and our driver (Turkish/Kurdish) negotiated with his Iraqi counterpart for our Iraqi portion of the trip. Another $30 to Dohuk - now 11pm because of the time change. The Iraqi taxi driver decided to take a shortcut by the way - no lights on this 1.5 lane road, going about 110 mph, no seatbelts, highbeams on of course. We only encountered 2 or 3 cars before entering the city where there was another checkpoint. The Kurdish Forces have it goin' on. They're fairly thorough and keep things both moving and safe at the same time. I was definitely impressed. 

Check out the web album for Iraq and Diyarbakir

More to come about our 36 hours in Iraq

Finally some action

Finally an update. 3/25/09

I apologize to all those who have been checking back dilligently. (Jeanne - thank you for your loyalty)

So I think that I'll update on my trip around Istanbul and my trip to Gallipoli and Troy in future posts. This one will be devoted to my trip to the southeastern part of Turkey and my voyage to the town of Dohuk in Iraqi Kurdistan. 

How's a mini-series sound. A few episodes of 600-800 words each? Agreed? Okie dokie. 

I had originally planned to go to Diyarbakir, the capital of Turkish Kurdistan, for the weekend falling on the Iranian/Kurdish New Year, Newroz (3/21/09). It was slated to be fantastic by a friend who had studied abroad in Turkey during spring of last year. A day after I booked my flight, however, Tim, another undergrad study abroad here, suggested that we change our primary destination to Iraq instead. Shocked, I wondered aloud how we would do such a thing - visas, transportation, death - you know, minor details. 

He told me about a website called backpackiraq.blogspot.com, so we went to it to check it out. Loh and behold! Iraq actually sounded feasible. 

So we planned out our trip, crossed our i's and dotted our t's, and left Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul at 6.45am on Thursday. We arrived in Diyarbakir a couple hours later to meet Tim's friend Mehmet, who graciously met us at the airport, took us to the bus station (across town) to buy our bus tickets to the border, and then showed us to a great breakfast stop for some nosh. Our bus wasn't leaving for a few hours, so we ate in peace and tried to get Mehmet to eat some food too - he's a fairly thin guy, so we wanted to beef him up American style. He wasn't having it because he'd already eaten breakfast. Mehmet - I'm gonna take you out to a big dinner next time I see you. 

The time to go to the bus arrives and we head on over. We see a few busses around, most of which are the normal 50 passenger size "luxury" busses. There are also a few smaller (20 person) shuttles. Suddenly, another (smaller) shuttle pulls up. There are already a bunch of people in it, but Mehmet tells us that it was our bus. We get in with our backpacking backpacks and attempt to find a couple seats. I asked a fellow passenger how long the trip would be - 4 hours he replied. I thought to myself, "Well... I guess I better jostle for the most comfortable position, cause this is gonna be a loooooong ride. Couldn't see out the windows, couldn't tell what was going on, speed bumps really sucked. If you've ever been on a "chicken bus" in Guatemala or any other Central American country, you know the type of feeling I'm talking about. Ready for Iraq baby!

We traveled about 10 minutes through town and then stopped. Now, I've been on Turkish busses before, and they don't like to go long distances in one stretch. They take rest stops early and often, but this was unprecedented. 10 minutes? Not out of the city yet? I thought. I guess this is what you get for 20 TL ($13). Then I realized that everyone was getting out and going to a larger luxury bus... oh. Whoops. My bad. I took my bag, put it underneath, and hopped on. Tim and I both got two seats each to ourselves. Score! We departed a few minutes later for Silopi, the town on the Turkish side of the Turkey-Iraq border. 

Next time - The bus ride and border crossing. Fun times with the local taxi cartel and pictures! No pics of getting on the bus to Silopi...