Backpacking In Iraq

Yes you read that correctly, Backpacking in Iraq really did happen & I still surprise myself at this fact. Its not only possible but we even Hitchhiked sections of what is considered to be one of the most dangerous & volatile countries in the world.

So why on earth & how the heck did we end up in Iraq?

Now I imagine the first question you have is, was it dangerous? Well, to be honest I am still unsure how to answer that question. But hopefully by the end of reading this & listening to the podcast you’ll have your own conclusion as it’s probably quite subjective. I’ll do my best to give you my personal take at the end of this article.

So Why?

This is rather complicated to explain. I suppose that as you can tell from my continued thirst for adventure, that I’m not very conventional. As I have tried to explain to people a million times, I find everyday life quite mundane & even suffocating. How is it normal to do a job you despise & have to spend almost all of it, on the cost of living. It never made sense to me, what a waste of time, of life, to be beholden to other people for a large portion of your one life. Whether this be a large mortgage, phone contract or extortionate tax rates.

I’m not deluded & well aware people want to start families young or get on the property ladder as soon as possible and there’s nothing wrong with that. But for me all of that is still very much secondary to putting yourself first & at least trying to live to work in something I enjoy, rather than work to live doing something I don’t.

I’m getting to the point, don’t worry. Let me take you back to summer 2019 well before coronavirus & you’d find me in Ireland working as an Operations Manager for a very corporate company. Now after reading the above, you can probably tell where this is going. Although I loved living in Ireland, the job was slowly killing me. I was extremely low, mentally & physically. The only reason I stuck it out as long as I did was to earn enough to escape & release myself into a world the polar opposite of a corporate 9-5. Little did I know this would be Iraq.

I was now certain I was going to quit my job & they even owed me 6 weeks paid holiday. As I had been under so much pressure, I hadn’t been able to take any time off. So not only were the shackles going to be taken off, I was even going to get a decent pay cheque to pay for an adventure. It was at this same time my knight in shining armour Will had messaged me. He had watched YouTube vloggers Kara & Nate take a guided tour around Iraqi-Kurdistan. In no time at all, Will was in Dublin & we had booked flights to Iraq.

Unlike Kara & Nate we would be very much winging it, hitchhiking, backpacking & immersing ourselves in Iraq over 2 weeks. A feat that very few I believe have accomplished. Booking the flights was giving me my freedom back, I felt liberated & more confident. I was excited, apprehensions & rejoiced in the knowledge that we were doing something few had from the western world.

So How?

How…is relatively easy to explain. I should caveat that the area of Iraq we explored was Iraqi-Kurdistan, which is an autonomous region self governed by the Kurds. They even have their own flag. This autonomous region is very much still in Iraq & has had a military no fly zone since the early 90’s & is heavily guarded by the Kurdish Peshmerga & their allies. Who have kept the likes of ISIS & other terrorist organisations at bay along with US & UK troops for well over 20 years. Thus making it relatively safe, I use that term lightly.

So all we needed to do really was commit to going & book a flight. Which we did. We chose the classy route, as there only seemed to be two options. You can either fly via Istanbul with Turkish Airlines or fly to Vienna & onto Erbil (the capital of Iraqi-Kurdistan). It took us by surprise too that Vienna was a connection to Iraq, we still don’t know why…

Arrival

Erbil airport was flat out bizare to us. With the coloured history of Iraq we were expecting the worst in terms of customs & security checks. To our utter bemusement, as soon as we showed our British passports we were ushered through & reunited with our luggage in under 15 minutes. Now we were the only western people in the airport other than some military contractors. We really did stick out with our large backpacks & clueless faces.

First Impressions

We made our way to the centre of Erbil to our pre-booked hotel & even went for a swim. Which was rather awkward as we didn’t know the clothing etiquette or if there were any rules we needed to abide by. Erbil itself is an ancient city well over 10,000 years old & was bustling with food, traders, ruins & culture. We very quickly felt safe as we had been a bit nervous about just walking around IRAQ!

I’m assuming the locals thought we were working for an NGO or another branch of the military. This was confirmed by conversations with the locals, who were shocked when we explained this was kind of a holiday to us. Some even laughed out loud, but was quickly followed up by asking if we needed any help. You’ve got to love middle-eastern hospitality. Even our first day turned remarkably weird & eventful, firstly being in the centre of a military parade & then finding ourselves in what was a semi abandoned fun park.

The Backpaking Begins…

So with 2 days in Erbil under our belt & having felt self assured we were not going to get shot at or any other ridiculous stereotype, we decided to venture further afield. Myself & Will initially wanted a guide, but these were few & far between, not to mention expensive. So with some pre-determined places of interest in mind to visit, we went to book a taxi. Public transport in Iraqi-kurdistan doesn’t really exist, unless its a coach out of the country. So we thought that booking a taxi with our hotel would be best. To our shock they quoted us $125. This was just as much as the hotel had been for 2 nights, so we ventured out to find our own way. Our destination was the town of Rawanduz which was embedded between a magnificent desert gorge.

A man in the shop next to our hotel who spoke English, said there was an international terminal where we could get a long haul taxi. So with a bit of blind faith, made our way to this terminal without knowing what to expect. Turns out it was a massive bus terminal mainly filled with beige to sand coloured official Taxi’s. There were hundreds of them, from what I could decipher I imagine with no infastrcuture or need for public buses, they just all taxi share to one destination, rather than a set route. Myself & Will somewhat nervously walked through the terminal, which felt like a small airport & headed through the other side greeted by stares from the swarm of taxi drivers. Not knowing any Kurdish or Arabic, I just started saying “Rawanduz” to the drivers. Within seconds we were ushered off to a taxi with a very friendly chap. We had no idea at this point how much or whether we had communicated correctly where we wanted to go.

But before we knew it, we were off. We headed back into Erbil to pick up 2 Iranian women who were squished next to me & Will. All 5 of us then headed North. Again from the broken language barrier we managed to work out the two women were going to back to Iran & were being dropped off on the way. As I mentioned earlier, Iraq & Kurdistan although considered safe by many are still volatile places to be. Turkish Airstrikes are common occurence in the mountains & their are many military checkpoints along the highways. Our first encounter with a checkpoint, as you could imagine we were trepidatious, but they weren’t particularly bothered by us in the slightest. In fact they barely checked our passports & were more strict with the two Iranian companions we had found ourselves with. After 3 hours of a metal rod up my arse due to the shoddy seat, we made it to Mount Korek just outside Rawanduz. Oh & it only cost us $5 each, which is a saving of $115 from our initial hotel quote.

MT Korek & The Hijacked Motel

Mount Korek, believe it or not is Iraq’s premium Ski-Resort complete with chalet’s & a German Ski-lift to get to the top. Although it does snow heavily in winter months, while we were there it was a roasting 32 degrees. Pleased with our progress we needed to find somewhere to stay. We could have stayed in the posh chalet’s at the top of the mountain, but were very expensive. So we decided to chance it with the motel opposite the Ski-lift. This would be our first big mistake.

Though on the outside it looked like a pleasant & even quite modern motel, this is clearly where all their budget had gone. As we approached, there was no check in desk or anybody about. After about 30 minutes a man appeared from around the back & looked confused when we asked how much it was. He then went to get someone else, who got someone else who took us upstairs to our room. The room had one bed a sofa & a fridge, that was it. The views were amazing, but that was not really compensation for the mould on the walls, the bathroom that hadn’t been plumbed in & I could go on. Now I know what your thinking, its Iraq & what were you expecting. But trust me, I was bewildered how a building that was modern on the outside & looked new, could be so shabby on the inside. We had little choice & I handed over my passport (which I shouldn’t have done) to who I assumed was an employee of this motel.

We spent the rest of the day exploring Mount Korek & using the cable car, luckily at the top of the mountain was a lovely posh restuarant where we abused the wifi & indulged in middle eastern quisine. With great 360 views it was nice to relax & plan our day ahead. However on return to our motel we were awoken at 11pm to loud banging on our door. We were pretty sure there was no one else staying there, so it definitely was our door. I had given Will the bed & had just gotten to sleep on the damp sofa as this situation arose. I again nervously answered the door, to be greeted by a man demanding money. Specifically demanding $50. Now when you’ve just awoken in a haze & someone quite agressively is demanding $50 for sleeping on a soggy sofa at 11:30pm in the middle of IRAQ! Its isn’t half confusing…

Tired & discombobulated I managed to convince him to let us pay in the morning. It was then we had realised, that non of the people we had encountered in this building worked here. It’s not exactly standard practise to knock down the door & demand money from guests. It also doesn’t add up that the room cost was $50 compared to where we had stayed previously. I mean the electricity didn’t even work! It would also explain why everyone was so confused when we asked to stay. Whether the motel was hijacked by squatters, I dont know for certain. Maybe they were furnishing the building in the off season & thought they could make some money out of us. Either way they didn’t actually work there.

The next morning we had no choice but to pay the $50, because if you remember we gave them my passport. But even finding someone to pay was a struggle & even then I had to find & steal back my passport. Utterly bewildered at what had unfolded in the last 24 hours, we needed to get to Rawanduz & quick.

Rawanduz & The Waterfalls

We managed to hitchhike the 15 minute trip up the road to the actual town of Rawanduz. This reaffirmed our initial thoughts that most people are nice & willing to help. Unlike the motel hijackers…As discussed earlier Rawanduz is a desert town in between two gorges like a mini grand canyon. What we didn’t account for was how literally in the middle of nowhere it is. I mean it was cool & as authentic Iraq as you can get. Truly representing what life was like for most people in this country. Walking aorund the derelict street with our huge backpacks we didn’t half stick out. In our desperate attempt to find somewhere to stay we found a hidden hotel. So hidden in fact that we walked past it 3 times before we realised what it was. This time it was a proper hotel, basic but as we were informed by the receptionist had been stayed in by filmmakers from National Geographic a week previously.

Not only was it better, we had a bed each, strangely strong Wifi & the offer of a taxi of whenever we needed. After a crap night previously, we had lucked out in finding this gem. We used our new Taxi friend to go to the waterfall of Bekhall & Geli Ali, made famous by the Top Gear middle eastern special. These were an incredible & serene atmosphere as we sat at a cafe within a waterfall. It was also an attraction for the people of Iraq & we were reminded that despite the atrocities & casualties this country had faced over its history, people are just people…By which I mean, equal, wanting to live & get by without hassle. It also disposed the myth that the middle east was strict as we saw women, children & old men play & have fun within the waterfalls & their complex. Everyone seemed joyful & perhaps somewhat liberated, I certainly was.

Where it all went wrong

Having spent a couple of days in the mountains, we were eager to explore the other side of the country. So far, transport had been relatively easy. So once more we asked our driver from the day before to take us to Dohuk on the other side of the country. We planned to use this city as a base to explore some areas & be able to have a decent hotel to get back to. But first we needed to get there…What we thought was going to be one taxi ended up being three! Our taxi driver we made friends with only took us so far. Before we found ourselves at another taxi terminal in the middle of the desert.

Similar to the technique we used in Erbil, we just started shouting our destination ‘Duhok’. Once again it took only minutes for us to be ushered away into a taxi. Once again we would be greeted by a number of security checkpoints as we were heading close to Mosul. To those unfamiliar, Mosul has been the last & biggest stronghold of terrorist group ISIS & has seen some of the bloodiest battles in the Middle East. We were cautiuosly looking at google maps, to make sure our driver knew where he was going.

He did know, or so we thought. After about 2 hours we ended up in the town of Akre, dangerously close to Mosul & as wel left 2 weeks later was subject to Turkish Airstrikes. We stopped in Akre & told to wait in a waiting room, what for we didn’t know. Maybe it was lunch time, maybe changing drivers…We were not too sure, but had trusted our Kurdish friends this much & so far they had delivered. About 45mins went past, we had started playing Countdown on my phone to pass the time. After some chai tea, a lure of uncertainness crept into the back of our minds as we were called up to a third taxi.

It was a new driver, but we had no idea whether or not it was the same car. See all these cross country taxis are the same colour & nearly all of them the same make & model. To be sure we demanded to look in the back, to make sure our bags were still there. The drivers, didnt understand why we wanted to look in the boot…Which could only mean one thing…Eventually they opened the boot & our rucksacks with everything in were no where to be seen. Many people would panic in this situation, particularly me who had now lost my passport & all my belongings just outside Mosul, IRAQ. (Will had the foresight to keep his passport with him).

But because the situation was utterly ridiculous, myself & Will didn’t panic at all. In fact we were in hysterics. I think our survival mode had kicked in & we simply had to follow steps to finding our luggage (which coincidently the podcast name, Lost Luggage came from). Obviously our Arabic was terrible, but we managed to somehow mime that our bags were here & now have gone. It took a while, but we managed to get our point across & our new driver was making a series of phone calls. This immediately put me more at ease, as sometimes you can just tell when someone is trying to help rather than rob you. It wasn’t long before he ushered us in his Taxi & we were reunited with our second Taxi driver & more importantly our bags. The people of Iraq really are helpful & friendly, this particular taxi driver was a legend as we had an impromptu karaoke session on the way to Dohuk.

Dohuk

We eventually arrived in Dohuk & had a decent hotel which was a welcome relief. Although would prove troublesome when we had to pay, as they only accepted cash. It took us 3 hours of wandering round the blisteringly hot city to find a cash point that worked. In the end I had to transfer money to my Travel card using Wifi in a cafe & then was able to withdraw from a Citi Bank ATM. So there’s a top tip, I reccommend a Caxton Travel card. They are particularly useful in countries less travelled & safer than using your actual bank card, as you can top it up.

Dohuk itself was a pretty cool little city, plenty of nice eateries & even had a theme park, which of course we went to. Located close to the borders of Syria & Turkey, we were a bit alarmed when we heard explosions. But these turned out to be fireworks. Perhaps the biggest sigh of relief in all of human existence…

Amedi & Saddam’s Palace

Based in Dohuk, we now had a couple of places on the outer rim we wanted to visit. But unsure where or whether they actually existed. Enter our new friend & Taxi driver, Ahmed I believe his name was. He ended up being our personal chauffeur for the day. Not only would he take us places, he ended up coming with us, guiding us & even took us back to his home for some chai tea. Where of course I embarrassed myself by knocking over a lot of water on their pristine carpet.

Our first endeavour of the day was to visit Amedi, an ancient Hill top fortress. It honestly was quite amazing, looking like something out of Game Of Thrones. It was an amazing little community & our driver Ahmed walked us round & even bought us a round of tea. I’m unsure how, but we even ended up in some elderly womens house with her amazing cliff top orchard. We were given a drink & a Pomegranate each. This was topped off by Ahmed taking us to a cave that was also a restaurant with a pretty cool waterfall where the table & chairs were flowing in the river.

Another mission myself & Will had, was to visit one of Saddam Hussein’s notorious abandoned palace’s. Many of them had been rightly destroyed or converted into Peshmerga bases. But we had no idea how to find one of these palace’s to explore. Once again our new founded friend Ahmed would come to our rescue. Will had an image of one of Saddam’s palace’s on his phone. This particular palace was cool, because it was abandoned & on top of a mountain. To our surprise not only did Ahmed know of it, but drove us there within 35 minutes. Up through an abandoned road with massive potholes, which must have ruined his suspension. But he seemed just as determined as us to get there & fair play to him. Once there we explored the underground secret caves & around the complex that was semi destroyed & now converted into a communications tower. But the coolest thing of all was the view, he may have been an evil dictator, but he seemed to have the same appreciation for a landscape as we did.

Lalish & The Yazidis

As well as pottering round Dohuk & other areas of Iraqi-Kurdistan, we visited the ancient town of Lalish, home to the holiest temple belonging to The Yazidis. The Yazidis are an ethnic group of Kurds who’s religion is monotheistic emerging firstly in the 12th century. Not only are they one of the smaller religions, but also the most persecuted. As recently as 2014 were subject to a genocide from ISIS leaving thousands dead, dispossessed & enslaved.

We felt it only necessary since we were in their homeland to pay some respect in Lalish. Now if you thought the Kurds were nice, the Yazidis were even nicer. Lalish is really more of a holy village with interesting temples in a valley imbedded between the mountains. They do have one weird rule…you have to be bare footed when in the town. I can only describe this as walking on lego for an entire day…Lalish was beautiful & rather charming & we quickly realised how lucky we were to be there, I cant imagine they get too many western tourists.

We encountered some local kids, who practised their English with us. The basics of your name, where are you from & how are you etc…As we awkwardly shuffled down the mountain, trying not to damage our feet any more. We once again walked past the kids & their entire family. Before you know it we are sat down with about 25 other people all staring at us like zoo animals. We shared photos, stories & they put on a feast. Mainly consisting of rice, bread, vegetables & a couple of goat heads. Yep, that’s right boiled goats head.

To be fair the actual meat around the head was edible & tasted like lamb. However when the father of the children insisted on us eating the eye’s we weren’t too sure whether we were the subject of a practical joke or not. It became quite clear, it was no joke. How rude would it be to decline? Could I pretend I’ve eaten it? At the risk of not wanting to appear rude or impolite as a British man, we both sucked it up & tried to swallow our eyes as quickly as possible. It was like some absurd bush-tucker trial. My technique was to swallow it in one & shovel as much rice down as possible as a bit of a chaser. It didn’t work well…

In Conclusion

Our drive back from Duhok to Erbil was uneventful, which was good as we didn’t lose anything this time. We spent the rest of our time visiting the surrounding areas of Erbil, shopping & generally being comfortable in our surroundings & feeling safe. We even treated ourselves to a haircut, Kurdish style. This ended up in us both having our ears & nose waxed, followed by being steamed & moisturised. Though I must say the haircut was one of the best I’ve had.

Great hospitality, sensational people & even in the most rural areas of Iraq the people had dictated by being themselves that it was after all a safe place to be. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be cautious & by all means get a guide if you plan on going yourselves. But visiting Iraq we were reminded that the world if full of good & beauty. If a country often thought of as a warzone can demonstrate such strength, resilience & care for one another, why can’t we?

I am still picking the stones out of my feet…