I wanted to go to Afghanistan. Yup. Ever since I saw a sign in a window in Oslo for plane tickets to Kabul. I texted a friend, and he replied "Go for it!". I read up on places and security in Afghanistan, and found that Herat in the west was relatively safe. Before the summer, I booked the flight from Dubai to Herat. Then I went to the Afghan Embassy in Oslo to apply for a visa. The guy behind the counter took my application, browsed through it, and asked : "Why do you want to go to Afghanistan?" "I want to go there as a tourist." I said. He laughed. "No one goes to Afghanistan as a tourist!" he said and handed me back my application forms. He wrote down the phone-number of the head of the consular section. "Talk to her!" he said. I left the embassy and took the tram to work. I called the number, and she told me that the only way I would get a visa approved was if I could get an invitation from either the Norwegian Embassy in Kabul, or from an NGO. I sent an e-mail to the embassy in Kabul. A few hours later I got a reply with a defintive "NO!" spelled out in diplomatese. They also (in diplomatese of course) told me the only ones who wanted to come to Afghanistan as tourists, were either suicidal, certifiably crazy, flipping anti-psychotic drugs as if they where tic-tacs or most likely a combination of the three. So in the end, I felt like I had been bitch-slapped with red-tape. I gave up. If I was meant to go to Afghanistan, it would have happened. But it didn't. So I cancelled the flight and the hotel in Herat.
A few days before I left, I talked to a guy who works at the place I work. He told me that he had recently been in Erbil in northern Iraq. I asked him if that wasn't dangerous. "No! Erbil is fine. Southern Iraq is crazy, but north is fine. If it wasn't for my wife refusing to move, I would have moved back a long time ago. With Norwegian passport, you don't even need a visa. I checked with the department of foreign affairs, and it was correct. I checked flights, and they were available. My heart raced. YES! I didn't have to stay in Dubai, or go to some other place in the region. I could go to Iraq!
So here I am. Erbil. A couple of hundred kilometres north of Baghdad.
A little summary of my getting here from Malawi :
I got up reaconably late. Didn't have to stress since my plane wasnt leaving until after one anyway. I had met Sigrid's usual taxi-driver the night before in the reception and agreed upon him coming to get me at 9 to drive me to the airport. He was at athe hotel all morning waiting on me. I had a big breakfast, which mostly consisted of delicious sausages and bacon. Wanted to fuel up on proteins.
We left at nine and headed for the Lilongwe international airport. It was half an hour drive out of town. The airport was small. And there were only a few flights a day. And it seemed like they all departed almost at the same time. When I arrived I had to go through a security check at the entrance of the building. Three guys stood there with a roller-board and a metal-detector. They ordered me to put my bag and stuff on the board, and walk through the metal-detector. It screamed like a hungry baby. I stopped, expecting them to ask for a more thorough search. Instead they said "OK!", and let me go... At checkin I asked the girl behind the counter if I could get window seat on the right hand side of the plane (opposite the sunny side). She said "of course" and gave me one boarding pass with window seat for the left hand side, and one for an isle seat in the middle section... I had been told I would have to pay departure tax, but that was wrong. They just stamped my passport and let me through. Upstairs, there was the usual "tax-free"-shops. I went into one and bought a coke. I drank some, and wondered why there was such a smell of white-spirit. Then I realized it was from the coke. They had probably "cleaned" it.. I threw it in a waste basket. I probabøy should have complained and gotten a new one, but I didn't bother.
At the airport was also a group of Norwegian scouts that had been at a jamboree in Malawi. I had actually seen them on tv a few days before, but they told me that they had been sitting underneath the Swedish flag I saw (and thus assumed they were Swedes...).
Boarding time! We all got on a bus that drove us the 200 yards to the airplane. We all got onboard and were told we were stopping in Blantyre on the way. I knew that this might happen. 30 minutes in the air. I sat there wondering who would bother. It took 4 hours by bus, and you would save maybe 1/2 hour going by plane. It turned out that about half the plane bothered. They got off at Blantyre...
After a long break in Blantyre, the airplane had been refueled and repackaged with new passangers entering, and we were off to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The inflight-movie was a surfing-movie from the late sixties, it looked like. And it was run in loop mode, so they showed it again and again. Other than that, not much happening. So I thought I'd just try to rest as much as possible. I knew I would land in Dubai very early in the morning, so no chance of sleeping much there.
The trip to Dubai was event-less. There was a better selection of inflight entertainment, but I needed some sleep, so I ignored watching any of them. I actually managed to sleep about an hour.
We arrived in Dubai, and I decided I didn't want to stay in the airport for 18 hours, so I went through passport control. I was tired, and it showed. Two guys were sitting in the booth. One took my passport and checked it. The other asked me "How do you feel, sir?". "Sleepy!" I replied. He smiled and asked me where I had come from. I told him my journey so far. They stamped my passport, and I could go into town. I found the usual million taxis, but I saw something I liked better. "Dubai metro!" Yes! Who wants to settle for a boring taxi-ride when you can explore with the metro! I found that it was closed. But only until sunrise. So I settled in a chair, and fell asleep for about half an hour. Woke up with a sore neck. The metro finally opened, and I bought a return ticket to something that looked interesting "Dubai Internet City". I expected it to be a mecca for technology and with shops brimming with gadgets and such. So it was with great expectations I disembarked the train and went out to be greeted by scorching hot air. My first thought when looking around was "where's the tumble-weed?". The area was dead. And dead quiet. I thought maybe it was because it was 7 in the morning. So I wandered around to see if I could find the interesting shops or something. But much to my disappointment, I found that the only thing this place had in common with internet, was the word "virtual". There was "virtually" nothing there. All I could find, were food shops, hotels and laundry services. I walked around for almost an hour before I gave up trying to find something to do with technology.
I walked back to the metro, and asked the lady behind the counter for a day-pass to the metro, so I could travel around the city for more interesting stuff. I saw that we passed the Burj Khalifa on the way (tallest building in the world). I took the metro there, and found that they had made a half km long, airconditioned walkway to the Dubai Mall, which was right beside the Burj Khalifa. So I stood there on one rolling pathway after the next, until I finally arrived at the mall.
It was still early in the morning, so no shops were open. I decided to go the Burj first. I found the exit at the ground floor. And was once again hugged by the almost 40 degree heat. I could feel some sweat coming. In To the right, The Burj Khalifa tower stretched up. Far up. 828 meters tall. Almost twice the Sears tower in Chicago. I tried to find the entrance to get up to an observation deck, which I assumed it had for tourists. After half an hour, I finally found one entrance, but it was for cars. A security guard came out of his booth and asked me what I wanted. I told him, and he said I could buy tickets at the mall... Thank you!
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| The giant |
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| Sweaty version of me and the tower |
I remembered that when looking for the exit, I had seen signs in the mall that read "To the top, Burj Khalifa", but when I arrived, it looked like a cafe, so I assumed it was. But it turned out to be a ticket booth for going up to the observation deck. And it had an airconditioned underground walkway to the tower... Oh, well. I got some nice pictures. I paid the 125 dirhams and walked to the elevator. It took us 124 stories up. I had to pop my ears a few times on the way up. Then we walked out into a small hallway that led to some doors to the observation deck. Which was basically a terrass 452 meters above the ground. Bith openings so you could look over the edge. I was a bit surprised at this, given that some mischiefous people might throw something over the edge. A coin would probably be lethal if thrown. But I got some nice pictures. I must admit I was disappointed. I had been to the sky-tree in Tokyo, and the observation deck was at 450 meters. I looked up here, and saw that they could have put the observation deck much higher up. Maybe 1-200 metres higher. So it was the highest I have been in a building, but only by 2 metres...
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| Tower af Babylon? |
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| Tom Cruise was here! |
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| And this is where he was "hanging" |
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| View of Dubai Mall to the left. |
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| In the shadow if a giant |
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| Disappointingly low |
After I was satisfied, I want down the elevator again and back to the mall. I had to admit it was wonderful to stay there in the aircon. Lots of gadget shops around. And a beautiful open aquarium in one of the corners. With a gigantic glass wall. They had sharks, rays and lots of small and BIG fish. The biggest about 1 metre long. I loved it. But in the end, I almost fell asleep. I sat texting a friend, and fell asleep between the words. I woke up to find I had scribbled something totaly incomprensible. So it took me the better part of 5 minutes to complete a short text.
At around 4 I walked back to the metro and headed for the airport. I found that I had to go to Terminal 2 to catch my flight. I looked for terminal 2, but no metro, no shuttle buses. Nothing. I asked around and everybody told me I had to take a taxi there. Strange. I took a taxi. Or, a guy with a car. It was far from official. He probably overcharged me. I dunno. Too tired to care. Terminal 2 was noisy and packed with people. I found that I had to wait in the hall for three hours before I could check in. There was an alarm screaming from a door of some kind, and they spent the best part of one hour to stop it. I finally could get into he queue to check in. As I was nearing the checkin counter. I noticed one after the other of the checkin booths closed. One local guy started commenting loudly. When it was my turn, all booths were empty. The local dude started shouting and screaming at a guy, who obviously were trying to explain what was going on. In the end, one girl came and sat in one of the booths. I was allowed to check in. "Mister Ass?" she asked. "Aas, like in Awesome!" I said. "Ah!" she said and laughed. I explained about the special Norwegian character. "I am so sorry. I will sleep tonight being a little less stupid!" she said and smiled. I went through passport control and security and walked to the gate. After a few minutes, and American guy came up to me and started talking. It took me about two seconds to figure out he was drunk as a sailor. He was going to Erbil to "drill some holes in the ground" (looking for oil). And he went on talking about how the "niggers were destroying America", and other "issues". Life has tought me never to argue with drunk people, so I just stood there listening to his rants. The plane ended up being very late. There had been a technical issue with the first, so they swapped planes. It turned out that this was going to be one of the most eventful flights I have experienced.
The flight attendants were trying their best to get people to sit down and to listen to them when they were giving directions and orders. Nobody listened. Nobody seemed to care. Just before takeoff, an old lady got out of her chair to get something from the overhead locker. The flight attendant tried in both English and the local toungue to get her to sit down, but she ignored both. In the end the attendant got up and walked quickly (and obviously angry) back to her and told her to "SIT DOWN!". The old lady argued with her for a few seconds before she settled in her seat. Just as the plane took off, the unmistakable sound of "Nokia" rang through the cabin. A few seconds later, a guy behind me answered his phone... After a while I fell asleep. Woke up just before we arrived. Several people was standing up or walking around when the attendant tried to get them to sit down. "The captain has switched on the seat-belt sign because of heavy turbulence. So please return to your seat. Nobody listened. After several attempts, they finally sat down. But as the plane was about to land, an old lady behind me got up. Obviously to be first at the exit. The flight attendant almost screamed into the PA. "SIT! DOWN! NOW!". The guy next to her pleaded with her, and with loud arguments, she finally sat down and let him fasten her seat belt. Just in time for touch down. And just like at takeoff, the same phone rang again. Some guy said something about "captain". And he was obviously arguing with the guy about his phone being on. But he just waved him off and answered. I looked at the attendant, and it was obvious she was stressed out and MAD! When the captain finally switched off the seat-belt sign, everybody jumped out of their seats. The old lady behind me elbowed her way through, shouting at people. Obviously to get out first. I just had to smile at the whole thing. Poor attendant!
We got into the terminal building and I walked through passport control. Got my 15 day visa and went to look for a taxi. No taxis but a shuttle bus. It took us to another terminal where we had to go through "Arrival". Have no idea what that was all about. But on the other side where taxis. I found an older guy who had a "taxi". More precisely a car parked in the car park. It was a great car. SUV. The guy didn't speak much English. We agreed on 15 000 for the trip. He drove fast. Very fast. Obviously to get there before some accident happened. He even zoomed past a police car on emergency call. With lights flashing and all... The police obviously didn't care. We finally arrived at the street my hotel was. It was pakced with men sitting around drinking chai and smoking water pipes. The hotel was amazing. I just have to say that. It was truly one of the best rooms I have ever stayed in. Gigantic, with 180 degree panorama view. Wall to wall carpeting. 130 channels of crap on the tv to choose from (mostly channels starting with "Al"-something. I didn't find Al-Qaida...) Nice tiled bathroom and a very friendly and helpful staff. It cost the same as my room in Catembe in Mozambique, but is lightyears away in quality. I have absolutely NO problem paying the price for this one. Everything works. The staff is knowledgable and very service minded. The breakfast was on the seventh floor. With amazing views of the whole city.
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| My hotel room. With conference group and all. |
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| Wonderful clean, and WORKING bathroom |
So here I am, in my airconditioned room. I am checking out at noon. But I want to enjoy it as much as possible before I head out to more "down to earth" accomodation on more of a backpacker budget. I have read about what is supposedly the best of the cheapo's. I will check it out after I have checked out from here. I am actually seriously contemplating staying here the last night before I leave. It would be nice to spend the last night in such a place. I have to admit that much.
What am I going to do here in Iraq? I don't know. I decided to go here a few days before my vacation started, so I really haven't had the time to check it out much. But I have found a few spots around Erbil I want to check out. So we will see when the time comes, what happens.
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