Due to religious holiday Bayram I'm not able to find someone to stay with in Diyarbakir and have to check into a hotel. I'm very disappointed to have to pay for accommodation for the first time in 41 nights. At the kebab place around the corner from my hotel I happen to sit down next to Bivar, an Iraqi Norwegian guy who's heading to Iraq tomorrow morning. He's already arranged a driver and everything and offers me to go with him to Dohuk. It wasn't where I intended to go, but he tells me he'll visit his old refugee camp and some other places along the way, so it sounds too interesting to say no. We leave tomorrow at 11am.

Mosque in Ankara.

View of Ankara.

The border basically consists of two parts: leaving Turkey and entering Iraq/Kurdistan. When leaving Turkey I am called into a small office and questioned about my motives. Bivar comes with me and has prepared a story about how we know each other from Norway and how I come to visit this area for socio-anthropological reasons. After 5 minutes we're done, and after 20 more minutes our driver comes running with a PET bottle of gasoline and we continue to Iraqi immigration. Bivar knows one of the border guards there (the one with me in the picture) and we're treated tea while we're waiting for immigration to process our passports. Everything is very smooth and we're on our way within minutes.

We continue to Dohuk where I am at the moment. Tomorrow I will do some sightseeing here and then continue to Erbil. Non-Iraqi SIM cards do not work here so I've bought an Iraqi one and my number is +9647709142398.

Wall in Diyarbakir. Supposedly the world's second largest wall.

Graves of Mem and Zin in Cizre, the original Romeo and Juliet.

Noah's ark came to rest on top of this mountain.

Emptying gas.

Many kilometers of trucks waiting to enter Iraq.

Bivar and wife drinking tea at Iraqi immigration.

Me at the Iraqi border.

I meet a guy on the street called Steve. He describes himself as a warrior from Mosul. He has two scars across his face and speaks with authentic American accent, although he's a Christian Iraqi and never left the country. He shows me pictures of him and American soldiers. He's like 8 years old. Or 11 at most. He shows me around for a while and helps me arrange a shared taxi to Erbil. I stick him a 1000 dinar banknote for his help. He hugs me and says "keep it real man".

The taxi to Erbil is 2.5 hours and 20000 dinars. There are no buses in Iraq. Bivar told me to stay away from Mosul if I wish to leave Iraq alive. The taxi basically circles Mosul, 20 kms from the city. We leave Kurdish area for a while, but everything feels safe.

In Erbil I'm staying with Mohammed Mohammed. Mohammed provides Kurdistan with satellite Internet. He is doing fairly well. He picks me up with his BMW and we go to his house where he lives with his mother and brother. On the way he needs to change engine oil, but has trouble paying because he only carries 100 USD bills. His mother makes me lunch and later we head out to meet Mohammed's friend David, a British architect working for UNESCO. We go to a top end Lebanese restaurant and are taken to the VIP table. The food is good and the raki (Turkish liquor) is strong. The power goes out 4 times during dinner. Mohammed and I continue to Ankawa Palace to meet up with his other friends who all belong to the elite in Erbil. Richest of all is Zatan, good for 20 million USD. We drink only chivas regal 18 year old and smoke nargileah (water pipe). There are no Iraqi dinars around the table, everyone carries 100 USD bills. I'm not allowed to pay for anything during the evening.

Dohuk dam.

On the road between Dohuk and Erbil, close to Mosul.

Lebanese dinner. Amin (Syria), David (UK), me and Mohammed.

At Ankawa Palace.

I meet up with David at 10.30am for a tour of the citadel, a huge fortress on top of a hill in the city center, 8000 years old. David is working on the preservation of this thing and is trying to make it a world heritage site. Most of the citadel is closed to public, but that doesn't bother David. As we climb over one of the blockades, peshmerga (Kurdish military) comes towards us with a machine gun. Amin, a Syrian guy working with David, translates: "He say we can not go". David ignores him and mumbles "We're UNESCO, we can go wherever we please". Afterwards we have lunch, mutton and rice, courtesy of UNESCO.

I spend the afternoon sightseeing the city center and the bazar. The city is a bit chaotic but still enjoyable. A lot of people are curious about me and ask where I'm from. Almost everyone has a relative or friend who lives or has lived in Sweden, so I'm very well received. As it gets dark Mohammed picks me up and we go play bowling with Zatan & co. Then we have dinner, Iraqi pizza, mostly in darkness due to a blackout. We drink tea, drink tea again, then head home to Mohammed to watch some TV.

Steve calls me at 10.30pm and asks if I'm married. Apparently he can set me up with an Iraqi woman if I come back to Dohuk. I tell him thanks, but I'm heading to Iran. He says "be safe man, you might get killed".

The Erbil citadel.

Sador, from the Iraqi/US special armed division.

Erbil seen from the citadel.

Men in Erbil.

Street in Erbil.

Inside the bazar (market) in Erbil.