Delayed again by FOG

And the trip back to Hawler was just as difficult as the journey from Hawler. Although the border crossing only took about an hour, it was because we didn't arrive at the border until just after midnight (after 5:00 am by the time we arrived home). We departed early only to be delayed another 3 hours in the Konya due to fog... Below are the pictures taken to measure the density of the problem. The first was probably taken at about 10:30 am after an hour or two of delay...



And the second photo about 30-40 minutes later... Finally we made it to Istanbul, but of course far to late to catch the connecting flight to Istanbul. Two hours later in Ankara, we were again delayed in continuing on to Diyarbakır.

Mevlana Sema - Whirling Dervishes

When I was a child, my mother told me about the whirling dervishes, but I have to say that I couldn't understand her fascination with them. However, Iraq being so close to Turkey, I couldn't' pass up the opportunity to see them. On Thursday Evening after dinner, along with friends working in Adana and Antep, Turkey, we visited the modern center built for Sema for the 15 day Şeb-i Aruz' celebration. Spectacular! The stands were filled with Turkish pilgrims who joined the head semazen in prayer as the ceremony ended. The top two pictures below come from the Turkish Airlines in flight magazine. I post these particular photos as they are taken in the Center in Konya where we saw sema... I can even recognize the semazen from being there!


Likewise the next two photos are also of familiar semazen and I found them in a photo bank by Ogun Altun.


Please click on the two links at the top of this post for enlightening information on the whirling dervishes.

Lesley's Shadow, Me & the Turkish Tulips

Too many times to Turkey, I had become accustomed to the many decorative tulips adorning parks, subway stations, textiles, porcelain and more... It was again Lesley snapping photos of tulips (no, it wasn't only cats) that made me stop and ponder the preponderance of tulips.

Well, it seems that those of us who think that we enjoy tulips thanks to the Dutch would be wrong. In fact it was an Austrian ambassador to Emperor Ferdinand I named Busbeq who noticed the lovely things growing in the gardens in Constantinople in 1556... They henceforth became one of the most desired botanical item among the well-to-do in Europe. In the 1560s, a small number were exported to Hapsburg, Brussels, Augsburg, Paris, and Prague...

And back in the Ottoman Empire... from 1717 to 1730, Turkey was called the Tulip Era after the 'King of the bulbs'. Under the reign of Sultan Ahmed III, Burak Sansal describes this period as one of peace and enjoyment.

Aziziye Minarets

Above, please view a minaret of Aziziye Cami. Unlike the pointy tops of the minarets of Sultanahmet Cami, these look like royal balconies. Is this a Persian style? Would seem appropriate as Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi was born in Iran.

Mevlana Museum in Konya

My first (and possibly last) visit to Konya, my first stop was the Mevlana Museum. Housing the Mausoleum (with tombs of Rumi and the Mevlevi order), a mosque, dervish living quarters (arranged around the edges of the complex much like a Japanese castle or monastery), and dance hall, the museum was truly impressive.


Unfortunately, the weather in Konya was rather too cold for me, and although my jacket-less companion kept proclaiming, "It's NOT cold!!!", the thick coats of all the other pilgrims and the frost coating the grass confirmed my right to complain. My fingers freezing, I couldn't concentrate on taking photos and so you, beloved reader, must suffice with what is here, or visit Mevlana Net.

Cats of Istanbul

Everywhere we went in Turkey, Lesley was absorbed with the super-abundance of cats! She snapped photos of fluffy tortoise shell cats exploring wooden crates in Diyarbakır, fluffy white cats, short haired black cats and all varieties of tabbies playing in Gülhane Parki, and then in Eminonu, I caught and quickly lost the urge to snap kitty photos. Here are all the cats that I caught on my memory card.

Gülhane Parkı

If you don't feel like spending the 20 YTL and half day necessary to do the Topkapı Palace justice, you can always just wander around in the park outside the palace... Another nice way to pass time over Eid.

Respecting Copyrights?!!

In Hawler, movies are available on DVD almost as soon as they hit the box office. I received a request to purchase the Turkish comedy Muro for a Turkish-speaking friend back in Hawler, but subsequently discovered that it was still playing in theatres and that, although I know Istanbul fairly well, I don't know where to purchase pirated DVDs. Perhaps this is a good thing.

Kumkapı

Unfortunately, there were no wandering gypsy bands playing an odd assortment of folk music; Turkish, Kurdish, Russian... and there were also no belly dancers, professional or amateur. But despite it being Eid, there were still diners and shops were open for business. First stop, the fish market...
Second stop, dinner. Specialties of Istanbul: levrek (sea bass) and çupra (sea bream) are plentiful. Also available are mussels, prawns, etc.... But Kumkapı being popular among Istanbul natives and Turkish tourists, dinner doesn't come cheap.

Creamy Lokum, Turkish Delight

It is virtually impossible to go to Turkey without coming home with a little box of Turkish delight. Usually I go for the double pistachio variety at Hacı Bekir... or when Mu goes to Turkey, I receive (can't afford this myself) a lovely box of exquisite dark and milk chocolate coated lokum from Vakko luxury department store. This time, I tried something new from a little shop called Locom Lesley discovered in Sultanahmet... and something impossible to transport home to Erbil - this amber colored bit of sticky sweet lokum gently wrapped around something soft, creamy and closely resembling mascarpone.

Sultanahmet: Twilight and Beyond

The first picture below is taken from in front of Tuba Kız Kur’an Kursu. We then came upon these little streets lined with little shops like the Locom Turkish delight shop.

And finally, back to the street running parallel to the Sultanahmet Cami.

Eid destinations

Our first year in Kurdistan (2006), we couldn't decide what to do during those days off for the different Eids, not knowing what would be closed and what not. This year, spending Eid Qurban in Istanbul was not a difficult decision. A big city, of course much of Istanbul would be open... just not all of the tourist sights. Hence, for the first time ever in Istanbul, I stayed in the heart of the tourist district - Sultanahmet - a QUIET Sultanahmet. A rare opportunity to stroll in the parks and soak up the ambiance.

Easy Eid in Instanbul

A Sultanahmet free from touts grabbing at the steady stream of foreign tourists... Couples and families wandered at leisure, eating snacks and chatting around fountains and on benches. These photos are taken in front of the Aya Sofia.

Diyarbakır Street Scene

This recent trip over the border was only slight less taxing that sitting on the bridge midsummer and wishing that I was a man so I could find shelter from the heat from in a tirewell of a big truck. Instead we arrived early evening and waited 4 hours in the cold. But I suppose that this is to be expected over Eid. Anyway, on Mu's advice we didn't go to arrive in the wee hours of the morning (my preference - Mu seemed to think the border would be closed!), but went early and spent the night in Diyarbakır. The next morning was spent trying to find a place to change money and buy credit for my Turkish SIM card... not easy over Eid. The city was pretty silent... some stands, like this fruit & veggie stand were standing ready to be opened, but there was nobody in sight. I finally found a stand selling phone credits and headed to the airport for another delay of 3 hours while waiting for the fog to subside.

Kurdish no longer banned on banners in Kurdistan North (East Turkey)

Photo by Lesley Gaj
"Cejna We Piroz Be" ('Eid Mubarak' or 'Happy Eid' in Kurmanji- the dialect of Kurdish used in Turkey) was dispayed from the banners attached to every overpass in Diyarbakır last week. Although I have visited Diyarbakır a few times already (and once over Eid), I have never ever seen any language other than Turkish used on any type of public communication. Instead I noticed (over Eid 2006) gates decorated with banners proclaiming how happy "we" all are to be Turkish! A strange proclamation to make in a largely Kurdish city.

I wonder if this means change is coming... Unfortunately this change in the language policy hasn't brought about a decrease in the security and police checks everywhere in the Kurdish region. I know it was Eid, but given the sparse number of cars, there was no reason for people to sit for 4 hours on the bridge between Iraq and Turkey to pass customs.

Great Buy at the Bazaar...

About a week ago, before I left for a few days off in Turkey, our resident dentist came over to visit sporting this brand new scarf that she bought in the bazaar. While I thought it looked great on her (she was wearing it around her neck, not her head... I insisted she try it on her head), I couldn't see myself wearing one... until I got to Turkey. There I realized there are plenty of people wearing them as scarves and they look great... and they are about twice the price!

bumpy road to recovery

It has been a week since my surgery and 4 days since I have been back. The last few days everyone has been asking after me and telling me that I should be taking it easy. In truth, there is still a little more recovery that needs to be made, but a couple hours teaching doesn't really cause me much grief. I think the only thing I have really done wrong this week was to not stay a few extra days in Istanbul so as to avoid the rocky overland route back to Hawler. Ordinarily, I would fly Istanbul- Erbil direct on Atlas Jet... but all the seats were sold out until Wednesday, so I bought a ticket to Mardin instead. Getting a ticket to Mardin as a domestic destination was a stroke of luck as there are many flights to Diyarbakir, but Mardin-bound flights are infrequent. (If you look on the map above - top left corner- you will see that Mardin is at least an hour's drive closer to the Iraqi border.
In the Mardin airport, I was lucky to run into a Paris-based Baghdadi businessman who was going to Dohuk to visit his siblings in their new safer city. He was able to give me a lift, saving me $160.00 US. (In my delicate state I was willing to pay this exorbitant sum to go directly to the border rather than to do public transport to Silopi and transfer to the border from there.
The real issue regarding my travel, however, was not related to time or money, but rather to the road conditions in the Kurdish regions of Turkey. The roads are very poorly maintained... meaning potholes more jarring than the oversized speed bumps on the path to our apartment. Even though the driver carefully selected the side of the road to drive on by the condition of the asphalt, bumps or sudden swerves back to our side of the road (to avoid the oncoming oil trucks and mac trucks) were unavoidable. Needless to say, I didn't feel so hot by the time I got to Zakho. But at least from, Zakho, my fragile health was not in the hands (or cars) of strangers. In Zakho, Mu met me and drove me to Hawler (Arbil on above map). This was a long stretch, but not nearly so bad due to recently maintained roads and careful driving. Poor Mu. After dropping me off, he had to continue on to Sulemaniya taking the long route through Koya instead of passing through Kirkuk as the latter route is more dangerous after nightfall.

Anyway, I am sitting on my sofa now and wishing that I had delayed my trip back... or at least taken my camera with me as Mardin is beautiful. Above please see a picture I stole from the internet.

Unexpected connections

Today I got up early and responded to an email I had received the night before... from Catherine, a former colleague from Vancouver, BC who I hadn't seen since 1996 when I met up with her in Vietnam where she was working (The time before that was in 1993 in Japan where I was working). Being still sore from my surgery, we arranged to meet in Ortaköy as it is only a 5 minute taxi ride from Beşiktaş. A few days ago, she was in Romania and I never imagine she would get though Romania, Bulgaria and reach Istanbul on time to meet up with me... I mean, this was no easy feat as she came almost the entire way by bicycle! (She arrived with bike in Amsterdam in June). Along with another traveling friend she met alone the way, we were 3 Vancouverites enjoying a late breakfast and Turkish coffee in Istanbul. Wonderful! It remains to be seen whether Catherine takes my advice and takes her bike to Northeast Turkey and cycles on down to Iraq. She would likely be the first female Vancouverite to cycle through the Turkish border into Iraq! How cool would that be?

And this meeting with Catherine wasn't the only surprise. In truth, I expected to be on my own this trip to Istanbul. I had arranged a hotel in Taxim and brought enough work to occupy myself the whole 5 days in Turkey. It was not to be so... from the time I arrived in Ataturk Airport, it was one unexpected connection after another. In the airport, I ran into Fadime (not real name) a friend of a friend- a Turkish divorcee living in Hawler who was traveling to Turkey with her new husband, an Arab man also living in Iraq. I saw her in the Erbil Airport, but hadn't recognized her with the headscarf, a new custom she has adopted to fit in better with her husband's family. We had a nice chat before I headed to my hotel.

The next day as I was heading to the hospital for my consultation, I received a call from Gokhan, the boyfriend of Tz who informed me that Tz was NOT in Italy, but in Istanbul and that I should come to their house to stay instead of the hotel.

And tomorrow I take a taxi to the airport at 4:30 am as there are no seats on the Istanbul-Erbil flight and I will have to fly to Mardin and travel overland from there... But Mu will meet me on the Iraqi side of the border and take me to Hawler... where S (another Canadian) is waiting. You will remember her from many earlier blog posts: she is the Kurdish-speaking one with the mermaid-styled Kurdish dress who met me in Puerto Rico this summer. I never imagined she would miss Hawler so much that she would return just 3 months after leaving.

Jinemed - Medical Tourism Center

This is medical tourism at its most effective. It takes all of 3 days for your operation! To the left is Dr. Teksan Camlibel. On Wednesday afternoon, I was ushered into Dr. Teksan's office for my consultation (where I discovered the objects in my abdominal cavity which needed removing had grown even bigger). He explained the operation procedure while I admired the certificates on the wall behind him. While normally, I don't find this kind of display of achievements impressive, I found it somewhat comforting that Dr. Camlibel had graduated from John Hopkin's Medical University and had worked in the hospital there as well as others in Michigan and Ohio.
The next morning (day 2), I arrived at the hospital at 8:30am. The nurses sedated me, prepped me and I woke up from the operation at about 12:30pm in my fairly comfortable and very clean hospital room. Every 2 hours or so, nurses came to take blood, administer antibiotics, change IV bags or help me unhook the IV to use the restroom. I enjoyed an afternoon/evening of sleeping (so very sleepy) and watching US TV (ER, Desperate Housewives, A Side Order of Life, CNN news of the elections and various weird shows on BBC Prime).
At 5:00am on Saturday (day 3), I insisted the nurses take out the IV as the morphine was ineffective and the IV hurt more than the incision sites. At about 8:30am Dr. Camlibel came to visit me to check the healing. He said that everything looked normal and that I could leave whenever I felt well enough. The nurse gave me all the paperwork... which was quite funny. On every very official looking paper, my name was spelled differently and on one of the papers, it gave my complete address in Erbil... but with the country listed as "Almanya" (Germany). Thank goodness the operation was done with more care than the paperwork.
Anyway, at noon I got up for a shower and got ready to leave. Unfortunately, my friend whose house I was staying at had gone to Bulgaria to cover a story for La Stampa Italian newspaper. At 7:00pm, I got dressed and packed, ordered food and at 11:00pm (when I got a text from Tz saying she was almost home), I finally left the hospital - just a little over 2 days from start to finish.

To Travel... or Not to Travel to Turkey for Surgery

Yes, I am back in Turkey... again. And yet again, it is for "medical tourism". This time, not for dental work, but for surgery. Some people are angry at me for not wanting or being willing to have surgery in Erbil, but I find this ridiculous as it seems that those Hawleris that can afford it also opt for Iran (not an option for me with as I would have visa issues). It seems also that my medical "insurance" only covers health care outside if it cannot be performed in the region of Kurdistan.

My issue is not really the skill of the doctor, although unless you know someone who knows someone, finding a good doctor can also be an issue. My issue is the sterility of of the operating theater. I went for a scan at the clinic of a very reputable (and very skilled) doctor in Erbil. However, when receiving the scan, I was asked to lie down on the pleather bench that the woman before me had been on (without it being cleaned in between or paper put down on it). The ultrasound wand? The same... The other woman's gel was wiped off with a paper towel and new gel applied. Meanwhile, as I lay with my midsection exposed, women on the other side of the screen were peering around to see what was going on. Having lived overseas for so long, my need for privacy has become somewhat dulled, but I don't think I could stand this sort of invasion in the fragile state I would be in post-surgery.

I left for Istanbul on Wednesday night. My flight was packed and I started to worry what the flight back would be like - jostled and shoved as people push to get in and out of customs, push to get on and off the bus to the plane, and push on and off the plane. It really irks me that on a flight from Erbil to Istanbul, that the only languages spoken on the plane are ENGLISH and TURKISH. OK, so Sorani is not the national language of Iraq? Then at least provide Arabic. Then at least some people would know what was going on and how to form lines. I started to wonder if traveling for surgery was the smartest thing after all. At least if I had the surgery in Erbil, there would be people to visit me in the hospital and I wouldn't have to travel far to go home. Then at the moment I had that thought, the guy beside me took the napkin off his meal tray, rolled it up and proceeded to clean his ears, after which he dropped the napkin in the seat pocket in front of him. OK, I think I may have made the right choice not to have my insides opened up in Hawler.