21 April 2010

Kurdistan: Day 5, Piranshahr to Soran, 86km


The border between Iran and Iraq. 
Trucks were parked by the road from my standpoint all the way to the end of the visible road.


A spectacular view of the snow mountains on the border awaited me the next morning, along with the kebab for breakfast. I said a farewell to my excellent host Salam, and a couple of hours later a farewell to perhaps my favourite country of these travels, Iran.

On my steep uphill to the 1800m high Haji Omaran border, I had passed hundreds and hundreds of parked trucks, waiting to go into Iraq. Some were fuel tankers, others were car carries, with cars that I hadn't seen on the roads in Iran, including American Chryslers. However for me on my bicycle, immigration was a breeze, and the police were as helpful as ever.

Immigration on the Iraqi side was a little slower, although the free 10-day visa was welcome. Unlike Iran, there were a few more questions, a trend which has continued for my stay in Iraq. The police and army in Iraq and Iran have always been friendly and helpful, except when I came out of my interview to find an Iraqi army official riding my bike! I wasn't happy, and after discovering he had broken the phone holder I gave him a piece of my mind. Still dissatisfied after his three kiss-on-the-cheek sorry gesture, I was happy to get started on the long downhill. A race against a bus proved less successful than it had on the mountain roads of Yunnan, China, many months ago on the first leg of my bicycle travels. The sealed but patchy road surface here required a little more caution.

After an amusing incident with a car, where we had both been on the wrong side of the road, I finally arrived in the village of Choman. Some friendly interaction over lunch with the locals resulted in a conversation in Swedish with one man! He had lived in Sweden for 17 years, England for 6, and had now returned to his homeland for a little retirement, and business. Numerous Kurds I was to meet in Iraq had followed this pattern. Kurdistan was now the place to be for business.

The afternoon was a tiring, windy, but 'gorge'ous downhill with some single-handed riding while video shooting. The dogs were a little lacklustre and barely gave chase. I was surprised to find a theme park located in this mountain gorge setting, and a  quick photo turned into lots of conversation, and a bed for the night in the guards quarters. I had almost closed my eyes when the police came along, and after some discussion with the park owner I was told I had an interview with the police the next morning.

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