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West and South Asia From Turkey to Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Ladakh and Bangladesh
Photo by Andy Miller, UK, Taking a rest, Jokulsarlon, Iceland

I haven't been everywhere...
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  #1  
Old 17 Nov 2010
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Irak info



I crossed into Irak Kurdistan Region by Silopi (Turkey). Not visa needed, nor CDP, just patience and time to loose. Turks officials, efficient as they are in any other border. Kurdish side: Friendly people, some questions, smiles, but they are a little bit mess in order to do the paperwork. Expect some delay. Next town is Zakho, heavy track traffic and some check points. No problem with European travellers. Almost all of the cops and peshmergas are friendly.



There are few hotels in Zakho but I was hosted by a Christian Kurdish family. There are a lot in North Irak, and a lot of more are moving in from arabic areas.




Kurdish region is safe enough to enjoy the ride, just do not go into arab areas and you'll be OK. They use Irak dinars but everything is calculated in dollars, the only ATM I found was in Arbil, in the Sheraton Building, some kind of climatized bunker for US workers. Petrol is cheap, but low quality (clink clonk noise).

The road from Zakho to Arbil is safe because they have opened recentely a new way to avoid the extremly dangerous city of Mosul. There is just one sign in English before the junction and no check point. You’d better do not miss it or you are dead.



Few miles before entering Arbil is the only serious check point I came across. Checking luggage and passport but again, no problems. Arbil is Ok, plenty of convenient hotels (you bargain always), shops, restaurants and a really beautiful Old City. You should visit it right now because is totally empty. The Government forced the inhabitants to move to restoring the whole city and make some kind of big museum and tipical kurdish old city, full os curious stuff shops for the tourists they are expecting, but right now is a ghost town.



Ah, take care, there are radars in town.



Going East to Iran the road is fantastic, sometimes bad tarmac, nice wiews and few check points with real and tough peshmergas.




The most incredible thing happened when I was expecting sleeping in one of their dirty huts, I' ve found that near Rawanduz is a really amazing resort on the top of the mountains. It is surrealistic and very comfortable with cabins and restaurant and liquors. You'd better bargain, because is expensive but I convinced them to make a special price for bikers. Now, Pank Resort is Bike Friendly.



Irak, Iran border near Rayat is Ok. Kurdish do not speak English but there is always someone who barely barks some essential words. Again the paperwork takes time and there is always something needed that the Silopi customs officials forgot to do, sign, or write, but you will get away without more problems than questions about where are you from and bla, bla, bla.



Iran side: visa needed and also CDP. They will check panniers but know how to do their job, so CDP stamped in few minutes and you are in the no paradise. Enjoy.
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Last edited by Miquel-Silvestre; 18 Nov 2010 at 07:20.
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Old 18 Nov 2010
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Hey Miquel,

Mate, fantastic of you to write up so much info on Iraq, where few riders would dare to venture. Congrats on paving a new road for all of us other would be adventurers.

Just a few questions small questions...

Did you need or were you ever forced to have an escort in Iraq?

What would you do differently next time?

Is there something that might speed up the paperwork?

Is it possible to get Iraqi Dinar outside Iraq?

Does Iraq accept $US if so should you have only US$1 bills or can they change money.

When is the book coming out?

I want to pre-order it now!
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Old 19 Nov 2010
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Hi, P & A. No scort required in Iraq. The paperwork takes time, no money. I found no guy asking for bribes, gifts or anything else. Honest people, we will see how long they keep themselves in that way. I think US $ works everywhere, even small notes.

If you go to any shop, 1 can (500 cc) is 1000 iraki dinars, less than 1,5 euro... so I counted everything in s. How many s a hotel night, how many s to fill the tank. It is easy

Something I won't do again?? Yes, of course, delete by mistake 5 gigabytes of video taken with my helmet camera. Wtf!! The ride in the Erbil citadel is totally lost.
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Old 19 Nov 2010
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I'd think you'll still need/get an escort going east from Bam to the Pak border, I did it the other way a couple of years ago and don't think much will have changed since. No escorts required anywhere else in the country as far as I'm aware.

Re money, you'll need to just bring $US in with you (enough for your time there as cards don't work thanks to the sanctions) and just change in any bank.
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Old 19 Nov 2010
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Hi, Mike, you were right if we were talking about Iran. There is required scort from Bam to the Pak borders and no credit card will work in Iran, but we are talking about Irak. I am sorry, becasue I posted the info on the wrong regional forum. I should have posted it on the Middle East one.

Cheers
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Old 19 Nov 2010
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Ah, lo siento, though it was Iran, duh!
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Old 22 Nov 2010
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Hello Miguel, thanks for sharing these infos.

After reading this thread of yours and the experience of Rtwdoug in northern Iraq (after we split in Armenia close to the border with Naxcivan last August) I am thinking about visiting that part of Iraq next year.

Let's hope the sign of the new road bypassing Mosul will be visible also from the opposite side, as I'd be in the area after visiting north-western Iran, because my direction would be Tabriz (IR) - Erbil (IRQ) - Lake Van (TR)...


Now, the big challenge will be convincing my girl to come over a place called "Iraq"...
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Old 22 Nov 2010
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miquel-Silvestre View Post
Something I won't do again?? Yes, of course, delete by mistake 5 gigabytes of video taken with my helmet camera. Wtf!! The ride in the Erbil citadel is totally lost.
Oh well, it's a bastard loosing the video, but look at it this way, you have a reason to go back. Maybe we can come with you next time...
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Old 22 Nov 2010
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Hi Miguel

Thanks for your post - very interesting. One thing - if you have deleted stuff from your helmet-cam by mistake, don't despair (unless you have already recorded over the top of it ) - try using some file recovery software:-

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ard-help-53598

This thread was for the purposes of restoring corrupted files, but it works equally for wrongly-deleted stuff. I posted the same question on other forums and in addition to the above was recommended to use Lexar Image Rescue which was good- v3 is free; v4 you have to pay for.

Deleted rather than corrupted stuff should be more straightforward to recover.

Good luck!

Mark
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