Daytrip to Amedi & Lalish

Interesting breakfast

With a departure time with Khalid of 0800, I headed out for breakfast at 0715.  It was drizzling.  Not many places were open.  Kebab would seem to be the popular breakfast perhaps in an hour’s time but right now, all I could find were some pastries.

I ordered one of the large pastries which resembled a flat burek.  The waiter warmed it up in the oven, chopped it up and offered me an option of a dollop of white condensed yoghurt (or perhaps unsalted white cheese).  It looked yummy until he proceeded to drench it with hot water!

Tastewise, it was yummy.  Anticipating a long day ahead, I ordered another one but without the hot water.  It was actually less nice because it was a little dry and the water was actually light syrup.

Amedi disappointment

We left at 0800 for Amedi.  The journey took two hours with safe driving speed, stopping a couple of times to check whether anyone at accident sites needed help.  And there was a tea stop too during which Khalid’s friend rang from Al-qosh inviting us for a visit.

The weather was cloudy and drizzling at times.  As we approached Amedi, we called into an abandoned ruins of a Saddam-era hotel which gave us a good view of Amedi on top of the stand-alone plateau.

Unfortunately the light conditions didn’t allow a good photo, especially with a phone camera.  The highlight of my stay here had been ruined by the weather.  We don’t have control over the weather in our lives and it’s no different in travel.  It’s really a first world problem and worse things can happen in Iraq!

We drove to the back side of the plateau where a good road took us up to the town.  The drizzle had nearly become rain.  We took a look at an ancient archway which was found and now forms the entrance to the local school.  And then the minaret of the local mosque.

It wasn’t pleasant conditions and was slightly cold too.  We had had the heater in the car on as well. A second layer of clothing would have been good but not essential.  We left within a few minutes of getting to Amedi town.  It felt like any other town.

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The Yazidi temples at Lalish

We backtracked to the edge of Duhok before changing directions towards Lalish.  There were lots of oil tankers on the road and Khalid explained that months ago the road was in a bad state due to their heavy loads but it has now been repaired.  We could also see gas burning from the oil/gas fields.  A big patch of dark clouds seemed to be heading in the same direction as us.

We got to Lalish around 1230 and just as we were about to remove our footwear for the visit, it started raining.  It wasn’t torrential but heavy enough to make us wait.

The rain eased and we started our visit without getting to wet.  Shoes were actually permitted in the area until the temple entrance but as there was no dedicated place for visitors to place their shoes, visitors normally leave them in the car and walk on the road to the temple compounds.

Khalid had advised me on two important points.  Well, firstly, it was shoes off.  But we had already done that.  Secondly, it was not to step on door sill or bottom of the door frame.  He also told me not to talk about the devil or touch the holy water if we see it.

We walked into the main temple.  Worshippers had been kissing the sill and also left some donations there.  Inside the temple, coloured sashes had been placed and tied with knots by some worshippers.  The idea is that one ties a knot to make a wish and someone else unties it to help fulfil it.  Life is easy when you know how, right?

Deep inside the temple a dark cave-like room built against the rock wall.  There were urns of olive oil stored inside.  They fuel the lamps that dot the walls of the temple complex.  Those responsible know how much oil and wick to place in each lamp to the last the whole night, allowing for seasonal variations.

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Al-Qosh monastery

After about an hour at Lalish, we continued to Al-Qosh.  It’s a Christian settlement with a monastery.  Khalid’s friend had invited us and it seemed like a good idea so I agreed.  It was about an hour’s drive away on an indirect route back to Duhok.

Assyrian at home.  It was the first place in Iraqi Kurdistan where I had noticed the Iraqi flag wheras everywhere else before, it was only the Kurdish flag.

We drove to the cliff where we could see the Rabban Hormidz Monastery dating from the 7^th Century.  As we were admiring the sight, a few cars raced by separately to use the road as a hill-climb.  Khalid said he didn’t feel comfortable driving up in his old car and having woken up at 0300 this morning (due to retiring early), I wasn’t up for a hike up.  A lot of the monastery was off-limits and I wasn’t sure if the open areas would be that interested.

Seeing the young Christian hoons racing uphill and the big posh homes here and in Ankawa, I asked Khalid if Christians were generally richer than other people.  Yes, he said, due to a history of owning businesses and also having overseas income from relatives who have migrated to the West.

It was another hour back to Duhok by road, passing a huge refugee camp near Sharya.  We didn’t stop at the right spot to take a photo that showed the scale of the place.
 
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Was it a con-job?

Getting dropped off around 1530, I proceeded to pay Khalid the agreed USD90 for the day’s ride (which was slightly less than shared taxi prices multiplied by four seats).  In the back of my mind, I had been wondering if the Al-Qosh detour was a chargeable extra.  He said it was USD140 in total.  Considering it was an hour’s addition to the trip, I had thought USD120 would be fair.  I had enjoyed the extra sight-seeing but I thought it was a rather unprofessional not to discuss pricing with me; instead it was disguised as an invitation from his friend to which I agreed.  Do you think the invitation was a con-job?

I thought of negotiating it down to what I considered was the fair price of USD120.  But I let it go.  He has seven kids, has been displaced from his town in Sinjar or Shingal (where ISIS had massacred thousands of people, mainly Yazidis).  He had his house looted and seen unspeakable misery.  USD20 isn’t peanuts to me but he needs it more.

Khalid works as a phys-ed and English teacher for children from Sinjar.  The displaced kids use a local Kurdish school at night, after morning and afternoon shifts have finished.  While the kids are Kurdish, Sinjar is not within Kurdistan and the kids had been studying in Arabic.  So he continues teaching them in Arabic as it would be too disruptive to change their medium of instruction.

Dam & Lake

At dinner, I chatted to the restaurant operator who was a graduate in forestry engineering.  Forestry?  In a desert country?  Hhmmm!  His skills may be used in forestry or agriculture, but there’s not much of the latter either.

I walked off dinner by walking up to the dam and the resulting lake behind it.  It was a nice enough walk to see more of Duhok before leaving tomorrow.  I was told that since the lake was constructed, Duhok is the coolest place in Kurdistan in summer.  I can believe it!  Walking past the grassy park with a stream in town, I can feel the distinct cool air.  And with a big lake, the result would be even more pronounced.