Author archive
22 November 2024
Baghdad to Nasiriyah This morning, we left Baghdad after the lifting of the two-day curfew at 0001. Bound for Nasiriyah, we arrived at the Alawi Garage at 0835 as there was plenty of information suggesting that this was the southbound garage for taxis. Unfortunately, despite corroborating different sources of information, it was the wrong garage […]
21 November 2024
Today is the second day of the census curfew. We had hoped that we could go to Taq Kisra a little outside Baghdad but it would be a monumental task compared to yesterday’s shorter trip within the city. And we would risk not be allowed to return! The second possibility was to retry the Kadhimiya […]
20 November 2024
Big effort to get there We headed out around 0940 after the hotel breakfast, initially wandering by foot to the area that sold medical and disabled equipment. My plan was to go to the Martyr’s Monument by Careem but with the census curfew on, I thought it would be wise to test the water on […]
19 November 2024
Visa on Arrival I landed on time at 0030 at Baghdad International Airport. It’s not a huge airport and I was at the Visa on Arrival counter 10 mins later completing a very simple form. The form and passport was returned about 15 mins later with a visa stuck inside. Officially, payment had been cash-only […]
18 November 2024
Long Istanbul self-connect It was around 0745 when I left the hotel after breakfast, walking to the taxi stand outside the hotel to find a cab to Travzon airport. The journey was quick on the highway which kinda followed the shore of the Black Seat. It’s a pity that the city didn’t have any kind […]
17 November 2024
Tea factory and sweet shop Today I did an excursion to Uzungol, a picturesque lakeside village with the lake formed about 500 years ago due to a landslide blocking the outflow of water. The trip came with a few other inclusions. I reported to the tour office at 1000 and departed soon after. We collected […]
16 November 2024
I had opted not to do an excursion till tomorrow, due to wet weather forecast. It is good that I have a spare day. Instead, I’ll do the sights of Trabzon further from the bazaar area where I’m located. First up, I walked to the Gulbahar Hatun Mosque built in 1514. En route, I passed […]
15 November 2024
Sumela Monastery Trabzon’s highlight for me was going to be the Sumela Monastery out of town. In the late autumn season, I had read that public transport options are more difficult, so I booked a tour online with Sumelatur for TRY700 (NZD35) and came with a number of other sights. I walked to their office […]
14 November 2024
Arriving and domestic transfer in Istanbul With only 4h between meals onboard the flight from Male to Istanbul, I took only half a sleeping pill instead of a whole one. I enjoyed 2h sleep horizontally on three seats and managed to doze for a further two. Surprisingly Turkish Airlines served 2 full meals on the […]
13 November 2024
Heading to the airport Today, I leave Maldives for Trabzon in eastern Turkiye. Boo was flying back home to Malaysia and had to take the 0730 ferry while I had the luxury of the 1230 one for my night flight. This allowed me to fit in a 45 min final dip at the beach before […]