Bright sparks

Electric wiring is more scary than ISIS. Electrical fires are common. 

Just surviving

The Cultural Cafe is an institution in Slemani, but even this bookshop has fallen on hard times. Once it occupied a pleasant building in a suburban street, combining a bookshop with a cafe. Now it is reduced to a rather flimsy tent on the edge of the bazaar. However, their enthusiasm for books still remains. 

Publishing has also been drastically reduced with a mere handful of books being published each month. Almost all publishing had been government supported and that money has completed dried up. 

It started with a kiss

 Sulaymaniyah has always been a liberal and cultural city. However, a previous statue in much style as the one picture was badly vandalised last year. The city responded by creating a larger and indestructible version and placing right by the main entrance the park. A statue like this is inconceivable elsewhere in the Middle East.

Taken for a ride

While most fret about ISIS and suicide bombers, a taxi ride is a far greater concern. Kurds are not usually aggressive drivers like the Lebanese and the Egyptians, but they are daydreamy and careless, generally preferring to drive in the middle of the road, straddling two lanes. Keeping right is not a popular option.

The quickest, easiest and cheapest way to travel between cities is by shared taxi. You just arrive at the 'garagy', find a taxi going to your destination and then wait for it to fill up (the front seat is a bit more expensive). Then you say Hamadallah (Praise God) and you are off.

Apparently the maximum speed level is 100 kph but my taxi hit 170 kph and this is no motorway. The roads are not bad, but not great either. Of course we had to have music as we speed along and at one stage doing 160 kph, the driver singing away takes his hands completely off the wheel so he can clap time to the music and execute some dance moves.

Oh and the taxi's tyres were bald too....

Hamadallah indeed.

An ancient legacy

The Sumerians ruled this region from about 4000 to 2000 BC and today very little remains of their civilisation (and now even less since ISIS is having a bit of go....).

One enduring symbol is the Sumerian good luck charm  It was frequently included in furniture, in particular mirrors. Today Kurds still incorporate this ancient charm into baby cribs.

Rats to you

 'DENT' is short for dentist and I am not sure what 'RO' is short for,but the two definitely don't go together. 

Life goes on

The economy is in ruins, ISIS are lined up long the 1000 border but that is no excuse not to be stylish. 

This is one of the large 'style centres' in Erbil. There are about 20 chairs in all and it is packed with young men getting their hair done and the occasional facial.  In addition to those in the actual chairs, the place also accommodates all their friends. It is a racket - several tvs are on, there is music blaring and outside two tea stands continuously ferry in glasses of sweet tea. The women are much more discreet and women's hair salons are thoroughly screened off from prying eyes.