TO BE OR NOT TO BE, THAT IS A QUESTION IN SOME SITUATIONS Today in Ahwaz, a beautiful city in south Iran, I met in my hotel a man from Iraq. “Wooow, you are the first person I meet from Iraq, I want to travel trough Iraq to Jordan, do you think it is possible?”, I asked him. His answer was quick. “You are crazy, do you not know, what is going on in my country? – They are fighting.” “I know maybe 10% of crazy people in Iraq are playing war games, but the remaining 90% are like the people in Iran, peacefully and nice. – By the way last year I was one month in Afghanistan, and I enjoyed the country and the people there, too”, I replied. “I see, you are an adventure traveler”, he said. And he informed me further, that Basra is quite safe, because is a petrol area and many companies are there, but the remaining area is a risk and he said that there are flights from Basra to Jordan. That is good information, I made up my mind to try first till Basra and check the situation for my route, if it should be not possible to go overland as last option I could fly from Basra to Amman, Jordan. “Then tomorrow I go to Teheran to ask for the visa”, I said to him. He informed me that in Ahwaz there is also an Iraq Consulate where I can get a visa for 40US$. At the end, he wrote his name and telephone number on a piece of paper, and gave it to me. “If you come to Basra, phone me, I can help you”, he said and left the hotel saying good bye. In the mean time, I do not know how many emergency telephone numbers I have already from people from Armenia and Iran. People that I just met for an hour somewhere, in buses, shops and hotels, after a small talk, they gave me their numbers or visit cards in case I need help, I could phone them and they can help me. When I asked the nice receptionist in her black outfit for the password to the Wi-Fi connection, she wrote down a very long number. “Is this maybe your telephone number?, I asked her. “Noooo, this is the password for Wi-Fi connection”, was her answer, “but I give you also my number in case you need help with people that do not speak English, you can phone me and I help you.” Up to now, I had to use no one of these numbers for help and hope that I will not have to use this number of this man in Basra, too. I took a taxi and rushed to the Iraq consulate to apply for the visa. The answer was short. “Visas only from Teheran”, and I left again. Tomorrow I go to Teheran and try to get the visa from there, if not, my overland travel from Berlin to Africa will finish here in Iran, and I will have to fly from Iran or from Dubai to Amman, Jordan.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Feb 2014 05:12:15 +0000
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