That was my first Arabic, "Jeebi khuboz".
"Jeebi khuboz"?
First Arabic?
Jeebi khuboz, it's your first word that you learned?
Iraqi word, Jeebi khuboz.
It's all around the food.
By the way, I'm a start recording.
So all you guys should keep silent, silent.
Okay.
Yeah, I think we learned a lot of words around food because of places such as central
So, Zewi and Anika, right?
Okay.
And you say you have been almost above month, least than month in Iraq.
So in general, how you start the traveling?
From where does it count?
I started in Colombia.
Two days after my 18th birthday, I flew to Colombia.
I didn't tell my parents until I arrived.
Which year was that?
This year.
No, 2022.
2022.
I'm still 18 right now.
After Colombia, I went to Europe and I traveled from Spain to Greece and then to Turkey and
then to Iraq.
So you have a big list for a future.
What about you, Zewi?
So I traveled, I started traveling when I was 20, 1920.
And I went to Latin America and then COVID started and I had to go back to Switzerland
and then I had the idea of traveling in a different way.
So I'm independent and I don't rely on public transportation and I go in a way that I can
be more connected to the people and nature.
So that brought me to the bicycle because I was cycling a lot during COVID.
So you're famous in Iraq by your bicycles, actually.
We'll talk a lot about your bike.
Yeah.
I'm coming to see a woman on a bicycle with a dog.
Especially with a dog.
Women maybe we see before, but a dog.
Actually me and my friends are talking a lot about your photos and Facebook.
I'm about the dog.
Almost two weeks now in Iraq and we'll check up on some questions and know how much
of the compared ago.
So, what are the words in Urbeque you have been learned during the past days?
In the desert we learned so many words, I can't list all of them now.
Very common word that we kept hearing in the desert was Mejnuri.
They kept calling me Mejnur, dad do stupid things.
And what else?
Dibi hubist.
What does it mean?
Give me bread.
Okay.
Another one?
Mmm, tibisamun, which is another type of bread.
Like common things like when Ahmed, when...
There's a lot of common words that people use in everyday speech.
Okay, so, what is my father's name?
Shinseh, what?
What is your name?
Al-Rasi Al-Aqsaasi.
Alhamdulillah.
Okay, we're talking before that, how you start and when you start.
So you're visiting, Annika said that she's visiting Colombia, now to start after that
for two euro?
Yeah.
So you've not been to visit Arabic country before?
Even you, Zoe?
My parents were travelers, so they took me to Egypt, we traveled with the Bedouins in
the Sinai desert, to Asia.
How many?
How old?
I was, I think, 12 or 13.
But I didn't pick up any of the language.
Yeah, but I asked this question because you are not visiting any Arabic country, how you
can decide to visit Iraq?
For me, I don't know.
I thought why not?
Why not?
I got nothing better to do.
That's easy.
Yeah.
What about you?
For me, because I'm traveling with the bicycle, I go step by step from country to country.
And my plan was always to go east.
Actually, I have different ideas along the way, but first it was to visit, I was like,
okay, I'll leave Switzerland by bicycle and cycle to India where I want to meet up with
my friend who lives in the Himalayas.
And that's still kind of the goal, but you know, I've been on the road for two years
and...
It's all to go by bicycle to Amaliyah?
Yeah, and then meet my friend there.
But it's been two years and my plan obviously changed.
And I worked in Greece with refugees and I met a lot of Iraqi Kurds, but also Iraqi
Arabic people there.
And in Greece?
In Greece, yeah, they were there seeking asylum.
And I made friends with them and I was introduced to Arabic culture.
And how you decided to visit Iraq?
Well, Kurdistan, yes, Kurdistan Iraq, but I wasn't really aware of visa and anything.
I didn't inform myself before.
And then in Kurdistan, Iraq, I met a lot of female travelers actually that had come to
Iraq and they told me it's amazing for the people and history and everything.
So I was...
You're not making any research on internal?
No.
About Iraq, about travelers in Iraq?
Because I usually go kind of off the flow, I didn't really have Iraq on my mind to travel
by bicycle.
And yeah, just from what people told me.
Okay, so about the dog, it's such interesting to take a dog with you on a bicycle.
Do you face any problem, any restriction during your travel with your dog?
A few times, I had encounters with people that were really, really afraid of dogs and
I think they were meaning to harm him and I had to stop and interfere them from harming
him.
But usually, even if they're really afraid of them, I had really nice encounters with
people offering him food when I went to restaurants.
And yeah, people are usually really happy to see him.
So you are met in Kurdistan and Iraq.
You will join together, traveling together from now?
Because I moved the bicycle, my bicycle was in Kurdistan.
I will go back and then continue traveling by bicycle.
So we can see your dog, right?
We can see your dog.
You'll bring it?
Because of visa, of federal Iraq?
Not because of visa, but because of traveling by public transportation with a dog here is
very difficult, I think.
That's why I didn't bring him.
So how do you continue from Kurdistan?
Bicycle.
From Kurdistan to another country?
Back to Turkey and to Georgia, Azerbaijan and then I want to cross the Caspian Sea
to go to Kazakhstan and then east.
Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan, back and to Central Asia.
So you will go to Hamaliyah.
What about your destination, Anika?
After Iraq, I want to go to Jordan and then Egypt and maybe cross into Saudi and come
back through Iraq up towards Turkey.
What about Oman?
Yeah.
Such interesting countries to visit.
Yeah, I think I'll go to Oman when I'm in Saudi.
It's a question for both of you.
How do you see Iraq?
It's the same that you're hearing and seeing in media?
I would say not at all.
At least in the West, in Canada, we have a very bad image of Iraq, but here it's totally
different than what we see on the TV.
It's so much better that people are so hospitable.
It's a beautiful place and it's, I think it's one of the safest countries I've been in,
if not the safest.
What about you, Tug?
Anything to say?
Yeah, similar to Anika.
In the West, we think of it like a destroyed country kind of because it has been through
so many conflicts.
And yeah, I think it's portrayed in the West as a, they don't portray the beautiful people,
they just portray what has happened, but not like actually how the people are.
But yeah, that's the case for a lot of countries in the East, I think.
They like to live their life.
You go to Baghdad.
What places you have visits in Baghdad?
I don't know the names of most of the places, honestly.
I went to Mutinabi Street.
Mutinabi Street, Shah Al Mutinabi.
You know, Al Mutinabi is just a street for selling books, is it?
Yeah.
Alley.
I went to the streets around the Book Street.
And this street's old, maybe more than a hundred years.
Yeah.
I went to the streets around the Book Street and told me about some of the history of Mutinabi.
Mutinabi.
I think, I have to say, I much prefer other places in Iraq to Baghdad.
But I think for some travelers, Baghdad would be a great place to go.
So you will go, for sure you will go south of Iraq, with the Somarians and all civilizations.
You have any spots in your mind and in your list to visit?
We want to go to Babylon, Ur, Uruk, Al-Ukhidr.
And I'm really interested as well in going to Nasiriyah, Al-Trabayesh.
Al-Trabayesh.
Marshes.
Yeah.
I want to see the Jammuz.
Okay.
You want to see the Jammuz?
Yes.
First of all, you should eat the Gamer before seeing the Jammuz.
I mean, lots of it here in Iraq.
It's so delicious.
I love it.
Try that traditional Iraqi food in Kurdistan.
Yes.
I have stayed with families and they have showed me some recipes, like dolma, makluba.
Dolma and makluba.
What else?
The one with the bread.
No.
Okay.
Khubis.
No, the one with khubis.
Where you soak it in the soup.
We're in the soup.
And the shereb.
The shereb.
Okay.
The shereb.
And I think we've had a lot of Fidiarian food, but we don't necessarily remember all the
names.
Yeah.
So it was the most famous maybe dolma, makluba khubur.
And today we have...
How you found it?
The shereb soup was the soup.
The soup.
The greenish one.
Yeah.
How you found it?
The meals, the foods in Iraq.
Amazing.
The food here is so good.
Very amazing.
But I'm... because everything is fried or it was a lot of oil.
I'm noticing that I'm...
Yeah.
I found it so much fatter here than it was before I got to the Middle East.
You need it.
You're traveling a lot, so you need to get a little...
A little bit, yeah.
But we're...
We sometimes get forced fees.
Because we don't have the option.
By the Iraqi mothers, they...
They...
Yeah.
They force you to eat more.
They think we're too skinny so they give us more and more food and a lot of desserts.
Yeah.
It's kind of hospitality actually.
Yeah.
It's really nice.
But it's hard to say no.
We have to still learn that.
We're not allowed to say no.
No.
Like cases.
Okay.
I'll ask you.
That's a real question.
How many tea cup of tea you have been to drink?
God, let's not be vegan.
So many here.
Yeah.
So Iraqis, you know, if you went...
If you go to another Arab country, you will drink a different tea.
But you will remember the Iraqi one.
The Iraqi one is so much better than the Turkish one.
Yeah.
Turkish one, what's...
What's why?
Turkish one doesn't have any flavor.
Uh-huh.
Light.
Lighter.
More lighter.
The Iraqi one is so flavorful.
They were full.
And dark?
Dark, yeah.
But I don't like the sugar park.
Sugar park.
I prefer without sugar.
Yeah.
Ahmed actually drinks without sugar.
Ahmed is a good guy.
So...
What's your name?
It's called Rondomli.
It's a little bit.
If you have any questions, you can ask me.
Ah, ask questions to you.
Maybe like how?
Okay.
I will ask you last question.
Okay.
Will you advise your friends, your traveler that you know to visit Iraq?
Yeah, definitely.
Like on the one hand, it would be nice if it doesn't become too touristic and it stays
kind of authentic.
Because what happens to other places is when backpackers first come there, then they get
really touristic.
But definitely, it's really amazing and it feels very authentic.
It feels real in a way.
Yeah.
It's a special experience.
Any advice for the travelers who want to visit Iraq?
European travelers?
Yeah.
I mean from other not Arabic country.
Because you know about, I'm talking about maybe cultures, religion, or restricts.
Kind of.
How do you advise other people they plan to visit Iraq?
I would say maybe be open to anything and everything because so many amazing experiences
have happened because I've said yes to a stranger who says, hey, you want to go do this?
We come to my house to eat and I've met amazing people through that.
So just be really open to everything.
And trust people?
Yeah, trust people as well.
Iraqi people are so good.
Thank you.
And also you don't need to plan your trip.
You can't have fixed dates to visit certain areas.
Don't book hotels.
Just go and go off the flow because in Europe you can't really, you can, but it's more
hard.
I feel here like people just take you and they'll offer you an experience with their family
with, I don't know.
So you just really should go off the flow to really experience the real culture, I think.
So just enter from the, just make your passport stamped and feel ex-Egyptian.
Yes, Syrian.
Okay.
Did you stay in a hotel through your visit of Iraq?
No, I think hotels suck.
I hate them so much.
I would never stay in a hotel.
I'd rather sleep on the street than stay in a hotel.
Yeah, me neither.
I don't go to hotels.
Not only because I can't afford it, but it feels weird being in a hotel.
Like how do you see Iraq, like how do you see tourism coming to Iraq?
How have you seen the last two years since the visa on arrival exists?
And how do you see the changes and what do you, where do you think Iraq will go?
Like, will it become a very touristic place or?
Uh-huh.
Actually, as you know, Iraq has a big history and there are lots of different civilizations
from north to south, east and west.
So I think just only this matter of like a big history, it's enough to make Iraq a
touristic country.
And we all hope that's go in the future, go advance and develop this sector of flow.
And actually till now, people not see a lot of tourists around.
But yeah, the amount of tourists go bigger and bigger by days.
And one thing you know about the Zakourat of Ur and Nasriya, they now established a building
church near the Zakourat.
And now it's under construction and it's interesting thing.
So the Christian people around the world, they can visit, you know, it's good thing
to talk about.
And yeah, and musul, lots of thing to visit in musul.
After what's happened in the last few years.
Yeah, we hope so.
We hope to see lots of tourists in the future.
And you don't fear that like, it could also destroy the culture a bit if there's too
much tourism?
I don't think so.
It's good to be open actually.
It's good to be open to the world.
See different cultures, different religions.
By the way, Iraq have made up to six religions as you know.
Yeah, so even in Iraq we have different nationality.
And why not to be open to other people?
We already have this mixed, why we not share it with the world, yeah?
I have a question for you.
Okay.
So do you as an Iraqi see the West?
What's your image of the West?
My vision actually maybe not to present most of Iraqis because I met a lot of them in
work or in live, in even in social media.
So I have a good vision about the West in general.
But yeah, maybe Iraqis a little bit conservative about some issues.
But you know, when you be open to people and share the culture, the share the ideas,
it will be understandable.
You can understand the people, their culture.
You know, all what we see in movies and media, social media is sometimes, most of the time
actually is pushed by some establishment or is directed to one point overview.
It's limited, not the truth by the end.
Yeah.
Okay, what's the most?
That's a good question.
How your friend families feel when they heard that you aren't in Iraq?
My parents are so happy and they are like always asking for pictures because they love
the Middle East.
They actually met in the Middle East.
So they're really excited and they would like to visit Iraq too, especially my dad.
Do your parents have an idea to visit Iraq?
Yeah, they actually, my father will retire soon and my mom, they will, they want to travel
when they're both retired, but I don't know where exactly.
But I think if I tell them how amazing it is, they will definitely want to come to Iraq.
Okay, that's good.
May I, okay, I told you earlier, may I go to visit Switzerland?
Of course, you're highly welcome there.
I can't say that the people are as hospital as here, but my friends and family will definitely
welcome you with open arms.
Okay, thank you.
Actually, I'm following lots of pages talking about Swiss and Swiss page, especially for
the camping page, such amazing nature there.
Yeah, I hope I can do it, but I will do it in the future.
So visit.
Insha'Allah.
Anyka, how does the react of your friend or family?
Same as her.
My family thinks it's so cool that I'm in Iraq.
My grandma always is wanting me to send her pictures and tell her what I'm up to.
She recently told me my grandma was in the hospital and she went to see my grandma and
she was showing me all the pictures.
I sent her of camping in the desert with the Iraqi dudes.
And my grandma thought it was absolutely amazing.
She thought it was so hilarious, the videos of dancing, the Iraqi dance in the desert with
them shooting the guns and the air and everything.
So everyone thinks it's so cool.
My friends as well.
They think it's amazing that I'm here in Iraq.
Anything else, guys?
I think you can close in here a lot.
You have anything to add?
Little Saida.
That's it.
Final words for you.
I will make you close in the episode.
Yeah, just thank you to the Iraqi people for your amazing hospitality and your amazing
hearts and teaching us so much life lessons about kindness and amazing food.
Thank you.
Yeah, what she said.
Thank you for the shit.
Thank you.
I'll go try.
I'll eat a big type.