One day of hitchhiking 18 vehicles to explore Wanat Cave and Thousand-Year-Old City (Part 2)

The journey to Shanidar Cave was annoying due to the checkpoints, but hitchhiking is still time-consuming. After exploring and resting, it was almost 11 am. Fortunately, we were prepared and brought some biscuits and snacks to avoid being hungry on the road.

From Shanidar Cave to Amedi Ancient City, although only 92 kilometers, it climbs and descends through mountains and valleys. As few drivers take long-distance routes in this area, it's like villagers in the mountains who frequently visit each other for work. Unlike domestic highways or tourist routes, there are no people to drive long distances. Indeed, even 92 kilometers is far for them. This made our hitchhiking more challenging. We ended up using approximately 6-7 vehicles to successfully reach Amedi Ancient City, taking about three hours. We encountered people like young people offering biscuits, university students learning in Amedi, fathers returning home with their children, and most impressively, a big uncle who turned us around to go home. He was the one who showed us the beautiful Kurdishstan landscape along the way.

Anyone who has hitchhiked knows that it’s customary to give a thumbs up when standing by the roadside, explain your destination to good samaritans, and express gratitude. Our big uncle was particularly entertaining from the start. When he saw us stop, I hadn't even had a chance to explain or say where we were going, he immediately opened the passenger door, gesturing for us to get in. The big uncle with a red and white headscarf was smiling so kindly and charmingly, making us reluctant to be suspicious. Our feet automatically took a step. As soon as we got in, he started excitedly gesticulating and speaking Kurdish, and we tried our best to understand him. It wasn’t until he made a gesture for eating, and I seemed to get a vague understanding of him wanting to invite us for a meal. However, I didn’t know how to respond, because we hadn’t had lunch yet, and I was afraid it would delay our arrival at Amedi, although it felt awkward.

Just then, he made a phone call, spoke a few words, and passed the phone to his younger son, who could speak English. He expressed his father’s desire to invite us for dinner. Learning that their home was on the way to Amedi, we gratefully accepted, or rather, we didn’t know how to refuse such a hospitable old man.

The uncle’s home was in a Barzon area, which I didn’t know much about, except that Henry mentioned it online the previous night when he was hitchhiking here and said that he had been sheltered by a hospitable ‘freedom fighter’ on the road, and that the scenery was good. Before we arrived, I didn’t think it would be that impressive.

It wasn’t until the uncle took us, climbing and descending through mountains and valleys, and finally stopped to admire the winding river and vast farmland, then climbed further up the mountainside, with a wider view, the green mountains, lush trees, and flowing rivers stretched out before us, a truly beautiful sight.

I couldn’t help but grab my phone and take pictures, and the uncle, seeing my interest, pointed to the top of the mountain and made a gesture for taking pictures. Honestly, getting a free ride is already a great gratitude, and we couldn’t possibly bother people to stop and take a look at the scenery. But this old man was so insistent and kind, and before we knew it, we arrived at the highest point, the uncle parked the car on the side of the road, and took us to a prime viewing point overlooking Barzon, which was truly beautiful.

While we were busy taking pictures and filming, the uncle ran to the hillside to pick a lot of wild fruits for us to eat. Unlike the fruits in Gome Fellawe, these were much bigger and the taste was not very good, a little hard and astringent, and he kept offering me one, urging me to try it. Seeing this adorable and enthusiastic uncle, we couldn't help but take a picture with him first for keeps.

After passing through several small villages, it took about ten minutes to reach the uncle’s home, where we saw a two-story building. The younger son, Huner, came out to greet us.

This is a big family, with two sons and one daughter, and two granddaughters. His brother was also visiting today. They all sat on the carpet in the living room.

The uncle's granddaughters were both cute. The older one was already in elementary school and was a little shy, but when we spoke to her, she politely answered. The younger one was a little naughty and unsteady on her feet, but she didn’t resist being ‘kidnapped’ by our little Lingling.

Muslim countries have a patriarchal tradition, with men being the main and women being the secondary. The aunt and her daughter were busy in the kitchen before calling us to the kitchen for dinner. Although the dishes were not many, they were all traditional and local, and some dishes could not be eaten outside because people prefer to eat fast food for convenience. When we ate, the men sitting at the table were all men, and they said that the women should eat the leftovers after we finished eating. This is really unfair, as the women worked hard to cook, and then they had to wait for the men to finish eating the leftovers.

It's a habit to eat snacks and tea after eating in Kurdish cuisine. After finishing the snacks, the uncle and his family wanted to keep us for the night, but we couldn’t stay because we didn’t have luggage, and we had to politely decline before leaving and take a group photo with the uncle and his family.

Before leaving, a villager passing by gave us a ride, and we continued hitchhiking to Amedi.

Amedi is a thousand-year-old city built on top of a mountain. The castle was built 1000 years ago and preserves a very ancient gate. When we arrived, we just happened to meet a team from the United States responsible for maintaining this historical site, who were surprised to see tourists.

There are still many ancient buildings in Amedi City, including several academies. Although it's not as famous as some old cities, just wandering through the alleys can still feel the ancient atmosphere.

The best place to see Amedi City is on the opposite side of Sulav Town, where you can see Amedi built on top of the mountain, and the green trees, roads, houses, and steam from cooking pots are all beautiful scenery.

The winter in Kurdish region is very short, and the sun starts to set at 4:30 pm, and the sky is almost dark by 5:30 pm. It became more difficult to hitch a ride back, and it took us about three hours to successfully return home to the uncle’s house. We completed our record of hitchhiking 18 vehicles in one day, and experienced the warmth and kindness of the Kurds again.

About that Iraq you've never seen before, unfinished...

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