One day, it took 18 vehicles to explore Wanlian Cave and Millennium Ancient City (Part 2)

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

Although Shanidar Cave to Amidi Ancient City is only 92 kilometers, it goes up and down mountains and hills, and drivers in this area rarely take long-distance buses. It’s like the villagers in the mountains usually come and go to work and visit, unlike domestic highways or tourist routes where there are people to drive long distances. Indeed, even 92 kilometers can be far for them. Therefore, our hitchhiking also brought us many challenges. It took us about 6-7 rides to successfully arrive at Amidi Ancient City, which took about three hours. We encountered young people giving us biscuits, university students going to Amidi to study, fathers bringing their children home, and the most memorable was the uncle who turned us around.

As everyone who has experienced hitchhiking knows, if you stand by the side of the road and give a thumbs up, it’s customary to explain your destination to good samaritans and express your gratitude. We encountered this uncle from the beginning, which was very interesting. When we stopped, I hadn't even had a chance to explain or say where we were going, he immediately opened the passenger door and gestured for us to get in. The uncle with a red and white headscarf laughed so kindly and cute, it didn't make us suspicious, and our feet automatically took a step. As soon as we got in, he started excitedly gesturing and speaking Kurdish, and I tried my best to understand his meaning. I couldn't understand him until he made a gesture for eating, seemingly understanding that he wanted to invite us to his home for a meal, but I didn't know how to respond because we hadn't had lunch yet and didn't want to delay our time to Amidi.

At that moment, he dialed, spoke a few words and handed the phone to me. The person on the other end was the uncle's son, who could speak English, and he expressed his father’s desire to invite us to his home for a meal. Learning that their home was on the way to Amidi, we happily agreed, or rather, we didn’t know how to refuse such a warm and hospitable old man.

The uncle's home was in a region called Barzon, I didn't know this place well, only knew that he was a relatively large town on the way. The previous night, Henry mentioned it to me online, saying he had hitchhiked here and was hosted by a hospitable freedom fighter, and this place had beautiful scenery. Before we arrived, I didn’t think it would be so amazing.

Until the uncle took us up and down the mountains, and when we stopped to admire the winding river, the vast farmland, and then climbed up the mountain with a panoramic view, the green mountains, lush forests, and flowing rivers spread out before our eyes, it was breathtaking.

I couldn’t help but take out my phone and snap photos, and the uncle saw that I liked it here, he pointed to the top of the mountain and made a photo gesture. Honestly, getting a free ride is already grateful, and we couldn't bother anyone to ask them to take pictures. But this old man was so warm and hospitable that we arrived at the highest point in a short time, the uncle stopped the car and took us to a best viewing spot, the view of Barzon was beautiful.

While we were taking pictures and videos, the uncle ran to the hillside to pick wild fruits for us to eat, which were different from the fruits in Gome Fellawe. They were particularly large and tasted hard and astringent, and he kept offering them to us. Seeing such a cute and enthusiastic uncle, I couldn't help but take a picture with him here for a souvenir.

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

This is a big family, the uncle has two sons and one daughter, and his brother was also a guest at his home today. Everyone sat on the carpet in the living room, and we entered and immediately prepared tea and snacks for us, which was very warm. After chatting, I learned that Huner works as a shift manager in the largest mall in Duhuk, so he is good at English. His father just came back from business and happened to meet us on the way.

The uncle's two granddaughters are both very cute, the older one is already in elementary school, although a little shy, she politely answered when we spoke to her. The younger one was a little unsteady on her feet and was a bit mischievous, but she wasn't afraid of strangers, and a little girl was quickly ‘kidnapped’ by our little girl, Lingling.

Muslin countries have a tradition of patriarchal values, where men are outside and women are inside. The grandma and her daughter worked in the kitchen for a while before calling us to the kitchen to eat. Although the dishes were not many, they were all traditional and authentic, and some dishes are difficult to find outside because they are not easily available outside, as many people prefer fast food for convenience.

When we ate, everyone at the table was men, and they said that the women should eat after we finished. This is indeed unfair, because the women worked hard to make the food, and they had to wait for the men to finish eating before they could eat the leftovers. Although not all Muslim countries and families are like this, like this traditional family always makes women lower than men, which is a bit unacceptable to me. But there are always some places in the world where life is not as we imagined. At least they can feel a little relieved that they don't have to suffer the pain of war like the Arab region.

After eating, drinking tea, and eating nuts is a habit in the Kurdistan region. After finishing the snacks, the uncle's family wanted to keep us overnight, but because they didn’t bring luggage, it was inconvenient, so we had to politely decline. Before leaving, we took photos with the uncle's family.

Before leaving, the villager who was going out on the way also took us a ride. We continued to hitch rides to Amidi.

Amidi is a millennium-old city built on top of a mountain. The castle was built more than 1000 years ago and retains a very old gate. We arrived just as a team from the United States was responsible for maintaining this historical site. They were surprised to see tourists visiting.

There are still many ancient buildings in Amidi City, including several academies. Although they are not as famous as some old cities, it’s still worth exploring the alleys and feeling the ancient atmosphere.

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

Because the winter in Kurdistan is short, the sun starts to set around 4:30 pm, and the dark comes around 5:30 pm. It’s getting harder to hitch rides back. It took us 8 rides and 3 hours to finally return to the uncle’s house. One day, we hitchhiked 18 vehicles, and we experienced the warmth and kindness of the Kurds.

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

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