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Dohuk, old mans, Ak-47, some bags, and the happiness…
Little by little feelling more confident, this country, the unknown and the people here give you forces, they are friendly, it is great. Invited by at least 5 or 6 persons for tea, water or even food, today. The way from Zaho to Dohuk was flat, a sort of desert in development, messy, building stuff everywhere, one military control only on the way, they feel quite safe.
Arriving in a little outside cafe around a corner, there was these trees leaves floating a little with the 2 PM wind.. Hot wind from the desert, the old guys are hanging out there, in traditional clothes, a very large pant that ends quite tight at the feet, and the top which is like an old army shirt, under another shirt, and on their head the mujahidin scarf, in their hands they have this sort of neckless that they spin around like these Budhist monks in Nepal, they look amazing… A guy showed us his card from the PKK, funny, then a guy passed by with a AK 47, and was very good looking not only because of the weapon but because he was standing like an ancient general with prestance and honor. He was impressive, with a friend they were whispering all afternoon and exchanging big amounts of money… later i asked gently to photograph the friend, he agreed. Then some other guys arrived with more guns, everybody showing off with what was his gun, etc… They have this huge pile of bills also, no bank system here. These moments where smooth, and impressive.
We were cruising slowly in the bazar, when suddenly this old shop around a corner showed up, some old stuff from Irak, some old clothes, some old plates, some old bags ! YES ! A while that i searched the right bag, in the shop we look for every cool of them, and this one came out, the perfect one, in good condition, leather and strong army tissue, from the 30’s-40’s with a steel frame, is origin is not sure, maybe irak, maybe not, who knows, what i know is that i found it in a glorious shop of Dohuk Bazar in Irak after a great afternoon, i am happy and very thankfull for that.
As the day just ended, by a corner there was this group of kid that as usual gathered, we played with them, had fun and exchanged a little, the moment was great, and at another corner, there was this carpenter, we stopped, the smell of wood surrounded me, it brought me back these souvenirs of dad’s workshop, back in the days when during the summer i was working in. And like this we stopped, by this guy that was standing beautifully in front of his shop looking right, one leg on a little banch where his stuff was, in the traditional apparat. Or by this guy that was handicaped, he offered chaï, and so on… The Kurdish, brilliant people.
These days, there a lot of happiness on the road and i am extremely thankfull for that.
“Thanks.”
