新西兰领事馆建议该地区不惜一切代价避免。然而，在与许多已经过去的旅行者交谈之后，他们都说了安慰和积极的事情。我们在这里的时间确实令人大开眼界，我们对人民，文化和复杂的政治局势学到了很多东西。

Iraq Kurdistan 伊拉克库尔德斯坦

A quick glimpse into this autonomous region:

Capital: Erbil

Population: 5.7 million

Language: Kurdish, Arabic

Currency: Iraqi Dinar (800 = $1 NZ)

Region: Middle East

Governorate: 3 (3 visited)

Religion: Islam (Shia)

Random Fact: There are four main regions the Kurds live in, and Iraq is the southern part.

快速浏览这个自治区：

资本：埃尔比勒

人口：570万

语言：库尔德语，阿拉伯语

货币：伊拉克第纳尔（800 = 1新西兰元）

地区：中东

省：3（访问3次）

宗教：伊斯兰教（什叶派）

随机事实：库尔德人居住的地区有四个，伊拉克是南部地区。

Iraq Kurdistan received a TCP/IP score of ★★★☆☆

Important Pointers

People & Culture (PC)

• The people are very interested in foreigners. We often get surrounded when we stop to buy or ask for something. This is due to the lack of tourism
• Hospitality continues to be amongst the best

• 

  
  
• People are proud of their identity. Sadly, fellow Kurds in other countries do not get the same freedom of expression
• Kurdish and Farsi share similar language roots so occasionally we could use a Farsi word and they understood
• Tea is a big part of their culture, public/onstreet tea houses are always busy

人与文化

• 人们对外国人很感兴趣。当我们停下来购买或要求某些东西时，我们常常被包围。这是由于缺乏旅游业

• 热情好客仍然是最好的

• 人们为自己的身份感到自豪。可悲的是，其他国家的库尔德人并没有获得同样的言论自由

• 库尔德语和波斯语有着相似的语言根源，所以偶尔我们可以使用波斯语，他们理解

• 茶是他们文化的重要组成部分，公共/街道茶馆总是很忙

Infrastructure, Safety and Politics (ISP)

• City centres are modern and developed. Apartment constructions are everywhere
• Internet is open and nothing is blocked, although mobile data is expensive
• Road design is a bit crazy - you can go from single lane with unsealed shoulder to asphalt 4 lanes once inside the city's outskirts

• 

  
  
• Flags flown everywhere
• Many horrible stories of human rights abuses in the past (under Sadam Hossein's former government), but a lots has improved after the liberation of the Kurdish people in this region

• 

  
  
• We never felt unsafe during our time on the road, camping or at military checkpoints. Perhaps having Canton around helped

基础设施，安全和政治

• 市中心现代化，发达。公寓建筑无处不在

• 互联网是开放的，没有任何东西被阻止，尽管移动数据很昂贵

• 道路设计有点疯狂 - 一旦进入城市郊区，您就可以从带有未密封肩的单车道到沥青4车道

• 旗帜随处飘扬

• 过去曾有许多关于侵犯人权的可怕故事（在萨达姆·侯赛因的前政府统治下），但在该地区库尔德人解放后，这一事件有所改善。

• 我们在路上，野营或军事检查站的时间里从未感到不安全。

Landscape & Nature (LAN)

• The region is very green and lush
• The route we took was hilly, but no difficult high passes
• Spring weather included lots of rain so we encountered some wet experiences

• 

  
  
• Couldn't find any dense healthy looking forests. The people love to have kebab (BBQ on skewers) so mature trees have no chance
• In the city of Sulaymaniyah, construction for the biggest recreational park in the middle East was paused due to increased war activities nearby
• Ongoing battle about littering and reducing plastic use

景观与自然

• 该地区非常绿色和郁郁葱葱

• 我们采取的路线是丘陵，但没有困难的高通

• 春天的天气包括很多雨，所以我们遇到了一些潮湿的经历

• 找不到任何茂密健康的森林。人们喜欢吃烤肉串（烧烤串），所以成熟的树木没有机会

• 在苏莱曼尼亚市，由于附近的战争活动增加，中东地区最大的休闲公园的建设暂停

• 关于乱扔垃圾和减少塑料使用的持续战斗

Value for Money (VM)

• Was a bit of a shock coming from cheap Iran
• Coffee was the same price as back home, and good quality!
• The cute little teacups will set you back 500 dinars, but bread is always cheap everywhere we go

• 

  
  
• Through the kind hospitality of the Kurdish people, we had many great hosts and free lunches
• Mobile data plan was quite expensive, costing $12 for one week of unlimited data
• You can still find falafel sandwiches for $2-3, few dollars more for meat

物有所值

• 来自廉价的伊朗有点震惊
• 咖啡和新西兰的价格相同，而且很喝！
• 可爱的小茶杯会让你回到500第纳尔，但面包随处可见便宜
• 通过库尔德人民的热情好客，我们有很多很棒的主人和免费午餐
• 移动数据计划相当昂贵，一周无限数据的成本为12美元
• 你仍然可以花2-3纽元找到沙拉三明治三明治，肉多少钱

Camping & Outdoor Living (COL)

• We camped several times and being a group of four, we didn't feel unsafe at all
• Although now is the wettest time of the year, we had several great days to enjoy the nights in the tent
• Picnic is a popular past time so it was easy to find places to make lunch, or even camp
• Much of the land is for agriculture, providing a nice green backdrop everywhere camped
• Spring time was beautiful with flowers popping up here and there

• 

  
  

露营及户外生活

• 我们多次露营，四人一组，我们根本不觉得不安全
• 虽然现在是一年中最潮湿的时间，但我们有几天在帐篷里享受夜晚
• 野餐是一个很受欢迎的过去时间，所以很容易找到吃午餐甚至营地的地方
• 大部分土地用于农业，为所有营地提供了一个美丽的绿色背景
• 春天的时候很美，鲜花随处可见

Return for a Retour?

There's a lot of instability in this region, news of attack are frequent and military presence is a norm. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our time here and would probably return, but use smaller roads to have quality encounters with villagers and avoid rude drivers.

回来吗？

这个地区存在很多不稳定因素，袭击的频繁发生，军事存在是一种常态。尽管如此，我们在这里度过了愉快的时光，并且可能会回来，但是使用较小的道路与村民进行高质量的接触，避免粗鲁的司机。

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