About town

Today we threw caution and security regulations to the wind and gorged ourselves on what Sulaimaniyah has to offer the thrill-seeker and pleasure-lover.  It took about 20 minutes.

Actual contents may differ

We began with a visit to Nawroz Tourism Park, whose ferris wheel can be seen across town like a beacon to hedonism.  The pictures of log-flumes full of people howling with delight on the sign were clearly more figurative than actual, and seem to have been taken at Disneyland or similar.  It was hard to tell if the park was open or not, but we didn't go in as unfortunately each of us was carrying a cylinder of gas, forbidden under park rules.

We didn't miss much, as the dodgems were all grounded, the zombies in the House of Horrors had all gone to work for the Iraqi government and the ferris wheel hadn't revolved since before the french revolution.

On our way back we found a good place to join Santa for a drink but apparently it isn't love time until well after dark.  No matter, for soon we found a cafe serving turkish coffee (the kind that you have to eat with a spoon) and delicious cakes.  Best of all, it was outside the four walls of this compound.

The smiles are in honour of being outside Pak City

It's actually been an excellent weekend, as last night we had a fabulous thanksgiving dinner with the cooking directed by the mother of the Child Protection manager by live TV link-up from Plymouth, Massachusetts.  We also drank home-made mead (a kind of honey wine), which had absolutely no effect on us, as the pictures below will prove.