It’s snowing today and the weather is around 0 C so there weren’t much activities to do. Spent pretty much the whole day planning my next destination. Originally I was planning to go to Iran from Turkey. However, right now I am considering to visit Northern Iraq before heading to Iran. I will need to head to the south east part of Turkey if I wanted to visit Northern Iraq. Another problem I have is time constraint because my visa to Uzbekistan is valid only until Dec 1st and I still have 3 more countries to go before Uzbekistan. Also I still have not got my Turkmenistan transit visa yet and I will need to give myself some additional time because many travellers have problem getting the visa.

Northern Iraq is open for tourism and it’s also called The Other Iraq. It’s an autonomy entity of Iraq and is governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government. Duhok, Arbil and Sulaymania are some of the bigger cities in Northern Iraq and I will try to visit those cities if possible. There are some good information on Lonely Planet Thorntree forum as well as some travel blogs, Backpack Iraq and Joe’s Trip.

Bought travel insurace finally because my next few destination will be more exotic and a little more dangerous. I should have bought travel insurance before my trip because the price for a 6 months coverage is just a little more than a 3 months coverage. I paid $173 for a 3 months insurance through world nomads.

Walked around Cappadocia in the afternoon

Outside the Open Air Museum’

Went to the bus station at 7pm and tried to get a bus ticket to Kayseri (one of the powerhouse economy in Turkey). However, the bus ticket agent mentioned that the bus is full. I don’t think it’s true but I can’t really argue with him since there are only 2 ticket agents that sell bus ticket to Kayseri and they are like a cartel. Got a overnight bus ticket to Diyarbakir instead (50 TL, 750 km away). They provided a shuttle to Nevesir which is another city 15 minutes away, then took the Batman bus to Diyarbakir.

Turkey has some good buses and even though there is not much leg room but I have Wifi access on the bus. Bus stopped at 4.30am for morning prayers. Toilets are good business in Turkey because we have to pay for almost every toilet in Turkey.

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