On a Poor Wayfaring Stranger: What are you doing in Kurdistan?

Photo by Benjamin in I'm just a poor, wayfaring stranger, travellin' through this world alone, Saturday, March 26, 2005:

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I visited a synagogue in Cairo today. It was very depressing. If you look carefully at the two symbols on either side of the picture, you'll see something you don't see to often here--a star of David. I wanted to see if I could go in, but the entrance was gated and covered up, with sounds of construction equipment coming from inside. Also, if you look carefully, you can see the guards in each doorway. There were about four policemen total around the building, I imagine stationed there at all times. I was across the street, kind of looking up at it and staring, when some random guy came by and said "no, no, no" and kind of waved his hands around. "It's a house of God," I said softly and slowly turned and walked away. It tears me apart to see a house of worship under armed guard and shunned by the people around it.

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How many of us wish that we could travel the world? Benjamin is living the dream of many of us. Benjamin, or IwSFutCMD, has a blog on Xanga entitled I'm just a poor, wayfaring stranger, travellin' through this world alone. Here are a few excerpts providing background, his current traveling schedule, and a few paragraphs from an entry that describes a recent adventure that sounds rather harrowing. -gw

Sunday, March 27, 2005: I'm an American student in Cairo, at the American University in Cairo. I'll be here until May or June. I'm originally from California, grew up in South Lake Tahoe, live in San Diego, UCSD. I'm kind of a language geek. And I've turned into a travel geek fairly recently.

Sunday, October 08, 2006: I have a ticket to İstanbul for the 22 of November. I'll be there for a few days, then I'll be heading further into Türkiye, then, العراق (Iraq)! Well, كوردستان (Kurdistan). Yup, I'm gonna be one of the only independant travellers in العراق. I'm going to see هه‌ولێر (Arbil), سلێمانی (Sulaymaniyah), زاخو (Zakho), and whereever else is cool in كوردستان. I'd like to go to كركوك (Kirkuk), but it'll depend on how it looks when I get there. Then, after كوردستان, I'm thinking of going back to Türkiye, maybe (big maybe, just thinking about it right now) heading out to България (Bulgaria) and România for a little bit (I've got a friend in Bucureşti and I want to buy a new, nice balalaika), then (this part is for sure) flying from İstanbul to भारत (India), where I'm going to bum around for a month or so with my friend Darshana then trying to find a job, preferebly in मुंबई (Mumbai). So, if anybody reading has any cool places to check out in any of those countries (pref. in كوردستان, hard to find guides for that area!) comment me up and give me some info.

Sunday, December 10, 2006: Next, I arrive at the police station..... They start to question me.

"What are you doing in Kurdistan?"

"Tourism."

"Where are you from?"

"California, USA"

"Why are you really here in Kurdistan?"

"Tourism!"

"I don't believe you are American."

"No no no, I'm really American! I'm from San Francisco!"

"What's your job?"

"I'm a student."

"What's your religion?"

"I'm Baha'i."

"What is this?"

I proceed to explain what the Baha'i faith is.

He seems to take an interest when I mention that our prophet is from Iran. "Why do you have this song 'Mawlay' on your iPod?" Mawlay is an Arabic song. Apparently, it's religious, but I just have it because I like the way it sounds.

This intense questioning goes on for about an hour.... Eventually, they lead me into another room, where the head of security is sitting. He then tells me that I'm a guest here, I'm not under suspicion, but the fact that I have a GPS made them nervous. Also, apparently the mosque I visited is soon to be full of pilgrims going to the Hajj. So they were just a bit nervous about a foreigner with a GPS taking pictures of a place where a bunch of people were soon to gather. After that, they let me go, even giving me a ride to my hotel.

{Re-posted with permission}