Visiting the dangerous zone – My first trip to Iraq

Since I got a job as a business development manager in a Serbian construction company, our mission was to try to break through to the Arab market, specifically Iraq. This involved occasional visits there for negotiations on various projects.

Before my first visit in May 2014, my friends and family were very nervous because of my trip to a country where "the war is raging", but I tried to be as relaxed as possible. However, as soon as our plane approached Iraq territory I realized where I'm coming. When we were supposed to land, the first thing I saw from the plane was a house burning in flames and dense, black smoke above it. I was like: “Ohh man, what the f*ck I am doing here.” What an encouraging welcome!

On our way to the hotel there was a lot of police and military checkpoints located on every 100-200 meters in order to increase security. Arrogant drivers not respecting the red light, dirty city, garbage and dust everywhere in the streets were the first things to notice.

We stayed at the hotel in the more or less safe part of Baghdad, where we spent most of our time in the hotel lobby from which we had a nice view on the pool and garden. In the pool you can only see men, who are by the way very poor swimmers. Even in the depths of 1-1.5 meters they are using swim rings or armbands. One evening I wanted to cool off in the pool because there was still very hot, and when I wanted to jump into the water two guys came to me and quite worried said: “Sorry, we just want you to know it is a three meters deep water, maybe you do not want to swim here.” I just smiled and kindly thanked them for the warning.

From the terrace of the apartment there was a beautiful view on the park and the Tigris River.

Except in Baghdad, we had a few meetings in Babylon, so we spent two days over there. Along the highway, during our trip to Babylon, I saw a lot of date palm trees. Locals said there are more than 40 millions of these trees in Iraq. Date palm belongs to the palm family and it is cultivated for its’ edible sweet fruit. Most delicious are coming right from Iraq.

Tire repair shop

I was really looking forward to see the famous, old Babylon, but, except ruined streets and dust there was almost nothing to be seen. On the other hand it was an incredible feeling just to be in a historical, ancient place like this one. Too bad our visit was too short so we didn’t have time to visit famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Camels

During the two weeks I’ve spent in Iraq there was a holiday when people from all over Iraq are going by foot to the mosque not far from Baghdad to give honor to one of their Imams, worship leaders. Along the streets were placed tents with free food and drink. People who were coming from afar could’ve rested from the long trip. By coincidence, our hotel was located in the busy, crowded street. Loud music and noise made it very difficult to sleep at night. During our last day before returning to Serbia, we had no obligations or meetings and we decided to walk around a little bit with the mass of people. There was a small group of people dressed in white who were singing loudly and performing strange ritual called Tatbir. Tatbir is an act of mourning by some of Shia Muslims for the younger grandson of Muhammad, Imam Husayn. The practice of Tatbir includes striking oneself with a form of a talwar "sword" on the head, causing blood to flow in remembrance of the innocent blood of Imam Husayn.

Despite very tough life and being a war zone you can see a lot of smiling faces, hear the laughter of children playing football on the playgrounds located at every corner. With just a little space, ragged ball and two bigger stones that represent the goalposts. Friends are already on the streets.