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Replies to your questions

(The construction - Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.)
I have only been able to walk around one afternoon with a T-shirt here in Iraq and Turkey. It has been sweatshirt or more type weather all the way. Also, in Sulaymaniyah I have notice the Internet connections grind to a halt around 9:00 p.m. I can usually get on line again around 8:00 a.m. in the morning. When the generators are running the room heaters will not work. So since the generators run constantly, I can forget about heated rooms.

I have found some questions in the "Comments" posted on the Gazette blog. Below I have tried to answer some of them the best I can.

As far as the Citadel in Erbil being refurbished, yes, since last time there is now a giant new flag pole in the center with the Kurdish flag. I did seem that there was some construction going on inside. I walked to the top of the hill but did not go inside. Perhaps I will try again on my way back across the county.

As far as the question of me seeing security contractors, the answer is seldom, but remember I travel in a whole different section of the culture and economy than they do. I am on the sidewalk level. The contractors are usually in the sand-bagged, armed guard, compound culture.

To the quality of life question. I get the general tone that the quality of life here now has slowly improved since 1991. While the rest of Iraq is in turmoil, the Kurdish region has slowly built itself into an emerging nation. I get the impression the Kurds suspect America will not always be in Iraq and they are preparing for that day. But remember we are only one in a list of nations that have passed through this region in the last 3000 years. They have seen nations come and go before.

As far as employees of hotels sleeping on the floor wrapped in blankets, I saw the same thing in Viet Nam. They seem to be in the ready if someone comes to the hotel in the middle of the night to check in. I suspect their is no such thing as "over-time-pay" here. It is of course contrary to what we know as hotel operations in America.

Depending on the season, the streets stay busier later during warmer weather on into the dark. Many people here work seven days a week and maybe two jobs. The sidewalks roll up at the end of the day and people retreat to their apartments and homes. The street economy fires up again about 9 to 10:00 a.m. in the morning.

The currency here is Iraqi Dinar. You get about 1200 Dinar to one U.S. Dollar. There are no street banks. There are some commerce banks for businesses. I have to get my money exchanged in shops. The vendors prefer to use Dinar over foreign currency on the street. A can of Coca-Cola costs about 500 Dinars. Like in America it is cheaper to buy soda pop in the liter bottles.

Remember it is a culture of economy and politics that is completely strange to us - no banks yet a robust street economy; several regional political powers merging control; and, it is a region that is 99.9 percent Muslim. And probably most important in regards to our prevailing wisdom about this part of the world, all across the region, I have been treated well and even with what we would surely describe as kindness.

Bob Keith
Sulaymaniyah, Iraq

View more pictures from Bob's travels.