The suicidal mission in the warzone of Shiites and the Sunnis.

Blowing up their own children, mothers and brothers. Maybe that is to negative I thought when we landed in Baghdad (without a bullet proof vest..). Nevertheless het security measures in the airport and everywhere are immense. But Iraq is Mesopotamia the land of the Tigris and Euphrates, the land of many histories of heroes and civilisations . We are here on a two day trip and we will only visit Bagdad. 

Iraq was once one of the first big  agriculturally developed places due to the water and the knowledge these people have. Driving through the streets or Baghdad, under local police protection we pass destroyed cars, buildings with holes and demolished roads.
Our destination is The Palestine hotel . It is  an 18-story located on across from the Sheraton Ishtar. These two hotels are favored by  journalists and media personal and the risks of terrorist attacks are minimized. The hotel overlooks the Tigris river   on its eastern bank and – it gives an idea how nice and peaceful this place would have been without these political and religious problem. We always eat in the hotel due to security reasons. There are always and everywhere lots of UN troupes in the streets and also lots of local police/military trying to secure building and protect people. Baghdad was and still is I think one of the most important cultural, commercial and intellectual center for the Islamic World. It is difficult to get in contact with people since we are a bit afraid and don’t want to take any risk.

But to understand what is happening now one needs to understand the two main currents namely the Shiites and the Sunnis.

Het voornaamste verschil tussen de twee groepen is dat volgens de sjiieten alleen de nakomelingen van Ali Ibn Abi Talib rechtmatige opvolgers van de profeet Mohammed zijn.The main difference between the two groups is regarded by the Shiites only the descendants of Ali Ibn Abi Talib (Ali Baba I call him)  rightful successors of the Prophet Mohammed.

This is something that goes above my comprehension level of religion, certainly when they start killing each other for this reason. The sooner we leave this place the better.

20-04-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Pieter-Jan Van Haeverbeke  

After long waiting’s in airports , lots of custom controls we finally arrive in   Kathmandu Nepal.

Nepal brings out memories like “Kuifje and the terrible snowman” or like a film I once saw about the Dalia lama and the first conflicts whit China. But no my mistake that was in Tibet and we are in Nepal . I always have problems not to “mix” Tibet and Nepal.

 First thing I do when we leave the airport is going up to a higher place to look if I can see the mount Everest ,   the highest point on Earth , but no it  is too far away.

We stay here two days , mainly in Kathmandu. The guides tell us that Nepal is not anymore a monarchy but a communistic republic (A bit like China I think).

And to my surprise I hear that there is a lot more Hinduism than Buddhism in Nepal. But again I must have mixed Nepal whit Tibet.

Most of the days we walk through the city and visit the splendid Hindu temples amongst them the temple in Patan which was the capital of one of the three medieval  Nerwar kingdoms.

In Nepal agriculture is the mean economic business and they have 29 million people to feed. But in Kathmandu it is of course tourism that is the most important business. I believe that at certain moment there are more tourists than Nepalese in the city. Due to the rising demand of luxury apartments many high rise complexes are being built and the looks or Kathmandu is more and more like a modern western city

I was expecting some “tantric traditional religious spiritual” environment  .. but it wasn’t there. Or am I once more mixing Tibet and Nepal ?

19-04-2011 om 00:00 geschreven door Pieter-Jan Van Haeverbeke