2023-05-29. Marivan - Sulaymaniyah

Iran 2023 (Iran - Iraqi Kurdistan - Turkey - Greece - Albania - Italy)

When I get to the border there is a queue of trucks of more than 1 km and I go in the opposite lane, I reach the barrier and I am surprised that there are only trucks and they divert me to another side where there are also cars, I park in front of everything and the first person I meet asks if I want to change currency, I ask for the exchange rate of the Iranian rials I have left over to Iraqi dinars and it doesn't seem too bad, we do the change.

An official who speaks a little English approaches and tells me that I have to go to passport control, they stamp my exit visa and I ask them for the Carnet de Passage, I go there and they check my CPD, the passport and visa and since they don't seem to see it clearly, I explain to them about the accident in Isfahan, my repatriation by plane, the return to Iran and why the motorcycle stopped for 7 months, now they see it clearly, they fill in the CPD and onwards.
I was expecting a penalty for having left the bike for so long but nothing, it's been blowing and making bottles.

I leave Iran and enter Iraq, everything goes slower here as it costs more to enter a country than to leave it.
I enter the passport control building and I see a European guy with a big backpack sitting there and he tells me that they make him wait there, I see an open door with two officials and a queue of 4 or 5 people and we go in, they look at the passport and the VOA (Visa on Arrival) paper and they say you need to go talk to the manager and they accompany me, Lucas (the Swiss) too, we enter and the official receives us in a large office, one by one, interesting - for the trip and asking for more personal information, work, etc.
He tells me that very well, he wishes me luck and tells me to go to the front door, there are many doors but everyone tells me that it is not there but in one of the offices they make me sit down and after a thousand questions and checking my mobile phone, look photos, write down phone numbers, etc. they tell me to go to "customs" where they will give me a piece of paper that I have to take to passport control.

They direct me to "customs" to do the import of the bike, I have asked before if I could use the CPD and I was told that it will be easier to do the import process by paying the corresponding fee.
It's hard to find the place but a guy, seeing I'm quite lost, accompanies me to the counter where I understand that they say to pay I don't know how much, the guy intervenes, talks to them and says they'll do me a favor, that I don't have to pay anything , but above all to thank them many times, they give me the papers and to go to passport control again so that they put the stamps on me but to do it quickly as they have to leave and that they will wait for me (I don't know if they are in a hurry to lunch or for prayer time).

I run to passports again, there is a queue but I go to the front telling them that please I just need the stamp that customs is waiting for me and they want to close, they scan the documents, stamp the passport and go to customs again, they stamp the paper for the import of the motorcycle and they give me the letter of payment as I have paid 40,000 IQD (about 30 EUR, when I have not really paid anything) they say that I already have everything and I can enter the country now ... not yet I believe it, almost 3 hours but I'm already there!

I'm going straight to Sulaymaniyah to a hotel I've seen on iOverlander but passing a cafe that looks really good I stop to eat a lettuce, tomato, mushroom and chicken salad, then continue to the hotel where I will stay there one night.

I ask where I can change money and buy a SIM and a guy accompanies me: for the money there are many exchange houses and for the Sim we enter a shop and after spending a long time trying they tell me that they have found several times that Iraqi cards don't work on some mobiles and they offer me to buy a Hub Hotspot for $40 in addition to the Sim and the charge but I give up.

On the street I meet Lucas who is also looking at iOverlander but finds that €20 to sleep is too expensive and is looking for another cheaper one.
I walk around the market, eat a falafel and buy water and fruit and head back to the hotel.

At night Lucas comes to the hotel, we pass the whatsapp phones and he tells me the place where he plans to pitch the tent tomorrow, a lake where it seems to paint quite well, I tell him I'll try to go there.