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Baghdad, Iraq
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a real family fun spot!
Great for:
Skiing/Snowboarding, Hiking/Camping, Nightlife, Budget Travel, Family Vacations.
The flight in was a little choppy, what with the surface to air missile fiasco and all, but once we got in and through immigration, good times were had by all.
My son, who is 9, especially liked all the neat trucks and tanks (who can blame him??? I'm stuck on the History Channel 24/7!!) He would constantly run up to the soldiers and shout, "I give up! I give up!" while waving his little hands in the air and everyone would have a good laugh.
We ended up staying at the Palestine Hotel and were surprised at the number of foreigners staying there. Wow! I guess Baghdad isn't the secret vacation paradise it used to be! The hotel lobby was a bit sparse, but there was lot of cool rubble and fake blood to give the hotel an authentic "Palestine" feel. The staff was super nice and made sure you felt right at home. No problems on getting extra towels.
My wife loved the shopping! Everything was SO CHEAP! Neither of us could believe what we could get for a few measly dollars. People were almost BEGGING us to buy their stuff for next to nothing! It was the best shopping holiday EVER! The locals got a good laugh when I told them I was doing some early Christmas shopping in July. I guess they all got into the holiday spirit, since the merchants followed us all the way back to the hotel chanting and waving their arms around. I bet Bing Crosby would be proud of their attempt at caroling. Fun stuff!
After two weeks, it was hard to leave. I almost thought about calling the boss back home to say, "I'm not coming back! I've fallen in love with this place!" but in the end, the harsh reality of a mortgage payment and a (by now) starving pet prevailed and we got on the plane and headed back to Canada.
i love bagdad
the atmosphere is magnificent there, even with the ominous sound of those RPG's flying over you hotel cannot put you off the beauty of the looters of Iraq. Everything is so cheap there all the way from the stolen computers to the unused shells.
my hotel smelled like feet
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Great for:
Scuba/Snorkeling, Nightlife, Family Vacations
I was a little disappointed in the accommodations, the sheets were dirty and the room was smelly. Not much hot water, either. Plus, when I complained to the guy, he says "Don't you want to feel awful?" and he sticks some sort of chicken wrap in my face. When I was strolling around the boulevard in my Toby Keith Rules t shirt I seemed to be getting a lot of stares. Not one decent sports bar in the whole damn city, either. Don't these idiots watch football? It's the playoffs for chrissake! Do not throw candy to the children! This means that something is going to blow up right near you. And avoid lines of people waiting for work. Same deal. It's a good idea to wear running shoes as well because when a bunch of screaming Abdullahs approach you, waving knives and firing rifles, I found that it's best to just get the hell out of Dodge, so to speak and it's a lot more comfortable to do so when you have some light footwear. If you're wearing boots, you're just gonna get some god awful blisters.
i expected more
When I first got to Baghdad I was treated to men smoking like chimneys and with big bushy moustaches. Then as luck would have it we were delayed since another severed head was rolling in the road, so that had to be picked up and put with the other 3,000 of them. Women oh women. Had on lovely skin of goat which went very well with their rotted teeth. There is something about a woman who is 24 and looks 64 chain smoking through one of her 5 teeth. ahhhhh. Then we went on a tour of saddams death chambers where he and others laughed it up as people were lowered in vats of acid and brought up with just the hint of flesh on their bones---such belly laughs! all in all not too bad but I thought there would be more.
(Source: yahoo travel)
