BOOKS BY ALUN BUFFRY and OTHER RECOMMENDED READING

 

 

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August 1972: Consulting the I Ching in Kabul at Sigis: Diane remains resolute

  Taken From All About My Hat The Hippy Trail 1972 ISBN ‎ 978-0993210716 

Then came the day that Diane was given her replacement passport – now she just needed the entry visa.

That same day in the morning there was a message at reception for Al to go back to the embassy.

Off he went. Things are working out,” he thought. He took a taxi to the embassy, just to be positive.

Al arrived at the embassy and was shown in to the office he had been in previously and met the same embassy official.

The guy told Al that the authorities had been in touch with Al's parents and they had sent some money, £170, enough for a flight back to London and some change.

“Well,” thought Al, “that's about six weeks wages for Dad.”

Then he thought: “Well God, if you are there, please let them be able to afford that, not let them get into debt.” (I can tell you now as it seems the best time, but Al did not know for weeks afterwards, that round about that time they had had a small win on the “football pools” whatever that is – it was in fact as if his prayer had been answered.)

Al told the embassy chap that he did not want to spend all that money getting home and agreed to take seventy pounds in cash, English money, and leave the rest at the embassy.

“That way,” he said, “I can get home and get my friend Diane home too.”

He took the money and arranged that he could get the rest transferred to any country on route or get it refunded to his parents.

He already had his visa, Diane had her passport, all that was needed was to make the return bus ride to the border.

He went back to meet Diane at Sigis restaurant, that had become their regular haunt. They would go for a “slap-up” meal.

 

After a milk shake and a smoke, Al found the name of a good restaurant and took Diane for a big meal. Well, it ended up that the only vegetarian food available in this top restaurant in a big hotel, was Kabuli rice with vegetables on the side, yoghurt, bread and fruit. They could have eaten exactly the same in a local cheap restaurant for a fifth of the price and in a better atmosphere.

Al said to Diane, “So tomorrow morning we can get the bus to the border and back and sort out your visa, then we can get tickets and head back across Iran. It'll be fun.”

“I've told you loads of times, don't you listen,” she said, “I'm not going, it's stupid, they know I am here. If they say I can't get out of the country without a stamp to say I came in, that's just daft! So what I can't even fly out. What about if they wanted to kick me out, they'd soon do that. End of!”

The following morning, Al got himself up and when he woke Diane, told her if she wanted to go to the border today, get up and go with him.

Diane refused. They had a noisy row.

Al realised that she was not going to cooperate.

Al turned to his "I Ching" and, throwing three Afghani coins, asked "what should I do? Stay with Diane or make the journey home alone?"

 

It seemed very sound and clear advice from the book that he had to make the journey home; the alternative suggested led to disaster.

Later that day he told Diane “Tomorrow I am getting up and going to the bus station. If you want to come, we will go to the border. If not, I'm going to catch a bus to Herat

“Look, here is half my money that's left, thirty pounds” handing her the English notes and a few Afghani notes.

“So it's up to you. Fifty pounds should get us both back to London if we share.”

“Thanks,” she said, “Maybe I'll see you in England one day. I'm not going to the Pakistan border and if they aren't going to let me out to Iran, I'll have to stay here.”

Al struggled but he could not understand why she was being so stubborn, it was only a bus ride.

“If I stay here I am going to die,” he said.

After that they did not talk about it and drifted back to a day at Sigis getting high.

 

May 1972: Peshawar and Lahore: Miriam at the Lahore Film Studio

  Taken from All About My Hat The Hippy Trail 1972  

The street looked like a chaotic mishmash of tumble-down buildings with broken or torn flags hanging everywhere. The road was pot-holed. It was crowded with people. There was a restaurant across the road. Al took a photograph – not many left.

There was no toilet in the room. In fact, there did not seem to be one visible at al. So still with me on his head, he went to the reception to ask.

“On roof,” said the small man sitting behind a desk reading a newspaper. He did not seen interested.

Al climbed two flights of stairs to find a door that opened onto the roof.

In the middle of the roof was a wooden structure with three doors, a couple of steps up and inside there was a hole in the concrete floor and a jug of water. The water was to wash instead of the Western toilet papers we had seen in some cities.

Below the hole was another level of concrete – piled with human shit. It was smelling real bad even though the day was cooling fast as the light was beginning to fade. The whole place was, of course, swarming with flies.

Later Al learned that the place was emptied once a day, the shit shovelled into wicker baskets lines with rushes and leaves, to be carried down through the hotel and into the street. Al could not imagine what they did with it after that. Those poor women deserved a reward. But he had nothing spare to even offer.

A while after returning to the room, there was a knock on the door. Keith jumped up and opened it and there stood Hellmut, grinning and with a smoking joint in his hand.

“Hello my friends, you want to smoke some hash with me and I buy you dinner?”

So they puffed on the joint, their spirits again lifting. Al had been wondering where he was – absolutely everything was so different to his home city; in fact it was so different to anything else he had seen even in the places we had passed through.

Al was thinking, what is different: well for starters the smells and the air, the people and their costumes, the language and the script, the food and the drink, the streets and the buildings, the transport, the health care, the hygiene and safety rules and protection, life expectancy and family life, politics and religion, even the ways in which business was conducted - people argued over prices.

And, thought Al, what is the same – well I guess I am, he thought – I guess everyone, well most people, have two arms, two legs and two eyes; we're all breathing; we probably all want the same thing, We all want to achieve something and to find fulfilment, peace, love, freedom.. We probably all wonder at some time what life is all about – or maybe their religions satisfy all that.

Al began wondering why he was travelling – what was he looking for. Religion and science had failed him, now he was feeling like he was wandering far from home, maybe risking his health and safety, taking risks in a dangerous part of the world and with very little money. “Am I nuts?” he thought.

But so far this adventure had gone well, and in any case there was only one direction to go and that was India. Al thought that it was said people could find answers in India – it was where The Beatles had gone to their Guru called Mahesh Yogi. It was a land of many beliefs, supposedly with enlightened beings willing to impart the truth. Or so he'd read. Probably not like that at all. And, thought Al, I probably don't have enough money to buy enlightenment.

Outside in the damp street, the women were dressed in black Burkas again, or colourful cloth wraps, except the Westerners of course. Some of them were well covered too and many wore head scarves. Almost all the Western men wore blue jeans, some with hats of varying sorts, and one even looking quite like myself.

The local men were of two distinct types. One lot were quite short in height and slight, dressed in what often looked like dirty pyjamas with white caps or wrapped in sheets of cloth. The other lot were massive, thick set giants over 6 feet in height, wearing turban-like headgear and armed with rifles and long swords.

Bicycles, three wheeler Rickshaws, and beasts of burden, were the main form of transport here.

Al spotted a sign above a doorway. It was a drawing of a set of false teeth.

There were three-wheeled street stalls with massive piles of apples, oranges, lemons and yellow and green melons for sale. Dirty-looking streets stalls offered strange looking food in huge pans cooking over charcoal or wood fires.

“You know, my friends, Peshawar is called the 'City of Thieves' – you can buy guns here – be careful with your bags,” said Hellmut.

“Fucking great, man,” said Keith.

The street was filthy.

“Two nights here, then I am going to Lahore on the train, if you want, my friends, I will tell the manager at the hotel and he will buy us tickets,” said Hellmut.

“How much do the tickets cost?” asked Keith.

“No problem my friends I am paying, you are my guests. Now we go to special place to eat and we can smoke hashish. It is called The Secret Restaurant and my friend from Berlin, Karl is running it. And his wife Marianna is from Switzerland. They have good vegetarian food and good music.

The Secret Restaurant was actually inside a large second floor apartment down a poorly lit back street and on to another main road, this time far busier with trucks, carts, colourful coaches, cars and bicycles – and men with donkeys carrying either them or their wares. The roadway and pavements were equally muddy and dirty and it was quite noisy. Street stalls were still selling fruit and vegetables and bottles of fizzy drinks – a lot of signs for Pepsi. Other stalls were issuing clouds of smoke or steam, offering a whole range of quite unpleasant looking foods. Hygiene was an absentee here.

But the apartment building itself, behind a large wall separating it from the road, and guarded at the entrance by a costumed and armed giant from the hills, was remarkably clean.

The guard greeted Hellmut and let us pass through the arched gateway. Hellmut pressed a buzzer near the doorway and soon a pretty young lady came to let us in. Hellmut greeted Marianna, they hugged like good old friends. She led the way for us up the stairs and into the apartment.

The apartment consisted of at least two bedrooms, kitchen, western toilet with shower and a massive living room with a balcony looking out on to what may have been the back garden or a park. There were several round tables with chairs in the room seating for maybe 16 people. That still left plenty of room for the many cushions scattered around by the walls. About half a dozen people sat at tables another half a dozen or so on the cushions. A young dark-haired girl was playing a guitar and singing 'The Circle Game”, a Joni Mitchelle song.

For a second or two Al thought it was Miriam, but no.

Al could see outside through a double glass door was a balcony – he could see people were smoking.

The three of us sat at a table; Al took me off his head and put me next on the table next to the fourth chair which was empty. I felt as if I too was a guest at this meal.

The meal was three courses of vegetarian food – two choices for each course.

Al chose dahl with bread, a Madras vegetable curry with rice, and pancakes with fruit. The dahl was a very hot dish made from lentils and onions and garlic. It was all delicious, to Al's taste. And Keith had finished his plates too. Keith had eaten vegetable samosas – triangle of pastry with spicy potatoes and vegetables inside – pasta with creamy sauce and cheese, and rice pudding for afters.

They each drank a beer. It was the first alcohol Al had drank since the Ouzo in Syria. It was not as strong but still went straight to his head. He felt giggly.

Afterwards they smoked chillums on the balcony, looking down on a garden complete with flowers and a small pool with trickling water.

Al was lost looking down at that pool. Suddenly he began to wonder where he was.

One minute there's a dirty gloomy fearful city at night, with all the hustle and bustle and smoky fumes. Next, a veggie banquet with beer and chillums and Hendrix playing ' Foxy Lady' on a balcony above a heavenly garden. "Maybe in fact", thought Al, "we're actually all dead! Or just sleeping, dreaming. Or being dreamt?"

Al was thinking of the nature of reality - or was it illusion? Science had told him that everything was made of atoms and molecules, forms of energy, but those very atoms were almost all space, with wisp-like clouds of negative charge called electrons around a positively charged nucleus itself made of tiny particles that were sometimes behaving like particles and sometimes like waves – the wave-particle duality. And in between it all, 99% was nothing but space. So we are all mostly space.

Al thought that just as ridiculous to believe as a religion saying we were all made out of and by some supreme creator four thousand years ago in the Garden of Eden.

And where was the Garden of Eden anyway?

Certainly not in Peshawar.

With that he realised he was sitting on a balcony, high as a kite, looking at a pool of water.

They drank another beer and Hellmut led them back to the hotel, this time taking a slightly different, longer but better lit route.

Was that fireworks or gunshots we could hear? Guns?

The next day was spent mostly in the Secret Restaurant smoking talking and eating.

The morning after that, they took the train to Lahore – direction India.

In comparison to the bus rides, the train journey was boring. It was about three hundred and twenty miles but it took many hours.

When they reached Lahore, Hellmut took a taxi to a hotel he knew and they soon booked in. It was another hotel for mostly western travellers.

It was the Hotel Eden!

A small hotel with about a dozen room surrounding a small open garden with small shady trees, potted flowers and a pool in the centre!

Eden! Was this the Garden of Eden that Al had been thinking about at the Secret Restaurant in Peshawar?

The hotel also had a games room and Al looked inside; it had a pool table, table tennis and darts board.

He went to their room, small but comfortable, with two beds, dressing table with mirror and another table with one chair. On the way in he spotted a machine offering fizzy drinks and bought two for a few rupee coins.

Inside the room, Keith said:

“I'll read you a bit about Lahore,” and opened his travel guide.

“Lahore is the capital city of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest metropolitan area in the country.

"It is the largest native Punjabi-populated city in the world and an important historical centre in South Asia. With a rich history dating back over a millennium, Lahore is a main cultural centre of Punjab region and Pakistan. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains an economic, political, transportation, entertainment, and educational hub. It is referred to as the "Mughal City of Gardens" due to the historic presence of gardens in and around the city dating back to the Mughal period.

“Lahore successively served as a regional capital of the empires of the Shahi kingdoms in the eleventh century, the Ghaznavids in the twelfth century, the Ghurid State in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and the Mughal Empire in the sixteenth century.

"From 1802 to 1849, Lahore served as the capital city of the Sikh Empire. In the mid-nineteenthth and early twentieth century, Lahore was the capital of the Punjab region under the British Raj. The traditional capital of Punjab for a millennium, Lahore was the cultural centre of the northern Indian subcontinent which extends from the eastern banks of the Indus River to New Delhi.

"Mughal structures such as the Badshahi Mosque, the Lahore Fort, Shalimar Gardens, the mausolea of Jehangir and Nur Jehan, Chauburji Gate, and the walled city are some of the major tourist attractions in the city. Lahore is also home to many British colonial structures built in the Indo-Saracenic style, such as the Lahore High Court, the General Post Office, Lahore Museum, Lahore Railway Station, and many older universities and colleges including the University of the Punjab, Govt College and King Edward Medical college. The Lahore Zoo, thought to be the fourth oldest in the world, is also situated here.

“Lahore was called by different names throughout history. To date there is no conclusive evidence as to when it was founded. Some historians trace the history of the city as far back as four thousand years ago. However, historically, it has been proved that Lahore is at least two thousand years old. Hieun-tsang, the famous Chinese pilgrim has given a vivid description of Lahore which he visited in the early parts of the seventh century. Lahore has been ruled and plundered by a number of dynasties and hordes.

“Maharaja Ranjit Singh made Lahore his capital and was able to expand the kingdom to the Khyber Pass and also included Jammu and Kashmir, while keeping the British from expanding across the River Sutlej for more than forty years. After his death in 1839 the internecine fighting between the Sikhs and several rapid forfeitures of territory by his sons, along with the intrigues of the Dogras and two Anglo-Sikh wars, eventually led to British control of the Lahore Darbar ten years later. For the British, Punjab was a frontier province, because Lahore had boundaries with Afghanistan and Persia. Therefore, the Punjabis, unlike the Bengalis and the Sindhis, were not allowed to use their mother tongue as an official language. The British first introduced Urdu as an official language in Punjab.

“Lahore played a special role in the independence movements of India. The 1929 Indian National Congress session was held at Lahore. In this Congress, the Declaration of the Independence of India was moved by Jawaharlal Nehru and passed unanimously at midnight on 31 December 1929.

“Upon the independence of Pakistan, Lahore was made capital of the Punjab province in the new state of Pakistan. Almost immediately, large scale riots broke out among Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus, causing many deaths as well as damage to historic monuments—including the Lahore Fort, Badshahi mosque and colonial buildings. With United Nations assistance, the government was able to rebuild Lahore, and most scars of the communal violence of independence were erased. Less than 20 years later, however, Lahore once again became a battleground in the War of 1965. The battlefield and trenches can still be observed today close to the Wagah border area.

“Lahore has a semi-arid climate.

"The hottest month is June, when average highs routinely exceed 104°.

“That's about right, it's damned hot even now in the evening,” said Al.

It was indeed one of the hottest places Al had ever been to. At night the choice was between sweating it out and tossing and turning, or awake with the powerful and noisy ceiling fan blowing at the bed sheet. In the day it was difficult to move at all.

Hellmut arrived at their room and they smoked joints.

The following morning, breakfast was provided by the Hotel Eden. There were eggs, cheeses, breads, fruits, yoghurt and tea or coffee with sweet and spicy cakes.

By the time they had finished eating, Al was thinking it was already far too hot to move. We sat in the courtyard under the shade of a tree and Al took me from his head and placed me on a nearby table.

Hellmut appeared again and invited Keith and Al to share a “Bhang”.

Al knew that Bhang was a cold drink made from cannabis and spices, ground together with milk, clarified butter called ghee and water.

The Bhang in fact did not taste very good this time, so Al drank his glassful quickly.

About half an hour or so later and Bhang! The drink lived up to its name! They didn't even go outside of the hotel grounds that day. They spent the day reading and chatting and laughing and eating snacks with tea. Apart from the effects of the Bhang, it was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit by noon.

At one time Al decided to go to the games room.

When he entered it was quite dark but he could see what looked like a light switch on the wall half way along, so he went to switch it on.

Al put his hand to switch on the light and as he touched it there was a loud bang and a flash.

Al seemed to be flying backwards through the air – he had received an electric shock – first time for him and first time for me. Very strange feeling.

As Al went backwards, time seemed to slow down. Al seemed to have plenty of time to think about what had happened, how stupid he had been in the dark, whether he was about to hit his head on anything and how he would cushion his fall and even what would happen and how people would react back in England if this was going to kill him.

As he landed backwards on the floor, he realised he had not hit any tables or anything and thought about how to best protect his head, so he did his best to keep his head forward and try to take the force of the fall on his back and shoulders.

He bent his head forwards – as he hit the ground I flew off his head, unable to protect him – lucky for him his method worked and the back of his head hit the ground quite gently.

But he was pretty much shook up.

He returned to the garden and told Keith what had happened.

Keith seemed like he was in a world of his own, very stoned on cannabis – he did not reply, as if he had not even heard Al, who felt lucky to be alive.

“Hey man,” Keith suddenly said, “it's almost four thousand miles direct back to London, we must have done six or seven thousand the way we came.”

The next day after breakfast in the garden, Hellmut asked Al and Keith if they would like to join him on a flight to India.

“A few days time, “ said Hellmut; “They have opened the border with India and there will be flights from here to Amritsar, I will buy you the tickets, I just need your names and passport numbers. If you want we can fly in a few days after I have done business.”

So Hellmut went off in a taxi to buy the tickets. Al and Keith decided to go out and look about the city.

It was about as different, as Al thought, from Peshawar as it is different from Norwich – or maybe less different from Norwich.

The streets were now dusty, not wet, but with less litter and animal droppings.

There were far more cars, taxis, trucks and buses as well as bicycle rickshaws, and far fewer animals of burden. Quite a few bicycles too.

Most of the men were dressed either in one-piece djellabah’s, loose-fitting cotton in white or grey, or two-piece cotton garments that looked like pyjamas. A few wore suits, some western-style, others high-buttoned jackets over trousers.

The women wore feminised versions of the same, often with lose scarves draped over their heads, some dressed quite colourfully.

Children were dressed pretty much like the adults!

Some men wore the Afghan Jinnah Cap made from sheep's wool, with it's peaked shape and favoured by Pakistani politicians. Others wore oval hats that sat in the middle of their heads not covering the eyes at all. Others wore turbans.

Al and Keith found along street with stalls on each side, selling just about everything except the guns we had seen in Peshawar. The buildings were three story and had decorative balconies, many with sheets hanging from them.

Most of the signs were in Arabic writing but some were in English, many offering Pepsi or Seven Up drinks.

There were stalls selling 'lassi”, a drink made from crushed ice with milk and yoghurt, with sugar or salt to taste, or fruit juices. The ingredients were scooped up from various aluminium bowls; the ice was piled up behind the vendor who sat cross-legged as he worked. He would lean over, grab a lump of ice and smash it between what Al thought looked like rags. But they were thirsty so they bought and drank some out of aluminium mugs.

That evening they met with Hellmut again at the Hotel Eden, smoked some joints and drank some tea. Hellmut had bought the air tickets for the next day.

“Then tonight I invite you to film studio,” said Hellmut. “I am giving some money to make a film. We will have dinner there, it is gut. Also you may meet the top singer in Pakistan and a famous actor.. We leave in half an hour when the taxi is coming.”

It was a modern-looking building with a couple of guards outside and they just waved us in.

Inside the big doors, Hellmut told a receptionist who we were and we were shown through some corridors to a large room decorated with glitter and lights, with pictures of people around the walls, presumably film stars and sponsors.

After a while two young men approached us – they were dressed immaculately in suits and ties.

They shook hands with Hellmut who introduced us simply as “Keith and Al”. Obviously in such a place, Al had removed me from his head and I had been placed on a table, so nobody mentioned me. I simply watched, listened and learned.

A waiter came and asked us if we wanted to drink; beer was available, so everyone ordered that. It was American beer.

The conversation was mainly between Hellmut and the two Lahore lads.

Sure enough he was going to give them hundreds of thousands of rupees to make a film. They were saying that the industry had suffered. They said they had a top actor and one of the best known pop singers. There was some talk about what the film was about – it sounded that it was mostly about a man and a woman that met and wanted to be together but circumstances always interfered.

After about half an hour, several waiters came in carrying plates and trays of food: bowls of dahl, flat bread, a spicy lamb dish and more pieces of lamb and of chicken, a dish made with chick peas and spice, vegetable curries and rice, yoghurt – and fruits. And a massive cherry tart! And creamy rice pudding There were five of them eating with enough food for twenty.

Whilst they were eating, suddenly a group of about ten people entered and headed towards them. They were all men except the two women they were surrounding. Apparently one of the ladies was the pop singer.

As they approached the others stopped eating and stood up. Al and Keith did the same. One of the Pakistani hosts at our table spoke, introducing only Hellmut. Smiles were exchanged, but no words and as rapidly as they had arrived, the group left.

“So much for pop stars, man, “said Keith quietly.

After the dinner, we headed back out into a wide corridor.

As Al, Keith and Hellmut headed down the corridor, Al noticed something in another wide corridor off to the left.

There was a group of about ten young men that seemed to be surrounding a girl that Al thought was European. Al thought that did not look like a good situation so decided to look closer.

She was certainly not Pakistani. She wore a headscarf. She looked familiar. She looked a bit like Miriam.

Al started to push his way through the small crowd.

It was Miriam!

“Miriam, hi"!”, he shouted.

“Al!” she answered and stepped towards him and they gave each other a hug.

All felt good about that hug.

“You OK, what's happening?” asked Al.

Miriam replied: “I'm OK, great, it's just this lot, they think I'm a rock star!”

“Well I guess you are!”, said Al, “Shall I get rid of them?”

Al turned to the crowd of youths and said “OK, that's enough, now fuck off!”

And, somewhat to Al's surprise, they did!

Al told Miriam that he had better go the the exit to tell his friends what he was doing, so they went down the stairs and back towards the long wide corridor that led to the exit.

Suddenly a group of about twenty men were approaching us, all huddled together but still filling the corridor so all Al and Miriam could do was to stand close to the wall as the large group passed by.

Al could see that in the very middle of the group crammed so much that he had to go with the flow, was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the President of Pakistan.. Al had the idea he was not entirely popular with people. “Apparently,” Miriam said later, “he is on his way to do a TV broadcast, in English as that was the language shared by most of the people rich enough to have a TV.”

Miriam told Al that,Bhutto had managed to get the release of thousands of prisoners and some territory from India, after signing an agreement with Indira Ghandi, the Prime Minister of India.

When Al and Miriam reached Keith and Hellmut, Al told them he was going to stay a while and drink some beer with Miriam and he would make his own way back to the hotel later. Hellmut passed Al a small paper bag. “It is blues, speed,” he said quietly, “Take a few and they will keep you awake and give good buzz”.

Al swallowed three tablets and went back to Miriam. They drank coffee instead of beer and chatted for a while. I learned that Miriam had been invited to the studios for dinner by an American but he had not turned up. He also discovered that Miriam had a ticket for the same flight as he for the next day and that she too planned to stay at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

After a while Al started to feel the effects of the pills. He was talking a lot! Miriam did not seem to mind, she seemed like a good listener. But Al felt it was time for him to get back to his hotel. Miriam would get a taxi but it was in the opposite direction to Eden. Al saw her into the taxi and was about to order one for himself when one of the young men that had met Hellmut appeared and he offered Al a lift on the back of his moped.

Quite a ride – the “speed” in the blues had kicked in and they seemed to be speeding ever so fast in and out of the busy traffic along poorly lit roads. I thought that I was going to blow off Al's head several times and land in the road and get crushed by a car. Gladly I was OK and we soon reached the Hotel Eden, Keith sitting in the garden smoking a joint.

So this “speed” drug seemed to make everything go faster whereas the electric shock in the hotel games room and the backwards fall had seemed to make time go more slowly.

“I didn't expect you back tonight – thought you'd be with Miriam, What happened man?” said Keith.

“No I thought I'd better come back and get ready for tomorrow,” said Al, “and anyway I don't like those pills, I wanted a smoke.”

Several smokes later, his rucksack mostly packed, Al lay on his bed for hours tossing and turning. He just could not get to sleep. Keith was snoring. Al was thinking about Miriam and the flight to Amritsar.

April 13 - 18, 1972: Baghdad and Journey to Iranian Border

 Taken From All About My Hat The Hippy Trail 1972

They reached Baghdad as it was getting dark and soon found a cheap dormitory near the bus station where they could spend the night. It was cheap enough, even for Keith and Al neither of whom had much money left. It was upstairs above a small eating house where we were told we could eat for free.

The dormitory consisted of two rows of about twelve beds and a few tables and chairs. At one end of the room were gathered about 8 elderly men

“They look like Ali Baba and the thieves,” said Al.

“Hey man, I don't think they're thieves,” said Keith; “they've all got two hands.”

“Maybe they're clever thieves,” said Al, “I am going to tie my rucksack to the bed.”

Al kept me on his head all night. Sometimes, tossing and turning, I would slip off, but Al would stir and pull me back on to his head. It seemed like a long night.

When Al finally decided to get out of bed, I sensed his relief, for not only was there no bad incident, no attempt at stealing his rucksack, but when he looked around, I too could see that those men were not the 40 thieves after all. It was a small group of smiling men that soon offered Al and Keith some black tea to drink and some bread and cheese to eat for breakfast. There was no conversation between Al and those men, as it seemed they did not understand Al's language, English, and he did not understand theirs. Yet somehow I felt a great sense of friendship between them.

After breakfast, Al and Keith decided to go out into Baghdad and do some exploring.

 They strolled down a dusty road filled with people that mostly ignored them. There were men dressed either Arab-style or Western-style, women in black, some with faces completely covered and just a criss-cross pattern to look through, others showing their eyes, scruffy children, donkeys, cars, buses and trucks.

“Look!”said Al, “There's a sign saying 'Youth Hostel’. Shall we take a look?”

It was a short way up a side street, even more dusty than the main street, but, surrounded by a wire fence,; it looked spacious and clean.

“I'll nip in and see if they've got rooms and how much,” said Keith. “Might be cheap, man”.

Within minutes Keith was back out with big grin on his face: “It’s even cheaper than the dorm, “he said, “a twin room with a toilet and shower and we can use the kitchen and it's clean too and they sell food and have table tennis and darts and games.”

Keith was really excited so Al went in to take a look and sooner said than done they had booked a room for three nights and moved their bags in.

“Let's not hang about”, said Al, “It could be a good day, let's go explore!”

Al and Keith started walking up a wide but dusty street. Al felt very hot. The men he saw were dressed in various ways, some in jeans and T-shirts like Al and Keith, others in flowing robes of various colours and some with cloth wrapped around their heads; others wore suits with or without ties. Then there were what Al assumed were the women underneath what looked like heavy black bundles from head to ankle. He thought they must have been very hot and wondered why they dressed like that. Was it out of choice or was it forced upon them.

We passed shops and stalls selling food and clothing, bits and pieces, a butcher's shop with meat hanging from hooks, shops selling books, tools, kitchen items. And there was a barber or two. There were lots of small Tea Houses and small eateries and plenty of stalls selling tobacco and newspapers.

It wasn't exactly clean, with a lot of litter and animal droppings, and the dust was made worse by many trucks and buses, and as we progressed up the street there was more and more crowds of people and suddenly we found ourselves in a fruit market.

“Wow!”, said Al, “Look at that! Fruits! I'm parched, I want some blackcurrant juice!”

 Al and Keith spent the next hour or so wandering up and down the first section of this long street market, trying all sorts of fruit juices and then milkshakes: I remember there were so many different tastes; fruits called raspberry, strawberry, apple, pear, orange, mango, melon and a juice made from carrots. Many of the juices were offered with ice and Al was a bit doubtful as he had been told not to drink tap water, but since the locals were drinking the juices with ice, the lads did too.

We also bought some bread, dates, cheese and olives for later, and some soft cakes.

As it was now even hotter, we headed back to the hostel.

The following day Al and Keith spent many hours alternating between sitting outside in the sun and laying on their beds inside, drinking copious amounts of black tea, water and cheap soft drinks loaded up with ice.

“Baghdad is a really old city”, said Keith.

“Listen to this, man, it's cool stuff” he said, reading from his travel guide book:

“Baghdad is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest city in Western Asia after Tehran”.

“That's where we're going next!”, interrupted Al.

Keith read on: “Located along the Tigris River, the city was founded in the 8th century and became the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. Throughout the High Middle Ages, Baghdad was considered to be the largest city in the world with an estimated population of one million two hundred thousand people. According to some archaeologists it was the first city to reach a population over one million inhabitants. The city was largely destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258.

“With the recognition of Iraq as an independent state, in 1938, Baghdad gradually regained some of its former prominence as a significant centre of Arab culture.

“The name Baghdad is pre-Islamic and its origins are under some dispute. The site where the city of Baghdad came to stand has been populated for millennia and by the 8th century AD several Aramaic Christian villages had developed there, one of which was called Baghdad, the name which would come to be used for the Abbasid metropolis.

“The name has been used as Baghdadu on Assyrian cuneiform and Babylonian records going back to at least 2000 BC. An inscription by Nebuchadnezzar in 600 BC describes how he rebuilt the old Babylonian town of Bagh-dadu. There used to be another Babylonian settlement called Baghdad, in upper Mesopotamia, near the ancient city of Edessa. The name has not been attested outside of Mesopotamia.

“In its early years, the city was known as a deliberate reminder of an expression in the Koran, when it refers to Paradise. It took four years to build.

“Mansur assembled engineers, surveyors, and art constructionists from around the world to come together and draw up plans for the city. Over 100,000 construction workers came to survey the plans; many were distributed salaries to start the building of the city. July was chosen as the starting time because two Astrologers, Naubakht Ahvazi and Mashallah, believed that the city should be built under the sign of the lion, Leo. Leo is associated with fire and symbolises productivity, pride, and expansion.

“The bricks used to make the city were eighteen inches on all four sides. Marble was also used to make buildings throughout the city, and marble steps led down to the river's edge.

“The basic framework of the city consists of two large semicircles. The city was designed as a circle leading it to be known as the "Round City". The original design shows as single ring of residential and commercial structures along the inside of the city walls, but the final construction added another ring inside the first. Within the city there were many parks, gardens, villas, and promenades. In the centre of the city lay the mosque, as well as headquarters for guards. The purpose or use of the remaining space in the centre is unknown. The circular design of the city was a direct reflection of the traditional Persian Sasanian urban design. The Sasanian city of Gur in Fars, built five hundred years before Baghdad, is nearly identical in its general circular design, radiating avenues, and the government buildings and temples at the centre of the city. This style of urban planning contrasted with Ancient Greek and Roman urban planning, in which cities are designed as squares or rectangles with streets intersecting each other at right angles.

“The Surrounding walls.

“The four surrounding walls of Baghdad were named Kufa, Basra, Khurasan, and Damascus; named because their gates pointed in the directions of these destinations. Each gate had double doors that were made of iron; the doors were so heavy it took several men to open and close them. The wall itself was about a hundred and forty-four feet thick at the base and about forty thick at the top. Also, the wall was 100 feet high, which included merlons, a solid part of an embattled parapet usually pierced by embrasures. This wall was surrounded by another wall with a thickness of 160 feet. The second wall had towers and rounded merlons, which surrounded the towers. This outer wall was protected by solid glacis, which is made out of bricks and quicklime. Beyond the outer wall was a water-filled moat.

“The Golden Gate Palace.

“In the middle of Baghdad, in the central square was the Golden Gate Palace. The Palace was the residence of the caliph and his family. In the central part of the building was a green dome that was one hundred and thirty feet high. Surrounding the palace was an esplanade, a waterside building, in which only the caliph could come riding on horseback. In addition, the palace was near other mansions and officer's residences. Near the Gate of Syria a building served as the home for the guards. It was made of brick and marble. The palace governor lived in the latter part of the building and the commander of the guards in the front. In 813, after the death of caliph Al-Amin the palace was no longer used as the home for the caliph and his family. The roundness points to the fact that it was based on Arabic script. 

 

“And the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are not far from here,” said Al, “maybe we can get a bus and go there.”

But I know that trip never happened for one of the other men in the hostel told them it was not worth seeing, just ruins. I also know that Al regretted not going to see it for himself, ever since.

After a few days in Baghdad that both Al and Keith seemed to enjoy, a couple of visits to the market and an afternoon spent in a museum, we planned an early morning bus to the Iraq-Iran border. That had meant a visit to the Embassy to buy a visa and another change of money.

Iraq and Iran were fighting at some sections along their border but we were told by an information officer at the Tourist office that it was OK where we were going. Iran did not want Iraq money so the plan was to change it at the border.

We were heading for Tehran, about five hundred and sixty miles away.

The bus took ages and was crammed to capacity with people wearing all sorts of clothing from complete head-to-toe burkas to T-shirt and jeans. There were just another two Europeans on the bus. When we reached the border town it was almost dark, most places were closed and there was nowhere to stay. Al felt very uncomfortable as soon as they alighted from the bus and people scattered. The streets looked empty and shadowy.

Trying to cope with a strong feeling of impending disaster, Al and Keith entered a saloon-like eating house that had lights on and an open door. Inside sat a small group of older men watching football on a tiny black and white TV. Near the counter sat a small group of young men drinking Fanta and smoking cigarettes. The place was indeed smoky and run-down. Although everyone seemed to turn to look at us as we went in, nobody said a word or even made a gesture.

We went up to the counter and the aged man sat behind it seemed to look straight through us.

“Hello, we would like something to eat please, and some tea”, said Keith.

Nothing. It was as if he had not spoken.

Al tried gesturing that he wanted to eat and drink.

The man shrugged and pointed towards the door. I felt Al's strong feeling that we needed to leave.

 “Maybe they don't like that we are leaving Iraq,” said Keith quietly.

“Well Iraq and Iran are at war in the South if you remember – we're lucky they're not shooting at each other here. Let's go”, said Al.

So we left the building and turned left heading again towards the border crossing point that was just a few miles away, Al knew from a sign post with Arab writing and the number 2 pointing that way.

About 15 minutes later they passed another café.

As we approached, a young man in jeans came out and ran towards us.

“Welcome, welcome, my friends, you are most welcomed here. The border closed now, you go tomorrow.”

“Hello,” said Al, "is there something to eat here?”

“Yes, yes, please come, we have food and we have room to sleep and for you my friends no money.”

So with thoughts on whether he was once again risking his safety Al followed as Keith headed towards the low door and into a shadowy interior.

There was low music playing and what could have been an extended family with young children crawling or running around. They were almost all dressed like westerners, although the women were mostly covered they did show their faces.

Several people at once gestured to empty chairs and Keith and Al sat down. Everyone was looking at them – and smiling. Immediately glasses of black tea were served up, with biscuits.

Al was sat next to a young man on one side and an elderly man on the other. The young man pointed to the older man and said “My fadda!”

Al turned his head and was met with a massive toothless grin and outstretched hand. “Very pleased you are here now”, he said, “You are our guests this night.”

Whilst they sipped tea Al and the old man chatted and Al learned that this was indeed a guest house but they had few guests as they were a big family already and because they were Christians many people passed by. But they were also farmers and were able to grow food for the markets and, said the man “God gives what we need.”

The man said his name was Abdullah and he had come to Iraq with his father and mother many years ago, from Turkey. Then they did farming.

Suddenly a steaming hot bowl of soup was put in front of them, with bread, olives, figs, beans and green vegetables.

“Eat, eat, my friends, this is for you”, said Abdullah.

As it turned out few of the family spoke English and over the next hour or so many left. Al was keen to avoid talking politics and anyway he did not know the politics of the area. Abdullah was keen to learn about the places Al had been, asking a lot of questions about his home too.

Close to midnight now, Abdullah showed Al and Keith to two straw mattresses at the one end of the room, where they could sleep. 

 

Keith was reading his travel guide. He said: “Listen to this man. There's two types of Islam, I've been reading about the religion.” He read quietly:

“Islam is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion articulated by the Koran, a book considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God.

“Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable and the purpose of existence is to worship God. Muslims also believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a primordial faith that was revealed before many times throughout the world, including notably through Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, whom they consider prophets. They maintain that the previous messages and revelations have been partially misinterpreted or altered over time, but consider the Arabic Koran, to be both the unaltered and the final revelation of God. Religious concepts and practices include the five pillars of Islam, which are basic concepts and obligatory acts of worship, and following Islamic law, which touches on virtually every aspect of life and society, providing guidance on multifarious topics from banking and welfare, to family life and the environment.

“Most Muslims are of two denominations: Sunni 75–90% or Shia 10–20%.

“Muslims believe that the creation of everything in the universe was brought into being by God’s sheer command, “‘Be’ and so it is,” and that the purpose of existence is to worship God. He is viewed as a personal god who responds whenever a person in need or distress calls him.

“Allah is the term with no plural or gender used by Muslims and Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews to reference God.

“Muslims identify the prophets of Islam as those humans chosen by God to be his messengers. According to the Koran, the prophets were instructed by God to bring the "will of God" to the peoples of the nations.

"Muslims believe that prophets are human and not divine, though some are able to perform miracles to prove their claim. Islamic theology says that all of God's messengers preached the message of Islam—submission to the will of God. The Koran mentions the names of numerous figures considered prophets in Islam, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus, among others.

“Muslims believe that God finally sent Muhammad as the last prophet, the Seal of the Prophets to convey the divine message to the whole world.

“Belief in the "Day of Resurrection" is also crucial for Muslims.

“The Pillars of Islam - "pillars of religion" - are five basic acts in Islam, considered obligatory for all believers. The Koran presents them as a framework for worship and a sign of commitment to the faith. They are: 1. the creed; 2. daily prayers; 3. alms giving; 4. fasting during Ramadan and 5 the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime. Both Shia and Sunni sects agree on the essential details for the performance of these acts.

“The Shahadah, which is the basic creed of Islam that must be recited under oath with the specific statement: "I testify that there are no deities other than Allah alone and I testify that Muhammad is his Messenger." This testament is a foundation for all other beliefs and practices in Islam. Muslims must repeat the shahadah in prayer, and non-Muslims wishing to convert to Islam are required to recite the creed.

“The prayers are recited in the Arabic language, and consist of verses from the Koran. The prayers are done with the chest in direction of the kaaba though in the early days of Islam, they were done in direction of Jerusalem.

"A mosque is a place of worship for Muslims. The word mosque in English refers to all types of buildings dedicated to Islamic worship, although there is a distinction in Arabic between the smaller, privately owned mosque and the larger, "collective" mosque. Although the primary purpose of the mosque is to serve as a place of prayer, it is also important to the Muslim community as a place to meet and study."

“There's loads more!” said Keith, “about family and what they can and cannot do or eat. They are not supposed to eat pigs or shellfish or become intoxicated. And they're all supposed to do prayers and fast and try to get to Mecca on a pilgrimage once in their lives – I think that's in Saudi Arabia.”