The media centre was located in a secure 'green-zone' in the centre of town.


One of the Spanish photojournalists was quite an interesting guy who had spent five years living and working in Pakistan performing freelance work for media organisations such as the New York Times. He said he had to leave however after constant harassment from the Pakistan Intelligence agencies, and was now based in Beirut.

One of his friends, another Spanish photographer, had been held hostage for the last 8 months by the al Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front. Although we were in relatively stable Northern Syria and away from the areas under complete control by the Syrian Government Regime, ISIS and other Islamist militia's, it was a reminder of the elevated risk and ever present danger in this part of the world. On the 8th of May, after the trip, his friend was finally released along with two other Spanish journalists.

The Spanish photographer also showed me the level of passion for his craft with a tattoo he had gotten on his left arm of his very first camera!


After registering at the Jazira Canton media centre and enjoying a cup of coffee, we went for a walk through the streets of Amuda.


Street corner. The news on the internet and on the TV I had seen of Syria was overwhelmingly dominated by coverage of destruction and death. I was keen to see and experience normal life however, with normal people continuing their everyday lives.


Front seat.


People were quite intrigued and happy to see a Westerner walking about, and most had no issues with me taking their photograph.


Car wash.


Repair.


Free Woman Square, that had replaced a previous statue of Hafez al-Assad.


Under the Assad Regime, the northern Kurdish language, Kurmanji, was banned. There were no Kurdish schools, books, newspapers, television and for a time parents were even forbidden from giving their children Kurdish names. However, walking down the main street in Amuda, not only Kurdish and Arabic were now used on signs, but also the language of the Assyrian minority.

Gold.


A local lady walking on the main street.


During our walk we stopped at a park that commemorated a fire at the Amuda Cinema on November 13, 1960, killing more than 200 Kurdish children.


Ladies.


Three gentlemen.


A member of the Asayish, the Kurdish internal security forces.


After our walk around Amuda, we went for the 20 minute drive back to Qamishli, the biggest city and the defacto capital of Rojava.

Qamishli was still partially controlled by the Syrian Government Regime, and as we drove through a Regime controlled neighbourhood we saw portraits of both Bashar al-Assad and Hafez al-Assad, as well as the flag of Syria.


We then checked into the Assia Hotel in the middle of the city for our one night in Qamishli. Very clean and perfectly comfortable.


We then went for a walk through Qamishli Bazaar.


We were approached by a suspicious Asayish officer after he saw me taking photographs. Luckily after showing him our paperwork we had gotten from the Amuda media centre and some friendly charm from Jan, he let us go in peace.


At a money exchange where I stopped to get some Syrian pounds. At the start of the civil war in March 2011 the exchange rate was 48 pounds to the US dollar. At the time of my visit however, it was ~500 pounds to the dollar and has since plummeted further.


Baker. He was very happy for me to take his photo and also gave us a free biscuit!


A gentleman with a big smile we had a quick chat with. His family had left Syria and were now living in Germany.


Apples.


This street was still under Regime control so it was not safe to walk down as I did not have a Syrian Regime issued visa.


A crop from the above photo, showing Regime soldiers and a portrait of Bashar al-Assad wearing sunglasses just visible to the left of the yellow taxi in the distance.


On February 15th, 2015, Swedish journalist Joachim Medin and his Kurdish interpreter Omar Sabri were arrested by Regime soldiers after passing a similar checkpoint in Qamishli. He was then held in an underground isolation cell and repeatedly interrogated. Later he was blindfolded, handcuffed and flown to the capital Damascus for questioning.

The YPG in turn kidnapped a high ranking pro-Assad official in retaliation and to use as leverage to release the Swedish journalist. 6 days after his arrest, Medin was released by the Syrian government.

Taxi.


For dinner we stopped at a restaurant and had roast chicken, bread, tabbouleh and hummus. While eating dinner we talked about the partial Regime control in Qamishli. Jan said that the YPG forces had opted for a non-confrontational approach against the Regime soldiers in the city. The Regime control of Qamishli was already weak, and he compared the remaining forces to worrying about 'snow in the spring'.


We then continued our walk in Qamishli as dusk fell. Above the street on the right is a banner with Abdullah Öcalan with outstretched arms.


Peace.


Candy.


Café. Although Qamishli is quite far from the frontlines with ISIS, it is not totally immune from their violence. In December 2015, 16 people were killed and 30 were injured in three blasts that targeted restaurants in Qamishli.


We then retired back to the hotel to get some rest before our early morning departure tomorrow for the long drive west to the city of Kobanî.