Chris Oberman left a comfortable life in the Netherlands to move to a new country every two years with his wife and ten-month-old child.
The 38-year-old DJ decided to leave Rotterdam in 2018 for ‘an exciting new adventure’ and his journey has since taken him to China, Iraq and now South Korea.
Chris lived in Erbil, Iraq, between 2022 and 2024. He calls the country ‘the most beautiful place’ he’s ever been despite watching rockets fly over the city and hearing drones explode just three kilometres from his home.
‘Iraq is not just a warzone, it has two different sides,’ he said.
‘I’ve seen both sides. Once I was feeding my baby and I heard loud bangs and several explosions. A village had been blown up just a few miles from our home. It was so scary.
‘On the other hand, I felt safer in Iraq than in a lot of other countries. Crime is really low, the people are super friendly, if you need anything they will always help you.
‘It’s so picturesque, it’s really beautiful. It has snowy mountain sites, waterfalls and great canyons. You have a perception of Iraq but then when you get there it’s so different.’
Around 150 kilometres north-east of Erbil, is the Choman district which was ‘one of the most picturesque’ areas Chris explored during his two years in the Middle East.
‘There were mountains and snow, which I couldn’t believe given how hot it was,’ said Chris.
‘We hiked up the mountain and found a waterfall, it was so scenic.’
The Dutchman also visited Rawanduz, a small town incredibly built on the edge of a deep canyon.
‘Rawanduz shattered the perception I had of Iraq when I visited it, I couldn’t believe my eyes,’ he said.
‘We drove an hour and a half to get there from Erbil. It was a town built on a cliff edge with mountains in the background. It was 30 degrees but the mountains were snowy. I thought I was in Switzerland. It was really cool.
‘That’s what I like about travelling, you come to love how different everywhere is.’
China, where Chris and his wife lived in Beijing and then Shanghai between 2019 and 2022, was a contrasted experience to the one he lived in Iraq.
Living through COVID-19 in the Chinese capital was particularly challenging for Chris.
‘China is a huge country and a crazy place. Everywhere is so busy,’ he said.
‘I remember I left my house once for a brief period and when I got back I had police at my door telling me I shouldn’t be breaching lockdown rules. I was like: “how did they even know I left.”
‘The rules there were so much stricter than in Iraq.’
The clubbing scene in China is the best Chris has experienced, despite DJing internationally for decades.
‘I had the best time as a DJ in China,’ Chris said.
‘The Chinese economy is growing so fast so they have a lot of money to spend on crazy things like nightclubs.’
The Dutchman and his wife now live in the South Korean capital, Seoul, with their son. They moved there from Iraq in July.
‘It’s the total opposite of Iraq,’ he said.
‘A bit like China, there’s a lot of rules. Don’t sit here, don’t walk there.
‘It’s so humid here, when it’s 30 degrees it’s hard to walk anywhere. In Iraq, it could be almost 40 and you’d be fine. I haven’t explored South Korea yet, it’s my next adventure.’
The Oberman family are planning a move South America next and have already begun taking Spanish lessons.
- You can follow Chris’s journey through his blog, Moving Jack
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