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Archive for the ‘Syria’ Category

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Back From Jordan

In Jordan, Middle East, Syria on October 8, 2002 at 6:38 pm

Just returned to Damascus after visiting Jordan for the past week.  I don’t know if it’s because Jordan is more well known than the other countries I’m visiting, but it didn’t have the same allure as Syria or Lebanon.  Nevertheless, it was pretty cool to see.  The highlights were the sunsets in the desert which I don’t think can be beat.  We camped out in Wadi Rum one night and in the morning the Muslim call to prayer was echoing off the mountains so it came back to us in harmony.  Pretty amazing and one of the nicest ways to wake up.  We went floating in the Dead Sea the day after we got there.  Yes, it’s true, any cut you have is amplified a billion times and lucky me, after floating for about an hour watching the sun rise, I stepped on a rock and gashed my foot.  Better than 12 coffees and an electric charge to wake one up let me tell you.

The night we camped at the dead sea, we were followed by the military down from Mount Nebo til they were sure we weren’t going to camp on the mountain.  Then just as we were cooking dinner, another military jeep came by.  Fortunately Captain Omar took pitty on us and let us stay.  He ended up staying for dinner and I managed to get one picture with him, but was too shy to ask if I could hold the AK-47 for the photo.  He gave us permission to stay the night and I guess he told the rest of his soldiers which is probably why they came to our camp in the middle of the night to watch us all sleep.  A little weird, a little creepy, but I suppose patrolling the already militarized section of the Dead Sea can be boring and watching people sleep is better than ???

Then we headed to Petra for a few days (read a longer version of the story here).  A bunch of us went there at 6 am to beat the tourists which we successfully managed to do.  We were the only ones there for about 3 hours apart from a French couple that disappeared up the mountain for awhile.  It was really amazing to walk down the Siq and then see the treasury around the corner.  The whole time I was there I kept pinching myself saying “I can’t believe Indiana Jones has been here!!!!”

Managed to get a pretty bad heatstroke that day and was apparently delirious upon arrival back to the hotel.  Kept looking for the pants I was already wearing.  The next day we were at the Wadi Rum.  I couldn’t go in on the jeep ride as my stomach would have heaved so a nice Bedouin fellow from the village took pity on me and took me for a walk around one of the valleys and Nabatean tombs.  Day after that we all headed to Aqaba for some snorkelling where my left leg was promptly introduced to fire coral, after which I had a hard time getting in the boat, fell off and gashed my left arm on the ladder after pinching my finger in the rope.  Don’t worry about imminent war, I will surely die before that from self- inflicted wounds.

Today we hustled back up to Syria and tomorrow we’re off to Lebanon.  The good news here is that I successfully obtained my Iranian visa last week!!!  Apparently all it takes is a smile and some batting of the eyelashes to be successful, not to mention a lot of cash.

A word on the people here thus far… everyone is very friendly and so happy that we are here visiting.  Everywhere you go you are invited for tea and conversation.  The other night Adam had to take care of some trip business so I went out onto the street, about 11pm, to just wait on the sidewalk.  Within 1 minute I had been invited to sit with three Libyans, 2 Iraqis, and all the shop owners on the corner brought me free tea.  The first thing anyone says to you here is ‘welcome’ and they all want desperately for you to say you love their country, which I do, so it’s not a stretch to extend the niceties.

Anyways, I’ve been told my e-mails are long so I’ll stop here after one final note…

When you are traveling in countries that are very different from home and things do not always look familiar, and other things are challenges, you start to re-evaluate the things in your life that are important or need prioritizing.  Toilet paper is one of these things and I must say that my wish is that I always have some around until the day I die.

That is all, next week a report on Lebanon.
I LOVE THE MIDDLE EAST!!!!!

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Delicacies From the Pasture

In Middle East, Syria on September 29, 2002 at 6:36 pm

Hello again.

Yes, I’m still in Syria but found another internet cafe and decided it was worth the update.

This evening’s dinner… sheep testicles.  They taste a little like scrambled eggs but I must say it’s never been so hard to eat eggs.  The first bite was ok, the second was difficult, the third was an exercise in swallowing while gagging.  But hey, I tried sheep intestines last week and they weren’t so bad…

Today we arrived in Damascus after spending two days in the desert.  Our accommodations for that part of the journey were sleeping two nights in different dead cities.  The equivalent of ghost towns, just two thousand years older.  Last night I was enjoying the breeze from the desert at night as the daytime temperatures were up to 40+ degrees.  Then I woke up this morning covered in a few inches of sand and thought that maybe a breeze is not so great.  Sometimes when I see other tour buses going by I think “you all look so clean”.  And then I remember that the way we’re doing it is cheaper and infinitely more exciting.

The first day we were in the desert, Adam decided to let each of us try driving the truck.  Mainly because desert scenery is not so great after the first half hour, and also because there was little chance of crashing into another vehicle.  When it was my turn, I promptly and accidentally drove onto a military outpost.  We originally thought it was a desert house, but the soldier with the AK-47 gave away what it actually was.  He was nice though, nodded to our greeting and gave a hearty wave.  99% of me was going ALRIGHT!!!!! the other 1% said hmmmmm.  Today we got back onto the highway and although the signs said Iraq was only a hundred km away,we decided it was not such a great idea.

We’ll be here in Damascus for the next two days.  It is a different city from Aleppo in that it is the capital and a little more cosmopolitan.  The people are still amazingly friendly though and it will be good to come back here two more times.

I discovered in Aleppo that I could never starve in this country.  Everywhere I went, the men were literally shoving food in my face.  They’d laugh and not let me go til I’d eaten the fries/pizza/pistachios and then cheer when I finally ate it.  The women are much more reserved and you must greet them with an Arab greeting before you get any emotion out of them.  Last night in Palmyra at the dead city, the guardians of the tombs where we were staying came over to the camp for about an hour to talk.  The women were very nice and one of them spoke English very well so I was finally able to have a female conversation rather than the one that typically goes “Yes, please, hello.  Where you from?  Welcome.  You like Syria?”

I’ve had two marriage proposals so far, one from the man at the chicken slaughter stall who proposed while his friend was slitting the throats of the chickens.  Not quite how I envisioned it happening, but I guess you can’t have it all.  And yes, I was wearing a head covering at the time.  Just a scarf and I must say that I enjoy it.  There’s a degree of anonymity that cannot be had from going bare-headed.

Good news on the Iranian visa front – it’s finally been issued – to Holland.  Tomorrow will be a test of patience as I try and negotiate with the embassy here to get a faxed confirmation from there.  Not how I want to spend my day but like I said before, I am going to Iran.

Sorry the message is so long but I want everyone to know how great it is here.  Every day is perfect and each day is better than the last.  I thought my tan was getting darker but then I took a shower and realized I’m just really dirty.

So that’s it for now.  Thanks to everyone for their e-mails, it’s great to hear from home.

That is all.

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Alison is in Syria

In Middle East, Syria, Turkey on September 26, 2002 at 1:12 am

Hello all.

Here it is at last.  After being away for a month I have finally arrived in Syria.  I spent two weeks in Holland and then two weeks in Turkey.  Turkey is mostly European and not part of the trip that I wanted to take, so here are the highlights in brief:

Istanbul – cool, most exciting thing was standing in the Aya Sofia where emperors were crowned hundreds of years ago.

Moved on down to Ephesus which was also amazing.  The best part was our ‘holiday’ in Oludeniz which is on the Mediterranean.  I have never seen water that blue!!  We hung out there for two 1/2 days during which we rented mopeds, went swimming every day for two or three hours, tanned, and I went paragliding from 1800m.  The freakiest part was the take off when our chute got tangled and we were almost blown off the mountain.  Nevertheless, my pilot who looked like a short version of Ponch from ‘CHiPS’ got us down safely after 1/2 hour in the sky watching the sunset.  The next day we went to Saklikent where we did some canyoning in the most amazing gorge I’ve ever seen.  Then as we were heading to Ucegiz, which is at the bottom of a very long hill, the truck brakes started losing air at the top of the hill.  We managed to glide peacefully and safely to a parking lot at the bottom where everything promptly seized up so we were stuck for the evening.  Adam, our driver, negotiated a night on one of the boats for all of us so we went to sleep in a secluded bay and the next morning woke up to the moon setting and the sun rising.  Needless to say that has got to be the best way to wake up.  Since then we’ve been driving like crazy to get to the Syrian border so everything after Ucegiz has been pretty quiet.

To give you an idea of how I’m traveling, I’m with 8 others on a British Ford Cargo truck which is pretty much going to be home for the next 2 months.  We camp in campgrounds or on the side of the highway depending on where we are at the moment.  Adam is the driver, Anne does everything else.  The travelers are from Holland, US, Northern Ireland, Germany, England, and me from Canada.  Yes, Anne and Adam are real people and although I never doubted it, it was a relief to finally meet them.  Anyways, Adam is well known throughout the Middle East and India as he’s been working around here for the last 6 years.  He’s also well liked so we get to see tons of stuff with the locals that no one else would ever see.

Anyways, yesterday we arrived at the Turkish/Syria border crossing around 4pm and finished the whole crossing around 5:45pm.  As soon as I saw the ‘Wellcome to Syria’ sign, I haven’t stopped smiling since.  I’ve waited my whole life to come to the Middle East and here it is finally, right here in front of me.  We had the best falafel and Syrian pizza for dinner last night and then cruised around the city of Aleppo where we’ll be staying for the next two days.  The people are amazingly friendly, food is cheap, and just being here is mind-blowing.  Fortunately everyone on the trip shares the same traveling philosophy so we’re all game to do anything that looks different.  We’ll be in Syria now until October 1 at which point we’ll be heading into Jordan.

We’ve also changed the itinerary somewhat so we’re skipping Egypt in order to spend more time in Iran, for which I have not yet gotten my visa.  Frustration is setting in but I shall be patient because I AM going.

Not much to report on the war and military presence.  Only seen one tank so far so I’m disappointed.  Nevertheless, it all feels very safe so none of you should be worrying.  This place ROCKS!!!

I’ll write again when we find another internet cafe that works.  Very rare…