Beit Zaman Damascus

... rotting logs holding ballustrades off passers-below.<br><br>Nothing is straight. Nothing. The continuous concertina effect of thicker and thinner and thicker and thinner plaster, mud and wall feels like the city is breathing, slowly, like a very old man that has got one foot in a bucket of eternity, the other in a chronic ailment ward.<br><br>There are walls and walls of turned-in houses, lanes and lanes of souk, and then a show of tolerance &#8211; a Christian quarter ...

We left Dahab in a relaxed and happy frame of mind after almost a week spent taking it easy and relaxing on the waterfront, and after a few days with our friend Martin. In anticipation of the next country, Jordan, we set off via bus, ferry and finally taxi to reach the fabled town of Wadi Musa.<br><br>The trip itself was long and slightly painful. First the bus we were taking was late so we were forded to wait quite a while before it eventually set off for the ...

... from places I have traveled to (which reminds me that I really need to get my Japanese piece framed when I get home). After a long time debating between blues and purples and colors....and after some tea with a Sudanese artist who was working that day....DeVan and I left with some really nice pieces if I do say so myself. If I think of it I will take a picture and post it one here. <br> <br>Friday really was like a shopping spree, though modest since prices in Syria are ...

... a couple coffee/sheesha shops, a tailor, a barber, a perfumery, a nutery, a hummos place, a shoe hospital, and so on. We took it. 1,000 Syrian pounds per room per night (50 Syrian pounds is about $1US dollar). We took the two available rooms and divided ourselves so that one of each Zodiac sign was in each room (actually we obviously divided it by gender but since two of us are Taurus and two of us are Aquarius it was more fun to joke that way).<br><br>An ...

... on the roof landing on her, but still. "****, it's seven." "****." In a minute our bags were packed and we were heading down stairs. We put our bags down for a bathroom break. We were ready to go 5 minutes after we awoke, Shona had her big bag on her back and was leaning over to get her day bag, well Shona doesn't have the best balance in the mornings. With arms flailing she was on her side, like a turtle lying on its back there was nothing she could do. Trying once to get up with ...

... experience. Tonight will be our last night in Syria and tomorrow we will take service taxis to Amman which is expected to take 6 hours or so (including the border crossing). We'll be having dinner in the old city tonight which Bashar and two of our group will be leaving us. Apparently we're picking up 8 more people in Amman though. ~Jonathan PS Turkey could learn a thing or two from the service that Syrian hotels provide!

... visited Saladin's Mausoleum (he was a famous Arab crusader), the museum for the Syrian Alphabet was closed, Syria is suppose to be the birthplace of the first alphabet, then to the Greek Orthodox Church and went into their service. Outside we met a man who told us about the church and then said he was a refugee from Baghdad because he is a Christian. We never thought about anyone being in this position nor that we would meet a refugee in Damascus. We found and ...

... in cross-fire would not be the only risk; some group may target foreigners directly. Therefore, visiting civil-war stricken countries, such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, would be an unmanagable risk. The Damascus International Airport was weird. It almost didn't feel like a real airport. It was run-down and dirty, just like Damascus itself. Moreover, think of an airport in a capital city that doesn't accept credit cards. Hard to imagine isn't it ...

Chem, Dumaschq, Dumascus, Damas nous y voici nous y voilà. J'ai passé la frontière dans un taxi collectif, faisant par là même la rencontre de deux jeunes jordaniens se rendant en Syrie pour 3 jours (un weekend à la campagne, surtout pour acheter des fringues moins cher qu'à Amman). Les formalités furent réglées anormalement vite, et j'étais, ce lundi 20 midi, booké dans un hôtel avec mes nouveaux ...

... could go to Lebanon on the same Syrian visa, but were told we would have to pay again, the amount depends on the person working at the border the day you cross.............. Decided to give it a try anyways and to see what will happen..........