Carlton Damascus

... I’d definitely say there’s not the pinpoint honesty of Egyptians, but then there’s not the defensiveness, either. I’d say they’re about halfway between Egypt and Turkey. Despite Turkish men’s sliming of every Western and Asian woman they can get their hands on, Turkish women themselves remain thinly veiled slaves and frumpy kitchen help. Like islands producing small animals, do veils produce homelier ...

... After dropping them off, he started searching around for my destination. Just like in Cairo, he pretended when I asked to know exactly what I was talking about, repeating the name of the hostel and nodding. He had no idea where it was. After driving through some dark, dirty slums (JUST THE PLACE I WANTED TO BE IN SYRIA!), we made our way back to the town center. When we finally got close (someone told him it was 'in that area’), he got ...

... the Lords' Prayer in Aramaic for us. Afterwards we walk
through a gorge that apparently was created by the Lord to help St
Thakar escape from her persecutors, this of course leads to her
shrine, and here again we find that Muslims make pilgrimages here for
the healing powers in the water there. Seidnayya church is the second
holiest church for Greek Orthodox. That night back in Damascus we sit
in a cafe with Kate while she tells about a video call she was ...

... she came and got me though because every time I walked by this place I would comment that I liked the clothes, but I never stopped to ask about them. We ended up getting measured and placing an order with the guy who was really nice and a great tailor. The clothing is linen and DeVan ordered a shirt and capris, I ordered two longer tunic style shirts: a black one and a peach one. Adib even got in on the action ordering a shirt and a pair of pants.

For dinner ...

... time, we didn't want to wait for everyone else to get off.
We were first in line off the bus at the Lebanese boarder and then with the help of the bus driver was moved to a slower line. The driver was not happy.

At the Syrian boarder the bus driver directed us to the doctors to get our Swine flu questions asked. "Do you suffer from anything listed?" "No." "OK, hear you go." Very thorough.

The bus driver ...

... punkter på reisen; nemlig sør-koreanske Bon-Mi. Vi kom med på et av hennes filmklipp, så snart er vi "big in South Korea".

Tilbake i Damaskus traff vi noen sveitsere som hadde kjøpt en gammel Golf i hjemlandet og kjørt nedover. Sammen fant vi det kristne kvartalet, hvor det endelig var mulig å oppdrive en pub og en kald pils. Vi er for øvrig fra oss av beundring for Pam og Dan som kjører rundt i en region hvor trafikkregler stort sett er noe man kun har hørt om i vitser!

We're now in Damascus after an exciting few days in Palmyra. Ironically enough, the temperature has been getting cooler the further south we go - doesn't make sense but 30C is a lot more comfortable than 37-38C. No photos to upload to facebook. I haven't been able to find a proxy server yet which does not strip out javascript so we can only browse facebook (it's banned in Syria and all ...

... 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 ...

... Well, that's Damascus International. Royal Jordanian seems to be an excellent airline. New planes and well-trained staff. Their in-flight magazine was very tastefully prepared as well. It took 20 minutes to get from Damascus to Amman. The shortest flight of my life. $145. The stark contrast between the Amman and Damascus airports is representative of their relative levels of development. The Royal Jordanian flight to Beirut shouldn't take more than 45 minutes. $250.

... gues, prêt à découvrir la capitale. Un ultime mot sur la Jordanie tout de même, ayant fait lors de la dernière soirée une rencontre superbe avec Hazim, résidant à Baghdad, Irak. Je réalisai de fait, en route vers la Syrie le lendemain matin, que le conflit voisin prenait, avec ce voyage, une dimension particulièrement humaine, concrête. Difficile de ne pas avoir le vertige lorsqu'Hazim me ...