Meridien (Deluxe) Damascus

... than 50 feet from the toilet.

I stayed on May 29th Street, which has a busier, more modern feel to it; I'd intended to stay at the nearby Martyr's Square aka Merjeh - ironically enough, Reuben and Cath moved there the second day to save money - but misread the map. Although a bit sketchy by night, being the red light district, by day it has incredible 10 cent baklava shops. The 2 locations are linked in history - again, recounted by Aghyad ...

... to prayer five times a day. The melodic singing from the mosques is something I really enjoy listening to and I heard the sounds as I was rolling into town. Each mosque has loudspeakers on top of the minaret that blast the singing out to the neighborhood and it really is a beautiful and other worldly sound. The call to prayer tells me I am definitely not in Georgia anymore and I am getting everything I could ever ask for out of being over ...

... We loaded all of our luggage into the back of the taxi and we climbed in and I fell asleep. When I woke up we were at the border and my dad had gotten us chicken sandwiches. I ate half of it. When we crossed the border into Jordan they checked our luggage and we were free to go.

I fell asleep again and when I woke up we were at my grandparents house. I grabbed a bag carried it up the stairs and went straight to bed.

-Maia Salameh

March 5 Thursday We were ready and waiting before 9 for our 9 to 9:30 pick-up. At 9:30 we asked the hotel clerk to check if the taxi was still coming for us. She confirmed they were on their way and should be here in 10 minutes. 15 minutes later we asked her to check again and she said he was just about here. We went downstairs and the taxi arrived shortly. We confirmed no smoking in the car and he said no smoking until we get to the border. We went to several tourist ...

... I did not like tour groups so I just booked my hotel and flight myself. As I stood there waiting for the bus to arrive a man in a car pulled up. "Hey Canadian do you remember me?" I walked over to the driver then recalled a conversation back in Damasus that I had with some taxi drivers at the bus station. I had told them that I had come from Canada and asked them witch bus would get me to Ma,lula. The taxi driver (with an umarked taxi ...

... Musa (Moses in Arabic) picked us up at 8.00am the first morning and we headed straight out of the city to Maaloula a Christian village famous for the fact that Aramaic, the language of Christ is still spoken. We visited a very old monastery and convent still in use. No guide materalised but looking after ourselves is sometimes less exhausting! After a few more hours drive we arrived at the old crusader castle, Crac des Chevaliers. This is set ...

... en place depuis près d'un demi siècle si je ne m'abuse). Un mot sur la vieille ville tout d'abord, assez merveilleuse. J'y passai ma journée entière, ce mardi, trainant mon djellabah (anachronique, en dehors de ces murs éternels) entre les souqs et les vieilles bicoques. Il y a un calme, tout d'abord, que favorise naturellement l'interdiction de circuler en voiture ; il y a le charme qu'exercent ...

... ened up being disappointed because it tasted horrible. There were even guys renting sheesha pipes out for the people having picnics - this is where the drama began. When our van was leaving we accidentally drove over a sheesha pipe that had been placed right in front of the van so it couldn't be seen. Apparently the owner of the sheesha should have moved it when he realised we were leaving but the owner said our van should have backed ...

... har ikke vaeret wauw oplevelser som Angkor Wat, Tuvalu, Bellingen eller andre af de ting jeg har set rundt omkring paa mine rejser. Det kan godt vaere at det er mig som er blevet forvandt, men det haaber jeg virkelig ikke, jeg er jo kun 23, saa jeg haaber bare at det er mig og Tyrkiet der aldrig bliver bedstevenner, som jeg er blevet med lande som Kina og Tuvalu. Jeg tog hjemme fra om morgenen fredag d. 27. juni efter en meget travl uge. Om tirsdagen havde jeg haft min sidste eksamen ...