Plaza Damascus

... him a tip. Obviously I don’t understand the pricing system for road transport here, but it just could be they’re not as scrupulously honest as Egyptians.

The sun’s going down at 4pm and… it’s cold here. I don’t know Damascus’s elevation, but it must be pretty high. It’s funny, after my runarounds and delays in both Beirut and Damascus I pull into my manger at about exactly the time I ...

... friends of the detained. In the event an American citizen is detained, he/she should continue to request consular access and the right to speak to the U.S. Embassy.

Syrian Immigration services closely track foreign visitors, especially students..."

As we pulled up to outskirts of Damascus, the cab driver pulled off to the side of the busy highway we were diving along. “I have to stop here. Pay me now,” he said in ...

... in Syria.

By the way for anyone interested this call to prayer is called the adhan and takes place at sunrise, after sunset and three times in between. Now I definitely wouldn't want to listen to that at home where I am looking for peace and quiet and no one telling me I need to pray, but over here I want to do as the Syrians do and just enjoy a scene straight out of another world.

The pictures I have put on here are just ...

... br>situated along the banks of the Orontes river, and in order to get
water up to the higher fields, huge wooden wheels were constructed as
far back as the 5th century BC to scoop water up then
disperse it from the top of the wheel....it makes for a very
picturesque walk alongside the river. The old city itself is very
sweet, and an obliging old man shows us a Bath house with cold-warm
and hot rooms. At the end of our walk we try some local sweets
including ...

... foreign" for lack of a better word because for example Buddhism is super different than Catholicism, but detail in the temple and the really intricate attention to public ritual is something I could relate to. Anyway, it's also only one mosque and it is a major tourist attraction so with a grain of salt I will move on to the rest of the day.

We headed back through the souk which honestly became too much for me after awhile. I was like, ok we are headed to the ...

... Shona's bags, quiet a feat, and quickly ran off, with Shona running after him. Dino saw Shona walking away and followed. The porter put our bags down at an empty bus stop in the sun. "Money." "What for?" "Bags." "No." The guy wanted 50 Syrian pound for moving or bags, but the funny thing was Dino had just spent the last of our money, except for 10SP. Shona didn't want to give him anything. It was still another 45 minutes until the bus left. He had taken us out of the air-conditioning ...

... is also just as impressive. If you are ever in Damascus, I highly recommend that you visit the site - it deserves its spot on the "100 places to visit in a lifetime" list. We then took a minibus to the top of Mount Qasioun which is also heavily recommended. The view of Damascus is breathtaking and the sunset was quite beautiful. After that we went to the old city to explore at night and have light snacks. Bashar took us ...

... chamber which I just had to go and see, and after a few scrapes on the way down there we were, in this pitch black abyss surrounded the bones of Romans. Good job my torch didn't run out, or we'd been in deep trouble! True Indiana Jones material. What a feeling. On the long drive back from Palmyra to Damascus which was more or less exclusively desert, we had wild dogs run at the car and headbut the doors, saw donkey after donkey carrying what seemed physically impossible ...

... us, so I turned around and went back to speak with them. We soon have about 15 people around us. I talk about who we are and where we have been and answer their questions as we go along. I knew when we parted they were so happy to have had a chance to use and hear English. I am sure they didn't mind being late for their class. Back to the hotel, oh, we forgot when you pull the key from the holder the electricity goes off. Lost my free wi-fi. So it goes.

... me the non-negotiable price of $250. All the buses had left Damascus already. What I could have done was to go to the bus station and negotiate a price with the sketchy drivers there. This way I would have paid less than $250 and had arrived in Amman 5 hour before the flight. Unfortunately, I hate Syrian cab drivers and would rather wait for 5 extra hours instead of getting ripped off by them. As a result, here I am working at the departures lounge ...