Pullman Aleppo

... away by foot. It seems that internet cafes are a rarerity here. I also asked him on how to get to St Simeon. He said he knows a taxi driver and that possibly there might be someone else going to, so I could at least share the cost. If I were to go alone it would cost me 3000 SYP. Thats way too expensive but I told him to check on it and get back to me later. <br><br>After much searching and asking around (without my glasses), I managed to find an internet cafe thats like 3km ...

... attempting to negotiate was dropped in fare to under 400SYP for the three of us (less than 2 quid a head for a 2 hour ride!), so I think we did alright.<br><br>Getting to Hama and finding a sensibly priced taxi to the hotel Ahmed had recommended to us was a straightforward affair, but alas, upon arrival we found that Ahmed had only reserved a double for Cath and Reuben, so that my only option was a spot on the roof terrace. Abdullah, the extremely amicable manager went so ...

... from the 12th<br>century &#8211; the Ayyubid period and was constructed by Saladin's<br>son....it is quite a feat of Arabic military construction with<br>several defense mechanisms against attackers. That's just in the<br>gateway! The ruins are still very laid out and it doesn't take much<br>imagination to picture it in its heyday! However this is all very hot<br>work so we settle in one of the cafes outside to contemplate the day<br>so far. Whilst there I observe ...

... pertaining to another universe- and I even found it within myself to laugh despite electrocuting myself twice on the dodgy electrics. <br><br>But lying there, plastered to the sheets, hoping the immobile 'fan' above me didn't finally give way and bring the ceiling down with it, there was one thing I couldn't put up with. <br><br>That noise. The noise that ruins holidays, that defaces dreams, that brings violence and bloodshed into the holy sanctity of the bedroom ...

... through the Souk. You have no idea how hard this was as we quickly became lost in the extremes of the meat market , wobbling dazed outside, completely disorientated and more than slightly nauseous. Strangely enough it did not smell and did not have any flies. However ...

... guide because the outcome tends to be rather disappointing and confusing). The trip that should take less than 5 minutes ends up lasting more than 15. Nevertheless, the price is ridicule, much less than what the first taxi drivers were asking for the same ride. When we pick up the bakcpacks, we realized that we are the only ones in the neighbourhood, the streets empty. We try a couple of hotels. Everything booked. We get a room at the third one with the intention ...

... We did see some of the oil and gas exploration activities in the area around Palmyra and Deir Es Zour. There was also more military around obviously to protect the black gold (and we were only 175 km from Iraq). Syria is self sufficient in oil and gas and also earns revenue from the Iraqi Kirkuk-Baniyas oil pipeline. It is also self sufficient in agriculture with 45% of the land being arable, unlike the Arab Gulf States, Syrians don't import labour but do all the work ...

... a bus to drive by. While I was there, a man asked if I wanted to share a cab for $2 US. That was cheap but unfortunately after a full search of my bag all I could come up with was two Romanian Lira, 5 Euro cents and $10 Canadian. What the heck? I was one dollar short of entering the country and now I was $2 short of making it to a city. By this time it was noon and I had been travelling for over 12 hours and I was exhausted. I was staring to wonder if I would ever ...

... veille. Pourtant, le type s'est pointé et, après 45mn de discussion, j'ai récupéré une partie de mon argent. L'épisode est assez significatif : se faire avoir en tant que touriste peut arriver (quoi que la plupart du temps les petits commerçants m'ont traité comme les autres), mais il n'y aura pas de fuite en courant comme c'est la norme en France : à la fois par ...

... they can direct me. <br><br>The people so far are just as expected. They are as welcoming and inviting as I've heard. I spent a few hours with two local men of about 25 years last night. They saw me buying dinner from a falafel shop (for about $.30 USD) and came over to talk. Only one spoke English but we enjoyed chatting and they eventually took me to a juice bar around the corner &amp; bought a round. He works in the souk and I told him I'd stop by to see him while ...