Ramasis Aleppo

... 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.

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 ...

... him, I later came
to realise he meant suite and we were upgraded to the Royal Suite!!!!
This has never happened to me, and the room is the size of our
apartment in London furnished with the original furniture!
Anyhoo, back to the city itself. It is
a busy place, even the dust does not sit still! There is not much to
say about the new city, except that that it reminds me of a smaller
tidier Tehran, and has lots of parks. What is amazing is it claims to ...

... of death descend on you in the middle of the street, while the fragrent smells of shisha and spices waft through the air making it impossible to walk from a to b without some exotic distraction.

After Aleppo I moved to Hama, a beautiful little town in the middle of Syria. It was from here that I did most of my historical sight seeing. Ancient wonders like Apamea and the curiously abandoned 'Dead Cities' sit side by side with tremendous crusader castles ...

... Shop owners as a result! Tuesday morning we set off bright and early for another long day through borders. We arrived at the Jordanian border at 9.05a.m. and fairly whizzed through there and finally got into Syria at 2.20p.m. The Customs man at the Syrian border, who helped Martin through the whole experience was actually very good and very helpful it just all takes lots of time.. and lots of money! We arrived in ...

... esta especialitzat en un tipus de mercaderia: especies, vestits de nuvia, merceria, joieria, articles de metall, sabons, teles, mocadors, carn, ... Per cridar l'atencio del turista et pregunten d'on ets. Si els respons, ja has begut oli, i entrem si fa o no fa en la mateixa dinamica: que si t'agafen la ma, que si t'inviten a un cafe o te, i aleshores t'intenten vendre de tot. Res de sorprenent. Com que jo ja duc la motxilla prou carregada, m'intento esmunyir ...

Aleppo is more conservative than the Capital, many women cover up with the Chador, the souk is very traditional, trading in the usual wares, plus the famous laurel soap, traders trading exactly like their fathers and grandfathers. We headed towards what we thought was the Bab Antakya Gate, but after numerous stops to ask for directions we found ourselves in the souq, but we never did find the gate. The souq is easy to get lost ...

... stamped. We went to an office where a boarder police looked up the price and told us it was $56 American. Next we went to a cashier section to pay the fee, however, I only had Turkish Lira and a credit card and neither form of payment was accepted, they only took American or Syrian money. I asked if there was a nearby bank machine so I could get some cash and they said no. I asked if there was a place I could change the money and the guy from the bus rushed ...

... ritablement sensible aux beautés egyptienne, jordanienne que parce que mon énorme égo et mon incontrôlable reflexion m'empêchaient d'avoir l'humilité, la petitesse nécessaire à la sensibilité du voyageur vis à vis des masses qu'il croise. Alors Petra, le bide parce que je pense trop ? Déjà fort peu enclin à approuver cette idée selon laquelle il faut s'arrêter de ...

... have been burnt. After a tour of the souk, purchasing Syrian football shirts and the obligatory checkered tea towels, we were back on board leaving town towards Crac Des Chevaliers. Its amazing the amount of attention we are getting. Its like the population have never seen a red Bristol VR before. We refuelled 100km south at about 30p a litre. I'm bringing a few gallons back as hand luggage. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

... of them but they were both out of order. This is when I learned that the international connection was down. Great! SO I ended up walking into some fancy hotel and asked if they changed US dollars into Syrian Pounds. They did and even gave me a decent rate which was surprising. By 11 pm I was in bed in my shady hotel room. It was so shady that I even put a large sofa chair against the door. I didn't trust the people there. Tomorrow I am off to Damascus. Dino Vagabond