Regency Park Damascus

... relatively legible and prounouncable. To the inept eye, Arabic script is a lovely scrawl of loops, lines and dots. All road signs, shop signs have just become totally illegible.<br><br>But I have a personal interest in the language.<br><br>Play the game: what is your very first memory?<br><br>Most people seem to offer up something with a visual context.<br><br>My very first memory is my ability to count to 10 in Arabic, have spent my first two birthdays in Khartoum, Sudan. <br><br>I ...

... and the<br>mosaics that still decorate at least half of the exterior are<br>exquisite. A river of sapphire surrounded by emerald trees with ruby<br>fruits, and golden fauna. It is thought to represent Paradise,<br>perhaps even the Barada River &#8211; Koran (13:35): &#8220;such is the<br>paradise as promised to the righteous:streams run through it, fruit<br>never fail and it never lacks shade&#8221;. And within the prayer hall an<br>even more humbling site &#8211; people of ...

... large courtyard where people can sit, sleep, chat, kids run around, etc. The walls were covered with gorgeous mosaics, lots of blues, greens, and golds. The minarets were neat, this one had three of them and one is actually named after Jesus because as everyone should know but might not, Jesus is one of the major prophets in the Koran. The inside of the mosque was large and Arabesque-y since unlike a Catholic or Orthodox church you aren't going to see any images of ...

... Sitting down and attending nature's call, and suddenly everything goes pitch black (there are no windows to let even the moon light in). My first thought is that someone has broken into my room and killed the lights, ready to break through into the bathroom to react the worst scene I can think of from one of those stomach turning films like &#8220;Hostel&#8221;.<br><br>Luckily, before I can take drastic evasive action, the more rational part ...

... to marokkanske amerikanere og én amerikansk kulturlærer seg ned rett ved siden av oss. Vi kom i kontakt, og ble etter å ha fortært juicen, bedt med på "strolling". Vi lyttet til studentene, som studerte Midtøstenpolitikk, arabisk og islam, mens vi vandret rundt i de trange og sjarmerende gatene og absorberte livet. Lys, lyd og lukter fortryllet oss mens himmelen bare ble mørkere og mørkere. Trafikken var kaotisk, og minibusser fulle av menn, koner og barn kjørte med musikk og ...

... slowly morphing into a more liberal, free-market and high-tech capital, although the old city is still alive and well, and functioning in the same way it has for centuries. Locals appear to have a choice between living a traditional life in the more historical areas or adopting a more cosmopolitan and consumption-based lifestyle, oriented around Costa Coffee and the like&#8230; if they can afford it, of course. There&#8217;s even a glitzy promenade of high-end ...

... to you as best as I can. Imagine the plastic hooks half of a piece of Velcro, covering a glove or mit, and lathered in soap. Then imagine being pretty much naked with a man half your height and twice your width with tattoos saying 'leave me alone' and pictures of bleeding eyes all over his body, with this mit/glove on his hand. He then thoroughly rubs you down with it for the best part of 40 minutes, by which point you think that you essentially have no skin left and his sole ...

... along Straight Street (from the Bible) right to the end, there are some Roman arches in the middle and at the end of the street. The street is full of small shops, all with by-folding wooden doors all the same. Lots of antique, gift, candy shops, some were just opening as we came back. Then to the Azem Palace, which is described as being small, but we thought it quite large. Each of the rooms has a display in it of what the room was used for. The ceilings were ...

... so unsafe after all - there's always someone worse off! I was going to go straight to Jordan but a nice English speaking student from Damascus going to school at the American University in Beirut convinced me to spend a couple days in Damascus with a promise of a guided tour of the old city. How could I resist? Plus I had to pay yet another $56 for an entry visa in Syria after leaving for only 3 days so I may as well get my monies worth. Take Care Teresa

... so hit your head. Kamal then asked me if I wanted to walk through a pretty ravine. Ok, it was a ditch. This steep sided ravine resembles the Siq at Petra. But this ravine was a drainage ditch complete with trash strewn about. Supposedly the ravine was created to allow St Thecla (Greek Orthodox) to escape from pushy men and retain her chastity. It was hard to appreciate this ditch after having just been in Petra. Again, I had ...