Hello Syria
Trip Start
Aug 10, 2006
1
11
14
Trip End
Dec 11, 2006
Aleppo, Syria
Thursday, August 31, 2006
We arrived at the Turkey exit border to be greeted by a concrete box of a building with a little window facing outside which was the customs point. This was my (julie) first experience of being a female without much of an identity. We walked towards the mass of body's surrounding this window (they have no idea of queues, lines, politeness, turn taking) and I was informed to go stand in the shade and let Michael wait in amongst the mass to get both our passports stamped. So Mick stood in the sun squished up against 100's of sweaty hairy big men, caught up in endless fights breaking out when someone jumped the queue (and I mean real fights with fists flying, blood, torn clothing) while I stood on the hillside with the women who had no identity.
Once we finally were stamped to leave the country we thought that the trip couldn't get much worse - that was until we stopped in the middle of no man's land (between the turkey and syria checkpoints) and our driver received some 'presents' to fill the back of the bus that had no seats. We quickly learnt that smuggling blankets, towels and cotton related materials into Syria is big business. Then we saw the true business-like nature of the whole expedition when the bus driver kept forking out stacks of cash at the chekcpoints to some very 'honest' policemen.
When we were discussing our plans for transport from the syrian side of the border, the bus driver assured us that he was dropping us off at a bus depot from which countless buses and minibuses would take us to Aleppo. We soon realised that "bus depot" actually meant "traffic island" in the middle of nowhere. We somehow managed to flag down a lonely mini bus and paid an extornionate price to drive us to Aleppo. I have never been so glad to reach a destination. We managed to get in contact with our host Jango and his friends, and were quickly on our way to Reme's flat where we were staying for a few days.
We soon experienced the working class side of Aleppo as we approached Reme's flat. He lives in a very poor area in a concrete ghetto housing a tribe of fanatical muslims who were not accustomed to westerners showing there ugly heads in their neighbourhood. Nevertheless, the three boys we were staying with did everything they could to make us feel welcome.
Jango, Reme and Mann are uni students in Aleppo who are an amazing bunch of guys. We really got spoilt while in Aleppo and for 3 days Jango took us everywhere and anywhere and we really got to see the locals side of the city. Plus we had the benfit of being with a local so we didn't get ripped off with everything that we did and we paid syrian price for things not 'tourist' price.
Jango topped off our time in Aleppo by arranging for one of his friends, Ahmed, to take us to his family's village which is just north of Aleppo on the Turkish border. We had the most amazing day being escorted around by Ahmed's uncle in his mini bus to different historical sites and villages. The highlight of the day was visiting another one of Ahmed's uncle's pommegranite farm and being served up the most amazing feast for lunch. Their hospitality was astounding and they insisted that I take a hand made headscarf and a bottle of perfurm as a thank you present for visiting them! Once again all Mick got was more kisses from men. It was almost embarrassing the incredible hospitality we received. They were insisting that we stay for a night but we couldn't as we had a bus to catch down to Hama.
To save everybody from falling asleep while reading this, we have put other highlights of our time in point form. These include (but of course are not limited to):
+ Drinking endless cups of tea with the boys discussing US foreign policy (you may get the sentiment of the conversation knowing their background).
+ Spending an evening with Jango's family in the outer suburbs of Aleppo. By the end of the evening, I think the entire village had squeezed into their small living room to speak to the new arrivals. We all just sat on the floor for hours drinking tea, eating popcorn and laughing.
+ Sitting behing the counter of a tailors in the souq of Aleppo drinking tea.
+ Dodging cars while crossing, what could be, the most dangerous roads I have ever come across.
+ Sitting in the park on a Saturday night watching families have picnics and men smoking water pipes.
+ Spending 2 hours wandering the streets looking for that elusive fully functioning ATM. Being a muslim country, they do not believe in the banking system and therefore ATM's are very thin on the ground.
+ Eating the best (or at least top 5) felafel we have ever had.
