The Damascus Express
Trip Start
Mar 07, 2006
1
18
21
Trip End
Jun 07, 2006
Damascus,
Syria
Monday, May 8, 2006
Predominantly funded by incoming Iraqi's, these mass building developments are having a profound effect on the local economy of the city. Prices are rising due to the temporary influx of wealth but nomral Jordanians aren't seeing their wages increase and therefore are finding it harder to maintain their current lifestyles. Jordan is not a cheap country to travel in unless you are very careful with the pennies either.
So Jill left us at the bus station, we said our goodbyes and waited for our service taxi to Damascus to find 2 more people to fill it before setting off. Fortunately for us we only had to wait about 20 minutes before another couple came along. Neither them nor the driver spoke a word of English but it's surprising how much you can understand when you're speaking with someone in a completely different language.
The man was Jordanian and his wife Libyan and wearing the full black abeya with only eyes visible. She was very friendly and we spent most of the trip gesticulating and tsk tsking about how fast the driver was going and whether we'd actually make it to Damascus alive.
Average speed for the trip was 150km/h and we were pulled over for speeding about 45 minutes out of Amman. Not sure how but the driver seemed to talk his way out of it and we were quickly on our way again. The Jordanian border officials didn't take too kindly to the stash of Red Bull, Soft drinks and boxes of lollies the Syrian driver had in every conceivable space in the car and were seemed to be convinced that he was hiding something else along with these goods. They made us all get out of the car and wait while they searched the car. After about 25 minutes of standing on the side of the road wishing we could understand what was being said and having to be content with making up our own sequence of events we were on our way again.
Through the Syrian border without a hassle really apart from the fact that we were entering on the expiry date of our visa which seemed to concern the guy a little. We continued on to Damascus very nearly having a head on collision with a truck at a section of road that had been closed off with absolutely no warning. Thanks to our very own Syrian Michel Schumacher we emerged unscathed!! This got the Libyan woman tsk tsking and telling the driver clearly what she thought of his driving. He didn't seem inclined to take any notice of her though, just continued as before.
Arriving in Damascus, the first person we spoke with, just a random guy on the street, offered us any help we may have needed whilst staying there and this was to be a typical Syrian trait.
While all the countries we have travelled through have been Arab nations they are all distinctly different. It's so easy for the media fed Western countries to lump all Arabic nations and people's under one banner.
The Egyptian's are aggressively entrepeneaurial and seeming shameless in the extents they will go to to part you from your money and while outwardly friendly you're never sure if they're genuine.
The Jordanians are fiercely patriotic, love their King and are genuinely friendly and hospitable while still trying to part you from your money.
The Syrians are incredibly welcoming and friendly and in our experience less likely to try and rip you off and they seem to love Australia and Australians, "Syria is your home" is a common phrase from them when you say you love being in their country.
The Jordanians are a very classist society, evident in the fact that they will not lower themselves to perform menial tasks like washing cars, gardening and the like. They will employ Egyptians or Filipino's or Sri Lankan's for these jobs.
With regard to appearance the Syrian's are also much fairer of face. There are more blondes and redheads with paler skin pigmentation than we had previously come across. Seemingly this is even more evident on the Mediterranean coastal towns of Lattakia and Tartus.
So all in all, we'd have to say that Syria has been so far our favourite country to travel in on this trip.
