We got back to Amman and walked for supper but as this proved to be far to energetic and mildly scary we gave up after about an hour and got a taxi to the restaurant which was scrummy! The following day we woke up bright and early as we were heading to Petra. We had decided to hire a car as it was not going to be possible to get public transport and hiring a driver was to expensive! Anyhow on getting into the car we checked about petrol and realised that I had no idea where a petrol station was [View Full Entry]

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So I left Dana early on Friday morning and was given a lift up as a couple of the hotel employees where heading to Amman for there day off which was slightly surreal! Arrived in Amman eventually and went for a walk as I did I walked past the main mosque where all the men were heading for Friday prayers. It was really bizarre as not only did a swarm of men start coming at me from down but people started putting down prayer mats across the road and on the pavements which struck me as slightly bizarre and potentially unsafe [View Full Entry]

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Woke up early for my first day in Dana and went down to have brekkie which is the same across the Middle East - bread, cheese, jam, labneh, egg and salad! Not my favourite start to the day but as it was included in my room rate I decided to have some bread and pocket some cheese for lunch! Went back to my room and as I wanted to buy some water I got out my money and on counting it I realised that I was down by quite a bit - I don't know where it was stolen but it [View Full Entry]

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My last day in Syria was spent having one last wander around the souq and eating lots of ice cream and taking a few last pictures. Went to get the bus to Jordan and was then swayed to get a service taxi as for a grand total of 200 sp my journey time would hopefully be halved! Got to the taxi station and ended up sharing the car with a Jordanian mother and son (in his 20's) and another randomer who didnt speak English! The border crossing was suprisingly easy and I wasnt charged for overstaying my visa despite being 10 [View Full Entry]

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So I left you about two weeks ago as having got to Jordan I discovered that the internet was pretty hopeless in fact I would go as far to say it was crap as none of my emails have sent and so on! Anyhow following on from my last entry I went out for food and had a really chilled out evening at Casa Mia which is newly opened and despite it's name served typical touristic 'bedouin' food. I had some zucchini stuffed with rice and lamb pretty yummy really! Woke up early as I was meeting my French tour group [View Full Entry]

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So waking up bright and early I decided that maybe the hotel wasnt very good because it was 4 am and I was itching when my alarm finally went of at 6:30 I decided that I must of been a feast for either a mosquito or bed bugs!! I am still not sure which one it is but bloomin hell are the bites itchy!! Met Imad and Sayed and drove of where we went to have breakfast - which was yummy it was slightly strange though because it was - fuul (which is beans, lemon, labneh and so on) very filling [View Full Entry]

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Monday started of with me going to visit another old house that has been transformed into a museum. In comparison to the Azem Palaces it was pretty bland and whilst some of the museum pieces were cool they weren't labeled so I couldn't tell what they were! From here I went and got a yummy juice annoyingly they didnt have any mango's and only appeared to do fruit cocktails but yum yum and for a massive glass it was only 50 SYP at least they are healthy as I could happily get fat on them! Walked to the Aleppo museum to [View Full Entry]

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Woke up on Sunday reasonably early as I was meeting Thomas and Kate (couple) at 9 so we could go to Qalaat Simeon. On arrival at the microbus station numerous people told us we needed to get a taxi but persistance paid off and we found the right bus that went to the village close to St Simeons luckily we didnt have long to wait before we set off and the bus was very popular with frequent stops to let peope on and off. The bus driver then agreed to take us up to the ruins for 200 SYP which we [View Full Entry]

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So after moving hotels I eventually set off to explore Aleppo and got lost which was a fab start and my morning descended downhill from there! Aleppo appears to be a city that does not eat or drink and as I was desperately in need of water it was not much fun. Anyhow I finally found a coffee shop and bought some water and rehydrated I walked towards the citadel. Outside the citadel is a nice row of cafes but so I went into one to have a late breakfast early lunch - spying a cupcake I thought ooh yummy and [View Full Entry]

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So after the last entry I went back to the hotel before going out for food and what a difference a Thursday night makes! The 'American Quarter' was heaving with the girls dressed in skimpy outfits and the men out for a night! As I said in my last entry Lattakia is much more western than other area's of Syria they have a promod, Morgan and United Colours of Benetton. They have a chain of coffee shops that are only in Lattakia and so on it was fun witnessing the change and whilst I have never been to Beirut Lattakia seems [View Full Entry]

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