After Palmyra, we headed back westward to the town of Hama. Hama is known for its large norias or waterwheels. The norias were once used to raise water from the low-lying Orontes river into aqueducts that delivered the water to agricultural areas and gardens. The main attaction of Hama for us was as a jumping off point for sites in the region. We also enjoyed many cheap ($1) tasty chicken shwarmas. Krak des Chevaliers is a large castle that was once of great strategic importance. Whoever occupied this post overlooking the Homs Gap (break between the mountains to the north [View Full Entry]

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Syria exceeded our expections in all ways. Great food, amazing sites, good transportation, cheap and the Syrians themselves were excellent hosts. Fair prices and honest, tolerant people, what a treat! We travelled to Damascus from Amman on a cold, dark and rainy day. Our passports were scrutinized carefully for Israeli stamps and Canadians get hammered with a 56USD charge for a 15 day visa at the border. Our initial survey of hotels in Damascus had us worried, not what we would call budget rates, but eventually we managed to find a reasonable place. Fortunately it had a heater since ne [View Full Entry]

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There are three ways to get from Egypt to Jordan. As the two countries are not actually adjacent, the traveller has to either make a short run across the southern tip of Israel, or take one of two overpriced ferry options. Though potentially the cheapest of the options, making the trip across Israel is not advised for anyone planning to travel on to Syria or Lebanon since neither of these countries will allow entry to a person with an Israeli entry or exit stamp in his passport. It's true you can get the Israeli authorities to stamp a piece of paper [View Full Entry]

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Cairo was a trip, what a huge city full of life and activity, but after some great day trips, it was once again time to hit the road. our destination: Siwa Oasis. feeling the bite of not going to Libya, a place where the most idyllic oases are said to exist, i was determined to check out an oasis somewhere at least, and in the western reaches of Egypt there were claims of "the most beautiful oasis in Egypt." so it seemed like the thing to do. the bus ride there would be grueling, 10 - 12 hours and this sort [View Full Entry]

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Thankfully Egypt is blessed with a mild winter climate making it a welcome break after those chilly nights in Tunisia. And other than a small strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea, rain seems virtually un-heard of in this country. Amazingly, the population of Egypt is almost exclusively dependent on rains that fall thousands of kilometres and more than half a continent away for it's water supply. The Nile makes it all possible. The most remarkable memories of Cairo are probably the traffic and the hassels. It turns out that walking like an Egyptian in Cairo has little to do with [View Full Entry]

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As our roadtrip continued further south and again near the Algerian border, the scenery became increasingly mountainous and dry. The towns of Mides and Tamerza are located in a particularly hilly area complete with some senic dry canyons. One of which was used for scenes in The English Patient. An abandoned walled mud town near Tamerza provided a scenic foreground for a palmeraie and rough mountains. Aptly named, palmeraies are the palm groves or oases found in the desert typically fed by underground springs. Locals manage these groves and grow fruit and vegetables in the forgiv [View Full Entry]

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Having failed to receive our Iranian visas and recognizing that it was winter in most of the Middle East, we did some serious re-thinking of where to go from Bahrain. Originally, we had planned to travel overland from Pakistan to Iran, Turkey and from there to Syria, Lebannon, Jordan, Egypt and across North Africa to Morocco. We also confirmed that overland travel in North Africa was going to be unlikely across the Egypt/Libya and Libya/Tunisia borders and impossible across the Tunisia/Algeria and Algeria/Morocco borders. Libya and Algeria also require that we book tours in advance in order [View Full Entry]

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Hey all, here's a quick note to let you know what's up and wish you a happy 2009. Yes, we are way behind on the blog. Lack of laptop and slow/absent/expensive internet opportunties are just some of the lame excuses we have. We left India on December 12th and spent a short but wonderful 10 days in Pakistan. We are both doing well. In fact, putting back on some weight that we had both lost in the course of various aliments over the past 3 months. We are enjoying a reunion with Laura's sister, Lisa, and her boyfriend, Mark, here in [View Full Entry]

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feeling satisfied that yes, laura and i were not adequately informed archeological enthusiastes who would appreciate a pile of bricks for being more than just a pile of bricks, these two laypersons woke up with the sun and skipped out of town. with moenjodaro at our backs we head out to the road in the hopes of finding some kind of ride. it quickly became apperant that we were a little early for the cycle rickshaws and getting a ride could take a while so we decide to hump it up to the next intersection a couple of kilometers up the [View Full Entry]

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Pakistan almost came off our list of places to visit. Especially since it seemed that India might declare war on Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks. In the end, we did go but on a much shorter trip. And we were so happy we did. We entered Pakistan rather uneventfully at that infamous border crossing near Amritsar and got a cab to downtown Lahore. We stayed at this extremely friendly, social hostel in Lahore. The main downside was that nearly everyone there was sick, and since we were all sharing washrooms, it seemed rather inevitable that the bugs get around. And indeed, [View Full Entry]

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