It took me a while to find Resafe, the road sign was stuck away between some buildings. When I stopped to check my map, I was ofcourse invited to drink some coffee again, this time by a farmer and a visiting vet. They didn't speak any Englsih, but that's never a huge problem in Syria. They pointed me in the right direction, and I soon found the right road. Resafe is an old city burried in the middle of the desert. Yes, hot and dusty, dusty and hot. It's a weird place. The walls are still mostly there, but a lot inside is burried under metres of sand. There are some huge halls, of which only the top sticks out even though they must be at least 10 metres high. When you go to Resafe, you ... read more

Left Aleppo today, heading east for Qalat Jabar. On the way I stopped by a nice castle at Minjeb, perched on the shore of Lake Assad. It's a wonderfull little castle, nice and quiet for a first stop after busy Aleppo. The 'man with the key' (there's always the man with the key) showed me around. I was the second and probably last visitor that day. Nice guy, who offered me tea of course. Syrians, cool guys.... read more

I decided to hang around Aleppo a bit longer, it's such a great city. I've been hanging around the souks a lot, getting lost a lot, seeing a lot and generally having a lot of fun. I'm meeting interesting people. There's this old Iraqi businessman staying at the Zawahe hotel who's a practical joker. He wanted to swap lighter but a Nicole (Aussie, she's come to Aleppo for 2 weeks R&R) warned me: it's one of those electric shock lighters. The guy has a cheeky smile but you'd never suspect. Hung around the hotel for a while watching the guy get tourist after touris. He's got the electro shock lighter, chewing gum and pen.... Some folks he got three times in a row :-) While having a drink outside the Zawahe that evening, the yellow man ... read more

Driving carefully, getting used to the Syrian traffic (defies all description...), I enterred Aleppo. The signs were pretty good and directed me to the center of town. Finding the Baron Hotel was a bit of a quest, but all in all not bad. I checked in, parked my motorcycle in the parking lot and got my luggage off. A small Syrian guy insisted he carry my bags and two panniers to my room on the 3rd floor, where I saw a mystery suitcase and a German guidebook. "Here is your suitcase sir". Euh. Back down with everything to the 2nd floor to a room that was actually free :-) The room is quite nice, all a bit run down but you stay at the Baron for the history, not the luxury. The atmosphere is quite unique. ... read more

Well, in Antakya now. Wet and mud splattered all over, but I'm here. Nice town, much more Arabıc feel allready. Here it was the Iskander Kebab, also nice. The ride was quite uneventfull, apart from being blown around like a leaf on a 50 km stretch of highway. Big guy, tall bike, such is life. Throttle back and go with it ;-) Today I did get a nice hotel, with a bath tub without old pubic hairs floating around in it. Tonight a nice hot bath, tomorrow I cross the border to Syria! Aleppo here I come!... read more