Blogs from South, Syria, Middle East - page 13

A few things about Damascus: - Images of their fearless leader, Bashar al-Assad, everywhere. When I pick up a pistachio croissant in the morning, he’s looking far off into the distance in a bold striped suit. When I walk through the souqs, he’s smiling down at me in a top hat. When I go to the bathroom, he’s got his arms around other militant leaders. - Everybody is smoking sheesha, seemingly more so than in Turkey. People sitting at cafes, smoking sheesha. Old men watching the football, smoking sheesha. Old women in leopard print burkas, smoking sheesha. Bored on a Tuesday? Smoking sheesha. Everybody. I wonder how many long distance runners Syria produces. I wonder if kissing a sheesha smoker is like smothering your face in blackberries, but I’m not in a rush to find out. ... read more

So following the last entry I returned to the hotel where I met Peter he had just arrived in Damascus and was here for only one day. Went out for supper close by the hotel and whilst it was really quite nice it was a bit bland - rice with chicken that looked pretty unappatizing for 125 SYP though you can't complain. Met up with Peter as I went into the hotel and as he hadn't eaten I accompanied him much to my annoyance though as he found a restaurant which appeared to be serving the yummiest barbequed meat as I drank my water I felt quiet envious of him!!! Friday morning I woke with my first bout of food poisoning not to fun and after Breakfast I had to move rooms - this time I'm ... read more

there are 3 pages of photos so click next at the bottom of page to look " here's a newsflash: contrary to what the US state department may wish the world to think, syria is not populated by terrorists, zealots and other boogeyman. in fact, syrians are among the most friendly and hospitable people in the world, and most visitors to their country end up developing lifelong infatuation with its gentle charms" - guidebook as you can see from our photos, syria is amazing, seriously. from the second we got there, we couldnt stop taking photos, and commenting back and forth to eachother "look at that" "wow" "awesome". i know some of you out there think that it is unsafe, we are living proof that it was one of the most genuine and hospitable places we ... read more

After a mild panic mid air I realised that the plane was going to Bahrain as well as Kuwait! Anyhow after a massive amount of travelling Dubai, Bahrain, Kuwait I arrived in Syria. The initial flight was shared with a mass of Indians going to Tehran quite what they were going to do there I do not know but I had a mild panic at the airport when I found around 100 people all clamouring for there new boarding pass anyhow I queue barged by showing my ticket and going thats the flight I need as final boarding calls were being issued! Sat in row 2 with a syrian lady she had brought a picnic for the flight and insisted I had half - I think thats what she was doing as she didnt speak English! ... read more

We got up very early to take advantage of the early light to take some more photos. However, it was so windy there was too much dust in the air. No photos! We had breakfast and then got on our way to Damascus. Once out in middle of nowhere, Al decided he wanted us to drive the car and he would film us driving, so, we got off the paved road and in a middle of desert, where it was flat as far as you could see that was fun being out there driving around. When Lisa took the wheel, she was doing doughnuts and kicking up lots of dust. We had a great time getting dusty. Again we had the same issue with road signs, either there were none or when we spotted one, it ... read more