Day 4 - Hama

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Early start to get to the bus station when arrived though there were no buses. One of the locals advised me that the bus station had moved to near the motorway so I had to get a service taxi. On the way I am sure that the driver tried to offer me his wife to which I politefully declined - arab hospitality is great but I think that is going a bit too far.

As opposed to the nearly 2 hour wait in the Beirut bus station amongst the garbage and flies my 15 minute wait in air conditioned luxury was a joy to behold. The journey was 1 and a half hours to Hama and cost just over an English pound - even got a sweet.

Booked into the Riad hotel and no sooner as I had checked in should I bump into Oliver, my German chum from Beirut and with him was Carina from Ireland so we went round the waterwheels together in the scorching heat. The Riad hotel is OK very similar to the Cairo hotel, they do try the hard sell with their various trips but I was only interested in Crak Des Chavaliers.

The waterwheels are around 20 metres in Diameter and made of wood and make a groaning sound all the time - I've attached a video so that you know what I am talking about. There are around 8 in total and they were used to raise the water up to the height of the surrounding fields for irrigation.

Tonight I am going out with Oliver and Carina for a meal by the waterwheels, hopefully we'll be able to hear ourselves talk over the groaning (of my waterwheels rather than my stomach)

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