Posted files under ‘Syria’
Notes from damascus.
This is going to be a long & often edited post but I need to get writing, when I post photos it will be finished!
First of all Notes From Bon. What an adventure we’ve had, everyday has been busy with traveling & sightseeing or activities. MC surprised me & settled into life on the road perfectly, taking her naps in the Ergo, breastfeeding when & where she could & bathing in various buckets & tubs! CJ did great too although he got his cough & cold back & found the whole thing tiring. Right at the end he also learned to nap in the Ergo rather than fight it & end up exhausted. He only learned the F word yesterday so not too bad :0 He had some rough patches. A was funny, definitely enjoying the more luxurious legs of the journey. The fact he slept 4 nights in a hostel & on a train was impressive.
Me, I liked the big cities Damascus & Cairo. Bosra stands out in my mind & some of the incredible meals we had in Syria. I did excellent planning & it was a whirlwind 2 weeks. As usual I felt confused by it all, I felt privileged but not necessarily happy to be so. In Egypt (Luxor) kids begging, men hounding foreigners to make a few bucks or ripping people off, women in the background. At first the hassle makes you angry but later when I ponder what it must feel like for someone who gets by day to day by begging I feel troubled.
Back later.
I left the last post in Damascus so back to the start of our journey. The next day we bused to Palmyra. My highlight was buying a filthy old dress hanging outside a small shop on the main street, it’s made out of the Arabic black and white checkered head cloths. A was disgusted I was spending money on it & it took 3 washes to get the water to change from black but I was right, love it
I guess the roman ruins were quite cool too! We stayed here
Decent clean hotel where we had more really yummy food. We also had a great meal at a small B&B called ‘Casa Mia’ with our travel buddies from Damascus.
Palmyra to Krak des Chavelier. The countryside and castle were stunning, the nicest part of Syria. We had a huge feast for our lunch, tons of the best mezze and then chicken for the boys. We didn’t need to eat a proper meal until the next evening it was so good.
From Krak we traveled to Aleppo via Hama, Dead Cities & Apamia. Hama sux it was disappointing as I’d looked forward to it. We were freezing, & it was smelly & dirty so we ended up tasting all the Arabic sweets in the bakery. It was a long day & e were happy to arrive at Hotel Mandaloun in Aleppo.mandalounhotel.com/photo_gallery…
Hama
Apamia
Aleppo.
Well it seems my notes on Syria have been misplaced along with, one Syria Lonely Planet, one beautiful new turquoise necklace, and one tap juice bottle. So off the top of my head: Cold in March, dirty, crazy driving, bleak, concrete block flats without paint, great food and welcoming people, very traditional little Western influence, no colour – greys & browns, Damascus old town- neat windy narrow streets Krak des Chavelier- countryside & castle were stunning, Palmyra was amazing, Aleppo reminded me of a big town centre (Porirua!) we were warming to it when we left, pictures of Bashar al-Asad everywhere.
Add comment March 29, 2009
Holiday
I’ve password protected by UAE dis, big brother and all that. And I don’t want to contribute to wordpress being banned here. CJ’s middle name will get you in.
Something really weird happened. We sold my car and most of our furniture. We were almost mentally prepared to leave and were looking at the possibility of buying a business in Thailand, or trying to decide where to from here for us. so just as the last bed was being removed on wednesday night the phone rang and A GOT A JOB!
So I wrote I wanted to go to Syria and Egypt and then come home, and that is exactly what we are about to do! We will be coming home to an empty house (no beds, no oven, no fridge, no power by then) but we are staying and are very happy about that. We’ve been camping out in CJ’s room and eating meaty boy meals (bleugh) so looking forward to setting off in the morning.
Here is our itinerary
4 nights Damascus, visit Bosra
1 night Palmyra
1 night Krak des Chaveliers
2 nights Aleppo visiting Hama and the Dead Cities on the way
2 nights Cairo
sleeper train Cairo – Aswan
3 nights Nile Cruise
2 nights luxor
It all feels surreal and I half expect to come back and have something go wrong. But it’s all looking good so we will enjoy our trip and the huge sense of relief we are feeling. Phew!
Add comment March 13, 2009
taking shape
Plan B is starting to take shape. Life has taken a crazy turn & we have so much to organise in 2 weeks. I’m either really enthusiastic about the whole journey or feeling stressed with all the preparations & planning, wondering how it’s all going to pan out. The biggest stress is trying to pack up our house & decide what to do with the cars. I’ve started to book flights and make some good plans. We are leaving on March 15th. Will spend one week in Syria and one week in Egypt. Then we’ll stop through Dubai to rest & wash, and on to Chiang Mai where we hope to stay for a while. Basing ourselves here to start,
pakchiangmai.com/aboutpak.html
I’m already looking forward to the organic breakfasts & 3 yoga studios close by. It’s the sister of Phranakorn Nornlen where we stayed in Bangkok last year. Can’t wait!
Just got back from a morning walk & lunch at Sunrise Refreshment. Delicious kai dished up today, I had the best chickpea dish (MC loved it too), and A said his was very good too.
Add comment March 2, 2009
