Finally found a proxy site that hasnt been blocked from Syria. I should be in bed, but the clock maker from Homs has had me walking around the less picturesque sites of Damascus in an attempt to broaden my horizons or impress, I am not too sure.
Aleppo was uneventful unless you count the 12 hour tour of the dead cities and a 150km round trip to Krak des Chaviliers (sp?) in a mini bus of suspect safety record, the feeling I am being followed and the hammam of pain.
Aleppo is a strange city. Full of life and friendly folk but missing something or having too much of something, Ive not yet decided. Police on every corner, shoe shine boys touting for business - not sure whey they think black shoe polish would look good on my green and yellow veggie pumps though! - the odd turf war between the shiners and the usual traffic dodging and hussle and bussle of any middle eastern city.
When I arrived at the hotel the day before I introduced myself to a couple of American girls travelling through the middle east. They were in full swing talking about themselves and their trip - which from my questioning I could only determine a lot of down days and no learnt Turkish or Arabic, not even one word? No.
Next day I awoke late an could hear the American girls talking about themselves over breakfast. I was beat and not up for spending my time listening to down day travel stories so I decided to catch up on some internet research and take an easy walk around the new town, avoiding the touts in the souq as my brain wasnt up for it that day. Back at the hotel the American girls in their early 20s were still in the central courtyard of the hotel drinking Syrian Gin and lemonade while still talking about themselves. I introduced myself for the second time as they didnt seem to know who I was.
Early-ish night and the best sleep for a few days set me in good stead for the tour of the dead cities (Byzantine/Roman) and to suposedly the most impressive castle in the middle east (according to that well known ambiguous character Lawrence of Arabia). Dead cities interesting, castle disapointing, although the contrast between the outter Arab and inner Norman architecture and the warren of cavenous halls and tunels (which seemingly had no plan or design) was impressive, the mounds of trash and unguarded holes (skylights) in the floors, unprotected 100ft drops, rusty and rickety railings all left me with a feeling this country doesnt give a crap about anything or anyone. On the drive back to Aleppo the driver picked up some hitch-hikers, the one who sat in the back with me smelt like horse dung and insisted on showing me his funky phone which also acted like a torch, woo hoo! Trouble was it didnt actually work as a phone! ...and 12 bloody hours later I was back at the hotel famished. The German guy Thomas I met on the tour (which only consisted of 6 of us... a nice Dutch couple, a couple from Costa Rica - who seemed to make out at every opportunity, Get a room! - and Thomas and me) and I went out for some food where we ordered enough food to feed a family (resiting the raw meet and birds on the menu - restraint was always my middle name - but going for the meat and hummus, cherry meat, more meat, some more meat and a Taboule (sp?) salad - 1/2 of our five a day) and then deciding we were both too tired and not really that hungry either... but hey, it only cost us 4 pounds each... Ive made bigger and costlier mistakes.
After another good sleep I was set for a final a walk around Aleppo, this time the souq and the castle - perched up on a seeminlgy man-made mound of considerable stature, enough to give a decent view over the city and be windy enough to blow me over a few times... not good when you consider this is the country of limited health and safety considerations, again with sheer drops unprotected by railings or signs. My britishness has started to internally criticize this lack of attention to my wellbeing.
Jerin the Canuk from Vernon joined me on my ramble, although in true west coast style he was 1hrs late, and only arrived after I made a reminder phone call... I chastised him for being a flakey west coaster and left it at that :)
I am starting to feel like I am being followed. I have seen the same man/boy over the last 2 days no matter where I visit... the souq, the park, the square... I had dismissed it until I again saw him at the castle and pointed it out to Jerin and commented how odd it seems. 30mins later he was getting as paranoid as me after we ran into the same guy another two times in two different locations... spooky!
Time to exit, and a small detour to Lattakia for some R&R. Argument in two different languages with a taxi driver who doubled his fare, a helpful female Lattakian meditator who discussed philosophy and meditation with me on the 4 hour bus ride and Muhammud the super chilled (to the point of vacant) hotel manager at the Tin Tin hostel (Hotel Safwan) on Al-Cornish, the place to be and be seen in Lattakia.
Met up with a Syrian contact I had made and we walked around the town to see the sights (in true Syrian style). The Cornish (Al-Cornish) is a boulevard that runs along the sea front in Lattakia although this isnt any ordinary sea front, this is a container port! Donde esta la playa?
This town has the mediterranian climate and the mediterrainian bohemian attitude (in the younger generation that is) but it lacks the view of the Mediterranian... and Lattakians like nothing more than to walk up and down the Cornish watching the container port in action 24/7.
Frist day in Lattakia I just rambled around and found little of interest except a burger and fries on the American street. Second day it was a staggeringly long 30mins to get to a beach of any significance... I was greeted by four batteries of canons, a host of bored looking army boys on military service, ram shackle beach cafes surrounded by rubble and old metal and plastic containers and the usual mounds and mounds of trash. Mediterranian beauty Syrian style.
I hung out with the locals in the evenings and had some good times smoking the shisha and comparing life in London, Canada and Syria, but by the 2nd day life here seemed like a lifetime away from stimulating so the next morning I up-ed and left for Damascus.
I seem to have shaked my tail for now, maybe it was just a stalker with determination but of limited means to follow me beyond the Aleppo city limits. Time will tell.
After the customary chaos buying tickets, working out who is sitting in which seat etc etc I arrive in Damascus and start the search for a hotel room... but this town has less beds available than Bethlehem on Christmas Eve!
Sleeping on the roof tonight (Thur 8th), Funky!
Sunday 11 October 2009
Day ? - On The Road To Damascus
Friday 2 October 2009
No Blog for You!
[limited post: added by Dino - limited web access from Syria]
Syria blocks Blogspot! ...please refer to http://twitter.com/dougalville where I will try to update with my basic movements until I am back online.
Day 6/7 Sunrise at Namrut, Turkish Taxi Mafia and The Doctor from Aleppo
[limited post: added by Dino - I have limited web access from Syria]
Asalaam Alaykum!
Harran? What Harran? Met a 20(?) year old Canadian from Vernon in BC hustling his way around the middle east and changed my plans from Harran to visit Kata and take a hike to the top of Namrut to see the sunrise. All plans change, nothing in life is a certainty and life has a habit of asserting itself... on the road this fact is ever more present.
After a self administered atheist baptism at Abrahams cave in Sanliurfa it was Cay (tea) and donners at the souk before heading to the Otogar (bus station) for the trip to Kata for the early morning dash and hike to Namrut.
Negotiating minibus journeys is never easy when you dont speak the language and when there are sharks looking to make a fast buck it becomes ever more difficult. Finally on a bus to Kata the Canadian and I settle in for the journey and talk shite and make heads turn - the Canadian is as loud as an American after all (Sorry Jerin!) and my occasional use of the F word, forgetting its just as prevalent here doesnt help either, oops!
After swapping busses and being passed on like a pair of cheap whores we arrive in Kata and get hustled straight into a tourist office... before long we were in our hotel and booked into a 100km/hr drive at 3am to Namrut...
Two pairs of trousers, 1 tshirt, 1 long sleeve tshirt, 1 merino layer, 1 fleece and 1 wind sheet... oh and the flat cap :) ...and still cold! ... the hike to the top of the mountain, about 400m was made harder by the early hour the lack of any light and the unsteady ground all the way to the top... we still burnt our way past all the round tourists stacked like camels with blankets to the top of the hill. At the top we had 10mins before the sun started to make its mark, so we embarked on a photo frenzy before making a loop around the impressive cone stack of shingles, myan like platform and fallen heads and back down the mountain to awake our driver and make another 100km/hr dash to the bat cave [will explain later] two roman bridges and back to Kata for breakfast with the hotel owner who was afraid of his own dog - Jerin was petting the pooch not minutes before he almost took the hands off the proprietor!
More busses this time to Gaziantep and lack of time persuaded us to shack up in a hotel for 20 TYL for the night (10 British pounds) for the both of us! Run by a man who talked to us constantly - only in Turkish and we guessed his son who stank of skunk weed... add to that an old man who seemed to live in one of the hotel rooms smaller than a broom cupboard and a woman who watched Turkish TV at volumes that could take the plaster off the walls and this was one whacky hotel... cant complain for the price though... squat toilets didnt make for a comfortable morning call though :-S
Got heavily cruised by a hot girly who chatted me up and insisted on taking my picture - 40 and still got it! Unfortunately 'it' is not what I want or need! - then she disappeared into the night... spent the rest of the evening learning backgammon and drinking Cay in a real mans tea house... Nargeili (sp?), soccer and winning at backgammon! 8) - ok I was being tutored into my winning position, but it impressed the stash adorned Turkish studs, Grrrrr!
A good 8 hours of surprisingly restful sleep, shower (only after the TV lady finished whatever the sign language of fingers between the legs means) and its off again.
Breakfast of lentil soup - YUM! and we are back on our quest for the Syrian border ... long story short, we came up against more sharks the Turkish taxi mafia who wouldnt let us leave Turkey by foot and the saviour in the form of a Syrian taxi driver and Doctor (who spoke impeccable English). We still paid way more than expected to get to Aleppo (30 British pounds for the both of us) but it was half what the mafia were charging!
The Doctor (not of the Who kind! - although he now has cult status in my book) was instrumental in getting us across the border in an impressive 30mins, leaving an American and a Russian who have hitch-hiked their ways through Turkey and through northern Iraq - they didnt look like they were going anywhere fast after the lack of Visas and Iraqi passport stamps.
Should mention here the medical checks - on passing over our passports we were whisked away for a medical check where we filled in forms and were taken one by one into a side room (without a door) - I took a detour to the most scary toilet I have ever encountered anywhere ever ever ever! Camping loos have more romance! ... and arrived back to hear the doctor instruct Jerin to drop his pants for an injection!!!!!!!!!! I stood up and was just about to protest and started gesturing to our taxi driver... at which point the doctor laughed for some time, long enough in fact for the adrenalin to subside and all we where subjected to was a temperature check (thankfully electronic by ear - after seeing those toilets I didnt want anything in my mouth from this doctor!).
After the fifth checkpoint in less than 1km we were now in Syria and on our way to Aleppo... sigh, smile, hand shaking, congratulations, copious greetings!
In Aleppo there was a short but successful search for another hotel for myself this time - Jerin is off couch surfing on his hustle tour and I opt for the 600 Syrian Pound (6 British Pound) hotel which thankfully has more character than our Giazantep and Kata hotels and a lot cleaner! Images of the border crapper subside.
Getting my bearings after a search for an ATM - Jerin's cards dont work so I sub him the money for the treck and dinner - luckily mine work, thank my atheist god I dont have Mastercard, Cirus or Maestro anymore, Visa all the way! (although they do bang you for the 2% charge). Three Kebabs - we are in Syria now, no more Kebaps! Yes they are different, one is spelt with a P and one is spelt for a B :) - two with Chicken and one with french fries (but tasted like tasty sauce and pickled peppers - try and say that fast!) and a Coke for less than 200 Syrian Pounds (2 British Pounds), so no more Europe prices, hello french fries kebabs :)
So its Aleppo for the next 2 days at least and see what happens next. Have misgivings over Lebanon after the border issues coming into Syria but once I acclimatise I may well feel different. For the time being its historical sites, souks, tea, more meat, maybe some hardcore flirting and see where fate takes me...
This is my last blog for a while as blogspot is blocked in Syria... will put the basics up on Twitter, with account info to be published in the next post.
