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.