Damascus and Beyond

Well, it’s been a few days, and I believe when we last left our heroine she was flipping out about some imaginary problems regarding a train ticket. Yes, that sounds like me. I am not exactly high strung but I inherited the worry gene from my mother, which causes me to overeact to some situations whether they are warranted or not. I did finally get my train ticket and I am guessing that all the back and forth was due to the fact that they aren’t supposed to release tickets before the day ahead. Fine, fine. Whatever. Anyway, I only really had one day to see Aleppo which was fine with me and I spent it in the Old City Souks. Very authentic, in fact there is only one small section that is actually set aside for tourists, the rest is for the citizens of the city. A lot of what is on offer is stuff you wouldn’t ever be interested in. Household goods, ugly, ugly wedding apparel, cheap “made in Taiwan” toys for the kiddies, hardware, etc. I first entered through the meat section and you can guess what that was like. Fly covered animal parts all over the place, carcases hanging on hooks, really, a good advert for vegitarianism. I walked quickly cause I could feel that gag factor coming on. I found the olive oil section and though I’ve traveled through many olive oil countries i’ve never seen the soap as such a big business. Whole stores and stalls are devoted to selling blocks of olive oil soap and I suppose there is a difference in quality cause they were tagged with different prices. I only guessed at that cause it was in Arabic. Anyway, I bought some that were a little more decorative and less big and blocky and the guy who sold them to me hooked me up with his relative for some carpets. I set myself up for that because I was just looking for an easy way out at that point and Syria has been a certain amount of work. The souks are crowded, so what else is new, and the environment is narrow and twisting and I believe the best word here would be labrynthian (spelling?). Anyway Abdul took me around shopping for the stuff I was interested in, no doubt all the shops were his friends and relatives, and that’s just the way it is. We visited the old hospital where there was a grim section for the “crazy people” as Abdul so delicately put it. He made a lot of money off me that day but he helped me back to my hotel with my packages and since he knew his way around it was just more convenient. Wandering the alleys of the souk and getting lost can be a fun thing to do but I was worn out at that point and my focus was already on leaving for Turkey the next day. When I got back to the Baron I had a beer in the bar and spent a nice time chatting with two Belgians. I had hardly been eating because the possibility of getting sick always nagged at the back of my mind. I was nervous about having stomach problems on a travel day and was being extra careful, but that evening I started feeling queasy. I was also a bit clammy and very, very tired so I skipped dinner all together and went to bed early although I didn’t sleep well. I was looking forward to lying in my bunk on the train all the next day. Got Walid from the Baron to drive me to the station and get me situated. He’s a guide and kind of hangs out at the hotel. Anyway, we got under way and I thought I was the only woman on the car with a bunch of men when I heard some female American voices drifting down the hall. I was still very tired and trying to sleep but was glad to hear it and knew I would find them later. The entire train ride took 10 hours, mostly because of the stops around the border where they attach and unattach cars and we have to go through passport control and immigration stuff. For some reason they turned off the A.C. soon after we left Aleppo and it got so very hot in the car. The men were stripped down to undershirts or bare chested, and some were wearing shorts which they just didn’t do on the streets of the cities. For the first few hours they filled the aisles and kept passing back and forth and every single time they had to look in at me. I would have closed the door but I would have suffocated. I didn’t care at that point. I couldn’t imagine their interest. It’s not like I was a sexy, young tomato in hot pants and a tube top. Still, I think the idea of me in a reclining position was somehow titillating for them. I am pretty sure they would not have had their shirts off if I was a good Muslim girl swaddled up to the eyebrows. Eventually I met the other women. Two Americans on a buying trip. They were getting off at Adana and after a look at the map I concluded it was a better exit point for me because I could leave the train about four hours earlier and get to a hotel at a reasonable hour yet still travel about the same amount of time by bus to Goreme the following day. After ten hours on a hot, stuffy train, seeing the same faces pass back and forth you begin to develop a certain commaraderie and the strangeness and slight tension did lift after a time. I was offered some weird sweet thing which I politely tasted and then ditched in the trash, and later I was given a very welcome cup of cold water. I tagged along with Ruth and Pat to their hotel in Adana and was in bed by 10:30pm, with the A.C. turned up high. Following day I high tailed it to the bus station and was on my way to Goreme. And as usual there was some confusion when I got to Kayseri. I knew I had to change my bus there for Goreme, about an hour away. We pulled into what I thought was the bus station although it looked very devoid of buses or people. Still, I knew I was in Kayseri and got off. Well, I don’t really know what happened but I was not supposed to get out there exactly, but it worked in my favor because the only other bus there just happened to be going to Goreme and the guy from my bus grabbed my bags and kind of ran me over to this bus which was about to leave and I got on. It actually worked out very well, but if it hadn’t been for the quick and alert actions of the bus kid, I am not sure what I would have done. Probably hailed a taxi and payed mucho bongos to get to Goreme. So, to wrap up I have returned to the enchanting village of Goreme, and despite the changes I see and the obvious fact that it is slowly getting spruced up it is still a delight. Last night was comfortably cool and I visited with a couple of old friends and ate at the Local restaurant which is run by my friend Mehmet’s daughter. I had only noticed that my appetite had returned on the bus to Kayseri when the character in my book was eating a cheese and pickle sandwich and I thought “mmm, that sounds good”. The food is always very fresh and good at the Local, although the prices have certainly gone up. There are actually a couple of things on the menu for 15 YTL. About $12. My glass of wine was about $4.50, which is up about $1.50. Anyway, today I am doing nothing. Walking around the town a bit, having my clothes laundered. Don’t know really. I’m enjoying the peace and quiet and the fact that when I crossed the main road through town earlier, there was a moment or two where there were no cars. Good to be back.

Anita

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 15th, 2005 at 5:27 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.