Damascus and Beyond

Salaam friends and family. Tomorrow is my birthday and sadly, sniff, sniff, I will probably be celebrating alone. And a monumental birthday at that. My last year before official old ladyhood. Anyway, i’m now in Hama. Not much here except for the very cool Nourias, which are antique water wheels on the river that runs through town. They look good but sound better. Kind of like a moaning, groaning sound. A little spooky actually. I have read that some date back to the 14th century but I don’t see how the wood could actually last that long. It’s confusing because a lot of the old stuff is considered from this century or that and then you find out it’s been restored or something, so who knows? I’ve had some nice encounters here and guardian angels who pop up when I need them. My last day in Damascus I met a Canadian family who invited me to hang around with them. The dad was originally from Damascus and as a result I got to experience his excitement at showing his daughters around and revisiting places he hasn’t been since he left thirty years ago. Also got to see inside one of the houses when we went for tea at his friend’s house. They wanted me to come with them for what sounded like a fabulous yearly Christian celebration in Sadniya (they are Orthadox), but they were spending the night and I had to move on. They were wonderful and we really clicked. When I was on the bus to Hama yesterday I got off for a cigarette in Homs and spied my bag sitting on the sidewalk. It turned out they said I was supposed to get off there. I wasn’t. The only other westerner on the bus was a Belgian woman who had experience in Syria and spoke a bit of Arabic. She immediately came to my aid and insisted they let me stay on the bus and that I was a tourist and my needs should come ahead of the locals. When they finally shrugged and agreed she told me they could be manipulated. A small thing, but another lesson learned. When ordering bus tickets speak very clearly. Homs and Hama are similar. See? The people at the Riad are very nice and I’ve decided to book day trips from here. Even though it’s costing me a lot of money, I feel it’s worth it. Will I ever return? Might as well splash out. Food is dirt cheap and the portions are big. Reminds me of home. Anyway, I guess I hired a private car and driver to take me to the ruins at Palmyra. When we got there my driver started talking to some guy who then introduced himself and said he’d get my ticket. Long story short, I accidently ended up having a guide for four hours thinking he was part of the tour. He wasn’t. I had to pay him separately. I was not happy. Built up a head of steam and had thoughts of cancelling the other tours and maybe even changing hotels. My driver spoke hardly any English but when I asked him about a toilet on the ride home he drove to a nearby house and asked this woman if I could use her facilities. He didn’t know her. So I peed in the hole and took a quick peek around and then we had tea . When I returned I told friendly and charming Abdullah about the tour. He was angry (not at me) and sorry and we hashed it out and it was a bad mistake. He told me he gave me this guidebook so I wouldn’t have to have a guide and I didn’t realize it, and oh well. So, i’m still taking the tours that I planned but I will now know to ask questions and don’t assume anything. They are threatening to call the guy who was my guide and give him a piece of their minds. As if it will do any good. I should have said to guide boy that all his touching of me should serve as payment. I might not have minded so much if he would have been young and handsome. Ha Ha! Wish me luck and no more uncomfortable encounters.

Otherwise all is well, i’m fine. Wached Austin Powers on TV last night. I wonder what’s on tonight? I have a beer upstairs in my fridge so I’ll party down, as much as one can party down with one beer.

Love, Anita

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 8th, 2005 at 12:55 pm 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.