so this week is my last week in amman. in shallah this time next week i will be in dahab egypt, soaking up some sun!
so I have been studing like crazy coz i have my final exam this wednesday. although i have to say the experience has been made so much more fun since having obtained my arabic/english/french/turkish/german/chinese talking dictionary!!! only $200AU!!! very very cheap.
yesterday i packed up a whole lot of stuff to send home. which may or may not weigh around 15 kilos! but i can't carry it aorund with me and there's no way im paying for extra luggage for emirates coz it's like 50euros pe kilo that your over. so i'm shipping it home and hopefully it won't coz too much. need to find a stronger box tho. the one i have might not handle the trip home. note about jordanian post offices. they don't sell boxes, enevelopes... anything that you need to send stuff in and its really frustrating. we've been rocking up to all the grocery stores asking for empty boxes!
I'm really going to miss Amman. It doesn't have the same charm to it like Damascus or Syria, but i guess I just have so many great memories of the time I have spent here that it will be hard to leave. And I have made some great local friends who i wish i could get to know more!
I'm also going to miss all my Deakin friends! It's goign to be so wierd going home and not having them there because they live in a different state. I've already scheduled in two trips to Melbourne when I get home! but hey, free accomodation!
So Molly and I have recruited some fellow students who will now be travelling with us to Egypt and Turkey. Ba'haa, Chris, Ken and Clare. So that'll be great. Ba'haa speaks fluent Arabic and Clare has lived in Egypt for 9months before coming here, so she's gonna help us in egypt and she speaks fluent Egyptian. so i'm so excited for the study to end and the travelling to start.
keep you posted
Carly
Friday, January 23, 2009
the jordan baptism site and the dead sea
so last weekend was our last trip in jordan. we bussed it for an hour and a hlaf to the jordan rive baptism site where Jesus was baptised by John the baptist and where John did most of his ministry. we rocked up at the gate and got told that today was the day of the ephinany, which is a major celebration day for the church, especially the orthodox church... and that meant there were 5000 people at the Baptism site. so we were all like nah, let's wait and do it tomorrow. but then our tour guide said that coz today is a special day we get in for free, and being the cheap stingy students that we are, we all changed our minds and decided to brave the crowds.
not the bet idea. first of all the actuall access to the jordan river was closed, so we ouldn't actually see anything. second... there were def more than 5000 people there! it was chaos! but at the same time it was cool to see all these orthodox priests in fancy robes, and it was the only time in Jordan where I was part of the majority of people around me... Christian adn without a headscarf. so that was cool.
after that we headed off to our resort hotel on the dead sea. It was a nice day, not too hot nor too cold, so we all headed straight to the dead sea to float and cover ourselves in mud. it was pretty cool. excpet i managed to get warer in my eyes and it burned like hell for aorund about 10 minutes, until i could cry it all out!
this hotel was by far the nicest we have stayed in! Dinner was so yummy... all this hot meat and roast vegies, and dessert was incredible too!! we were all getting excited about what breakfast was going to be like the night before, because arabic breakfasts include bread, cucumber tomato, boild egggs and cheese... and i'm quite simply over arabic breakfasts. the last couple of trips i took my jar of vegemite with me and toastes my bread on the heater just to have a non-arab breakfast. newho... so the next mornign we were not disappointed!
there was cereal! not just one type either... there were 4types... and all this amazing bread and a toaster~!!!!!! and eggs and turkey bacon (yeah turkey bacon...just not as good as real pig) and croissants and pastries and real coffee and juice and omgoodness it was amazing! haha... rian and i rocked up to breaky at 7:30am... i left at 10am... and took about half the food with me... free lunch! except i had to evade the hotel staff coz they knew wat i was up to.:)
so after breaky we went straight into the dead sea again. mainly becoz you know how you're not supposed to swim after eating coz you would drown... and that just wasnt gonna happen seeing as it was the dead sea and all... but the second time in hurt so much more. coz the day before we scrubbed oursleves in mud and it scratched us and so it really really stung!
oh and the day before after we scrubbed oursleves in mud and washed oursleves off in freezing cold water. we were desperate for hot showers and we got to our hotel rooms...and the hot water wasn;t working!!!! it was awful... and we got so mad coz it was such a nice hotel... the hot water should have been working. neways at dinner that night hakeem told us the taps were opposite... so we felt stupid... but at least we didn't do a Nick who called up maintenence and they came in and turned it the other way. they must have thought we were the biggests bunch of idiots!
so yeah... that was my trip to the dead sea... we didn;t get up to much, just relaxing really.
catch ya
carly
not the bet idea. first of all the actuall access to the jordan river was closed, so we ouldn't actually see anything. second... there were def more than 5000 people there! it was chaos! but at the same time it was cool to see all these orthodox priests in fancy robes, and it was the only time in Jordan where I was part of the majority of people around me... Christian adn without a headscarf. so that was cool.
after that we headed off to our resort hotel on the dead sea. It was a nice day, not too hot nor too cold, so we all headed straight to the dead sea to float and cover ourselves in mud. it was pretty cool. excpet i managed to get warer in my eyes and it burned like hell for aorund about 10 minutes, until i could cry it all out!
this hotel was by far the nicest we have stayed in! Dinner was so yummy... all this hot meat and roast vegies, and dessert was incredible too!! we were all getting excited about what breakfast was going to be like the night before, because arabic breakfasts include bread, cucumber tomato, boild egggs and cheese... and i'm quite simply over arabic breakfasts. the last couple of trips i took my jar of vegemite with me and toastes my bread on the heater just to have a non-arab breakfast. newho... so the next mornign we were not disappointed!
there was cereal! not just one type either... there were 4types... and all this amazing bread and a toaster~!!!!!! and eggs and turkey bacon (yeah turkey bacon...just not as good as real pig) and croissants and pastries and real coffee and juice and omgoodness it was amazing! haha... rian and i rocked up to breaky at 7:30am... i left at 10am... and took about half the food with me... free lunch! except i had to evade the hotel staff coz they knew wat i was up to.:)
so after breaky we went straight into the dead sea again. mainly becoz you know how you're not supposed to swim after eating coz you would drown... and that just wasnt gonna happen seeing as it was the dead sea and all... but the second time in hurt so much more. coz the day before we scrubbed oursleves in mud and it scratched us and so it really really stung!
oh and the day before after we scrubbed oursleves in mud and washed oursleves off in freezing cold water. we were desperate for hot showers and we got to our hotel rooms...and the hot water wasn;t working!!!! it was awful... and we got so mad coz it was such a nice hotel... the hot water should have been working. neways at dinner that night hakeem told us the taps were opposite... so we felt stupid... but at least we didn't do a Nick who called up maintenence and they came in and turned it the other way. they must have thought we were the biggests bunch of idiots!
so yeah... that was my trip to the dead sea... we didn;t get up to much, just relaxing really.
catch ya
carly
petra
So I’m way behind with my blog atm. Apologies for that. So two major things that I have done since last writing were 1) Petra and 2) The Dead Sea...so
Petra
Was the most incredible thing in my life. We spent two days at Petra. The first we just wandered around looking at the major things like the Treasury and the tombs around the place. It takes about 1/2 and hour to walk down the Siq and we got swamped by little Bedouin kids and their underfed donkeys, all competing with each other for our butts on their donkeys. We didn’t spend a huge amount of time in Petra the first day, and that night we had a hamam (Turkish bath) where we got steamed, exfoliated and massaged and showered for $30 aussie dollars.
The next morning we arose at 6am to head off to Petra by 7am. This is the best time to do Petra, because none of the Bedouin kids with their donkeys are up yet, and either are all the tourists, so we had the whole place to ourselves, bar a couple of camels starting work for the day. We rode horses to the entrance for ‘tawlib price’-student price... Being a student is awesome... Normally entry into Petra costs 25JD $50 AU and coz we are UoJ students we got in both days for 1JD!!!!!!! ... Newho
So we started the hike up to the Monastery which is in the mountains outside of the main Petra area... You can be lazy and get donkeys up to the top, but it;s so much more satisfying to walk up. It wasn’t too hard, managed to get to the top in an hour and a half. Views were amazing.
And then we saw it...
A white dome in a mountain about 10km away from us and about another 1km in height compared to where we were... Ok maybe not that high.... But it was pretty high.
Aaron’s tomb! (btw Aaron was Moses bro)
Elle and had a new challenge! We were gonna get there and back to the bus by 3pm. So we teamed up with ex-army super man Stewart, and David and Iain and made our way for Aaron’s tomb. All the locals we met along the way thought we were deranged and crazy that we were walking all the way there. One Bedouin man offered us a lift to the top in his car... For 10JD each!!! We kept walking.
We hadn’t had a break at all since starting our walk up to the monastery, so I was seriously needing a rest... But ex-army crazy man didn’t need breaks... So Iain and I had to stop at one stage coz we were so exhausted. And again...and again... We must have stopped about 8 times. I’ve never done anything so physically challenging in my life before... Not even in cadets. I’m so proud of Elle... Her pride fuelled her efforts to keep up with Stewart. She wasn’t gonna let being a girl slow her down.
After about 2.5 hours after leaving the Monastery Iain and I finally made it to the top. My legs cramped with every single step for the last 1km I think! But making it to the top was so awesome! I’m so glad I didn’t give up. Then came the walk back down... Which took another 2.5 hours. It shouldn’t have taken us that long but my knee was slowing me down. I really don’t know how we made it back walking! And we were running late. The bus was leaving at 3pm and at 3pm we were just entering the main section of Petra...it was still another 40 minute walk to the town! So Iain and I ran towards a kid with a donkey who looked awfully surprised that we were actually wanting a ride! I fell off of the donkey getting on coz my legs seized up with cramps! Haha... And then we galloped. Yes I didn’t think it was possible to gallop on a donkey...but it is... And it’s painful! So we belted it up to the Treasury and then paid off another boy to take us up the Siq...donkeys aren’t actually allowed up there, which we didn’t know...so we got pulled over by tourist police on their scary massive horses... So then we had to run full pelt out the Siq to the horses which would take us to the main entrance. And we paid extra for the horses to gallop the whole way! It was like my own Indiana Jones adventure! And we finally made it to the bus... At 3:30pm! But turns out that Hakeem changed the leaving time from 3pm to 3:30... So that was good news.
But man we must have stank on the way home. We walked non-stop for 7.5 hours and my jeans were soaked. My face had a thick layer of dirt on it. My butt hurt from galloping on horses and donkeys. My legs didn’t function... But it was so totally worth every minute of it. I’ve never had such an experience in my life before. If I got to go again I would definitely not do Aaron’s tomb and the monastery in the same day...
So that is my tale of Petra. If anyone ever has the opportunity to be in this part of the world one day...DO NOT MISS THIS... It’s so good.
Peace
Carly
Petra
Was the most incredible thing in my life. We spent two days at Petra. The first we just wandered around looking at the major things like the Treasury and the tombs around the place. It takes about 1/2 and hour to walk down the Siq and we got swamped by little Bedouin kids and their underfed donkeys, all competing with each other for our butts on their donkeys. We didn’t spend a huge amount of time in Petra the first day, and that night we had a hamam (Turkish bath) where we got steamed, exfoliated and massaged and showered for $30 aussie dollars.
The next morning we arose at 6am to head off to Petra by 7am. This is the best time to do Petra, because none of the Bedouin kids with their donkeys are up yet, and either are all the tourists, so we had the whole place to ourselves, bar a couple of camels starting work for the day. We rode horses to the entrance for ‘tawlib price’-student price... Being a student is awesome... Normally entry into Petra costs 25JD $50 AU and coz we are UoJ students we got in both days for 1JD!!!!!!! ... Newho
So we started the hike up to the Monastery which is in the mountains outside of the main Petra area... You can be lazy and get donkeys up to the top, but it;s so much more satisfying to walk up. It wasn’t too hard, managed to get to the top in an hour and a half. Views were amazing.
And then we saw it...
A white dome in a mountain about 10km away from us and about another 1km in height compared to where we were... Ok maybe not that high.... But it was pretty high.
Aaron’s tomb! (btw Aaron was Moses bro)
Elle and had a new challenge! We were gonna get there and back to the bus by 3pm. So we teamed up with ex-army super man Stewart, and David and Iain and made our way for Aaron’s tomb. All the locals we met along the way thought we were deranged and crazy that we were walking all the way there. One Bedouin man offered us a lift to the top in his car... For 10JD each!!! We kept walking.
We hadn’t had a break at all since starting our walk up to the monastery, so I was seriously needing a rest... But ex-army crazy man didn’t need breaks... So Iain and I had to stop at one stage coz we were so exhausted. And again...and again... We must have stopped about 8 times. I’ve never done anything so physically challenging in my life before... Not even in cadets. I’m so proud of Elle... Her pride fuelled her efforts to keep up with Stewart. She wasn’t gonna let being a girl slow her down.
After about 2.5 hours after leaving the Monastery Iain and I finally made it to the top. My legs cramped with every single step for the last 1km I think! But making it to the top was so awesome! I’m so glad I didn’t give up. Then came the walk back down... Which took another 2.5 hours. It shouldn’t have taken us that long but my knee was slowing me down. I really don’t know how we made it back walking! And we were running late. The bus was leaving at 3pm and at 3pm we were just entering the main section of Petra...it was still another 40 minute walk to the town! So Iain and I ran towards a kid with a donkey who looked awfully surprised that we were actually wanting a ride! I fell off of the donkey getting on coz my legs seized up with cramps! Haha... And then we galloped. Yes I didn’t think it was possible to gallop on a donkey...but it is... And it’s painful! So we belted it up to the Treasury and then paid off another boy to take us up the Siq...donkeys aren’t actually allowed up there, which we didn’t know...so we got pulled over by tourist police on their scary massive horses... So then we had to run full pelt out the Siq to the horses which would take us to the main entrance. And we paid extra for the horses to gallop the whole way! It was like my own Indiana Jones adventure! And we finally made it to the bus... At 3:30pm! But turns out that Hakeem changed the leaving time from 3pm to 3:30... So that was good news.
But man we must have stank on the way home. We walked non-stop for 7.5 hours and my jeans were soaked. My face had a thick layer of dirt on it. My butt hurt from galloping on horses and donkeys. My legs didn’t function... But it was so totally worth every minute of it. I’ve never had such an experience in my life before. If I got to go again I would definitely not do Aaron’s tomb and the monastery in the same day...
So that is my tale of Petra. If anyone ever has the opportunity to be in this part of the world one day...DO NOT MISS THIS... It’s so good.
Peace
Carly
Thursday, January 1, 2009
palmyra and back to amman and being sick
Hey hey hey
I’ve arrived safely back in Amman but I’m crook as anything...again! Two days ago Rian came down with a pretty nasty stomach thing...and we all just thought it was food poisoning, and then Iain cam down with it too...and then Elle started chucking her guts up, and then Molly was throwing up all night in Palmyra, and then Kristy stated feeling sick...and then in the Damascus bus station and the WHOLE taxi ride home I managed t0 empty my stomach, and kept throwing up, and kept throwing up...I’ve never been so sick in my life! It was awful! But I’m feeling a little better this morning. Managed to keep down some toast and vegemite this morning, so thats a good sign. And then poor Hakeem got sick too! So obviously it was some kind of virus, but everyone seems to have gotten over it within 24 hours. I think the first time I was sick was food poisoning because it was nothing like the second time.
So after we left Aleppo, we caught a bus back to Homs, and from there we caught a servees to the Crac des Chevaliers. By this stage the weather was cold and wet and misty and with a top of around 0 degrees celsius. Ok maybe it reached 1 degree...but no more than that. The Crac was pretty cool... Although we have started to see a lot of old ruins now, and because I’m no archeologist, it may or may not be starting to get a little repetitive, but we’ve still had fun taking photos and climbing things. I’m so much fitter than I have ever been! The amount of walking we do! Plus my biceps have doubled in size, which may or may not have something to do with all the presents I bought in Syria! I had to buy another bag...so Mum and Dad expect a box in the post soon. Hakeem said it’s much cheaper to send stuff home and the more you have, the cheaper it gets. And it’s a lot cheaper than paying for extra luggage.
After the Crac we all piled into a servees again back to Homs and then missed the last bus to Palmyra. Well the last good bus to Palmyra. We ended up on some private bus, that must have had holes in the roof because all the seats were wet, and it had no heating and it looked as if it was built in the 1920’s and it was soooooo cold. Poor Rian was chucking her guts up the whole way, which had to have something to do with the lack of suspension. Or no suspension. Elle and I survived by getting out my laptop and watching the pirated copy we scored of Twilight. It distracted us from the cold and awfulness for 2 hours, no matter how lame and pathetic we might have seem to our classmates. :)
When we got to Palmyra we found a really nice, hot hotel! For only 600 syrian pounds, which is around $AU18. And it had hot water...and it was clean! The place in Aleppo was clean, but it was freezing, so this place was the best by far. That night we were all so stuffed, but the hotel owner said that we HAD to go to this Bedouin dinner. So we did. Well a few of us did. There was bedouin dancing and music and it was great! I’m so glad I went. Except that some Lebanese showgirl who was performing for the next night showed up in the corset with half her boobs hanging out and really tight jeans, and so all the performers were swarmed around her the whole time and then they got her to dance and it was so awful! She was like something off of Hindley Street! And there were all us westerners dressed appropriately! It was so disgusting. Elle hid under her headscarf so she didn’t have to watch. We just couldn’t believe it because Syria is way more conservative than Jordan, and if she wore that out on the street she would get shot.
So that night was the night that Rian, Molly, Elle, Kristy and Iain were all sick. The nest morning only Hakeem, Elle, Jo, Nick and me made it to the ruins. But it was so wet and cold and we didn’t get to see much at all. So that was a bit disappointing, but we couldn’t do much about it. So because of that we managed to catch an early bus back to Damascus, and that’s when I started being sick. We caught service taxi’s back to amman, which cost around $AU20, but we made it there in 3 hours instead of five. My poor taxi driver, he had to put up with me vomiting in the front seat the whole way there...
And then when I got home and out of the taxi... I realised I’ve lost my phone. The last place I had it was in the taxi, so I have a strong feeling that that taxi driver has just acquired a new fone... With my travel sim card... Which is a real pain in the butt. Thankfully I still have my Jordanian sim card.
I’ve arrived safely back in Amman but I’m crook as anything...again! Two days ago Rian came down with a pretty nasty stomach thing...and we all just thought it was food poisoning, and then Iain cam down with it too...and then Elle started chucking her guts up, and then Molly was throwing up all night in Palmyra, and then Kristy stated feeling sick...and then in the Damascus bus station and the WHOLE taxi ride home I managed t0 empty my stomach, and kept throwing up, and kept throwing up...I’ve never been so sick in my life! It was awful! But I’m feeling a little better this morning. Managed to keep down some toast and vegemite this morning, so thats a good sign. And then poor Hakeem got sick too! So obviously it was some kind of virus, but everyone seems to have gotten over it within 24 hours. I think the first time I was sick was food poisoning because it was nothing like the second time.
So after we left Aleppo, we caught a bus back to Homs, and from there we caught a servees to the Crac des Chevaliers. By this stage the weather was cold and wet and misty and with a top of around 0 degrees celsius. Ok maybe it reached 1 degree...but no more than that. The Crac was pretty cool... Although we have started to see a lot of old ruins now, and because I’m no archeologist, it may or may not be starting to get a little repetitive, but we’ve still had fun taking photos and climbing things. I’m so much fitter than I have ever been! The amount of walking we do! Plus my biceps have doubled in size, which may or may not have something to do with all the presents I bought in Syria! I had to buy another bag...so Mum and Dad expect a box in the post soon. Hakeem said it’s much cheaper to send stuff home and the more you have, the cheaper it gets. And it’s a lot cheaper than paying for extra luggage.
After the Crac we all piled into a servees again back to Homs and then missed the last bus to Palmyra. Well the last good bus to Palmyra. We ended up on some private bus, that must have had holes in the roof because all the seats were wet, and it had no heating and it looked as if it was built in the 1920’s and it was soooooo cold. Poor Rian was chucking her guts up the whole way, which had to have something to do with the lack of suspension. Or no suspension. Elle and I survived by getting out my laptop and watching the pirated copy we scored of Twilight. It distracted us from the cold and awfulness for 2 hours, no matter how lame and pathetic we might have seem to our classmates. :)
When we got to Palmyra we found a really nice, hot hotel! For only 600 syrian pounds, which is around $AU18. And it had hot water...and it was clean! The place in Aleppo was clean, but it was freezing, so this place was the best by far. That night we were all so stuffed, but the hotel owner said that we HAD to go to this Bedouin dinner. So we did. Well a few of us did. There was bedouin dancing and music and it was great! I’m so glad I went. Except that some Lebanese showgirl who was performing for the next night showed up in the corset with half her boobs hanging out and really tight jeans, and so all the performers were swarmed around her the whole time and then they got her to dance and it was so awful! She was like something off of Hindley Street! And there were all us westerners dressed appropriately! It was so disgusting. Elle hid under her headscarf so she didn’t have to watch. We just couldn’t believe it because Syria is way more conservative than Jordan, and if she wore that out on the street she would get shot.
So that night was the night that Rian, Molly, Elle, Kristy and Iain were all sick. The nest morning only Hakeem, Elle, Jo, Nick and me made it to the ruins. But it was so wet and cold and we didn’t get to see much at all. So that was a bit disappointing, but we couldn’t do much about it. So because of that we managed to catch an early bus back to Damascus, and that’s when I started being sick. We caught service taxi’s back to amman, which cost around $AU20, but we made it there in 3 hours instead of five. My poor taxi driver, he had to put up with me vomiting in the front seat the whole way there...
And then when I got home and out of the taxi... I realised I’ve lost my phone. The last place I had it was in the taxi, so I have a strong feeling that that taxi driver has just acquired a new fone... With my travel sim card... Which is a real pain in the butt. Thankfully I still have my Jordanian sim card.
aleppo, syria
Asalamu alyakum,
I write to you from my hotel room in Aleppo, or Halab (The arabic name for the city). This is our second night in Halab and our hotel is really, really nice. And only $AU30. But a tad cold. Actually it has been rather winterish here...very cold and very wet. But it’s still a lovely city. We left Damascus at 6am on the 29th for Aleppo. Only just avoided a disaster because Kristy accidentally got left behind...we thought she was in the other taxi, they thought she was in ours.. And none of our phones work here, so we sent the taxi back for her and she eventually got to the bus station. Hakeem has been so fantastic! I don’t know how we would manage without him. He’s looked after us so well. When I get home I’m going to send him a case of wine from work.
The bus ride took 4.5 hours and it was so comfy and professional and we got chocolates and water and we were treated as if we were on an airplane flight! For only $AU6!!!! When we arrived at the bus station in Halab, we took a public transport bus to the Old City. We got chatting to some guy, whose called Ahmed...he is a businessman from Dubai, but Aleppo is his hometown and he’s here on holiday. Anyway, he took us around to all these hotels and recommended this one... And after that he gave us a tour of the city AND took us up to the Citadel which overlooks Halab and gave us tour-guide-quality details!! He was so kind and helpful! Almost all the Syrians are. In the end he spent the whole day with us and he has helped us organise a chartered bus to Crac de Chevaliers tomorrow...Cheap! And he wanted nothing in return! We offered to take him our to dinner, but he needed to go home.
At one stage when we were looking for hotels, we sat down in this square in the Christian quarter of the Old City. I got talking to a boy called Muhammed who was about 12 and his friend Saad. They were so much fun! They couldn’t speak English, so I spoke Arabic to them the whole time and they could understand me! And then this old guy joined in on our conversation...and then an old lady walked past and she decided to talk to me too...but in French!! My mind was working overtime! And I kept using Arabic words when speaking French! But she switched between the two languages. It was so much fun. And then we asked the little boys where we could find hummous...they thought we said khbuz (which is bread in arabic) and they ran off and 5 minutes later they returned with 4 pieces of steaming hot, fresh bread for us! It was so sweet! And we offered to pay him and he said ‘La la la (no no no) It’s a gift’. So we think that the baker must have given it to him for free! Syrian hospitality!!!
Today we got up early and explored the Christian quarter. That was fun, and there were some old Maronite Catholic churches and an Armenian Cathedral from the 15th century that we visited. They were VERY elaborate. Even more so than the Greek Orthodox church I went to in Amman. I would like to learn more about the eastern orthodox churches.
After that we explored the endless souqs which are famous in Aleppo. It was so much fun! And I went a tad over budget, but this is the place that I have done all my present shopping... Mainly coz Syria’s the cheapest place in the Middle East. But they have so much cool stuff! And Halab is famous for it’s olive oil soap which I’m about to use when I have my shower in just a moment! Evidently you can use it for you hair as well as body.
So yeah... Then we went out for dinner... Lentil soup and aleppo kebabs! It was good...and cheap.
I write to you from my hotel room in Aleppo, or Halab (The arabic name for the city). This is our second night in Halab and our hotel is really, really nice. And only $AU30. But a tad cold. Actually it has been rather winterish here...very cold and very wet. But it’s still a lovely city. We left Damascus at 6am on the 29th for Aleppo. Only just avoided a disaster because Kristy accidentally got left behind...we thought she was in the other taxi, they thought she was in ours.. And none of our phones work here, so we sent the taxi back for her and she eventually got to the bus station. Hakeem has been so fantastic! I don’t know how we would manage without him. He’s looked after us so well. When I get home I’m going to send him a case of wine from work.
The bus ride took 4.5 hours and it was so comfy and professional and we got chocolates and water and we were treated as if we were on an airplane flight! For only $AU6!!!! When we arrived at the bus station in Halab, we took a public transport bus to the Old City. We got chatting to some guy, whose called Ahmed...he is a businessman from Dubai, but Aleppo is his hometown and he’s here on holiday. Anyway, he took us around to all these hotels and recommended this one... And after that he gave us a tour of the city AND took us up to the Citadel which overlooks Halab and gave us tour-guide-quality details!! He was so kind and helpful! Almost all the Syrians are. In the end he spent the whole day with us and he has helped us organise a chartered bus to Crac de Chevaliers tomorrow...Cheap! And he wanted nothing in return! We offered to take him our to dinner, but he needed to go home.
At one stage when we were looking for hotels, we sat down in this square in the Christian quarter of the Old City. I got talking to a boy called Muhammed who was about 12 and his friend Saad. They were so much fun! They couldn’t speak English, so I spoke Arabic to them the whole time and they could understand me! And then this old guy joined in on our conversation...and then an old lady walked past and she decided to talk to me too...but in French!! My mind was working overtime! And I kept using Arabic words when speaking French! But she switched between the two languages. It was so much fun. And then we asked the little boys where we could find hummous...they thought we said khbuz (which is bread in arabic) and they ran off and 5 minutes later they returned with 4 pieces of steaming hot, fresh bread for us! It was so sweet! And we offered to pay him and he said ‘La la la (no no no) It’s a gift’. So we think that the baker must have given it to him for free! Syrian hospitality!!!
Today we got up early and explored the Christian quarter. That was fun, and there were some old Maronite Catholic churches and an Armenian Cathedral from the 15th century that we visited. They were VERY elaborate. Even more so than the Greek Orthodox church I went to in Amman. I would like to learn more about the eastern orthodox churches.
After that we explored the endless souqs which are famous in Aleppo. It was so much fun! And I went a tad over budget, but this is the place that I have done all my present shopping... Mainly coz Syria’s the cheapest place in the Middle East. But they have so much cool stuff! And Halab is famous for it’s olive oil soap which I’m about to use when I have my shower in just a moment! Evidently you can use it for you hair as well as body.
So yeah... Then we went out for dinner... Lentil soup and aleppo kebabs! It was good...and cheap.
damascus, syria
Damascus is by far the most amazing city I’ve been too! Not that I have seen much outside of Jordan. But it is the most beautiful, charming, interesting place! I woke up this morning feeling a LOT better than yesterday, thank goodness, and headed out to get breakfast... A herb bread and pomegranate juice. The tastiest breakfast ever!
At 9am, we all met up outside our hotel and headed off to the national museum. That museum was so incredible! We didn’t have enough time to search through all of it, so I want to go back. There were things dating back to the Bronze Age... And stuff as old as 2000-2500 BC!
After the museum we all met up at the Handicrafts Market. This place was cool...lots of stuff like scarves, jewellery, rugs, woodwork, metalwork... I bought a few presents. And then I stumbled across this shop where the man made all his scarves from his loom! I went in and he showed me how it worked! It was incredible! I filmed some of it so you can see it when I get back! (internet connection will never be fast enough for me to upload photos. I was so stoked to find this place, because sometimes you don’t know if the scarves you’re buying are from China... But I can really tell the difference now.
The Syrian people are so lovely. There is a huge difference in the attitudes between Jordanians and Syrians. Syrians are much nicer. The men don’t harass you in the street like in Amman and I feel much more safer here. There are also a lot more tourists here than in Amman.
So after doing a bit of shopping we headed to Saladin’s Shrine in the Old City. Us girls had to get changed in the “Putting on Special Clothes Room”...haha we looked ridiculous. Kind of like brown penguins, or funny coloured smurfs crossed between a monk. The Shrine is right next to the Ummayed Mosque, which we then entered. That was pretty incredible. The design and architecture and craftwork was exquisite! My photos don’t really do it justice...mainly coz I have a crap camera, and I suck at taking photos... Haha but there was all this old school beautiful artwork and handicraft and marble, and then smack bang in the middle of the beautiful marble courtyard is this new, sleek, modern, floor polisher. It was just so out of place! But I guess the need to keep those marble floors shiny so all the kids that come can have fun sliding and skidding all over the floors... Seriously, there are kids going crazy playing all over the mosque... I guess it’s a pretty awesome playground...
After that we wandered the souq’s and I bought more presents. Molly and Kristy have decided that I suck at bargaining and have ordered me not to buy anything without them nearby. I just feel bad... I feel like these people need the money... Even though they probably do charge double what it’s worth.
Then we had dinner at this really pretty restaurant! I had lentil soup again ‘coz it’s the best new food...falafels and hummus are great...but there is only so much you can eat!
At 9am, we all met up outside our hotel and headed off to the national museum. That museum was so incredible! We didn’t have enough time to search through all of it, so I want to go back. There were things dating back to the Bronze Age... And stuff as old as 2000-2500 BC!
After the museum we all met up at the Handicrafts Market. This place was cool...lots of stuff like scarves, jewellery, rugs, woodwork, metalwork... I bought a few presents. And then I stumbled across this shop where the man made all his scarves from his loom! I went in and he showed me how it worked! It was incredible! I filmed some of it so you can see it when I get back! (internet connection will never be fast enough for me to upload photos. I was so stoked to find this place, because sometimes you don’t know if the scarves you’re buying are from China... But I can really tell the difference now.
The Syrian people are so lovely. There is a huge difference in the attitudes between Jordanians and Syrians. Syrians are much nicer. The men don’t harass you in the street like in Amman and I feel much more safer here. There are also a lot more tourists here than in Amman.
So after doing a bit of shopping we headed to Saladin’s Shrine in the Old City. Us girls had to get changed in the “Putting on Special Clothes Room”...haha we looked ridiculous. Kind of like brown penguins, or funny coloured smurfs crossed between a monk. The Shrine is right next to the Ummayed Mosque, which we then entered. That was pretty incredible. The design and architecture and craftwork was exquisite! My photos don’t really do it justice...mainly coz I have a crap camera, and I suck at taking photos... Haha but there was all this old school beautiful artwork and handicraft and marble, and then smack bang in the middle of the beautiful marble courtyard is this new, sleek, modern, floor polisher. It was just so out of place! But I guess the need to keep those marble floors shiny so all the kids that come can have fun sliding and skidding all over the floors... Seriously, there are kids going crazy playing all over the mosque... I guess it’s a pretty awesome playground...
After that we wandered the souq’s and I bought more presents. Molly and Kristy have decided that I suck at bargaining and have ordered me not to buy anything without them nearby. I just feel bad... I feel like these people need the money... Even though they probably do charge double what it’s worth.
Then we had dinner at this really pretty restaurant! I had lentil soup again ‘coz it’s the best new food...falafels and hummus are great...but there is only so much you can eat!
christmas day and gingerbread making
Hey guys! So I am writing this blog in my hotel room in Damascus... Btu I have a little bit to catch you all up on...
So last weekend on Saturday, we went to Mt Nebo and Madaba. Mt Nebo was the mountain that Moses died on that overlooks the Promised Land. It was pretty cool, but unfortunately the photos aren’t brilliant ‘coz it was a really hazy. I still can’t believe how many amazing, historical things I’ve seen. Its also kinda cool, coz you read about all these places in the Bible, and you know how you read a book and then they make a movie of it, ad then when you read the book again, you seem to be able to picture it clearer... I think that’s kinda what it’s like now reading the Bible...coz I can actually picture some of these places now. So yeah...I’m very blessed.
Classes have been good... Not as challenging as I thought it would be, but I am still learning a lot. I caught up with my friend who studies Medicine here at the University of Jordan, and that was great because I was forced to speak nothing but Arabic for a couple of hours.
We also had Christmas this week! It didn’t really feel like Christmas was coming at all, but then two days before I started making the gingerbread house and that brought on some Christmas spirit. The house wasn’t a total disaster... We had a bit of a scare when it started collapsing on us, but some skewers and cardboard did the trick, so it held together AND made the taxi drive to the house where we had lunch.
Christmas Day was great. I went to bed at 1am...woke at 3:15am to get to the innternet cafe to talk to my family and James at 4am!! I am really glad I went... But I wasn’t thinking that on the walk there... We got absolutely saturated! It was bucketing with rain and it was so damn cold, and our shoes and socks were drenched!! But it was worth it. It was so god being able to see everyone eating Christmas lunch...
We got home at 6am, thawed out, and slept for another 2 hours before we got up again. We had Christmas lunch at the Deputy Head of the Australian Embassy’s house with his family! He is studying at the UOJ language centre too, and he has been coming on all our weekend trips with his wife, Sandy and daughter Amelia. The taxi drive there was one of the funniest experiences I have had since arriving in Amman. There must have been about 8 taxi’s in a convoy and NONE if them knew the address, so Hakeem was on the phone to all of them...some of them were getting really angry (our’s was nice... Although he did call us names in Arabic and told us we’d be better off if he just drive us to the airport and we catch the next plane home...several times...) So yeah...we must have taken 45 minutes to get to a place that is 15 minutes away from our apartments. But we made it.
Their house was AMAZING! It was sooooo big. And they had it all decorated and they had SOOOOOOO much food. Plus all of our apartments brought a couple of dishes each. They had also invited some of the embassy staff from the Australian, British and US embassy’s... So there we were, a bunch of rowdy students talking politics and religion with some pretty important people. It was so good! Sandy and Rohan are just the most amazing people and so incredibly kind. It really felt like Christmas being at their house.
So yeah.. Then today we got up at 5 am to catch an early bus to Damascus, Syria. But as soon as I woke I realised I was pretty sick with some kind of stomach thing. So all day I have been pretty ill. Kristy gave me some drugs to stop the nausea and they worked well...plus I had a bunch of people praying for me...alaamdillhillah (thank God in Arabic). So after sleeping all afternoon I was well enough to wander the Old City. Still not 100%, but I had lentil soup for dinner and was able to keep it down, so that’s a good sign. Still not sure if this thing is viral, or if it’s food poisoning.
Damascus is so beautiful! I love it here. It is so clean, and there is a mixture of arab as well as french style architecture and the shops are SOOOO much better here than in Amman. And cheaper too! So I think I’ll be doing my main present shopping here. The dresses here too are so much more beautiful! And today I bought this scarf which is made here in Damascus, and the quality is so good...you would have to pay like $80 for a scarf that quality in Australia. I paid 500 syrian pounds for it, which is $15 aussie dollars!! Btw, buying presents is really hard... ‘coz everything I see I want for myself as well!
Hopefully I can find an internet cafe soon so I can post this!
Lots of love
Carly
So last weekend on Saturday, we went to Mt Nebo and Madaba. Mt Nebo was the mountain that Moses died on that overlooks the Promised Land. It was pretty cool, but unfortunately the photos aren’t brilliant ‘coz it was a really hazy. I still can’t believe how many amazing, historical things I’ve seen. Its also kinda cool, coz you read about all these places in the Bible, and you know how you read a book and then they make a movie of it, ad then when you read the book again, you seem to be able to picture it clearer... I think that’s kinda what it’s like now reading the Bible...coz I can actually picture some of these places now. So yeah...I’m very blessed.
Classes have been good... Not as challenging as I thought it would be, but I am still learning a lot. I caught up with my friend who studies Medicine here at the University of Jordan, and that was great because I was forced to speak nothing but Arabic for a couple of hours.
We also had Christmas this week! It didn’t really feel like Christmas was coming at all, but then two days before I started making the gingerbread house and that brought on some Christmas spirit. The house wasn’t a total disaster... We had a bit of a scare when it started collapsing on us, but some skewers and cardboard did the trick, so it held together AND made the taxi drive to the house where we had lunch.
Christmas Day was great. I went to bed at 1am...woke at 3:15am to get to the innternet cafe to talk to my family and James at 4am!! I am really glad I went... But I wasn’t thinking that on the walk there... We got absolutely saturated! It was bucketing with rain and it was so damn cold, and our shoes and socks were drenched!! But it was worth it. It was so god being able to see everyone eating Christmas lunch...
We got home at 6am, thawed out, and slept for another 2 hours before we got up again. We had Christmas lunch at the Deputy Head of the Australian Embassy’s house with his family! He is studying at the UOJ language centre too, and he has been coming on all our weekend trips with his wife, Sandy and daughter Amelia. The taxi drive there was one of the funniest experiences I have had since arriving in Amman. There must have been about 8 taxi’s in a convoy and NONE if them knew the address, so Hakeem was on the phone to all of them...some of them were getting really angry (our’s was nice... Although he did call us names in Arabic and told us we’d be better off if he just drive us to the airport and we catch the next plane home...several times...) So yeah...we must have taken 45 minutes to get to a place that is 15 minutes away from our apartments. But we made it.
Their house was AMAZING! It was sooooo big. And they had it all decorated and they had SOOOOOOO much food. Plus all of our apartments brought a couple of dishes each. They had also invited some of the embassy staff from the Australian, British and US embassy’s... So there we were, a bunch of rowdy students talking politics and religion with some pretty important people. It was so good! Sandy and Rohan are just the most amazing people and so incredibly kind. It really felt like Christmas being at their house.
So yeah.. Then today we got up at 5 am to catch an early bus to Damascus, Syria. But as soon as I woke I realised I was pretty sick with some kind of stomach thing. So all day I have been pretty ill. Kristy gave me some drugs to stop the nausea and they worked well...plus I had a bunch of people praying for me...alaamdillhillah (thank God in Arabic). So after sleeping all afternoon I was well enough to wander the Old City. Still not 100%, but I had lentil soup for dinner and was able to keep it down, so that’s a good sign. Still not sure if this thing is viral, or if it’s food poisoning.
Damascus is so beautiful! I love it here. It is so clean, and there is a mixture of arab as well as french style architecture and the shops are SOOOO much better here than in Amman. And cheaper too! So I think I’ll be doing my main present shopping here. The dresses here too are so much more beautiful! And today I bought this scarf which is made here in Damascus, and the quality is so good...you would have to pay like $80 for a scarf that quality in Australia. I paid 500 syrian pounds for it, which is $15 aussie dollars!! Btw, buying presents is really hard... ‘coz everything I see I want for myself as well!
Hopefully I can find an internet cafe soon so I can post this!
Lots of love
Carly
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