Friday, January 06, 2006
Islam
When I write this we are in Turkey, the last country during our trip through the Middle East that knows the Islam as the major religion. To be honest I am looking forward to sleep without waking up around 5 in the morning due to the call for praying. On the other hand most people we met on the road, in shops, camps and elsewhere were very friendly and helpful even if we had no language in common. Often they just explained us in Arabic or found someone to translate. The boys never received so many sweets before this trip and even if they misbehave in our eyes the people do not seem to mind, sometimes they even warn us not to be too hard because they are still small children!In Tunisia and Libya we saw how life is during the Ramadan when people are not allowed to eat, drink and smoke during the day. It affects them seriously as they love to drink tea and smoke water pipes or cigarettes. Of course we notice only the men doing this. Women that smoke in public are rare to see.
In Damascus we could enter the Umayyad Mosque and I was surprised to see men and women in one prayer room, usually they are separated. But still every woman had to cover her hair. In Madaba, Jordan, we parked next to a Christian school when I realized that all the women did not wear veils or anything to cover their hair.
On the other hand we heard stories of Moslems secretly munching food in the back of the car during the Ramadan, men getting drunk in airplanes heading out of their country etc. The social pressure to live according to the rules seems high but also creates a society with hardly any petty crime. Very safe for the traveler, especially compared to the Roman Catholic Central and South America.
Leaving Jordan means that our photo and fingerprint is stored in a computer system and a exit tax of JD 15 per person. In Syria the weekly diesel tax awaits us and we decide to have only one week instead of the 2 weeks planned. Insurance, Carnet de Passage, entry stamps in our passports (we already arranged the visa in Holland) and we can continue to Bosra. This town has a black basalt fortress that contains a theatre, a nice place to have lunch. But to our surprise the town also knows a basalt area with streets, houses, pillars, temples etc where people still live on the edge, walk and cycle to work, home or school. The boys prefer to have a close look at Scoop and I have to explain the 4 flat tyres…
In Damascus we have a hard time finding the New Kaboun Campsite, but in the end we manage. Unfortunately no shoarma place in the neighbourhood and I refuse to get back in the car! So Hans prepares food. We feel the temperature getting lower and lower but are not yet prepared to start the heater. The overlanders here are still camping in tents and that is not for the fainthearted anymore. They all come from Turkey heading south and are all looking forward to higher temperatures. We fear what awaits us. But we have a great time in the Damascus souq buying winter shoes for Rik, eating chocolate cakes and more shoarma and visiting the large mosque. In the evening we are invited to join 2 Dutch travelers in a large coach and have a very good time chatting the hours away.
Because Palmyra is in the desert we head for the warmth and some more ruins of temples, streets with columns and theatres. To camp and have dinner watching the site from the Zenobia Hotel is a very good experience. The sun does a good job and we enjoy exploring the old stones before heading to the crusader castle of Crac de Chevalliers. This also means we leave the higher temperatures behind. By the time we reach the hills it is raining and the area is green. That is a long time ago. The bus needs to work hard to get up to the castle, the roads are windy and pretty steep but we get there. To have a break from all the time spent in the bus we have dinner in The Round Table restaurant and enjoy the various dishes and kebab, not to mention the French fries! The heater is on and it is very necessary too.
The next morning after all the rains the sun joins us on our tour through the castle, the boys ran happily through the enormous castle and the views are great. How lucky can one be? We try our luck even more by choosing a route to Hama following small local roads through various villages. Here signs are not abundant and Hans needs to ask every time the road splits. Time consuming but we reach the famous water wheels of Hama at lunchtime, just as planned. The wheels carry the water up to some canals and make a noise like a moped in full speed. Nice to see if you do not have to sleep next to them. From Hama we continue north towards Aleppo and have even more difficulties finding the Kaddour campsite than we faced in Damascus. It turns out that the campsite is about 25 km out of town…. Not very convenient, but by the time we get there the sun went down and we are tired of driving even though we have to pay too much money. I decide we stay 1 night and park in the city center the next day to spend 1 more night. This is really convenient, opposite the museum, close to shops, the souqs and the citadel of Aleppo. But this is Friday and for the first time we find many shops are closed for business today. In the previous countries we visited we never really noticed the difference between one day or the other. Even in the Christian quarter of Aleppo most of the shops are closed and the largest souq is pretty dark and not very lively today. Too bad, but the next morning it was raining and we did not give it a second try.
But I succeed in buying 2 jerry cans to carry extra diesel into Turkey as the prices are steep (euro 1,25 per liter) especially compared to the prices in Syria (euro 0,12). We fill them the next morning in the rain and drive north to the border. Within no time Hans says we have a problem: the diesel is leaking into the car and although we have placed the jerry cans in extra plastic bags we fear the whole car is soon one pool of diesel. In the end we empty them for 25% and that works out better, fill up the tank for our last Syrian pounds shortly before we leave the country and leave Syria. It was a short but pleasant visit.
# posted by Hans, Monique, Bart en Rik @ 9:41 pm 
