We're in Syria!

Marhaba from Syria!

We had a big day yesterday travelling by local bus from Amman to Jerash, they have a system here where you get on the bus going to the right destination ..... although since all the local bus station signs are in Arabic it usually involves asking people and pointing at the map to get the correct bus! ... and then you wait. When enough people are on the bus that it's full up then the bus leaves :) Kind of handy because it means you don't need to work out the bus schedule and luckily so far we haven't had to wait too long for the bus to fill up :)

In Jerash we explored the ancient Roman city which was only 90 percent excavated but the 10 percent that we saw was still very large. It was a hugely contrasting view when you looked out over the ruins and onto the city of Jerash today.

We managed to work out what bus to get on and travelled as far as Irbid where we were going to swap for another bus to get across the border. When we arrived we found out .... through a lot of back and forward conversation in very broken english, lots of hand motion and map pointing, that we couldn't get a bus across the border. We were also told that we wouldn't be able to get a visa either because they had changed the rules 2 months ago! We decided to give it a go anyway .... we figured we could always trek back to Amman and get a visa there if necessary. So was got in a taxi with the same waiting system as the bus and were joined by a Syrian medical student and an Arabic woman and her son who didn't speak English but were very friendly :)

The border was a series of checkpoints with soldiers lazying around at each one who looked at our passports, commented that New Zealand people are very beautiful and then waved us through :) We went through about 4 of these before crossing into the Syrian side and then were asked to pay and given our passports back ... and then we were in :) No probs mate :)

Syria is very different to Jordan. The people here and still very friendly but they look different to the Jordanian people who have a very distinctive look. A number of Syrians have paler skin and lighter eyes. Also the country side changed straight away as we entered Syria. There is a lot more green here - I mean you see a patch of dried grass every now and then and some trees ..... Chch is going to be like coming back to a jungle! lol :)

We got dropped off at the outskirts of Damascus and caught a taxi into the city. We were dropped off by the driver (who didn't speak english but waved down the street that you couldn't drive down) so out we hoped and wandered into a very busy food market! It all looked so good but also didn't look anything like a backpacker hostel! We managed to find some ladies that could read our map who told us we were actually quite a way from where we wanted to go. As we were talking to them an older man came past and joined in the conversation. He was Syrian but spoke with an Australian accent (turned out he had lived there for 15 years) and told us he was heading in the same direction so he would walk us to the hotel :) He told us all about the city as we wandered along and had some very interesting stories about his life :) There are amazing friendly people all over the world :)

Off to explore Damascus this afternoon. The food here is amazing and we understand now why everyone we meet raves about it! Beth is extra excited because she's trying to put on all the weight that she lost in India so she has become my walking waste disposal :) The only trouble is that it's too hot to eat most of the day!