Living the good life in Amman

Once we got to Amman, we really started living the good life. We were there for 3 nights, with Sarah's brother Peter flying over for the latter 2 nights. The 3 of us would then travel together for a week.
Luckily for us, our good friend Mo has an apartment in Amman that is associated with his family's business. Mo and his family and colleagues treated us amazingly. We had a driver for our entire 7 days in Jordan. Ahmed - he was the man. Ahmed loved to take us "arounding" throughout Amman and the rest of the country, and was quick to offer us his insights, even though he accidentally dumped a cup of coffee on Sarah at one point. We loved Ahmed, and are very grateful that he was there for us.
And then there was Yatti - one of the greatest things the country of Jordan has to offer, even though she's Indonesian and not Jordanian. Yatti lived in the apartment, and cooked and cleaned for us. I've never seen so much food. I'd sit down on the couch after a light snack of chicken, rice, lamb, paella, spagetti, salad, pita, and yogurt to find a fresh poundcake, tons of fruit, candy bars, and cheese. Tea and coffee was always around.
We really lived in luxury those three days in Amman - a billion thanks to Mo and his family for taking care of us.

Bosra

Return of the Blog

So, the blog died for about a week, for a variety of reasons. 1) Too much fun, not enough time. We constantly run around, and when we're finally back to our spot for the night, we're typically dead tired. Plus, the internet is not always working, etc. 2) For about 6 days, I had a serious bout with Suleyman's Revenge. No details required, but lets just say I wasn't as spry as usual. All better now, though, so time for some updates. Plus, we had camera issues, which caused some delays. Those, also, have been fixed.

Our last day in Syria, we hired a driver to drive us to Amman, Jordan. We stopped at the ancient city of Bosra, which has some spectacular Roman ruins, including one of the biggest Roman theater's around. It was wild.
On the way to Bosra, we definately had some, "whoa, we're in Syria" moments. We drove past multiple army training facilities. Tanks cruising by, Syrian army dudes yelling at each other. We definately saw some live drills. So - to whoever has infiltrated the blog - I know all about those Syrian tankers half way between Suweida and Damascus...
We then drove across the border at Deraa (where Lawrence of Arabia was arrested), and went to Jerash, another Roman site about 40 KM north of Amman. The overland border crossing between Syria and Jordan is something I'll never forget. Absolute and complete chaos.
1 big, stinky room. Tons of sweaty Jordanian men yelling and screaming. Zero concept of a line. Over 100 hundred degrees. Flies everywhere. The bathrooms - worst I've seen in my life. A total and utter mess, a zoo. Disgusting, the entire border crosssing was complete nonsense. Somehow, after about 1 hour, we made it through. Women in burkas passed out with children, flies all over everyone, sweaty Jordanian guys fighting and spitting and yelling. Glad we surived.
After that fiasco, we got to Jerash, which was amazing. There is a huge hippodrome that still has chariot races, which we, unfortunately due to the border fiasco, missed. Tons of huge Roman columns. A very impressive site. We arrived in Amman around 4pm. What an oasis Amman is...

and more Damascus

Syrian wedding in our hotel lobby. This was the "march to the elevator."

Syrian boys, Sarah, and piles of candy

more tea and nargila

fresh blackberry juice

More Damascus

Chapel of Ananias, who met Paul on Straight Street, in the center of Old City Damascus. Paul was blind when he met Ananias, and Ananias baptised Paul, who could then see.

The Roman Arch on Straight Street

Inside the Umayyad Mosque. Inside, there were tons of groups praying. Many of the men and women were crying loudly and emotionally. It was an incredible sight.

Sarah in her robe at Umayyad Mosque. The grey cape definately makes you look like an outsider. Inside, Sarah felt uncomfortable, as she was treated pourly by the women in the mosque. The men had no problem with me. It was an interesting cultural moment. The mosque is divided into a mens and womens section.

Syrian baclava mounds

Damascus

Tea and Nargile at Al-Nofara, a famous Syrian coffee shop

The Umayyad Mosque

Al-Hakawati - a famous Syrian story teller who tells ancient tales in Arabic inside Al-Nofara. The tale this night was the ancient Arabic tale of the muni bond salesmen and the teacher, lost in the middle east.

The Umayyad Mosque

A new friend at the biggest souk in Damascus, Al-Hamidiyeh

So many memorable moments in Damascus, and they started the minute we got there. We walked off the plane from Istanbul, and as we walked in the airport, there were literally 100 men and women in complete Muslim dress, lying and sitting on the floor. It really was an eye opener. Syria is the Middle Eastern main course to Turkey's appetizer.

We stayed at a nice hotel in downtown Damascus, which was about a 15 minute walk to the Old City. The Old City is where we spent all of our time, besides the hotel pool, and we could have wandered their for hours. Very old souks, the Umayyad Mosque (where John the Baptist's head is apparently in one of the sarcophaguses, fruit and juice stands, coffee and narghile (houka), etc. We ate 2 very delishious and incredibly cheap meals. Syria is dirt cheap. No alcohol around at all. You can find it at some places, but most places are Muslim run, and thus don't serve alcohol. I love looking at the "Cocktail Menu" at the restuarants and deciding between Strawberry Juice and Pineapple Juice.

Whirling Dervishes, good bye Turkey, hello Syria

Our last night in Turkey, we went and saw the Whirling Dervishes, which is a religious dance done by Sufis. A core of their belief system is that by revovling, they become closer to God. It was a fascinating ceremony, in a beautiful building that was over 600 years old. Unfortunately, pictures were forbidden, but the music and dancing (all men) was pretty fascinating. Much more interesting than my sister's old ballet recitals.
We woke up the next morning, and flew to Damascus. Much more to come on our 2 days in Syria later, but Damascus is beautiful and charming. The people could not have been nicer. The old city, surrounded by old Roman Walls, is great, and we spent hours roaming the old souks and checking out Mosques, churches, drinking coffee, smoking water pipe, eating fresh fruit, candy, kebabs, etc. Will post detailed stories and pics later. There were a bunch of moments where I had to step back and realize where we were, whether because of the impact of the religous history or the reminder of the current political situations.
A few years back, the Syrian government blocked facebook, alleging that the Israeli's had taken it over. Apparently, they also thought the blog was infiltrated, because it was blocked during our stay there...hence the blog delay. We are now in Amman,, Jordan but I'll post all the details and trials and tribulations tonight/tomorrow.