Land of friendly people and free falafels

I never thought it would be possible to convince Chris to eat a vegetarian meal without there being some type of whinging session attached. The middle east has turned him into a new man, to the point where he looks forward to having a falafel for lunch and could even follow it up with another at dinner. Syria completed this love affair with the simple sandwich when we got given them for free in Aleppo, and not just the sandwich but drinks as well. What was the catch - none apparently, the falafel guru behind the counter just kept on giving! This was not the only time we experienced such generosity, it seems that the Syrian people are not only incredibly kind with offerings of food but are the friendly people and love to just sit and talk to you. It really is a stark difference to Egypt and Jordan and quite a freshing change.

We didnt have long to spend in this special land, first stop was Damascas where we were overwhelmed by the largest under cover souk in the Middle East. Now I said the people in Syria were friendly, however I wasnt too appreciative of the kind of friendliness I recieved literally 2 minutes after stepping foot in the souk. I wont go into details but my butt was violated and if I had seen the chump that did it he would have got a jandal in his face.


Not being deterred by the incident I pulled myself together and got a delicious icecream rolled in pistachios, things were looking up again.




We spent 2 days in Damascas, shopped a little, visited a glorious mosque and went to see the story teller (a dying art but special to see even though it was in Arabic).


From there we drove onto Palmyra, stunning roman ruins set amongst a desert landscape. For the first time in awhile we were completely alone wandering around the ruins, probably because it was so hot no other fools could handle it, but the serenity was brilliant.



We bush camped that night and took a moonlit walk up to a castle on top of the rocks, not a great idea to do it in jandals but quite an experience.

In the morning we stopped by to visit Syria's most famous castle, Crac de Chevaliers. None of this famed castle is preserved but it is still in a pretty good state. As we started to explore the underground stone stables and cellars we quickly discovered there had now become breeding grounds for mossies and flies. The walls were literally moving and buzzing. Needless to say I was not sticking around to wait for Chris to bang the wall and get them into a frenzy.

Our last stop in Syria was Aleppo, city of free falafels, fresh juices and more free food being fired at you as you walk by a shop or stall. Aleppo has a beautiful citadel perched on the hill overlooking the city. These middle eastern cities would have been huge in the day and major trading points of the ancient middle eastern world.


We didnt want to leave Syria, it was extremely cheap, the people were top notch and the pace of life seemed to have slowed down in comparison to Egypt and Jordan. As our trip continues we just keep getting more and more overwhelmed at what we are seeing and experiencing. You keep thinking it cant get better but are constantly proved wrong.

Turkey is now our last country and we are champing to see what it has to offer...Syria will be hard to beat.

Jordan

After a border crossing we would like to forget we finally arrived into Jordan. It was to be a short stint in the country (4 days), but a very memorable one.

First Jordan stop was Aqaba for a couple of hours, good for a wander and a bit of Israel spotting as we could stand on one riverbank and see Israel on the other. Didn't fancy a swim across however. From there it was straight to the Wadi Rum desert, made famous by Lawrence of Arabia who had a secret military base there. Did a 4x4 safari in the worlds crappiest land rover which kept breaking down. Also did the slowest sand boarding ever, it was like snail sand boarding as they had no wax for the boards. Desert scenery was stunning though, you feel very small being dwarfed by big stone cliffs and endless desert sands.

Camped that night in the desert where Ray Mears wannabe Chris lit the camp fire with his flint, a proud day. Too bad the fire didn't make the wind disappear, we slept rough with no tents and had zero sleep as the wind buffeted us all night. Lesson learned for next time...

One of the must sees in Jordan is Petra, an ancient trading city built by the Nabateans over 2000 years ago into the rocks in a secret valley. We weren't at all prepared for how spectacular this ancient city would be. It was like stepping back in time as most things are very well preserved and it really has to be seen to be believed. We spent the entire day wandering about finding more and more to explore. They are right in saying you could spend a week exploring every nook and cranny. You couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like to be the Swiss explorer Johan Burckhardt who rediscovered this lost city in 1812 - he would have been stoked.

Our tour schedule remains excessive with no time to rest so onto the dead sea we went. 27 years ago Chris' dad got his picture snapped relaxing in the dead sea and now it was our turn. Words cannot explain the freaky feeling of knowing you are in the water but not being able to sink. It was great fun bobbing up and down but there was definitely no water fights as if you got a bit of that stuff in your eye you would know about it. Got a little in my mouth which was nasty tasting. As the dead sea salt content is 31% you really need to wash it off asap before you start crusting over, forward planning by the tour company saw us canyoning in fresh water 10 mins away.

That night we camped rough again on Mt Nebo where Moses was allegedly buried and first spotted the promise land. Our campsite gave us great views over to Israel's gaza strip and the city of Jericho. It looked like a stones throw away, amazing how all these countries in the Middle East are visible from certain vantage points. No wonder bombs have flown in the past. This was our last night in Jordan. It was short but sweet (and a little salty).

The Moving Middle East

We are now two weeks into the Middle East leg of our journey. As you can imagine it hasn't rained yet and the temperatures keep getting hotter every day. We have broken two thermometres as the temperatures have sored over 50 degrees.

So, mmm where was the last blog ended? Right we could an overnight train to Aswan from Cairo. The morning we arrived we ditched all the people with money to burn and went street food hunting for breakfast. We found a nice falafel sanwhich for 1 Egyptian Pound. Thats about 40c. After that it was catching up on sleep in the heat of the day. We tried to have a walk around the souks but it was just too hot.

That evening we caught a boat to a Nubian village were we had dinner traditional dinner followed by a tour around there house complete with three pet baby crocodiles who hated being poked with a stick.

The next day it was off to Abu Simbel. We had to get up at 2.30am to join an armed convoy to get there. Our truck was so slow that we lost the convoy though. Abu Simbel is spectacular and deserves its fame, however it was let down by the fact that a dam was built which was going to cover the monument so they cut it into thousands of bits and moved it to higher ground. They built a fake mountain and concreted it all back together. It made it look a little hollywood set. This moving of temples is common in Egypt. Later that day we visited Phileau which was also shifted.

The next day we left for a two day mission down the nile on a Felucca. Basically the next two days was spend doing as little as possible which included sleeping, playing cards, fishing and swimming - the swimming probably explains our first bout of the runs which is happily now over. I was able to make it to land each time and never had to have an emergency aqua bog.

Once back on land we had a massive day driving on the truck to get to Luxor which was our hottest place yet. It is not uncommon to drink 5-10 litres of water a day and still feel dehydrated. In Luxor we visited Karnak temple which was luckily still in its original spot. This temple was awsome and I think it was even better than the pyramids.

Another early start and another 50+ day. We headed for the famous valley of the kings where Tutunkamen's tomb was found. Another long days drive followed by a sleep under the stars at a St Pauls monestry.

We then headed to the famous Mt Sinai. We started walking with our sleeping bags in hand at 8pm. The walk was pretty easy really. This is the place were moses walked up and got the ten comandments after chatting to a burning bush for a while. We slept under the stars and woke to a breathtaking sunrise in a historically and spiritually special place. Even if you are not religious this is a pretty amazing thing to do.

After a quick run back down we packed up and headed for Dahab. This place is definatley more suited to Julie and I. A beach side town with a much more relaxed atmosphere . Worlds best snorkeling lived up to its reputation. I am siting in Dahab now at 11.34am in the morning. I have been snorkling 6 times already and everytime it seems to get better and better.

We head to Jordan tomorrow and say goodbye to Dahab and Egypt. We have seen a lot in a small time but I think I have learned a massive amount already about life in the Middle East.

Crazy Cairo

Firstly, it is stupidly hot in Cairo. It is going to take us awhile to adjust to the relentless heat in Egypt! Arrived in Cairo in the middle of the night so didnt think it was too bad, but our first day missioning around and we were wrecked.

We started off the day in Old Cairo. Not a great deal to see here unless you are interested in churches of the Christian faith. Didnt spend too long there before catching the metro across town to Islamic Cairo where there is an abundance of mosques, bazaars and eager salesmen. Not that keen on buying considering it was day 1 of many and our packs are already pretty rammed full of stuff!

There is a mosque walking circuit you can do around the Khan Al-Khalili area which we did, however one small diversion off the beaten path and we were in the slums, or dead cat alley as it should be named. Quickly corrected our route and we were back on track.

After running the gauntlet in the crazy Cairo traffic (I am surprised Egypt doesnt produce Olympic sprinters) and catching some hair raising taxis it was back to the hostel to collaspe from heat exhaustion.

Day 2 didnt see us any better off, it was hotter today with temperatures hitting 39 degrees. It was the first day our our official middle east tour and we started the day with the money shot trip to the pyramids and sphinx. Breathtaking, but dont take too much of a deep breath as the pollution will burn a hole right through your throat. Soaked up the rays and the atmosphere at the pyramids by taking in a camel ride. Our camel guide could not have been more than 6 years old. We didnt rate our chances if the camel decided to bolt and his camera skills werent the best but we still tipped the little fella just for getting us back safely.

In the afternoon it was a visit to the Egyptian Museum. Ridiculous amounts to see in there, the best is probably all of King Tutunkamens treasures, and he had a lot considering he only reigned from the age of 9 to 19! Pretty greedy if you ask me.

Caught the overnight train from Cairo to Aswan (13 hours) and it is 44 degrees here. I am wishing I could become a camel so I could store water as I am buying it by the bucket loads and could create my own plastic bottle pyramid the way I am going!