If off the beaten track travel is what you want, than Syria is for you. In the two weeks we were there, we only saw a few independent travelers. Though not without its flaws, it was a wonderful place to visit. The people were incredibly friendly, the food was excellent, especially the sweets(dried apricots filled with pistachios dipped in chocolate were a favorite), and it was super cheap($20 a person a day).
Everywhere in Syria there are pictures of the President, Bashar al-Assad. In every shop, in every home, in restaurants, on cars, everywhere. We invented a game where we would see how many Assad pictures we could count from a given spot. Yo had the record with 41 from the central square in Damascus.
We stayed in five cities in Syria and at every one we just happened to stay at a hotel run by someone named Mohammed. I asked the Damascus Mohammed why this was so. He said, "Big problem in Syria, too many Mohammads, every home has a few, very confusing."
The problem with so few travelers is that there is little tourist infastructure. There were some amazing sites in Syria: Roman ruins, Byzantine churches, and Crusader castles. However, if you are not on a tour its difficult to get to these places. A day trip may involve a taxi, numerous buses, hitchhiking, walking long distances, and literally take all day. But its a bit of a catch 22 though, it's not going to get better unless more people visit, but more people will not visit unless it gets better.
We met few people who spoke English, but occasionally we were asked where we were from. Upon hearing I was from America the most common response was, "American people good, Bush no good." It made me laugh, but it also made me think that its cool that they can differentiate between a government and its people. Syria was not an easy place to travel, but hearing comments like that made me happy that we went.
-Shawn

After a few weeks of living on the cheap we felt we needed to spoil ourselves a bit. Yo said that they encouraged people to do without during WWII in Japan with the motto, "Luxury is the enemy." We decided that for two days our motto would be,"Luxury is our friend." Beirut may sound like a strange place to spoil yourself, but you'd be surprised. It's unlike any city in the Middle East: liberal, cosmopolitan, hip. So byebye Syria, hello Paris on the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, we got off to a bit of a bad start: no buses, so we had to share a taxi for the 3 hrs from Damascus to Beirut. There were 6 of us crammed into a Korean midsize sedan. We shared(as in he had 50%, we had 50%)the backseat with what had to be the only fat person in all of Syria. I don't know what Beirut used to look like, but now it's half construction zone and half war zone. Soldiers with machine guns stand at every major intersection and search bags before you enter certain parts of town. But you can see how it was once a great city and when all of the construction is finished it will be once again. In the meantime we had some eating to do. We stared off with burgers, fries and cold beers at a pub. We then made the rounds of the local book stores and music shops. I picked up a copy of my beloved The Economist Magazine. A companion I've had on every trip I've been on since 1992. Sushi is all the rage in Beirut, so we had no trouble finding a good spot. We just happened to arrive on Friday, so we finished dinner just as the nightlife was kicking in. We met a group of locals celebrating a friends return from Dubai. Everyone was fluent in Arabic, French, and English and they spoke to each other with a mix of all three. When they heard we lived in America they treated us to a round of Osama bin Laden shots(Kalua, Baileys, and Absinthe). They then gave us a tour of all the hot spots until we finally escaped at 3am from a club where everyone was dancing on the tables. What a change from Syria where it was difficult to find a restaurant that served beer. We started off the next morning at a bagel shop called Tribaca. The ham & cheese omelette was the first pork products we'd seen in over a month. After brunch we went for a stroll along the waterfront eating ice cream cones from McDonalds-I told you we weren't holding back. Afterwards some Starbucks and then a bottle of Lebanese wine(highly recommended if you can find it)back at our hotel. Sushi again for dinner-who knows when we'll have the chance to eat sushi again. A return visit to Tribeca for breakfast and then croissants from a French bakery for the taxi ride back to Syria. And that's Beirut in 48 hrs(& $300)or less. We're going to miss you Beirut.
-Shawn

people think i'm phillippino here. it's so funny that they don't ask me if i'm from the phillippines or what country i'm from. they TELL me i'm from phillippines and then they ask shawn where he is from. at first, it pissed me off, but now i don't answer the question but tell them that they are israeli(a little revenge: because they are musilim )and they get insulted, hahahaha.
it's o.k. if they ask me where i'm from or they tell me they THINK i'm phillippinos, but you don't tell me that i'm phillippino to my face.
it's called "yabani" in arabic for japanese, and in japanese, "yaban" means wild. oh yeah i am a wild japanese girl! don't f with me!!! i'll bite you.

yoshimi

We arrived in Syria a few days ago. At the border I was the only one on the bus( and the only American)brought into a seperate room for questioning. They kept asking me if I had ever been to Occupied Palastine. It took a while for me to finally realize that they were asking me if I had ever been to Israel. An Israel stamp in your passport equals no entry into Syria. Luckily we won't be visiting Israel until next month. Anyway I was allowed into the country, but just to be safe I decided to go undercover(see photo). We spent are first few days in Aleppo, a sprawling city of 4 million. It was the first place I've been where the few women we see in the streets are wearing the chador: the full body-covering robe. Some even wear sunglasses and gloves.
You meet good people everwhere, but it seems to me that the absolute friendliest are in places that are isolated and see few visitors(Cuba, Albania, and Syria). Everywhere we went we were greeted with "Welcome to Syria", and given all kinds of sweets, snacks, candy, and tea. We were called into shops selling things that tourists could not possibly want: furnature, house paint, auto parts, just so they could talk with us. As hospitible as everyone has been, it can also be a bit overwelming, so after a couple hours walking around we would need to retreat to our room for a break.
On the day we arrived there was a public hanging. Five members of a gang were convicted of robbing and killing 15 local shopowners. We didn't see they hanging ourselves, but met a Czech travel writer who showed us his pictures. The bodies of the men were wrapped in white cloth with the details of their crimes written on the cloth in Arabic. The crowd was chanting "Kill Them" and throwing stones. It sounds pretty crazy. In a way I'm happy I didn't see it, but out of morbid curiousity I kind of wish I did. Yo definitely wishes she did.
Anyway, on a brighter note, the food is excellent and super cheap. Near our hotal there was this felafel stand that was always busy. We got in line and ordered two felafel sandwiches on pita bread. I wasn't sure of the price and they didn't speak any English. So I had to guess the price and hand them an appropriate bill. But if you give them too big a bill, they might try to rip you off. I figured 200 Syrian Pounds($4)should cover the cost of two sandwiches. So I was a bit shocked when they gave me 170 back. These were the best felafels I've ever had and so huge Yo couldn't even finish hers(thats rare)AND they were only 15 cents each. Needless to say, I've eaten there twice a day for the past three days and I'm feeling a bit felafeled out.

do you know about bunion?
o.k. look my feet, you can see the bone sticking out right next my big toe, that's a bunion. A bunion is an enlargement of bone or tissue around the joint at the base of the big toe (metatarsophalangeal joint). The big toe may turn in toward the second toe (displacement), and the tissues surrounding the joint may be swollen and tender. if you want to learn more about bunion, you can check out at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunion. i know that my friend jenny po would understand my pain...

besides the bunion i'm doing great. so no worry!

yo