Livin' Large in the Axis of Evil

So far, Syria has not been quite as deadly as the State Department would have you believe. Mostly, it's just awesome! Damascus is amazing. Best city in the mideast, as far as I'm concerned. You can really tell that it's the end of the Silk Road, the place where East meets West. It's still chock-full of typical arabs, with Arafat headdresses and ninja-gear women. But there's also quite a few women here who dare to dress western (a HUGE offence everywhere else in the mideast). And the busses here look like they came straight from Bangalore, complete with chrome-plated everything and thousands of multicolored lights. In short, I'm sold on the place. I was planning to leave this morning, but I just couldn't drag myself away.

I think I'm going to give Lebanon a miss. Too bad, since it probably would have been cool, but it's just so expensive to get there and back, since you have to buy a new Syrian visa to return. And really, Beirut is all about the nightclubs, and I'm not much for hitting them by myself. My hotel in Damascus is really nice, and where just about all the backpackers stay. Unfortunately, at the moment it is devoid of "lets go party in Beirut" hooligans to make the trip worthwhile.

written by

Jason Kester on June 26, 2003 from Damascus, Syria

from the travel blog: Middle East, 2003

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