Syria

Crossing Border Syria to Jordan The service taxi from Damascus flew. The driver clearly wanted to be rid of us. We were a group of five foreigners that assembled at the Al-Samariyeh bus garage in Damasus. Besides myself and Chaya, the troupe consisted of two young Chilean doctors and an old tramp of a traveler [...]

Traveling Through Middle East It was time to leave Damascus, it was time to leave Syria. Syria, a country that I have always daydreamed into while looking at maps as a kid is now someplace real to me. The fairy tale Neverland bubble of traveler dreams has now been pricked and popped by the pin [...]

Traveler please note that the current guidebooks to the Middle East have many errors. Below is an email from Craig of Travelvice.com on how to travel from Damascus, Syria to Amman, Jordan. I followed this advice and it is right on. -Wade The following is information on how to travel from Damascus to Amman from [...]

Travel Solo or with a Group, Travel Instinct vs LogicTo travel about the world solo is to live on the winds of intuition, instinct, and your own decision making capabilities; to travel with other people is to have a sense of “safety in numbers” but also to loose a good deal of your own self [...]

Travel to Damascus SyriaRode into Damascus on a four hour, $5 bus from Latakia on the northwestern coast of Syria. I have always wanted to travel to Damascus since the day I set foot off of the old farm, and this would be the day.It is funny how traveling to a place that you have [...]

Animal Hides Furs in Damascus Market I like to wander through the markets of old cities just to see what I can find. In Damascus my delights were endless. There are few things that I like more than seeing something odd and having its usage explained to me. This is just one of the regular [...]

Women and Men in the Middle East A young woman in hijab walked up to me in the streets of Aleppo and began talking. I was so taken aback by this act that I nearly dropped the falafel sandwich that I was eating. It had been a long time since another woman besides Chaya opened [...]

Child Labor in SyriaA friend of mine works for a French cosmetic company that manufactures their products in Syria. As I went through the rounds of asking him about his work and what he does all day – it is still beyond my understanding what business men really do – he mentioned that child labor [...]

Couchsurfing for Americans difficult in SyriaAfter sending out dozens upon dozens of couchsurfing requests in Syria and turning up very few wiling hosts, it seems apparent that Americans have a difficult time finding couches here. The reason is simple: if the police catch Syrians with Americans in their homes there could be problems. Couchsurfing is [...]