Photos from Syria

Syria

nd so we had our first Syrian bus experience. Needless to say, we can't read the bus signs or much on the bus ticket because it is all in Arabic script. At least the time and seat numbers were in Latin numbers. Martin said it was interesting watching them fill out the ticket - writing part of it in Arabic from right to left and the rest of it (the part we could understand) from left to right.

Pouneh happened to be on our bus. She was heading back to Damascus and will be flying from there back to Cairo.

The land seems fairly flat here, the soil much redder than Turkey. We noted many rock/marble quarries and the silvery green leaves of olive trees.

Syria has a population of 17 million, 90% of whom are Arabs

Archeological Dig (Apaema)

. (I was also told that there are 20 million Syrians living outside the country!) The remaining 10% consist of Bedouins, Amernians and Turks. We were surprised to see so many people here with red, red hair, fair skin and freckles. I was under the misconception that all Syrians are dark complexioned.

The President of Syria is Basher al-Assad who inherited the post from his father. We've seen their photos frequently here, even though we've only been in Syria for two days! Al-Assad is western educated (he's an opthamologist) and there are high hopes for him being able to bring Syria into the modern age. If the technology is an indication (e.g., computers, ATMs - we saw one being installed), he's well on his way.

One of the questions we had to answer when filling out our visa applications for Syria was whether or not we'd even been to Israel or planned to go there. Syria has tense relations with Israel, mainly due to Israel's presence in the Golan Heights and Syria's resistance in keeping Hezzbollah in check. Israel is not popular with most Muslim countries; it is often best to ask that your passport not be stamped if you go into Israel, particularly if you think you may be going to any Muslim countries in the near future.

Beduoin Tent

Hama, located about two and a half hours south of Aleppo, is the third largest city in the country and, purportedly, one of the most attractive. Located on the Orontes River, it is famous for its "norias" or huge wooden water wheels used for irrigating farmland via a series of aqueducts. They norias make a horrendous sound - "mournful groaning" as our guidebook called it; to me to sounded a some strange exotic musical wind instrument or a huge creaking wooden door. Martin said it sounded like "wood on wood". He has no imagination!

There are many beautiful parks along the river's edge (though the gates of most were locked when we were there for some reason) with lots of trees and flowers: roses, zinnias, marigolds, calla lilies and rhododendrons. These areas look like wonderful places for families to come on a weekend (weekends are Fridays and Saturdays here); Mom and Dad can watch the children from the park benches and there are plenty of playgrounds for the children. The only thing spoiling it all is all the garbage - and the river is polluted and smells of sewage. We've certainly seen more garbage by the roadsides here than in Turkey.

Steam wind Photos from Congo

Photos from Congo

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The holes in the metal were rusty. Don't worry

Welcome To Congo Travaling In Photos Mzungu in the Mist

This travel blog photo's source is TravelPod page: Mzungu in the Mist

Photos from Congo

Mzungu in the Mist

,  The Jungle, Congo - The Dem. Repub.C... It was a dark and early start to the day, but that did not seem to dampen anyones spirits, we were off to see the gorillas!

We took the truck to the border, and walked the dusty and barbed wire path through no mans land to what the sign had told us was Zaire. But this is no longer the case, we were now entering the Democratic Republic of Congo. After our passports were stamped, we left the crumbly customs office with gunshot wounds and headed for the park permit office
,We were soon surrounded by familiar waving and smiling children, this time demanding "where's my pen". We were however un-equipped with the appropriate stationery so tried to listen intently to the long uncomprehensable lecture from the park warden instead. Finally we were bundled into trucks, which seemed to be the only automated transport in the country, on what was barely a road and headed for the hills.

Along the way we passed by happy smiling villages, mountains, perfect volcanoes and lush jungles shrouded in a thick mist. At last we all felt we were really somewhere very different with no signs of modern life and mother nature taking control of this far away world.

Copper Canyon and Surrounds

  Los Mochis,Alamos,Creel,Copper Canyon,Chihuahua, Mexico 

Leaving Baja California, we catch a ferry over to the Mexican mainland, to take the famous Copper Canyon train ride, which links the Pacific Coast with Mexico's central mountain plateau. We've guessed that the ferry journey should take about 6 hours. Yes, it seems difficult to get a straight answer here. We asked 5 different ferry employees how long it should take, and got various answers from 4-8 hours, so we've taken 6 as being the average.

Despite the great scenery whilst leaving Baja California, and the fantastic sunset a few hours into the sail, it would have been quite a boring ride, if it we´re not for the fact that we got chatting to a nice American couple along the way. They also happened to be crossing the sea, to embark upon the same railroad adventure. 

We finally arrive to the Mexican mainland, and to the town of Los Mochis, the starting point for the train

01 Ferry from La Paz to Los Mochis

. But rather than rush, and start the journey the next morning, we decide to spend a day visiting Alamos, a nearby beautiful colonial town, which is untouched by tourism, well untouched until we got there:-). The following day we make our way to the station, to start our journey.

There aren't many train services in Mexico, but when they do have one, they don't have timetables, as we soon learn, they have ideal schedules. This means, so we are told, that ideally the train would operate to the times on the leaflet, but in reality they are always late, sometimes by a few hours. Still, the Copper Canyon line is an amazing piece of engineering achievement. 

Baja California Tijuana,Ensenada,Sta Rosalia,Loreto,Cabo StLucas, La Paz, Mexico

Baja California

  Tijuana,Ensenada,Sta Rosalia,Loreto,Cabo StLucas, La Paz, MexicoWe jump on the southbound tram in San Diego, and pass through the city's suburbs. 
We could clearly see the Mexican town of Tijuana in front of us, with a huge Mexican flag flying in the distance. This seemed weird. Here we are travelling on an American tram system, through the suburbs of a typical Amercian city, although from the tram window, we are staring at a very different city and culture, spread over a hill, in the distance.

We get of the tram at the last stop, which also happens to be the border. 
There is a pedestrian bridge which takes you up and over the wall which separates the two countries. From the pedestrian bridge we could see both San Diego and Tijuana, both very different places, separated by two huge walls and a 10 metre no-mans-land

01 Taking the tram in San Diego to Mexican Border

. It's fascinating, as normally you have to spend hours on a plane to travel between two very different cultures, and here we're going to cross that divide by foot, and in minutes.
The border is really relaxed in the US-Mexico direction, but really strict the other way. In fact, you just walk through some turnstyles and that´s it, you´re in Mexico, no checks, nothing! 
We even had to go and search for Mexican passport control to get our entry stamp, so that we don't get into trouble on the way out. After enquiring about the entry stamp from about 6 different border officials and getting a different answer each time, we eventually found the right place, though they seemed inconvenienced at the fact we interrupted them watching something on the television :)

Us: "Can we get an entry stamp please",
Border official "What do you need one for?"
Us "Um, cos we're entering your country, it's not that an unusual request is it?"
Border official "How long are you here for?"
Us "probably 4-6 weeks?"