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Read my Travel Diary and other articles from a six week trip to Syria, Jordan & Egypt during October and November 1998

The Middle East

Si_lad
2004-03-26 20:27:02

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although he charged us S£200 each to get in. Fair enough.

We walked around the ruins for hours, and even though the sun was pretty fierce, it wasn’t too uncomfortable. There were no other people there, so we had the place to ourselves. The views were excellent.

We drove onwards to the small border town of Abu Kamal. A very dusty, traditional town, which reminded me of being back in India. We stopped in the main square for tea and it was packed full of people as it was market day. We got plenty of attention but no hassle. Matthaus decided he wanted to drive down to the Iraqi border to have a look. Nick and I weren’t too keen, but we decided it was either that or hang around in Abu Kamal and possibly miss a lift back.

The border was quiet and Matthaus drove through the first checkpoint without noticing, until three guards ran out waving guns. Oops! Although they looked quite menacing, the guards were very friendly and we just made out we were lost. They just seemed happy for some action for a few minutes.

We turned round and drove back through Abu Kamal, where we witnessed our first (and only) bout of Syrian road rage. A Microbus driver ran into a cyclist, who didn’t take too kindly to this and they had a tussle in the street. Matthaus nearly crapped his pants and slammed the car into reverse! Strange how he wanted to go to the border yet a little scuffle in the street made him panic.

We drove on for three hours and reached Raqqa just before dark (17:00). Raqqa is a bustling town, nothing special but pleasant enough. We checked into the Amar Hotel. S£500 per room for a night. Not cheap but there didn’t seem to be many other options and it seemed Ok (although the toilets where pretty stinky). We ate at a nice place called At Rashid’s – the usual meat, bread, humus, etc. I spent half an hour sitting in the hotel helping a man who worked there with his English homework ...