We are in Syria and its been amazing so far! We spent the first little bit in Aleppo and had an interesting time. We visited the Citadel, the crazy-maze-like souqs and the mosque. Aleppo, being one of the most conservative places resulted in a lot of unwelcoming looks from the women. That has been the hardest part for me as a woman (especially in the mosque) because i feel as if im intruding or being offensive to the women. Even dressing modestly (pants, long sleeve and scarf) i felt out of place. I wasn't allowed into the women's part of the mosque. Cory's experience was quite different. When he entered the men's part, he was able to sit back and watch everything go by. He watched people interect with one another, reading the Quran and he even had the chance to see the muslim men pray after the call to prayer.
We are currently in Damascus and the old city is outstanding!! Cory and I get about 2 choclate-croissents everyday, shwarma or manoushie or falafal everyday and we found a new love.... corn-on-the-cob corn in a dish with a mix of spices!! yummmmm...
Travelling allows us to meet so many different people. Our first night in we met two french guys. We got to know one another and spent 2 days exploring the old city and visiting a hammam (turkish bath). We not only meet fellow travellers but local people too. The other day we were invited for tea to an elder local mans house. Long story short, the 4 min walk to his house (this is what he told us) turned into a 3 hour tour of antique shops, a lunch of camel, a sock factory, the burial site of the old president, a bakery shop (twice) and a friends house, not even making it for tea to his house in the end.
We will we spend one more night in Damascus and then we head to Marmousa (sp?) to put in some community work at a monastary. They house you for working so we'll do that for a couple days, go to Lebanon, and pick up nick!! hooray!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Tourkey
Hello everyone,
Anneke and I just had a fantastic time in Turkey. When we were in Istanbul we realized how expensive it was so we decided to make a made dash for the border before we ran out of money. We did some research and discovered that the cheapest and fastest way to get through turkey while still seeing things was the three day tour through epheses and Cappadocia. Both were absolutely beautiful. As much as we are not really tour people we tried to make the best out of it. We learned alot and met some really fantastic people. We also noticed how hard it would be to see cappadocia on our own because it is so big. We had plenty of free time to explore on our own, which was also really nice. One evening we were wondering around Selcuk and we ran into a man who introduced him self to us. We sat down with him and made small talk. After a while he walk away for a seconded, picked of a dirty plastic cup from the ground near by, poored some turkish wine into it and offered it to us. We both politely sipped from the cup once and said thank you. Once we finished chatting we went on our way. We were both slightly concerned for our immune systems but it's been about 4 days now and we're ok. We have really had the opportunity to experience middle eastern hospitality at it's best and we are very greatful for it. We are very excited that we still have a month and a half here. It's about 16 days until we meet up with nick gamble in beirut, which is also very exciting. We have alot to look forward to.
Anneke and I are on our own now and have just arrived in Aleppo today. The border crossing only took one hour. We already tell all of the differences between Turkey and Syria. First of all there is alot more arabic it's also alot dustier and smokier. We just spend our afternoon wandering around the souqes and exploring the old city. We will probably only spend two nights here before we head to Damascus.
Anneke and I just had a fantastic time in Turkey. When we were in Istanbul we realized how expensive it was so we decided to make a made dash for the border before we ran out of money. We did some research and discovered that the cheapest and fastest way to get through turkey while still seeing things was the three day tour through epheses and Cappadocia. Both were absolutely beautiful. As much as we are not really tour people we tried to make the best out of it. We learned alot and met some really fantastic people. We also noticed how hard it would be to see cappadocia on our own because it is so big. We had plenty of free time to explore on our own, which was also really nice. One evening we were wondering around Selcuk and we ran into a man who introduced him self to us. We sat down with him and made small talk. After a while he walk away for a seconded, picked of a dirty plastic cup from the ground near by, poored some turkish wine into it and offered it to us. We both politely sipped from the cup once and said thank you. Once we finished chatting we went on our way. We were both slightly concerned for our immune systems but it's been about 4 days now and we're ok. We have really had the opportunity to experience middle eastern hospitality at it's best and we are very greatful for it. We are very excited that we still have a month and a half here. It's about 16 days until we meet up with nick gamble in beirut, which is also very exciting. We have alot to look forward to.
Anneke and I are on our own now and have just arrived in Aleppo today. The border crossing only took one hour. We already tell all of the differences between Turkey and Syria. First of all there is alot more arabic it's also alot dustier and smokier. We just spend our afternoon wandering around the souqes and exploring the old city. We will probably only spend two nights here before we head to Damascus.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Greetings from Turkey
hello everyone,
We've arrived in Istanbul this morning and the first things we noticed were that it's alot colder, alot more expensive, and there's alot more people with moustaches. But as we've spent the day here we've noticed how genuinly hospitible and friendly Turkish people are. Everyone goes above and beyond to make sure you feel comfortable. Today at the internet cafe the owner came and gave us tea because he noticed that we were cold. And a carpet shop owner invited us into his shop just to show us how carpets are made even though we told him we couldn't afford carpets.
Our hotel is also about a two minute walk from the blue mosque and the Aya Sofia. And it just so happend that two stunt bikers had two huge ramps set up infront of the Aya Sofia today and were doing crazy tricks so we got some neat pictures of people doing supermans infront of the Aya Sofia. Also though we miss South east asia we already feel at home here in Turkey so we're pretty excited to see what the rest of the Middle east has in store. We're excited to be here and we're also excited when we get emails from you so keep them coming. We hope all is well in Winnipeg and all of you who have exams aren't stressing too much. Have a good week and we'de love to hear from all of you.
We've arrived in Istanbul this morning and the first things we noticed were that it's alot colder, alot more expensive, and there's alot more people with moustaches. But as we've spent the day here we've noticed how genuinly hospitible and friendly Turkish people are. Everyone goes above and beyond to make sure you feel comfortable. Today at the internet cafe the owner came and gave us tea because he noticed that we were cold. And a carpet shop owner invited us into his shop just to show us how carpets are made even though we told him we couldn't afford carpets.
Our hotel is also about a two minute walk from the blue mosque and the Aya Sofia. And it just so happend that two stunt bikers had two huge ramps set up infront of the Aya Sofia today and were doing crazy tricks so we got some neat pictures of people doing supermans infront of the Aya Sofia. Also though we miss South east asia we already feel at home here in Turkey so we're pretty excited to see what the rest of the Middle east has in store. We're excited to be here and we're also excited when we get emails from you so keep them coming. We hope all is well in Winnipeg and all of you who have exams aren't stressing too much. Have a good week and we'de love to hear from all of you.
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