Middle East Odyssey - Part 2 (July, 2005)

July 30, 2005 / Motoring with Muhammad, roadblocked in Cuba and a walk with Hizbullah

On Thursday me, Helene (my friend from SOAS I ran into in Damascus) and her friends from here went to Byblos in the evening to check out the Byblos Festival and see the town at night. It's a beautiful little town by the sea. We went cruising on a boat in the pitch black Mediterranean, which was rather scary but the views to shore were great. On the way from Byblos to Kuba (apparently a haunted village, I saw no ghosts) we were pulled over on a roadblock and stopped for half an hour by the Lebanese army because Muhammad's car had tinted windows which is illegal in private cars in Lebanon (for obvious, bomb-related reasons). We had to rip the tapes of the windows before being allowed to continue. On another occasion they just asked for our IDs (if you don't have an ID with you, they can hold you for 48 hours before letting you go get it). The evening was fun, although Muhammad is a bit of a maniac when he drives: we were racing with a few Saudi SUVs on the way back...

Yesterday Helene and I went shopping cos all the shops have sales, and I appear to have an excess of clothing again.. Then in the evening we met up with a few Lebanese friends and went to the very swanky Buddha-Bar. The Beirutis still party even though the threat of another explosion hangs in the air all the time. However, the cafes and restaurants aren't as crowded as they used to be.

Today me, Hanna & Glenn (the two people I met on the bus from Damascus to Beirut) took a service to Sidon and went to check out the Al-Khamia detention camp where the South Lebanese Army (SLA) held prisoners until 5 years ago when Israel left the territories they had occupied in South Lebanon. The prison was a chilling place, the cells were tiny, and there was one solitary confinement cell that was especially chilling. The guide who was telling us about the prison had himself spent 4 years in the prison, of which 9 months and 3 days in solitary confinement. All methods of torture were used in the interrogations. Now the camp is a museum run by Hizbullah.
In fact the whole area is a Hizbullah stronghold, the yellow flags and pictures of Hasan Nasrallah are all over the place. We went to check out Bab Fatima, which during the occupation was the border crossing between Lebanon and the occupied territories. Now there is an electric fence and Israeli soldiers so close you can talk to them. We went for a walk with a man I can only suspect of being a Hizbullah fighter. He told us a lot about the goings-on of the occupation period and was very impressed with the Finnish UN soldiers who used to be a big part of UNIFIL (UN Interim Force in Lebanon, very interim indeed, they've been there for 20 years..). Apparently he had witnessed Finnish UNIFIL guys save the lives of 3 of his comrades.
It was interesting to walk literally 10 feet from Israel and Israeli soldiers who were hiding in their bunkers and foxholes. And ironically, the Lebanese army was nowhere to be seen, the border is, apparently, in the hands of Hizbullah.. Of course I had to extend my collection of political souvenirs: I now have a Hizbullah propaganda tape (that sounds like old communist songs) and a Hizbullah flag. I may need to hide them if I go to Israel.

I'm gonna hang out in Beirut for a few more days and then quickly head to Tripoli before Lattakia.

July 28, 2005 / Nothing old left, almost

Beirut is in the midst of a massive reconstruction craze. Next to each other are bullet punctured houses and brand new, shiny, modern buildings. Many old buildings that were destroyed in the war have been renovated, but in a way that has left the bullet holes visible. Next to the spanking new and shiny Phoenician InterContinental is the shell of the Holiday Inn, the haunt journalists stayed at during the war before running out of the country. The building's basic structures are, amazingly enough, apparently in such a good condition that there have been talks about renovating it to a hotel again. I think it should be left as it is as a reminder of the civil war.

July 26, 2005 / Up, up the mountain with a crazy taxi driver

Me, Helene and her two Austrian friends went up to Jebel Qasyun tonight for dinner and boy was it insane to get there. We agreed with the taxi driver that for SYP 150 (about 2,5 euros) he'll take us there, but little did we know that he was first going to drive to his house to drop of some groceries before taking us where we wanted to go. Also, he drove like a maniac without a brain and the taxi seemed to be stalling every time we stopped for traffic lights (which wasn't too many as he just went through them..). After 40 minutes we finally got to the mountain, but cos we were pretty pissed off about him scooting around on his own business before taking us there, we only gave him a 100 liiras. Of course he started shouting, screaming and following us, so we ended paying him the remaining 50 just to shut him up. I've now come to the conclusion, that it's far better not to agree the price before hand, cos in case the driver has a meter, it'll most likely be less than agreed, and if he doesn't, he'll make a fuss if you're paying too little. Within Damascus it shouldn't be more than 40 liiras anyway.. Coming down was almost as exciting, but at least the cab had breaks.

And speaking of safety: I will not go to Egypt if it looks like things will be blowing up all over the place. And even if I do go there, I'll be staying at an airport hotel for the last night (unless I manage to change my flight to a day or too earlier) because I'm flying out of Egypt the same day they have the presidential election and I really don't want to be in Cairo that day.
Seriously, tho, the biggest threat here is still the traffic.

Now I have to go pack as it's byebye Damascus, hello Beirut tomorrow.

July 23, 2005 / Bombs away, again

Some time last night 3 bombs exploded in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Two in the popular tourist area of Naama Bay and on in the old market. CNN is now reporting over 60 people dead, among them European tourists.
Sharm el-Sheikh and Naama Bay are on my itinerary, but I guess I'm gonna have to keep a close eye on what's going on in Egypt to figure out whether or not it's worth going there now.

July 20, 2005 / No light but everything goes on

There infrequently frequent power cuts in here. When I was having dinner in Abu Roummani tonight, the power was out for about an hour. Yet all the stores remained open and there was no chaos. Those stores and restaurants that had their own generators still had light, but that wasn't many.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Hama for the weekend to go check out Krak de Chevalier crusader castle and Hama, the city where in 1982 Hafez al-Asad ordered his troops to squash the Islamist opposition (mainly Muslim Brotherhood members) killing thousands of people and smashing the whole city in a three-week bombardment campaign.

July 19, 2005 / Only a week left in Damascus

I've decided to leave Damascus sooner than originally planned to have more time travelling. My last Arabic lesson will be next Tuesday anyway, so on Wednesday I'm heading back to Beirut to spend the weekend there (hopefully with better results than last time..) and then tour Lebanon before returning to Syria and then continuing to Jordan, Israel and Egypt.

I noticed the one thing that you can't access on the internet from Syria: Israeli webpages. So far it's the only thing I've discovered, there probably are a few more things, tho. I discovered this when I attempted to go to the Finnish Israeli Embassy's webpage to see about visas and other things.

July 18, 2005 / Boom and Bust in Beirut

Well the Beirut trip did'n turn out to be quite as expected... We left Thursday afternoon, got to our hotel around 7pm and then met my friend Ghassan and his friends as well as Timo & Hanne for dinner. The boys gave us a nice tour of Beirut by car after dinner and then dropped us off at rue Monot (except for Hanne, who wasn't feeling too good). Rue Monot is basically a strech of a road filled with pretty much nothing but bars. We hang around there checking out several bars until maybe 3am and then started making our way home. However, on our way to our hotel, Suvi and I stumbled across a bar and decided to go in for one more drink... The bar was already sort of closed, but they didn't kick us out, but instead offered us free drinks until 5am. The next day, not surprisingly, I wasn't feeling too good and in fact ended up staying in bed pretty much the whole day.
By Saturday I was fine again and set out on my mission: get the new Harry Potter. Found it at the Virgin Megastore, where I also exchanged a considerable amount of dollars for books and CDs.

The one thing evident in all of Lebanon (that I've seen so far, anyway) is the very strong anti-Syrian mood and almost-worship of Rafiq Hariri. We went by his grave, and there is a big counter counting the days from his death (currently in the 150s) and the counter won't stop until the truth is out. However, the truth to most Lebanese seems to be that Syria was behind the assassination, end-of-story. A wall next to Hariri's "shrine" was covered with writings crying for the truth and wanting to "kill the lion" (Syria's president is Bashar al-Asad, son of the infamous leader Hafez al-Asad, and asad in Arabic means lion). Many people looked stupified when I admitted that I actually like Damascus and some people even thought that it is impossible for a blond, Western woman to move about in Damascus. Yes, the difference between Damascus and Beirut is as clear as black and white, but that doesn't mean ne couldn't like both. Beirut is like Southern Europe with buller holes but more modern, cleaner and with nicer people whereas Damascus is old-fashioned, very Arabic and Islamic, MUCH older (especially in appearance) and wholly different. In Beirut it was useless to try and talk Arabic (the little I know) to people because everybody just wanted to speak English to you (hence Damascus is far better for learning the language, the little old shop ladies do not speak English). I do like Beirut, a lot in fact, it's filled with life that is different to the socialist-realism of Syria. Compared to Beirut and its colours of the rainbow, Damascus is a little grey and shabby, but still very attractive.

I'll be back in Beirut in about two weeks, so I can make more remarks about it then :)

On the passport front I had no problems what so ever even though the biopage is now completely torn off the booklet and only attached to it with two paperclips. On the way back I came to the conclusion that it's better NOT to try and explain the problem and show the piece of paper from the embassy unless somebody starts causing trouble about it, mostly they don't care about my passport anyway, I am, after all, an innocent blond girl from a country most people don't even know exists.

I now have two weeks left in Damascus, although depending on my teacher's schedule, I may actually leave here in little over a week to allow more time for Egypt, but that remains to be seen. For now, toodles, and please, don't complain about the "heat" in Finland. If you add 20C to what you have, you get what I have, aka. around +45C during the day, every day. And in that light I believe tanning by the Barada pool is in order tomorrow :)

July 13, 2005 / Beirut!

Heading to Beirut tomorrow for the weekend (which, by the way, over here is Fri & Sat). The border's been quite stuffed lately, apparently both sides are being tougher, hopefully my passport won't create too big a problem, but alas, that remains to be seen :)

Updated itinerary and added some photos.

July 12, 2005 / 48°C and risign

Yes, yesterday at noon the temperature here in Damascus rose to 48°C. I didn't go out except to get something from the corner shop, and even then I almost melted. You simply cannot do anything out there during the day. Tomorrow I may consider going to the pool, but even there it's almost unbearable, one has to go swimming every 10 minutes to stay cool.

This weekend Suvi and I will be heading to Beirut. I WANT the new Harry Potter as soon as it comes out (on Saturday) and I can't get it from here ;) No seriously, we're going there to see what it's like. Oh, and the temperature in Beirut is only 35°C.

Passport update: I now have a paper clip holding my passport together and a piece of paper in English and Arabic (thankfully!) explaining the situation. This weekend I'll find out how it'll go through on the border. Apparently the Syrians have been a little troublesome on the border lately, Lebanese trucks are held there so long that their cargo rots (veggies and fruits and stuff) and they've been harsh to people. So after the weekend if you don't hear from me, I'm probably still at the border :)

July 9, 2005 / Meeting the chief police, Bagdad Cafes and watching Syrian air force MiGs

Me, Suvi, Hanne & Timo did a little field trip to Palmyra to check out some more ruins. The busses to Palmyra leave from Haraste bus station east of central Damascus and the place itself was quite something. First of all, it's a bus terminal, but all luggage is checked and everybody walks through metal detectors (not that anybody checks you if it beeps). Once you get in there, at least 10 people will instantly come up to you and try to get you to take which ever bus they promote. Buying tickets wasn't quite that easy either because Suvi and me didn't have our passports with us. She left hers here at home and mine is at the embassy cos of the ripped biopage (should get it back on Monday). To get a bus ticket, we had to go see the Chief Police Officer to get his permission. I guess they just wanted us to go there to show our faces cos the chief had no problem to allow us to take the bus. The journey itself was uneventful except for the signs that pointed to Iraq and made you realise how close it really is. On the way I saw at least five roadside restaurants called Baghdad Cafe. Baghdad itself is closer than you think. We also saw loads of Iraqi cars on the road.
Syrian country side is truly barren. We didn't pass a single city or village during the 3 hours it took to drive there. Everything is sand brown, there's nothing anywhere.

Palmyra itself is really nothing but the oasis and the old ruins dating back to 30 AD or something. After we arrived in the evening, we took a bus with several other tourists to go watch sunset from the Arab citadel and then went to town for dinner. Judging by the competition for tourists that was going on, and the fallen rpices of sightseeing places, the Iraqi war has affected things here a lot. The number of tourists has dropped drastically since the war began causing prices at historical sights and museums outside Damascus to drop by 50%. (As a student it doesn't really matter cos entrance to anywhere here is only SYP 15, which is about 20 cents.)
Early this morning we went to check out the ruins and the Temple of Ba'al (god of gods, equivalent to the Roman's Jupiter). We left the hotel at 7.15am and it was already hot. We got back at 10am and it must have been over 40°C by then. The only thing that made it bareble was the wind. The hotel owner said that from mid-July onwards the temperature rises to 45-48°C...
As we were having breakfast we saw Syrian airforce MiGs flying around the area. Nobody seemed to think anything about it so I guess it was normal patrolling or whatever. Hanne and Timo continued towards east to Deir es-Zor from Palmyra, Suvi and I came back to Damascus. I'm thinking of heading towards Iraq myself to see what it's like over there. Apparently tourists heading east past Palmyra are being watched carefully, but that may just be a rumour.

July 7, 2005 / London blasts

I turned on CNN 20 minutes ago to breaking news: explosions in London underground and a bus. Many of them near where I used to live and where SOAS is.

July 6, 2005 / Been here a month already

Two Finns (Timo & Hanne) showed up today at FIME, so I spent the day in town with them. Went to check out the (rather unorganized and emptyish) National Museum as well as the Umayyad Mosque and Saladdin's shrine. I was on my feet for 7 hours so feel kinda exhausted. Tomorrow we're off to the Palestinian camp, partying at Mar Mar in the evening and then heading to Palmyra on Friday for some more ruin-googling. (This time I'll remember the hat.)

I've now been here a month. I kinda feel like I've been here forever, but on the other hand it feels like I only just arrived. Less than a month left in Damascus, then pastures anew await (as my friend Adam once put it).

Postcard update: The card I sent to the UK has arrived, but no one from Finland has got 'em yet. Strange.

July 5, 2005 / New teacher

Well I finally 'grabbed myself by the neck' as the saying in Finland goes and got myself a new teacher. I met her today for coffee and she seems very capable and very nice. I think she's tough, too. Have my first lesson with her on Sunday. Now I just have to tell 'Ali that I won't be taking any more lessons from him...

As some of you might have heard, there was a shootout near Damascus a few days ago. According to CNN & BBC World those involved were Saddam Hussein's former bodyguards; according to intelligence sent to foreign embassies, they were al-Qa'ida members; according to local newspapers it was simply a gang of thugs from Jordan robbing banks, and according to an eyewitness account from 'Ali's sister, the military were just randomly shooting at people having a picnic up the mountain. The truth lies somewhere in there, but one thing is for sure, the city is listening and reading to find out what happened.

PS. There are more pictures up now in the Damascus folder.

July 3, 2005 / In search of an inflatable Arafat

The other day I was told that you can buy inflatable Yasser Arafats here so I have a new mission: find a place and buy. Who wants one too? :)

Finally the Lebanon bit is online and I've added some photos. Also, decided to put June updates to another page which is here.

PS. The first postcard has arrived, the Royal Mail is the winner! (Usually they suck...)

Bekaa Valley trip and Lebanese wedding

My trip started from the Baramke bus terminal in Damascus. There are no signs in English and a zillion busses going to different places, but in this country that's not a problem: everybody is so nice that you find what you're looking for in moments. I took the government company's (Karnak) bus and it was very comfortable and cheap. A single ticket to Chtoura cost SYP100, less than €1.50! The journey itself was eventless, the border formalities took altogether maybe an hour and there was no hassle. I left Damascus at 8.30am and got to Chtoura before 11am.
The minute the bus left the Syrian border post, the first signs of American globalised culture appeared: A Dunkin' Donuts on the border. Being so used to seeing a McDonald's, Starbucks or something else in every corner of a city, the difference to here is striking. Coca Cola and Pepsi have only been available in Syria for the past few months (I actually prefer the local Mandarin Cola) and there isn't a single McDonald's in the whole country, let alone a Starbucks. The first sign for a McDonald's is right after the Lebanese border and the first Mickey D's is in Chtoura.
The wedding I was going to was in Chtoura so I was staying in a hotel there. The hotel was like any other 4 star hotel, clean, comfortable and well-airconditioned. Chtoura itself is nothing but a bunch of buildings on either side of the road going to Beirut. It's the "transport hub", to quote Lonely Planet, of the Bekaa Valley and there really is nothing there.

On Friday before the wedding I went to check out the Umayyad City ruins near Aanjar. The Umayyad caliphate (661-750 AD) was based in Damascus and the city in Aanjar was only used over the summer for trade and commerce. When the Abbasids (750-1258 AD) rose to power in Baghdad and conquered much of the Arab lands, they destroyed the Umayyad city and transfered the traders to Baghdad. The whole city was "bulldozed" and covered with 7 meters of ground. It wasn't discovered again until 1943 when there were excavations in the area. These days Aanjar is an Armenian city, as many Armenians fled after the Armenian genocide of 1915. More info on the city and Aanjar can be found here. More about the Armenian genocide from here.
PS. Aanjar is the city where the Syrian intelligence had their headquarters in Lebanon when Syria had troops there.

The wedding then. The wedding took place in a restaurant in Chtoura. It was my friend Ghassan's cousin who was getting married. The wedding didn't include a ceremony or anything like that, it was a big celebration with lots of pretty dresses. When we came in, we first shook hands with about a million people, and then when everybody was there, there bride and groom entered the centre stage surrounded by a cheering and dancing crowd. The night consisted of food (lots of it!) and dancing. I took a shot at the traditional Lebanese line dance, dabke. I didn't quite get the steps right, but it was fun all the same. The odd thing about the wedding was that most people spoke Spanish to each other even though they were Arabs. Apparently most of Ghassan's family had migrated to Venezuela, which explained it.
The Lebanese really make an effort when they go to a wedding, all the women had the most amazing, glittery and colourful dresses. Unfortunately, being the bad photographer I am, I didn't quite catch that.. Photos of the wedding are now available, however.

On Saturday I went to Zahle, which is only about 6 km from Chtoura. According to Lonely Planet it's an "attractive city" but I found it to be quite dull and not really that attractive. Apparently Zahle is nice in the evening, but I was there in the heat of the day. From there I went on to Baalbek. Its history goes back to Phoenician times, but the Romans were the ones who built the temples of Jupiter, Venus and Bacchus there. The ruins are quite impressive and well worth a visit. I found Baalbek to be very interesting from a political point of view, too. It's one of Hizb'allah's (Party of God) strongholds, which was evident as the presence of soldiers was quite visible. There were roadblocks and sandbagged military observation posts every few miles and lots of yellow Hizb'allah flags around. The sucker I am for propaganda souvenirs, I bought a Hizb'allah t-shirt, a Lebanese flag and got a Hizb'allah keyring as a gift from the store owners. I should have bought that Hizb'allah flag, too...
Oh and next time I go ruin-googling, I'll bring a hat! I appear to have a permanent disagreement with the sun about the burning effects.. And yes mum, I HAVE been using sunscreen!

Another thing I noticed in Lebanon were the pictures of a dead father and his son in windows, cars, walls... There were so many pictures of Rafiq Hariri and his son Sa'ad (one reason was the election, the other the way he died and its effects on the Lebanese). In Syria there are pictures of a father and son, too, ex-president Hafez al-Asad and his [would like to add what he looks like but don't want to get into trouble] son Bashar who is now the president. I wonder if you can get same kind of pictures of Bush Sr and Jr in America? Please send me one if you can, I'll add it to my collection of propaganda memorabilia :)
The general mood (maybe knowledge, I don't know) in the West and Lebanon is that Syrian intelligence officers were behind Hariri's assassination. What I find very interesting is the notion of Syrian intelligence apparatus being too inefficient to carry out such a task. Hariri was, after all, extremely well guarded and the Syrian military isn't exactly the best or most efficient in the world. Also, Syria did not benefit from his death and apparently Hariri was respected by high-ranking Syrian politicians. Now, the other side of the coin is that Israel benefitted immensely from the subsequent Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon. I'm not saying I am a 100% convinced by this theory (and I generally find it funny how Mossad is blamed for everything), but I do have my doubts about the capabilities of the intelligence apparatus in this country. Maybe one day there will be conclusive evidence one way or another.

Anyway, in general the trip was quite nice. I enjoyed the wedding a lot (thank you again, Ghassan, for inviting me!) and it was cool to see some of the most famous historical sights in Lebanon. Lebanon is, however, very different from Syria and right now I prefer Syria. In Lebanon I felt like everybody was trying to screw me over all the time, in here I don't feel that. I did only see a little bit of the country, so I'll probably change my opinions several times over. The next Lebanon trip will be in two weeks, Suvi (Embassy's intern and my roommate) and me are going to go party Beirut style :) Oh and I have to get my hands on the new Harry Potter book which is coming out on July 16, I think, and I can't get that from here :)

July 2, 2005 / Jyrki Katainen smoking water pipe in Damacus! aka. I know nothing of Finnish politics..

I had a rather embarrassing, but very funny, experience last night. Suvi, the embassy's new intern, arrived on Thursday and yesterday we went to dinner with the previous intern and her husband. I thought the husband looked familiar when he introduced himself as Jyrki, but his face didn't ring any bells (I also didn't know the previous interns surname, so couldn't make a connection that way). At some point over dinner he mentioned that he'd studied poli sci at the University of Tampere in Finland and Suvi asked him what he did now. He said he was a member of parliament. I then asked him which constituency he was from and he replied: I'm National Coalition Party's (Kokoomus) leader from Pohjanmaa. I almost burst out laughing for not recognising him as Jyrki Katainen. It's the third largest party in Finland and his face has been in the papers quite regularly.. Suvi hadn't recognised him either so we both felt kinda stupid. To our benefit it has to be said that he did have a summer look with a beard going on.

Other than that not much has been going on. Spent the day at the Sheraton's pool today. It's a nice pool but very expensive (EUR 11 to get in, food and drinks were expensive too).
I am, really, working on that Lebanon and wedding story, but been just waffing about lately. I'll try to get some pics online tomorrow. Btw, I only have a month left in Damascus, then I'm off travelling towards Egypt. I've decided to go check out the "evil" Southern neighbour (aka. Israel) too as it won't matter passport-wise cos I have to get a new one anyway when I get back.