Syria

Damascus was our first stop on our trip. We arrived late in the day, so our first day didn't allow much time for sightseeing. I remember that we got lost regularly in the Old City in our first two days. It seemed that neither our Lonely Planet not our local maps were either detailed or accurate enough to maintain bearing. Nevertheless, once you submitted to the idea that you would get lost, it became more possible to enjoy THAT experience. There were times, though, where one had walked long enough without the sign of a cafe to become suitably annoyed with the state of cartography. The appearance of Shi'ite pilgrims was bizarre enough to put aside these concerns however. These Pakistani pilgrims had come on a pilgrimage to the Great (Ummayad) Mosque which holds the the tomb of Saladin, and is said to hold the the head of John the Baptist and the head of Hussein, grandchild of the Prophet. These pilgrims were chanting and breast-beating to the beat of the chant. They weren't doing it faint-heartedly either, you may notice in my photos that their chests are deeply bruised and in some cases, blistered and bleeding. These activities were the source of much consternation amongst the locals, who believed that it gave Islam a bad name. However, it was during our Damascus visit that I fell pray to a virus, and I started developing a fever. We decided to leave Damascus and go as far as Palmyra, but no further, in case I didn't improve. The weather was quite cold, but my fever made it tolerable. We stayed two days in Palmyra, saw as much as possible, but my health deteriorated even further. So we caught a cab to Amman in Jordan.