Open Writing

HAMA

Jung and I checked into Riad hotel: 200 SP per night for a dorm bed. Two English boys I had met in the Damascus hotel courtyard had told me to "watch out for the receptionist with the fake Aussie accent". It was every bit as bizarre as they had promised. Strangely Mohamed had never even been to
Australia, and stranger still, his mannerisms and genuinely friendly smile were completely Australian. He is the most non-Arabic Arab I have ever met.

The only exception was that he tried to chat me up like all the others (people tell me that it's my blond hair which attracts them. I am thinking of putting henna in it!)

Anyway, there was a kitchen in the hotel so it was great to eat home-cooked cuisine again; the first time since Petra: lentils, sticky rice, vegetables and fresh olives. It made a change from chickpeas and felafel or tins of sardines. Actually I ate chicken four times during my travels as you can buy a whole grilled chicken for one UK pound. Many of you may recall that I
do(did) not eat meat. Well, now I am a self-confessed social chicken-eater.

Allthough I know I will not eat red meat again as I never liked it in the first place, chicken is really yummy and sharing chickens with people is a great social experience from which I do not wish to be barred; that is, as long as I'm allowed to eat the breast and don't have too many wings or legs to yank apart.

Apart from the novelty of cooking again, what else did Hama have to offer? Well there is a pretty river; not that clean but a bit cleaner than the Nile, and the local boys seemed to find it clean enough to swim in. On this river there are some water wheels. These are the main attraction of the town. Consequently I thought I'd better take a photo of them, but got a bit carried away. I now have nine water wheel photos.

I also liked the clock tower at the end of my street, the friendly souq and the chickpea and felafel stand where I ate breakfast every day. Most people had to stand up to eat but the men always got up to allow me to sit at the one table with whoever I took along to eat with me (Jung and Korean boy from our dorm)

As it's a tourist town there are many riverside cafes and restaurants. Jung and I went to one and ordered green tea from the menu. Typically it turned out to be camomile tea not green tea so I sent it back. The manager came back with the teabag and told me that it was in fact green tea, despite the
fact that it had 'camomile tea' clearly written on it. I sent it back again and ordered a 7 Up instead as I didn't want to pay to fall asleep and camomile tea always makes me sleep. Guess what came instead of 7 Up? Pepsi! This is a typical experience; one of many which have happened in this part
of the world. Eventually the 7-Up came, but I did not return to the restaurant, except to take a photo of a water wheel from the great vantage point provided from the dining area, the following sunset.

Many people go to Hama in order to visit a famous medieval castle called Crac des Chevaliers. A colleague had told me it was 'a must' so I felt I had to go. I was accompanied by another Korean for the visit; a very tall young student named Seung-han. It was a great relief to hang out with a man
for the day as it gave me time out from all the hassle from men I usually get. For once, my companion got more than me. Everywhere we went we were greeted with cries of "Jackie Chan!". Not only that, but when with a man, Arabic men asked me intelligent questions about politics instead of whether
or not I would marry them; mind you, by the end of the day, I was fed up of being accused of being an automatic fan of Tony Blair, just because of my nationality.

Anyway, I am getting side-tracked again. The castle was nothing spectacular for me as I have seen plenty of medieval castles and monasteries. However, the scenery was spectacular, despite the smeared windows of the microbus we went in, and it provided a purpose for the day.

By the way, if you ever decide to visit the Arabic countries I would strongly suggest having a false student ID made. I had to pay ten times more for my entrance ticket than Seung-han and of all the travellers I met, I seemed to be the only one without the card. I even met a 45 -year old lawyer who had one!

PULLMAN BUS STATION

In most major cities in Syria there was a Pullman Bus Station. From these run the more expensive air-con buses. For long distances I travelled on these buses and for shorter distances in small white microbuses.

The Pullman buses have a few little perks which I became fond of. On each bus there is a bus host ( a young man) who wears a uniform. At the start of the journey he distributes a plastic cup to all the passengers, then fills them up with water. He sits down to have a rest and then after the bus has been moving for about 30 minutes, out comes the flat wooden chocolate box.

Towards the end of my travels I really looked forward to the chocolate gift. Yum! Actually, they generally tasted a bit cheap, but it was the thought which counted. Finally, when the journey has almost ended, passengers are given another cup of water, followed by a cup of pepsi.

As well as this there is also a TV screen, which, amongst silly looking, badly made comedy programmes, churns out the odd programme in English. I quite enjoyed watching the black-and-white American 'Candid Camera' episode, which I think must have been filmed in the 60's or 70's, judging by the hair-dos, costumes, gollies and goshes.

My final bus journey in Syria was unfortunately a JET AA bus (a separate company). I waited hopefully for my chocolate but unfortunately I received nothing and instead of Candid camera we got a violent movie, in Arabic, with a complex plot-line (not surprising as I can't speak Arabic).

Next time, I will tell you about Aleppo.