Aleppo and onwards...

Hello from Aleppo, Syria! We arrived by bus from Damascus today. Sadly, we liked Damascus more and are wishing we could have stayed there one more night. We were in a great hostel with really fun people and an amazing restaurant down the street (not to mention the liquor stores on the way back from the restaurant). Getting ahold of beer isn't actually that difficult, but it's just not served that often in restaurants. Tonight however, we managed to muster some up at dinner. Our hotel is really nice, it's a lovely place right in the middle of the "souq" (market) so it makes for an interesting setting, particularly because it's where all the raw meat is being sold. I don't think I need to indulge with much description... I'm sure you can conjure up your own images. Luckily the room is clean and quiet away from the swaying meat hooks and sticky streets.

I don't have much else to update on except that we ended up having an awesome 4th of July! It couldn't have been farther away from any independence day celebration I have ever taken part in. We got up and walked around the old city of Damascus... we waited in line with locals for a scoop of vanilla ice cream covered in pistachios... we ate 2 shwarmas, 1 falafel and 1 chicken kebab... not to be outdone by a buffet dinner of middle eastern cuisine.... I danced with Syrian men serenading us in a restaurant full of Italian tourists.... then we watched a Whirling Dervish spin himself silly... after we thought the night was through, we picked up a Turkish and Lebanese beer and rolled back to the hostel for a night cap... only to find that they were throwing a 4th of July party for the American guests... so we ate more and topped it off with ice cream cake... and then got more beer and played pin the willy on the donkey... the night ended with a classic game of beer pong. But like the rest of you, I woke up with a slight headache on July 5th.

Whirling Dervish!

We went to the ruins of Palmyra the next day. It was kind of an expensive endeavor getting there but it turned out to be really neat and virtually empty except for a few Syrian tourists and the stray camel every now and again. Also note that we saw our first and only cloud of the whole trip on the way there.

Ruins in Palmyra

Hmmm, I guess that's all for now. We head to Dubai tomorrow on a red eye flight. Luckily we decided to go in low season and can actually afford the hotel we're staying in that comes complete with a private butler who will pack your bags for you upon departure, among other things. That alone should provide at least some sort of awkard story! Until then, Salem!