Thursday, November 6, 2008

D16 - Wednesday 1-10-08 Damascus, Syria


After an overnight bus ride, I arrived at the Antakya bus terminal in the early morning.

At the terminal, I was approached by a local guy who directed me to a bus which was soon to depart Antakya to Aleppo, Syria. This guy asked for my passport and a payment of 15TRL=Rm42.70 to buy a bus ticket. I found out later that
the bus ticket actually cost 10TRY, so in a hurry , I got cheated of 5TRL as I could have bought the ticket myself direct from the bus counter.

A 5TRL lesson for me to learn for making a hasty decision in getting a stranger to buy a bus ticket at the terminal.
Bye, bye Turkey !! For the last 10-11 days and after travelling more than half of Turkey , which took me to Cappadocia, Istanbul, Canakkale, Selcuk & Ephesus, Bodrum and Pamukkale, I must confess that I enjoyed my time in Turkey, having seen all the places of interest which I had identified prior to the trip.

The only place I missed was Mt Nemrut, where the fallen heads of the gigantic decorative statutes of gods and kings, dated back 2,000 years ago. A must see attraction in Eastern Turkey.

Due to the holiday, it took more than 3 hours for our bus to cross the Turkish / Syrian border as there was a massive traffic jam along the way.
It was closed to 3.00pm when I arrived at Aleppo. I then took a taxi (150SP=Rm11.40) to a bus terminal to continue my bus journey to Damascus. I arrived Damascus around 8.00pm and checked into Al-Rabie hostel for a night stay at the roof top (250SP=Rm16.70) as all the dorms were fully taken up.

"Turkey has 5 civilised and 1 natural wonders of the world and I had visited 5 of them !!! I left behind my footpaths in Cappadocia, Troy, Hagia Sophia, Temple of Artemis & Mausoleum of King Mausolus............ hope to see Mt Memrut one fine day....... "

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