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19 July 2010
It was an early start at 0430 to catch the 0815 flight to Kuala Lumpur. Landing there at 1415, I had a 4h25 self-connect, at my own risk, to hometown Kuching where I landed at 2025. My favourite airline does not offer connections (to minimise liability and to keep fares low). One has to allow […]
18 July 2010
I landed at Dubai at 0100 for a short 1h45 transit to Colombo at 0245. I arrived into Colombo airport at 0845 and after clearing the immigration queue from hell, I took a taxi to Mt Lavinia on the other side of the city where the Tropic Inn was located. The ride was expensive but […]
17 July 2010
Grotto Excursion and More This is my last day in Beirut before I fly out at 2045 tonight to Dubai then Colombo. There’s a whole day to fill. I invited Claire (also staying at the hostel) to join me in going to the Jeita Grottoes. We made a brief stop at Nahr al-Kalb (Dog River […]
16 July 2010
Thoughts on Leaving Syria Leaving Syria, I felt the country was more open than before. There were more international travellers, especially backpackers, but that’s perhaps I stayed in a dormitory. Also, the Syrian army wasn’t active in maintaining security in Lebanon. Things were looking brighter. [Edit: Little did I know that the Arab Spring would […]
15 July 2010
I had a whole day free so decided to head down close to the Jordanian border and visit Bosra. This is an old Roman theatre from the 2nd Century AD, but appended with an Arab citadel from the 1100s. All this was rather unusually built with black basalt rock, apart from some Roman columns (built […]
14 July 2010
Getting to Damascus My hotelier offered to give me a ride to the bus this morning (for a small fee of course). Strangely he didn’t take me to the bus station but to the various restaurants (rest stops) for various intercity buses. It would have been a couple of hours waiting at the first restaurant […]
13 July 2010
Sunrise at Palmyra We decided to wake before 0500 so we could catch sunrise at the ruins. The wind had built up over night … it wasn’t so pleasant having a mild sandblasting. In the cool of dawn, I better appreciated the beauty and magnificence of Palmyra. My first time had been as a day […]
12 July 2010
Dayr Az-Zawr Museum We heard reports that the local museum is the best in Syria. However unlikely that sounded, it did not disappoint. Even though I’m not exactly a museum person, I was rather captivated … every item was labelled with numbers and referenced to a brief description. The whole museum was organised by era, […]
11 July 2010
Today we explored two ruins (Mari and Dura Europos) near the Iraq border. If we were able to cross into Iraq we would probably find plenty more ruins … more contemporary ones caused by man-made situations. Sad but true. It was another 0700 start to avoid the heat of the day. Our driver Nader drove […]
10 July 2010
So, after talking to my hotelier Abdullah yesterday, I traded my trip to Lattakia and Aleppo for a town near the south-east border crossing into Iraq! He (along with other travellers) said that Lattakia wasn’t nice and I could instead have a cool dip in Lake Assad while having a view of an ancient citadel! […]