Into Syria

Schoolwork done now, expect more regular updates for now.

It took a bit of searching because once again the place I was going was just off all the maps of the city, but I did eventually find it, and was immediately whisked onto a minibus and found a stool to sit on as all the seats were taken. The trip wasn't that bad, the scenery was nice, but the windows were too dirty to make a photo worth while.

I got to Kilis(the border town) and started searching for a way to the border, and just like everywhere else the taxi drivers found me. A few found me at the same time, I picked one, and he took my passport and ran off, which worried me, but I was offerd a seat, tea and a cigarette while I waited.
While I waited a guy went by a few times, not walking, or riding a bike or car, but atop a donkey, there are people in the world who's primary means of transportation is still the donkey, in the 21st century. I found that interesting.

Eventually the Cab driver showed up again with my passport, and off we went, drove to the border, where we picked up another guy(again can't cross on foot).

Getting out of Turkey was pretty easy, get an exit stamp(they seem to care an awful lot less who they let out of the country than they let in), go get checked out by the military checkpoint and then off to the Syrian side.

Holy crap, I thought the bureaucracy at the Syrian Consulate in Istanbul was bad, this was worse. There were 3 buildings all of which I needed to enter at least twice at different times.
First into Immigration, who looked at my passport asked me some stern questions, I replied in French and immediately got better treatment(it wasn't room service at the Ritz, but it was better), asked me about my travel plans, where I was leaving from, if I had ever been or planned to go to Occupied Palestine(Israel), it was the first and I expect only time I lied to a government official with the consent of my government.
The immigration officer apparently liked me enough to tell me to go across the street to buy a visa, he could authorize it, but not sell it to me.
So off to the commercial bank where a gaggle of men were busy yelling things at a couple guys behind a counter, I got to cut the line. It took 15 mins to get a visa, and back to the immigration office. Now they had more serious questions for me(actually the same ones as before, just in a more serious tone), and asked more about where I was leaving from, I told them Amman Jordan which was reasonable, he asked why no time for Egypt or "other" places in the Middle East(implying Israel), gotta get back to school you see, that got me through.
But I was not done, I had to go back to the commercial bank to change my money, which was semi-mandatory. The rules say you have to bring a certain amount of cash into the country with you, so they made me change it into local currency.
Off to the Security checkpoint to get patted down and off into Syria.

I stopped in Aleppo where I was staying a couple days, and boy oh boy, Aleppo was cool(temperature wise too, it shocked me) busy city streets, the best souq in the middle east, and a lived in old city.
All things which you can catch up on in my next post
(a picture will be added once blogger isn't incredibly slow)