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)

The Train, and encounters in Kurdish Turkey

Needless to say the train was boring. The fold down beds stopped being interesting after about hour, I ran out of books and Magazines after about 12 hours, and nobody anywhere near me on the train spoke English or a version of Turkish which I could understand, and it was dark for 20 out of 34 hours.
All in all though, I would rather take it than bus for a journey of that length, at least I got a bed, a sink, a toilet and privacy, for about the same price.
34 hours on the train took me to an 8am arrival in Diyarbakir. I walked into the City Centre and was greeted by 20 metre high Black Basalt Walls of Byzantine origin.
Diyarbakir is considered to be the Capital of Kurdish culture in the region, and had an assortment of Byzantine, Islamic and Turkish history, all wrapped in a Kurdish setting.
I couldn't check into my hotel so I left my bag and went to explore the city, the Archaeological museum was closed, and apparently no longer exists in that location(thanks Lonely Planet). I then meandered back towards the main mosque, missed it but ended up on the 2nd largest complete wall in the world, which encircles the old city.
20 metres high, no railings, muddy/slippery footing in some areas, and public access you would think it would be at least monitored(apparently there are lots of muggings on the wall too). But no, so I walked all over the place, inside towers, to the top of parapets.
I then tried to see if I could see the Main Mosque so as not to miss it. As I was reading some plaques about the Mosque a guy who spoke French started giving me a tour. He toured me all around the old city, the Mosque and it's Medresa, a couple traditional homes and the home of a local famous poet. Turns out he was the former head of tourism for the region. He then led me to his friends Carpet shop for tea. Which inevitable led to carpets being laid out for me to look at.
It's incredibly hard to say no to such amazing carpets. I ended up buying a Kurdish Kilm, for 1/5 of the price I saw a similar one in Istanbul.
I then went down the valley to the Tigris River to get some sand. 2km down, 2km back up the hill, somebody could have told me there was no sand in the river. It did give me my first encounter with the poor of the region, walking down a road to the river the entire street stopped, the soccer game right down to the mothers preparing dinner, they all stopped to watch me.

The Resit(the tour guide) and I ended up going to the University for dinner, where I had some "traditional Kurdish food". It was pretty good, he introduced me to a few heads of department there and had a lengthy chat with the head of Architecture. It was a shame Resit ruined it by trying to sell me a tour I couldn't afford(in time or money), I said no a number of times, then he got depressed, which got me to thinking what kind of formerly prestigious tour guide needs to go to such lengths to get a client? He was kind of strange.

My introduction to the Kurds was fantastic despite the one hiccup. I made plans to take the bus to the Iraqi border in the morning, and I was going to need my sleep for such a grand adventure.

Istanbul Part 3

Istanbul giving New York a run for it's money since whenever this Big Apple was built

Now onto my post.
Ok so I lied, after Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque I went for a Hammam (Turkish Bath). Now for those who have experienced the joys of the Hammam you know what I am talking about when I say it is amazing. I'm sure I've never been so clean in my life. Hot room, scrubbers, and not having to do anything. Although strange Turkish men and the language barrier made things awkward at times, it was still amazing.

So the next day I decided to make one final attempt to get a Syrian Visa the way they want people to get them. So I turned up 10:30(I had planned on getting there earlier, but got lost after I took what I thought should have been a "Short Cut", I was wrong) and when I go there they said that they had closed for the day. It wasn't friday, it wasn't a holiday, they had just closed, made no sense, and made me mad, mostly at Syrian Bureaucracy(lots of more that to come).
So I headed to the Grand Bazaar. Basically a great big market, but with everything and covering a massive area. It's so big in fact that it has its own districts, Gold, Jewlery, Carpets, antiques, trinkets, food, and thats just the coverd part. In the uncovered section I discovered the Knife district, Guns, pants, sunglasses, clothes hangars, mannequin and shoe districts.

Overwhelming cannot being to describe how one feels wandering around the Bazaar, shopkeepers yelling at you to buy their stuff, backgammon being played, tea being served, business being had. The strangest moment was as I had stopped to watch two old men play backgammon, another younger guy was there watching and started conversing with me, berated me for not speaking turkish, when I explained that I had only just gotten into the country he said he understood, and pulled a baggie out of his pocket and told me he had great Hash and offered me some for 100 Euro, needless to say I declined him, partially becuase the amount of Hash offered wasn't worth anywhere near 100 Euro, but mostly because I didn't want any, especially in the middle of an incredibly busy street with cops around. If anything I'll say the guy had balls.
I did however make some purchases in the Grand Bazaar, I bought some pants(which I don't actually like) A mini Backgammon board, and a bunch of trinkets. mostly good deals except for the pants, oh well.

That night went and smoked Hookah with a bunch of Debaters from all around Canada, Calgarians, Torontonians, Easterners, all in all it was a pretty good night. Ended with McDonalds(a shame I know, but it was the only place open at 2am). This was the last time I saw any Canadians until Petra almost a month later.
At about 4am I woke up with incredible pains inside me, the McDonalds had struck. I like to think of it as Karma kicking me upside the head for degrading myself to eat McDonalds when I am in the middle of one of the greatest cheap food places in the world.

I survived the night, and made my way to the train station, which was on the Asian side of Istanbul. Asian Istanbul was an excellent place to go see. It was less touristy, the market I wandered through was far less of a tourist trap than the Grand Bazaar, it was more of a place for real people to do their shopping.
I had a fish sandwich, which consisted of a small loaf of bread with a whole fish inside. Needless to say it was the fishiest meal of my life and lived with me in my burps for the next few days. At the time of purchase, it was a great deal, I got a good meal for 1 Lira, but the more I ate the worse it got.
I then bought my ticket to Diyarbakir, and found a place to smoke hookah and read until my train left.

Next time Kurdish Turkey