Day 152:

The Jordanian people seem very proud of the stability that their country enjoys. There is, here, a longstanding and benevolent monarchy. There is stable governance and economic growth, despite Jordan's relative lack of oil. Indeed, Jordan is a better place to live than many of it's oil rich neighbours. Jordan has also been blessed with some amount of empty space... it's a rather large country, with a rather small population. Things are not crowded here, nor are they overburdened as they are in Egypt. I've noticed, also, that many Jordanian people look down on the fundamentalism found elsewhere in the region (Iran, especially). For good reason.

So, yeah, I'm in Syria now. I got in! I didn't think that I would, actually: visitors are officially required to apply for a visa in their home country, something that was impossible for me to do. But... I just showed up at the border, paid my 56 bucks and thirty minutes later I was on the road to Damascus.

There is one quirk of middle eastern travel that all backpackers know: if you have an Israeli stamp in your passport, you will be denied entry to a host of Islamic countries (namely Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Qatar, UAE). There was a lady in line behind me who was forbidden entry for that reason. Curiously, she did NOT have that stamp, bur rather officials pointed at some residue from a sticker that was peeled off of the back of her passport. Odd, that.

I spent my first day in Damascus, the Syrian capital, wandering the street of the old, walled, centre of town. Nice winding alleyways, cobblestone streets and tenth century mosques. I saw Saladin's final resting place, a nice complement to my visit to Kerak castle a few days ago I think.