09.12 Another good night´s sleep has come to an end. The clothes we washed yesterday are drying on the balcony. The very same balcony that I soon will be sitting on. I will dry up after the shower and also have my breakfast.

10.57 I just came back from the balcony where I let the sunrays warm/tan my body. It is time to prepare to see more of Beirut.

Talal´s New Hotel, our home in Beirut.

13.08 We just paid a visit to the bus station that is situated under the avenue just below. The taxi drivers there swarmed us with several offers. The men at the bus station told us that bus tickets could be bought tomorrow. We left the office, met the taxi people again and realised,,,,, hey, we don’t know the price for the bus ticket!! After that we went to the post office and bought stamps for the postcards. Now we need to cool down both inside and outside. It is +35° today! We also need to plan the rest of the day.

14.07 It feels like we are done planning. We will walk around in for us new parts of the town.

15.21 To walk in this heat tares on the body. We are slightly hungry and have begun to feel a light thirst. We have to take care of this.

A walk through Beirut.

15.44 After a long of several kilometres we have sat down in the American coffee place "Starbucks" for some afternoon coffee. Here are plenty of people and a lack of seats.

17.09 We drank and ate what we had ordered. Then we went to a grocery store and bought something to drink on tomorrow´s trip. As this was done we began our walk home. To cross a street here is as said earlier a challenge. If you wait to long, a taxi pulls up. If you start to walk to early you never, in the worst case, write in the diary again, ever.

This building, "Zawiyat Ibn al-'Arraq" was about to be tarred down during the construction of "new Beirut" but the man driving the bulldozer suddenly got a strange kind of paralysing in his arms and was forced to quit. It all got better as he left. The house used to be a theological Islamic school as was erected in the 16th century. It will now be preserved due to this "miracle":

19.57 We´ve got plenty of channels on our TV, among them. Armenian TV. This plus the excellent air conditioner + balcony makes our room excellent. On the downside are the ants. Although it was great at Starbucks, we found out that we will need more food today.

20.40 We are sitting on Century Café. It is situated at the top of our restaurant street. The time has come for dinner. Christer has ordered a cheeseburger with fries and I choose kafta. I got a view over the whole restaurant street and there are plenty of restaurants here. How to they cope with this competition? Shouldn’t some get out of business? The whole area is also guarded by militaries.

21.44 I truly hope one of the places get out of business, that is the Century Café. They added fees, wanted money for some lousy nuts and carrot sticks that they tossed on the table without asking us first. The 1.5 litre water cost $2. A total price of $10 each. Perhaps we should have put up a fight, but hey what, who cares?

Tuesday 26th of July

08.02 It is the last morning in Lebanon. Soon the scents of the night will be washed away and a little breakfast will be eaten.

10.33 We just checked out. It cost us $3 less per night. I took/got change in Lebanese bills. Then we left. Our host asked for the key. I put it there I said and pointed with a closed hand. In the hand I had the key. At the bus station were just some obnoxious taxi/bus drivers. The winner was the man that stopped me and asked "Tripoli???" I said thanks but no thanks and he asked "Why not??!" We are now on the minibus bound for Syria, our backpacks are in the trunk and our passports are with the driver, hopefully. He took them at least. We just spoke with a guy from Denmark with roots in the Middle East. He is one of the other passengers.

10.50 More luggage and passengers has arrived. Still no passports in sight. But wait a minute, here they are. There is a man walking around on the roof of the bus, I think he is doing something with the luggage. One of the bus companies here in Lebanon is called Connex just like a company back home. Now the last of the passengers got onboard and with 15 people in the bus has our journey begun.

11.10 We are slowly driving up the steep hills in the outskirt of Beirut. We have passed the embassy of Djibouti and slowly wind the hills. On the Arabic radio channel they keep talking about a "Doctor Geagea" (pronounced "Sja-Sja"). Dr Samir Geagea was a leader for the Lebanese forces during the civil war. He was imprisoned for 11 years until he was released on the 18th of July.

11.39 We just made a short stop before the border. The driver showed some papers. There are many roadblocks in this country.

12.01 Yet another stop. The others have gone out to get a little to eat. We have filled in travel documents, pink for leaving Lebanon, and yellow to enter Syria. The earlier we can move on the earlier we will get to Damascus.

12.30 Ok, we are allowed to leave Lebanon. Can we just leave the border station and head on to Syria?

SYRIA

13.09 The Syrians stamped our passports and also the yellow card. They kept the card and gave us another, blue, card to fill in. The stamps were so messy that we had to wait for it to dry. We went out in the sun to make it dry faster. During the time of waiting we watched the long caravan of trucks queuing at the border. In it were drivers that had sat down by a small camping table. On the way here I tried to count how many they were but got tired of it as the amount passed 200.

13.19 The customs office would like to look at our luggage.

13.21 Everything seems Ok, beside the fact that the trunk cover seems hard to close. The customs officer opened with joy in his eyes my toilet bag and looked down at shampoo, toothpaste and similar stuff. The joy in his eyes wasn’t the same anymore.

13.31 Short stop to check if everything is OK with a taxi that slid off the road, a minor accident.

13.49 We are back in Damascus. We had hardly got off the bus before a taxi driver caught us. They sure are effective, that I must confess. We don’t have a clue were in Damascus we are so it is best to take a taxi.

14.16 The driver took us to Hotel Sultan and pointed at a mountain that he thought we should climb. We reached the reception of the hotel through a lift from the street. We checked in and the man in the reception pointed at a mid aged man and said, ”Give the passports to the boy.” We are now in 310 and will just take it slow. We are now in another part of Damascus it seems like a new town.

17.58 Time to head out in the town again. Time to change money again. Time to eat again.

Peter in front of the lift that leads up to Hotel Sultan in Damascus.

18.54 We paid for the room and exchanged money. After that we took a stroll in the block. Here we watched a chicken race. Outside on of the restaurants a hen walked around. Egg provider, food on the run or what? After this we went to the Martyrs Square and bought a 0.6 litre bottle of water each. It was by the way from the same shop that we bought snack from last Friday.

19.48 It is time for another walk of the town. We are aiming on "Al Kamal" the place we dined at on Thursday. I hope they wont serve us that much this time.

20.43 We are sitting and munch on the first course. It is chicken soup with cream in it. Today’s appetizers are sticks of pickled cucumber, olives, mint and something that tastes like liquorice, might be anis.

22.09 Nothing wrong about the main course regarding size and taste. Now we just will relax and plan to enter yet another country, Jordan. Before entering we will get some sleep. No evening TV for us. There is no TV in the room.

23.08 We are reading about and preparing for Jordan while listening to the radio. In a short while we will wash our bodies. Our toilet is cool; the flushing device is a chain that hangs from the ceiling.

The railway station Hedjaz in Damascus lighting up the evening darkness.

Wednesday 27th of July

08.27 Now the day has come. The day when we leave Syria. I just got out of our bathroom with three draining gutters. I am sitting and dry in the air from our air conditioner from ”Starway” (to heaven?) Today we will have breakfast, find our way back to the bus station, arrange with transport and embark into Jordan. A sign of tiredness from my side was shown as my mobile phone rang to awake us. I asked with a tired voice if that was my phone ringing.

10.14 We are back from breakfast in a beautiful room by the reception. The room had graceful painting, icons and other beautiful things. Americans and other riffraff are staying at the hotel. We are not the only backpackers in Damascus.

11.07 All is packed. It soon is time to leave everything behind us, room 310, Hotel Sultan, the bus station, Damascus and eventually Syria.

11.52 The walk to the bus station went without any major problems. The only odd thing was the fact that something kept touching my legs. It was a strap on the backpack that I had forgot to fasten. At the station we found or was found by a man that swiftly took us over the street with heavy traffic and into his taxi. The very same taxi that we are sitting in on our way to Amman. The driver has asked we are Germans and in which currency we wish to pay for the trip. After these questions he made a phone call on his mobile phone.

In the taxi, just before the switch in southern Damascus.

12.03 We just stopped and the driver will be away for “just a minute.” We have no idea what he is doing. We are outside a complex of stores called ”Town Center” in Damascus southern suburbs. Christer has just pointed at a car from Jordan and humorously suggested that we might hitchhike with that instead of waiting for the minuteman. It looks more comfortable.

12.10 The driver returned and showed us to the car that Christer had joked about. Is this a coincident or is this the man that our driver phoned earlier? Whatever the answer is, our “old” driver would like to have some money for the trip here.

12.23 We have for some reason made another stop. Our new driver seems to be out to buy some fruit. I have to stop now because a cup of coffee just was handed over through the open window.

12.29 I am back to report after the short coffee break. The coffee man has a brother in Sweden and stands with his back to the sun to shade his feet. He claimed that they were about to catch fire. He accepted any currency for payment for the coffee, any currency except Israeli. He neither had any price for the coffee; the most important was that he got some money. The cheap coffee was flavoured with cardamom. It was really tasty. Our new driver just gave us a peach each. A Saudi bus rolled in here and in it we can see a birdcage. What is it doing there? To make sure there are no lethal gases?

12.45 Time to travel on to southern areas. The driver has also bought some fruit for himself.

13.17 We just made another stop. The driver said that he would be back in “just a minute”. Is it time for another switch? We are standing still by a fruit stand by the side of the road. It seems to be time for another purchase. Will fruit or vegetables be bought?

13.22 Something was bought and placed in the trunk. Our journey continues.

13.46 We reached the Syrian border control. Some gentlemen in uniforms seem to be interested of something. Our man has stepped out and seems to give the uniformed men fruit.

14.03 We just got stamped out of Syria. Ahead of us in the queue were some Danish people. Outside the house of the passport police is a German tourist bus but it might just be bought from Germany and have license plates from Saudi Arabia. We got some cars around us that are similar to our car. Are they company- or taxi-cars?

JORDAN

14.22 We´ve just changed country and currency. Now it is time for Jordan.

14.30 There just was another customs check. The custom officer looked more at the car then in our backpacks. Fact is that he didn't look at them at all. A digital thermometer showed either +41° or +47°. Between these is showed the time 13.25 and 13.26. What is to trust? Neither probably. Besides it is seated in the sun.

15.28 On our way into Amman. We have stopped to leave fruit to another man. I guess he is a friend of our driver.

Al Abdali bus station in Amman, Jordan.

15.55 We just checked in at room 209 Al-Monzer hotel in Amman. This as some before is booked in advance. This hotel as the one before is reached from the street by a lift.

19.07 We just relaxed since the last lines. Now be begun to study a map of the city to find a place where we can eat this evening’s dinner.

19.50 Time to get outside. We found lots of places to dine at. The guy in the reception was delighted as we told him we were from Sweden. He spoke warm about Sweden and our king Carl Gustaf! Does everyone in the Middle East know about our king? He meant that the king had done a lot for Jordan and that the two countries had good relations. He also mentioned that he is about to get us a better room, not the king but the reception guy that is.

20.32 None of the places we found in the guidebook exist in real life. Has the guidebook old facts or are the places short lived? Non the less, we are in the flashy area Shmeisani sitting in the restaurant "Varna Roses". We ordered the classic Jordan dish, "hamburger and fries". Yes I know it isn’t particularly Jordan but hopefully delicious and satisfying. On the way here we saw some newly wed in a LONG limousine.

21.52 It was delicious and satisfying. After dinner we paid a visit to a small shop and bought a little to bring with us. Now we are sitting under the ceiling fan in the room. The guy in the reception saluted our king as we came back and he also promised that we would get breakfast tomorrow.

On our way into the Shmeisani-district in Amman. Here are plenty of restaurants and tourists from all over the Middle East.

Thursday 28th of July

00.01 I am looking out of the window. To the left above the portraits of king Hussein and king Abdullah II fireworks can be seen. To the right are two lit up crosses on the churches there.

07.38 It is an early morning today. We have big hopes for breakfast. I slept well and feel prepared to see more of my new hometown. Not even the call to prayers earlier this morning disturbed my peaceful sleep. Christer wasn’t so lucky.

08.27 Breakfast is not included. The question now is if our ”friend” gave us false information or if we misunderstood. Might it be that he meant that breakfast could be arranged in a nearby place?

08.39 If you want things to be done properly it is best to do it yourself. That is why I am going out to get us/hunt for breakfast.

Peter hunting for breakfast.

09.15 The hunt was successful. After some walking in and around the bus station I bought some bread from a young boy and some juice from a teenager. The juice by the way is delicious.

11.23 Hey this is the right way. Time to leave the room for this day´s missions. We need to check if we can go out on the Internet, buy a ticket for a trip further south and find a place for lunch.

12.46 Internet worked like a charm. We got to surf here at the hotel. Our friend just spoke with his American boss and all went smooth. To find a place that sold tickets was as easy. We didn't find it at all. Now we are looking at the map again to find out where it might be and plan a new attack. It might so be that we pulled out to early. We also would like to have a lunch place with an English menu. We don’t want to get a jackass. There are enough of them in the streets. Sure is hard to cross the street here.

King Abdullah-mosque in Amman. Why is the minaret in the picture leaning?
It wasn’t like that for real. Perhaps a Pisa-complex?

This church is neighbouring the Abdullah-mosque. Here the religions coexist.

13.44 The time has come for a new attack. The office is further away then we expected. After that we will go to the take-away-place "Snack Box". I hope they don’t just have an Arabic menu. But take-away and Snack Box sounds English/American.

15.12 When we finally found the bus office it was easy to get the bus tickets. But just as the office appeared our luck disappeared. Snack Box was closed. The only thing we found there was a locked red door. Our ”friend” has arranged with room 304 for us. I am not that sure that it is a better room, the view is terrible, towards a slope filled with rubbish, a front door that is hard to close and 3 beds instead of 4.

16.40 Even the afternoon has its duties. Most of them take places in the older part of the town. Duties like taking pictures, postcards and dining. We are rather tired. I wonder why?

Downtown Amman, a hilly and chaotic part of the city. On this calm street it did work to take a good picture.

Walking "home" from central Amman.

18.21 Our walk in messy street has taken us to Jerusalem. Not the city but the restaurant "Al Quds". Al Quds is Arabic for Jerusalem. Here we ordered "mensaf", a dish from Jordan.

19.58 Delicious rice, boiled pieces of lamb, thin bread and a fat sauce to pore over. Side dish chilli fruits, olives, lime-/lemon slices and more bread. To drink Coca Cola. Afterwards coffee once again flavoured with cardamom. The price for us both with tips included was 7 dinars that are $10.

23.07 Today has been a long day. Soon it will be over. All that remains is plans for tomorrow, black out and placing of our bodies in a horizontal position.

Hotel corridor at Hotel Al-Monzer, Amman.